California Food and Wine Blog

We were out with some friends celebrating a birthday and decided to end our night with some fine Italian dining at Giuseppe’s. Nathan and I have been to the San Luis Obispo location and had amazing experiences so were looking forward to much of the same.

We ordered a bottle of Riesling and two appetizers that were on special that day which ended up pairing nicely together.

For dinner I ordered the Risotto di Pollo for $17 and Nathan ordered the Ravioli di Zucca for $17. Our dishes arrived about 30 minutes later which wasn’t at all bad considering we had fresh bread and appetizers at the table to enjoy in the meantime. Both our dishes were conservative in size.

My Chicken Risotto had very nice flavor with juicy meat, but the risotto had an odd consistency that Nathan took as being extremely overcooked. It was a nice dish and with the bread and appetizers it was filling enough.

Nathan was a little less satisfied with his dish. After the Ravioli di Zucca we’ve experienced at the SLO location as well as other italian restaurants, he was expecting a flavorful dish of butternut squash goodness. There were several decent size raviolis smothered in a cream sauce.  He tried his first ravioli to much disappointment, it seemed that the chef had forgotten in the ravioli.  Nathan tried a second to no avail, prompting him to give up trying to eat the very bland  dish.  Hands down the worst Ravioli di Zucca he has ever had.

When our waiter checked in with us Nathan let him know he really wasn’t happy with the dish and asked him to take it away. They suggested instead the Tortellini Giuseppe which he said was one of their best dishes. After a short time Nathan received a pasta in pink sauce with tomato, pancetta, and mushrooms.   This pasta dish was better, but not by much.  Once again they smothered the dish in sauce, but at least the tortellini had flavor that complemented the sauce.  The downside is that they had overcooked the pasta in their rush to prepare it.

When our check arrived they did charge us for the dish we returned but not for the ‘free’ one they provided in return. Since there were 10 of us at dinner we asked to split the check over a few different cards; he stood there staring at our bill and cards for a few minutes before asking what he should do if it doesn’t add up right. After an uncomfortable silence we assured him we divided it up correctly but if there are any issues we’ll be happy to fix it.

The dinner started out with great promise but ended on pretty sour notes; such that I don’t think we’ll be returning.

Service: 2/5

Flavor: 3/5

Value: 2.5/5

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