Dined at Giambotto, the fairly new Italian restaurant on Route 23 in Cedar Grove, for the second time. They sent me a gift coupon code for my birthday so I decided to have another celebration there. We had a nice dinner on a quiet Sunday night. But beware, see my friend Les Albert's comments below.
Giambotta has closed a new restaurant Rome Italian Tavern is opening in its place soon. Dean Angelo of Milan in Pinebrook is the new owner.
A Giambotto, in Italian cuisine, is a thick stew made for special occasions of fresh vegetables and whatever is in the kitchen. It is creative and original.
Giambotto the restaurant is creative and original in its approach to Italian standards served family style. It reminds me of the great Italian restaurants on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. It is not gourmet like Giotto or Fascino, rather they serve great Italian standards, well prepared with very fresh ingredients.
There are two dinning areas each with a bar. Downstairs is like a trattoria, with a small bar, causal and friendly. Upstairs is fancier dinning room with a larger bar.
Their wine list is good and fairly priced both by the bottle and glass. La Segreta, Avignonesi, Allegrini and Zenato are some of the better wine producers on the list. All are $25.00 a bottle. They also have a special reserve list if you want something very special.
They serve tasty bread with a delicious marinara sauce. The olive oil on the table was just fair, seemed as if it was the "lite" variety.
We started with the Zucchini Fritti, deep fried zucchini with a lemon & garlic aioli, surprisingly light and tasty, and Zuppa di Vongole, roasted baby clams in a garlic white broth. The clams were tender and the broth was nicely seasoned.
For Entrees, Pierce had a special chicken over linguine, the pasta was delicious. I had the Veal Scallopine Abbruzzi, veal medallions sautéed with wild mushrooms, leeks, prosciutto Diced tomatoes and herbs and Diana had Chicken Scapariello, pan fried chicken pieces on the bone with lemon, rosemary, sausage & potatoes. Both were abundant and very tasty.
True to their promise the food portions are large. The single portion could serve two, if you added a side vegetable. I'd say the family portions would serve 4, they say two or three.
We brought half of all our dishes home and they were delicious the next day.
There website can be found at www.giambotta.com
Things to do, places to see, with food and booze
Great Disco on Friday nights. The place to go if your looking for great food & staff. If your a single lady looking for a good time this is the place to go. You know what they say when in Rome ...
Posted by: Michele Genrazio | 03/05/2009 at 16:36
Not sure wich restaraunt you went to, but we were regulars when it was Giambotta & now Rome. ( which by the way the same owners were still there when we went back and so is carmine).Food is always great and so is the help. If you are yet to try it go in and ask for the manager Carmine. He takes care of my Family and I everytime we are there. Great atmosphere and love Entertainment. Its a must try.
Posted by: Michale Konzleman | 03/05/2009 at 16:32
Loved this restaurant. So the service may have been a bit slow, but well worth the wait. Fresh fish and seafood. Great sauce. Highly recommend
Posted by: joan ark | 01/04/2007 at 18:28
I just returned from our so-called dinner at this place and lets just say that if our experience is indicative of others, I give this place a few months to live. We sat down at 5:50 pm and at 6:10 a waiter finally came to our table to take a drink order. The drinks arrived in about 5 minutes and that was the end of the good part. The appeitizers, their famous meatballs and an order of clams oreganata arrived 20 minutes later. The meatballs were served without the sauce, the clams were burnt and all bread crumbs. By the way, no bread was ever placed on the table either. It took about 1/2 hour for the ceasar salad to arrive and it was not worth the wait. Soaked in a tasteless paste with no flavor or body whatsoever. Another 30 minutes passed with no sign of our main courses. The waiter said he asked the kitchen several times what the holdup was, but there we sat, rapidly losing our appetites with so much time between courses. The tables on either side of us who sat down between 45 minutes and an hour after us were already working on their main courses. I finally called over the manager to get her assistance. I would have been better off dialing 1-800- Who-GIVES-A-Damn. She could not even look me in the face as she blantantly lied that our order went in 3 minutes before the table to our right and it was all the fault of our waiter and not her kitchen staff. She told me she was going to take it out of the poor guys pay and I would not let that happen. I told her that when it is ready, pack it to go and charge me as I could not do that to the poor waiter and I cannot believe that she could do such a thing. She walked away in a huff and I could not get out of there fast enough. Some folks may be impressed by the large servings at this place, but what good are they when they come out hours after they are ordered. With the quality of staff on-board, this place is doomed for disaster.
Posted by: Les Albert | 09/30/2006 at 20:05