Gian's Resturant Review

Gian's Italian restaurant has great
food and is a wonderful place for
high-end dining.Tonight, Stan and I and our dates headed off to Gian's, one of Pattaya's fanciest Italian restaurants, located just across the parking lot from Bruno's on Thappraya Road on the way in to Jomtien.

There is both outdoor and indoor seating available, but the indoor area is highly recommended for it's air conditioning, fancy decor, and especially the fact that it keeps you away from the rumbling traffic of Thappraya Road.

The menu selection is exactly what you would expect, with a "Specials" selection on the front page, a nice selection of appetizers in the 200-400 baht range, a full selection of pizzas in the 200-300 baht range, pastas in the 300-400 baht range, and traditional Italian entreés in the 400-700 baht range. Heinekens were 110 baht, and mixed drinks were 160-180 baht. A bottle of the house's red wine was 700 baht.




Service was high quality, and the food was served properly, and much ado was made about silverware distribution to ensure that the proper knife, fork, and spoon was always available to the diner. An undercooked steak was sent back to the kitchen without the staff batting an eyelash, and they even took the time to come back and ensure that it had been cooked satisfactorily after returning it to the table. All the dishes where plated very nicely, with amusing dish shapes, clever garnishes, and an obvious amount of effort going into presentation as well as preparation.

We started off with an amuse-bouche that was some sort of tuna in a rosemary pickle sauce. Then, Stan had a smoked salmon appetizer which he enjoyed, and I had the New Zealand scallop appetizer for (I think the price was) 280 baht. These were very large scallops, and unfortunately — as is often the case with shelled seafood — larger is not necessarily better: They were a little tougher and had a little less flavor than their half-sized counterparts. Still though, they were cooked well and the garlic treatment was very nice.

For entreés, Stan had his usual steak (700 baht) which got good marks, and the girls had seafood spaghetti and a steak as well. I had ground beef tortellini (350 baht) in a light cream sauce which was simply the best pasta dish I've had in Thailand.

For dessert, we had a round of near-frozen limoncello... which had quite a kick to it, and was a great refresher after dinner, along with a custard, tiramisu, and deep-fried bananas served with coconut ice cream. As somebody who knows his tiramisu, I can say without hesitation that Gian's has the best tiramisu I've ever had, anywhere.

Total bill for the evening, including a tip (the restaurant does not have a service charge... you put in the tip yourself) was 5,800 baht for 4 people: A little over $40 per person. For drinks, wine, appetizer, entreé, aperitif, and dessert in a high-end dining establishment, that's not too bad. Is it the best Italian food in Pattaya? Hard to say. I certainly don't hesitate to give it top marks. Is it the nicest Italian restaurant in Pattaya? Yes: With decor, staff, food presentation, and culinary skill all rolled together, it is the nicest Italian restaurant in Pattaya without a doubt.