GG Italian Restaurant and Bar

The food was terrible, and the service mediocre. My mother had a spinach ravioli that looked like it was covered in cream of mushroom soup. I had the zuppeta pesce, seafood soup/​The sauce was ok, just a little spicy, but with the consistency of spaghetti sauce instead of broth. All of the seafood, the clams, shrimp and octupus was tough. My nephew had pizza which has a crispy crust but totally flavorless.

I think the only really positive reviews for this restaurant are from before they were under new ownership AGAIN. My husband and I live in the neighborhood and had looked forward to checking GG out for dinner one night for a while. When we finally did we were extremely disappointed. We started with a Caesar salad that was inedible, sad oily, limp lettuce, sour flavor– basically all lemon, all around bad. My wine tasted corked. He got a seafood pasta dish and none of the «seafood» was fresh tasting or cooked well, it came with a red sauce that he said tasted like canned ragu. I got a pizza and while the crust was at least cooked well, the mushrooms were stringy and overcooked– the pizza also had a strange sour taste. The best thing we were given was the free bread and even that was inconsistent. We are bummed and wish this place was better, the building is beautiful and has so much history, unfortunately it has had so many failed restaurants come and go that the place seems cursed!

So disappointed — Started with a salad that was dressed with lemon juice only. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t fresh lemon but the kind you squeeze out of a plastic lemon. Had the pasta with fresh tomatoes and chicken. Nothing fresh about it — not a sign of tomato just a clump of pasta that I couldn’t really separate with a fork, with thin red sauce and a few pieces of chicken. I can honestly say it was one of the worst meals I’ve ever had. I overheard a woman at the next table saying her salad was inedible, but I’ll let her write her own review.

called to make reservation on a Tuesday at 7pm no answer. maybe it’s out of business?

This restaurant failed on several fronts. My husband and I met another couple there for dinner on a Saturday night. The service was extremely slow. We spent over 2 hours there and it was not crowded, but we didn’t mind because we were enjoying our visit. We were told several times that they had had a wedding there that day and they were still recovering from that. Since it is a fairly small restaurant, I’m sure a wedding was a challenge and this may have accounted for some of the problems. I ordered a spinach salad with the dressing on the side and the tuna, but at least 20 minutes later, the waitress came back to tell me they didn’t have any tuna. So I ordered the salmon, but was told that the last two servings of that had just been ordered by someone else. So I ordered the chicken with mushrooms. I went to use the restroom only to find that the sink had no faucet. Right next to the sink was a sign reminding all employees to wash their hands before leaving the restroom. Hm… Some time after I returned, my husband’s soup arrived. It was lukewarm tomato with a skin forming on the surface. A long time went by with nothing else, but just before our meals finally arrived, they brought my salad with the dressing already on it. Since all the meals were arriving the waitress asked if I still wanted the salad. I said I’d skip it. A few minutes later someone brought me another salad, so clearly there is a communication problem. My chicken was OK, but two of our party ordered the gnocchi. It was barely warm in the middle and cold around the edges, and they both said it was oddly flavorless. My husband was hungry so he ate it anyway, but the other person who ordered it said she didn’t want to waste the calories on something she couldn’t enjoy. She didn’t want to send it back or complain, but when the waitress came back, to ask how everything was, I told her about the problems. On a positive note, we were not charged for the spinach salad or the uneaten gnocchi, and my husband was not charged for his second glass of wine to make up for the unsatisfactory meal. With so many good restaurant choices in the area, they need to do better.

We made the mistake of eating here on New Year’s Day.
We should have known what we were in for, when we were at the beach and met a person who was affiliated with the prior restaurant. When he learned where we were eating, he winced, but would not say anything negative.
We sat in a table next to the window. Looking out the window gave a wonderful view of the «garden» — that is an area covered in paper scraps, overturned plant containers, and general waste. The men’s bathroom had a bad toilet that had yellow warning tape over the toilet. The toilet appeared to have been in this condition for a long time.
The restaurant gives the impression of not being cared for, and having seen better days. The day was cold, and a fire in the stove in the entry room outside the bar was cheerful. This was the only visible heater on the floor. The restaurant was exceedingly cold.
One has to wonder if this is the care taken of the facility, what care was taken for the food. The answer is below.
Restaurant was nearly empty at 6 pm, but staff present (bus boy and waitress) still had trouble responding to take our order and were almost non-​responsive during the meal. Water was never refilled. Bread (although good) apparently was so precious that our table of four could only get four small pieces at a time. We were told more was being baked, and would be right out. 20 minutes later, we again asked and got four more small pieces of bread. This was never refilled.
Meal started with a Caesar salad (we asked to split it, but of course nothing was done). The salad was one of the worst Caesar salads ever. Going this low takes considerable effort. The salad arrived excessively salted, with limp lettuce, floating in dressing and covered in capers. Parmesan cheese was missing. Main ingredient in the salad dressing was Worcestershire sauce. Croutons were micro pieces of very hard bread. This was very surprising since the bread pieces would have made excellent croutons.
Turkey soup, reportedly made to order from scratch, was vegetables and turkey in a light broth. This was good.
Two of us had lamb, which was four Frenched lamb chops cooked as ordered (medium rare) in a wine reduction sauce. Again, overly salted. Fried potato slices tasted as though they had been left over from the prior day. Broccoli served was nearly raw.
The seafood carbonara was in what was represented to be a carbonara sauce. What was served was a gloppy, thick, yellow sauce that had no taste. Unlike many of the dishes, it was not excessively salted. The clams looked not very fresh and had no delicate taste. The calamari was cooked properly and was the best seafood in the dish. Shrimp was overcooked.
Because the restaurant had run out of mushrooms, there was no ravioli on the menu, and the chicken scallopini were not on the menu. What was on the menu was a ricotta cheese ravioli that was reportedly good.
I am not certain if our mistake was eating on a holiday and the regular chef was not present. The food we had lacked finesse, delicacy, or any real understanding of taste combination. Our meal was not worth the high prices and would not justify any return, ever.

just left this restaurant without my meal, new years eve and one waitress, one cook, waited almost an hour for my fishy seafood pasta that felt as if there were sand in the clams, disgusting!

GG might be the best Italian restaurant in the Bay Area. This restaurant is wonderful. The service is fantastic and the food amazing. Highly recommended!
I had the evening’s special, pork ribs with a dried cherry balsamic reduction. OMG. The scallop appetizer was magic: shrimp, crab, and caviar with the scallops. The pizza is for real, thin crust with wonderful tomato sauce.

My wife and I decided to stop by here for a semi-​spontaneous bite to eat and were pleasantly surprised. The food was delicious and service was exceptional. My only complaint is that the food took a little while to come out (~30−45 minutes — which isn’t that bad).
Friendly advice for management: Consider perhaps changing your sign. I had no idea that this was an Italian restaurant when passing by.

Tremendous and couteous service. The risotto and Americano wine was excellent. Wednesday night jazz was an added treat.

El Hubs is having a corporate retreat nearby and you know what that means. I invited myself. He mentioned that the food served on his resort wasn’t satisfying so it was moi to the rescue. After looking up reviews and his favorite style restaurants, I decided upon GG. El Hubs had the pasta Bolognese and I chose the sesame encrusted tuna. El Hubs’ entrée won, by the slightest margin. Damn.
Excellent service and a little attention by the new owner made our meal even more satisfying. Another excellent choice .by ME!

This is my second visit to this historical hotel and restaurant. I came here on a recommendation from a friend. I am glad I did.
I was warmly greeted by the hostess as I entered. Soon after I was seated my server, Daniele came to inform me about the specials and take my drink order. He gave me some time to review the menu, during my review of the menu I was brought bread that was freshly made.
I decided to order the cheese plate to start with, it was brought out promptly. It had an assortment of cheese and some spreads (honey, cherry jam, apricot jam), great plate. For my entrée I ordered the tagliato di mango, slice filet seasoned nicely. The filet was cooked perfectly. I didn’t order dessert because I was completely satisfied and full. I ended my dining experience with a perfectly pulled by my server Daniele. During dinner the manager, Lino, came to make sure I was completely happy; I was.
You should definitely try this place. Great food, great service, and great management.
Good job everyone. I will see you again soon.

As locals my wife and I are always looking for something new in the area, considering the area this can be surprisingly difficult. So we decided to try GG after numerous changes in recent times to this location. The restaurant was lucky enough in previous incarnation to be recipient of a reality TV overhaul.
What a shame and waste, they reverted back to previous décor and an even worse menu.
My wife decided to take me there for my birthday dinner. As one who likes to try something different, I agreed with no reservations after reading the menu online. To bad the menu online was not the same as what was presented, not to mention it was a plastic laminate you would expect at iHop.
Not worth going any father after the false advertising, fail.

Oh the best Italian food in the Bay Area. And I live in San Francisco saying this!
The Pasta allo Scoglio is very good seafood dish, molto buono e come italia, it’s just like how it’s made in Italy. I can’t tell you how authentic this chef is. He’s a Napolitano chef and I tell you he’s the best in the Bay Area Il Migliore chef lui e bravissimo. The best chef.
Baba for dessert you have to try. But anything is good since not everyone has the Baba Au Rhum pallet. This chef comes from a dessert background he worked in a pasticceria in Italy for many years so DO NOT MISS THE DESSERTS! Probably the best part of the meal.
Daniele is a great server, buon uomo, uomo di onore di Brescia. He comes from the beautiful city of Brescia in the North of Italy and is a great server to have. Lino is a manager of the restaurant and is from the picturesque island of Capri. Giovanni is the owner of the restaurant and he’s very accomodating.
Buona cucina, belle personne, molte ospitale, great food, beautiful people very hospitable don’t miss out on GG!

We were setting ourselves up for disaster, after failed attempts to find dinner with two hungry toddlers, we stumbled in here as a last resort. It was fairly empty, and they would be willing to take us in despite the fact that it seemed so much nicer than a typical «kid-​friendly» restaurant. They immediately set us up with a margarita pizza for the little ones while we quickly browsed through the menu.
The service is slow, but it probably felt slower because we wanted to feed the kids and get out in time for bedtime. This place would be excellent for a romantic date night, where you don’t have to rush.
Having to rush through food is awful when it was as good as it was. Wow. Everything was perfectly done, beautifully presented, just right proportions — I had the best seafood spaghetti of my life, and I’ve eaten in Italy! The kids enjoyed the pizza, but after one bite, my picky toddler decided he needed to eat off my plate instead. Our group shared the polenta bites and calamari, both amazing as well.
We have never been to Aptos before, but this restaurant to me is worth a visit again. I love stumbling into places where they leave me with a lasting impression. There was also a gorgeous outdoor area, which looks lovely on a beautiful day/​night and the house itself is old and architecturally interesting. Highly recommend.

At 7pm on Sunday, our party of 4 walked in, followed a by a pair of women. No one was a greet station. The guy at the bar was too busy with his cash register to look up. We walked into the dining room twice to try to flag someone down. Just two tables of two. Both our party and the other party ended up across the street at Sparrow Café (see review there),
Perhaps we will come back, but probably not …

I highly recommend this place! The service is outstanding as well as they put so much love into the food. Quaint little Victorian house with so much character. Its also a bed and breakfast apparently you can stay in the rooms upstairs. Whenever in aptos this is a must try!

Perhaps if we had followed our waitress’s initial suggestion of ordering a pizza our experience would have been different.
However, we had set out for a ‘real’ meal and ordered from the non-​pizza menu.
The salad was good.
The veggie sides were only OK
The mains and pasta were unfortunate.
Chicken cutlet breaded and fried with ham and cheese.
Potato gnocchi doughy. Sauce greasy. Shrimp stingy.
No thanks.
If there is a next time, we’ll stick to pizza.

Great Italian restaurant, the owner is Italian and knows his food and wine!
We had a margarita pizza, the crust was perfect. The linguine and clams was excellent and the lasagna was awesome!
Overall great food and atmosphere.

I was actually dreading going to this place based on the only other review. We, on the other hand, had a very nice dining experience. We were greeted by a very friendly ‘hostess’ and shown to a table in a quaint ‘porch’ area with very nice white lace curtains giving us both privacy and a view to the outside. The server (who’s name I’ve unfortunately forgotten) was right there to take our drink order and give us menus. The food was very good and was served promptly. Our bread was wonderful (right from the oven). We’ll be going back again. Oh. one minor glitch. Their credit card machine wasn’t working but, thankfully, we had enough cash.