Giada! Giada De Laurentiis New Restaurant at Cromwell!

On August 26th, Teresa, Liz, Terri and myself ate at Giada De Laurentiis new restaurant Giada which is located inside of Cromwell.

From the moment you walk inside the restaurant it screams out Giada! It's a beautiful, airy, bright restaurant that has Giada branded on everything. Yes, I mean almost everything! Giada's signature G is on plates, chairs, napkins, pens, pepper grinders, etc…no chance of forgetting for one minute where you are dining, and who would want to? It's a fabulous restaurant that reflects the elegant taste of Giada!

It's difficult currently to get a reservation at Giada and even trying to book more then 6 weeks in advance for a Tuesday it was either 5:15pm or after 9pm so we went for a early dinner.  I'm glad we took the early seating as we were among the first in the restaurant and got to see it briefly without the crowds it had later.

Even though we had a reservation and were there on time and the restaurant had just opened we still had about a 5 minute wait for our table which was fine. However I suspect as the restaurant filled up those with later reservations waited much longer.

I was happy with the wait because it meant photo ops for me!

I always enjoy restaurants that have kitchens where I can see the chefs at work, not to mention the displays of delicious breads and antipasti.

Liz, Teresa and myself while we are waiting to be seated. Of course Terri is taking the photo so that she can avoid being in it!

When the hostess came to seat us a nice touch was her offering to take us on a tour of the open kitchen area above. It only takes a couple minutes and I enjoyed it.

We had a lovely corner table where we could see the Bellagio fountains when they went off.

Our table was in the corner here and I liked the location so much I have requested it for a future dinner reservation.

Below one of six chandeliers that quote Giada's "I eat a little bit of everything and not a lot of anything".

The cocktail menu along with some appetizers is presented on a iPad. The cocktails are named after movies that her Grandfather Dino De Laurentiis produced.

Click on the photos to enlarge them if you want to see the ingredients in our cocktails.

Liz ordered wine and as usual ice for her wine. Her ice was served in a small bucket with tongs.

Teresa ordered the Hannibal which I thought was interesting enough to take a video:

Teresa liked it!

Terri and I ordered the signature drink which is of course the Giada cocktail, and it was light and refreshing, I would order this again!

They served us a tiny complimentary portion of Prosecco.

Our plates with the G insignia.

Menu:

The complimentary bread was wonderful! We had a cute round bread in a ramekin that tasted like Focaccia, with cracker bread and breadsticks. Accompaniments were Garlic Puree, Mascarpone Lemon Cream, Pepper Flakes, Fried Capers and pink Himalayan salt. My favorite was the Mascarpone Lemon Cream.

We ordered quite a few appetizers. The Parmigiano-Reggiano with wild sage honey was excellent and while the cheese portion was very generous the wild sage honey needed at least twice the amount if not more of what was on our plate.

Orzo Meatballs with Parmesan Pomodoro, very tender and juicy. Best meatballs ever, please try these if you eat at Gaida's, thank me later!

 Chicken Masala Meatballs with Wild Mushrooms below. While these meatballs were good they were overshadowed in my opinion by the fabulous Orzo Meatballs above.

Mascarpone and Tarragon Shrimp Scampi with Crispy Polenta was terrific too.

The Bacon Wrapped Dates with Spicy Italian Sausage and Gorgonzola Crema were good but I personally prefer the Bacon Wrapped Dates at Jaleo and La Cave.

Teresa order the Arugula salad with Candied Lemon, Crispy Pancetta and Parmigiano-Reggiano. It looked really good but I didn't taste it.

Below is the Artichoke Soup with Mint, Tomato & Focaccia Croutons that one of us ordered, I think it was Liz,  but I didn't taste it.

Time to mention that our two servers were excellent and had a great sense of humor. This is what I call a Pepper Grinder, I guess size does count, at least with Pepper Grinders?  Notice the G on the Pepper Grinder?

Yes, we ate all those appetizers and also ordered mains, thankfully the portions are small and not Cheesecake Factory size. :)

Both Teresa and Liz loved their orders of Risotto with Crab and Scallops, however Teresa's plate did have a few crab shells in it, but Teresa just said that just proved it was real crab!

Terri ordered Salmon with Summer Succotash and Whole Grain Mustard. Service was very attentive for us during our dinner at Giada and when one of our servers asked her how she liked the Salmon she honestly told him that it was cooked perfectly, the Succotash with good, the sauce was delicious but she didn't like the salmon and didn't eat it. After she said that we had a parade of staff who were very concerned about her dish and ended up taking it off our bill even though she discouraged them from doing that. The salmon was fresh but sometimes as those of us know who eat salmon a lot you can get a fish that might have been old in age or was eating something during its life that gave it a different flavor then the buttery taste that most of us prefer in our Salmon and this was that fish. So feel free to order the Salmon at Giada's because I think this was a aberration and I know others have eaten and enjoyed it.

I had the Branzino which were crispy filets served with a Tangerine Vinaigrette and Arugula garnish. The Branzino was very good, but I loved the appetizers so much at Giada I'm thinking next time I dine there I might just order more appetizers instead of a main.

We also had a side of grilled white and green Asparagus served with delicious Lemon Ricotta.

I ordered Iced Tea which was brewed fresh at our table in a cute pitcher and presentation when the waiter poured it out after it was ready.

 The starring finish of our dinner was dessert! Video of Dolce cart because it deserves it!

So many yummy desserts to choose from and we were so full already!

Chocolate Tiramisu, Blueberry Eclairs, Chocolate Amaretti, Nipples of Venus (LOL), Gelato, Strawberry Crostada and more!

Terri ordered the cookies they come three to a order. I know one cookie was Lemon Ricotta, but I'm not sure of the other two on her plate, though obviously the one in front looks to have both chocolate and white chocolate chips in it.

Teresa and I both ordered the P& J (Peanut Butter and Jelly) Tiramisu and Liz ordered the Toasted Pine Nut Gelato.

Terri liked her cookies and both Teresa and I loved the P&J Tiramisu. Liz said her Gelato was fine, but not memorable.

I enjoyed the ambiance, food and service and plan on returning to Giada the night before Thanksgiving to eat there with my family. I made my reservation during this dinner and even though it was 3 months ahead of time again I only a choice of a very early or late dinner reservation. I went with early thinking I'm more likely to get a window table again that way. So you have been warned, if you want to eat at Giada in the future for dinner make your reservation as far in advance as you can! Bon Appetit!