Trattoriada Gianni.. Why man ani???

Whenever there's a new restaurant that's talk of the town (especially when it is featured on national television and owned by a celebrity) people tend to flock to the new place.  This was mainly the reason why we decided to try Trattoriada Gianni, the newest italian restaurant located at Crossroads in Banilad.

Trattoriada Gianni is owned by famous Cebuano celebrity Matteo Guidicelli.  According to one of the female staff we spoke to, the chef of the restaurant was the chef of Matteo's grandfather, Gianni, for twenty (20) years and has learned italian cooking personally from Senior Gianni himself (thus the name of the restaurant)

We were suppose to dine there two days ago but since we did not made prior reservations, we had to reserve a seat for the next day. Business is really doing good!

When we arrived the following day, we were escorted to our reserved table. The ambiance of the place is pretty impressive. Space is a bit small but cozy.  The restaurant can fit around 40 people max. 

              

We ask for the menu, the waiter handed us wooden chopping boards with the menu attached on it. Very unique!

As we were choosing what food we are going to order, my wife ask the waiter what's the specialty for the week, and since it's a tuesday, we were expecting a special meat dish. The waiter just answered us "mam the US Beef Tenderloin is our specialty of the week" but that's part of the regular menu so what makes it special?

After going through the menu, we decided to try their bruschette for appetizer (140 per piece, choose any 3 pieces for 380 ) we chose smoked salmon with ricotta cheese, Mozarella and Garden Basil and Homemade Pesto. 

For our main course, I chose the Authentic Italian Meatballs for my wife

I also ordered my favorite (and I'm sure it will be yours too once you've tried it) Eggplant Parmagiana

And since the dishes do not come with rice, we decided to order Aglio Olio (in which the waiter pronounced the dish as AGlio Olio 😂)

The Bruschette as appetizer was very filling.  Among the three flavors that we chose, I liked the Smoke Salmon with Ricotta Cheese the best.  It has that perfect mix of smokiness of the salmon and the creaminess of the ricotta cheese.

The Authentic Italian Meatballs was hand down the best dish of the night.  The meatballs were made from fresh meat (you can tell by the taste) handmade and rolled into balls, mixed with the right blend of tomato sauce (made from fresh tomatoes)

The Eggplant Parmagiana was my personal favorite. The eggplant was baked to perfection, mixed together with the right amount of cheese and tomatoes.  The more you eat it, the more you will crave for more.

The most disappointing dish was the AGlio Olio (as the waiter would pronounced it) The pasta was al dente but it was bland! As far as I know,  Aglio Olio should be a bit spicy, a bit garlicky, and a bit oily since the dish is oil based. This dish was a total disaster. The pasta is dry, tasteless and doesn't resemble an aglio olio dish at all! 

My suggestion to Matteo (and I hope this reaches you) if you want your restaurant business to stay open, please train your waiters! It not enough that they know how to write down our orders, they need to know how to read and pronounce the orders properly. You need to educate them what is an antipasti or a mozarelle. Also, please tell your chef to taste your Aglio Olio... 😀

Over-all, the place is worth giving a try. If you're craving for italian home cooking, then try it here. But if you're looking for pizza or gourmet italian dishes, then this is not the place. (I do hope they add pizza in their menu soon) I'm giving Trattoriada Gianni a 🐷🐷🐷🐖 (3 1/2) Piggies out of 5 🐷