Giovanni's...redefining the sushi bar

Well, my husband has baited the hook with the dead fish jokes and it's time for me to reel you into the story...

It was our first visit to Giovanni's and we were treated to a special table next to the live saltwater fish tank. Almost immediately after being seated I noticed there was a dead fish in the bottom of the tank staring up at me. I informed the waiter and he genuinely seemed concerned for about 30 seconds. Throughout the evening I had the pleasure of watching several crab-like creatures and a white millipede-looking sea serpent dine on the dead fish.

Unfortunately the only pleasant thing I can say about our evening was that the wine was good. I started my meal with the melon and prosciutto appetizer. Now I know this is a very 90's style of appetizer but I can't resist honeydew and ham! The melon was refreshing but the presentation was very sloppy...basically piles of prosciutto on a plate with some fruit.

Moving on to the salad course. The house salad was supposed to be a mix of romaine and mixed greens...case #1 of the menu not matching reality...there were no mixed greens. For the life of me I can't figure out why Giovanni's doesn't take advantage of local ingredients like Giaccomo's fresh mozzarella for their salads. Instead I got small chunks of rubbery "buffalo milk" mozzarella...last I checked there aren't any buffalo roaming around in Greensboro. Oh by the way, a small sea urchin was now feasting on the eyeball of the fish in the tank...yummy!

For my main course I ordered the seafood risotto. It takes true talent to make a good risotto and I'm afraid Giovanni's failed miserably at this task. First of all the menu described it as having scallops, shrimp, clams, and calamari. Case #2 of a faulty menu description...no calamari and a load of mussels. Did I mention that I don't eat mussels and I certainly would not have ordered the risotto had I know it would have mussels in it! When I brought this to the waiter's attention the chef informed him that "no, it is not on the menu but I like to add my own little twist." Their compromise was to bring me two extra shrimp. Did I mention it only had one shrimp in it to begin with? All of the seafood in the dish was overcooked and the risotto had very little flavor. It was swimming (unlike my dead little nemo friend) in tomato broth. Again the presentation was sloppy.

I'm afraid Giovanni's may end up swimming with the fishes too!

Hope for the best... and get a dead fish in the tank.

Giovanni's Italian Restaurant
High Point Rd., Greensboro, NC.

My wife and I recently tried Giovanni's hoping for the best. We are in search of a great restaurant in Greensboro and so far the search has been a disappointment. Giovanni's is on our route to many locations in town. We always say "we need to try that place" as we pass the restaurant on the way to the nearby Harris Teeter. Well, now we can say "there's the dead fish place." We will get to the dead fish joke a bit later. I am sure that will be the focus of my wife's review and I can't wait to read it. For now let's just focus on the food.

The menu is a collage of Italian-American favorites including everything from calamari to manicoti. Gnocchi, by which I tend to judge all Italian restaurants, also makes an appearance but I was discouraged from ordering it by the waiter who indicated "there isn't much to it." So I decided to start with the "house-cured" salmon carpaccio with fennel salad (pet peeve #1, menu description and menu item do not match). The cured salmon arrived at the table on a bed of butchered romaine lettuce with capers, large yellow onion strips, and soaked in olive oil. The presentation left something to be desired, but sometimes the flavor makes up for it. Nope, not this time. The "house-cured" salmon tasted like it was fresh from the Harris Teeter. Did I mention it came with a fennel salad? Oh yeah, that was just on the menu. I am sure my wife will also talk about descriptions later so I will let it slide for now.

Next came the house salad. I never expect much from a house salad so we can move on to the main course, Veal Saltimbocca. I know most humane-conscious people don't eat veal, but it's a guilty pleasure of mine. The Saltimbocca swam to the table drowning in a pool of some type of broth and was unrecognizable due to the thick coating of cheese. It came with a side of penna pasta tossed in a red meat sauce. An Italian restaurant that over cooks pasta should have it's Frank Sinatra soundtrack taken away (pet peeve #2, self explanatory). I should have asked for a side of flavor, but I think that was only in the menu description as well. The mozzarella garnished with veal and prosciutto had some taste, but I didn't remember reading about the side of soup that came on top of it.

Once we finished, the waiter brought out a tray garnished with 1970's palm frawns and some Harris Teeter desserts . It might be hard to believe, but we had to pass on dessert. I figured since we had to go to the grocery store in the morning I could just get it then.

My wife and I were truly disappointed. We were hoping for some great Italian food and instead found Giovanni's. I would have to say the food is very lazy. Maybe I should explain my definition of lazy. Presentation, flavor, and quality all play an equal role in a dish. If you take short cuts you compromise the quality (sand in the mussels), the flavor (mmmm...is this mozzarella sprinkled with veal), and the presentation (did I mention a fennel salad). Giovanni's is definitely lazy.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the fish tank sushi bar. I don't want to steel my wife's thunder so I will have to let her fill you in.

Bonefish Grill
The Attack of the Chain! (His View)
My wife will tell you that I am not a fan of chains. The large corporate conglomerates that focus on cooking for the masses are not my favorite. The menus are based on recipes developed by a group in clean white chef coats sitting in a nice kitchen somewhere in fairy tale land. The recipes are designed so Joe Shmoe in Somewhere, USA can prepare the meal using pre-made ingredients and serve it to the masses with some consistency and without thinking. The artistic ability of the chef has been replaced with minium wage cooks and subpar kitchen managers.

There is a bright spot when it comes to chain restaurants. Most of the time they are consistent. With all of this said, we went to Bonefish Grill. The service was fine, the food was average, and for me the price was a little high. I am always going to complain about price so.... No big deal. After being in the business for several years you learn what ingredients cost and it is always hard for me to justify the cost when we go out to eat, especially at a chain restaurant. I can accept the cost at a local restaurant, unless it sucks, when you are purchasing a small glimse into the mind of the chef. Bone Fish, for what it is, was average. The food tasted like food and the service was courteous and attentive. If my wife wanted to drag me back I would probably go and eat an average meal, then drive her crazy with my complaints about cost and mediocrity.

Ristorante L'Italiano, High Point, NC

Mistaken Identity? (His View)

Before I get started I need to let you know that my wife and I are not out looking for bad restaurants. We are not trying to nit pick for the soul purpose of creative writing. A good meal, at a good price is all we are asking for. Between the two of us we make an honest living, but we are also on a tight budget like the rest of you. It would be nice to go to a white table cloth restaurant every time you go out for dinner, but good food doesn’t just hang out in the polished kitchens of a fine dinning establishment. I mean, I love a good “hole in the wall!” A place where the china only matches if you’re blind, the tables have survived 2 World Wars, and Aunt Mabel is still bringing sweet tea to the table with a smile. These are the places that I search for. The food is always great, the service…..hey.. it’s Aunt Mabel, and the atmosphere is like a scene out of Mayberry. A place like that knows who they are and they don’t change.

A pet peeve of mine is going to a restaurant that wants to be “high class” and doesn’t pay attention to the details that come with those high expectations. With the case of Ristorante L’Italiano they need to find their identity. Let me pause for a moment and paint you a picture. Imagine a black and white linoleum tile floor, old “Burger King” style booths with white table cloths, 5 waitresses running around with 5 different uniforms (I believe we only saw ours twice), and we can’t forget the standard Italian restaurant staples; old movie posters of Frank Sinatra and “The Godfather.” Now imagine paying $17 for the chicken parmesan (a $2 pre-breaded chicken breast with 50 cents worth of marinara and cheese) with your choice of frozen overcooked vegetables (25 cents worth) or pasta (maybe 10 cents). Yes, I said you have to “choose” pasta at an Italian place. The Caesar salad was a make shift blend of iceberg lettuce, assorted vegetables, and processed white cheese cut into little squares with the dressing on the side (about 90 cents total). The garlic bread was bread minus the garlic and butter (we won’t even go there). That whole description was my wife’s plate. I insisted on ordering gnocchi, the standard dish that I measure all Italian restaurants by. I got the same gnocchi I could buy at any Italian grocery store (maybe even Harris Teeter) and the same “so called” Caesar salad ($14, no vegetables just gnocchi and sauce). Just to stir things up a bit, they bring a nice lemon sorbet to cleanse your pallet between courses (10 cents tops). The sorbet is presented in a soft plastic 2oz cup that you would put your ketchup in at Arby’s (2 cents for the cup, watch out!). Overall the food tasted good for what it was, a small Italian “hole in the wall”, but the details and cost showed that L’Italiano has lost their way.

Goosby's Calabash

Out to Sea (Her View)
On a whim we decided to test the waters at Goosby's Calabash seafood joint. I use the word joint because it is only one step above "a dive" and a far cry from being considered a quality establishment. The decor reminded me of a nightmarish mega-buffet you'd see at the beach complete with gigantic buoys scattered about the front lawn. When we pulled in the parking lot at 7pm there were a grand total of 3 cars!! RED FLAG!!

Let's move onto the food. This place is not exactly a health food paradise. The menu consisted of a buffet loaded with fried fish, fried scallops, fried calamari...you get the point, it was a veritable smorgasbord of artery clogging concoctions. I was not pleased!! The one item on the buffet not deep fried in a vat of lard was the "blackened" tilapia. Folks let me cue you into something...blackened should not be a fancy cover up for BURNT!! The only saving grace was the cole slaw - but then again how hard is it to chop some cabbage and mix it with mayo! The most painful part of our dining experience was when the bill arrived. $38 was way overpriced for the quality of food.
Sorry Goosby's but its time you pull up your anchor and ship out to sea!!

Ship Wreck!! (His View)
Ooh Goosby's. We probably should have ran for McDonalds when it took us 5 minutes to decide if they were open or if the three cars parked in the lot were just part of the scrap metal collection on the front lawn. I had hoped for such good things, but then again how often can you find good seafood this far inland. Little did we know there would be crispy critters lurking inside. I think Goosby's should change their motto to "when in doubt, fry it!" Holy arteries! I have never seen such a heart stopping (not in a good way) display of fried sea creatures in my life. They did attempt to provide some type of nutrition by trying to blacken some type of fish. Usually you blacken with spice and a hot skillet, not cooking yesterdays fish until it surrenders every ounce of moisture and begs for mercy. Overall, stay away. FARRRRR away. Just a little pirate humor to make light of the fact we paid $38 for 5 years worth of damage to our artieries.

Our Mission

Our Mission!! (His View)
Culinary troops unite! The Opinionated Cafe is designed to provide you (the culinarian) with a professional (mine) and an amateur (my wife) opinion about food in the Triad. Our mission is to keep you from wasting your money on "wanna be" food professionals and their bad experiments that they call cuisine. I have been a chef for ten years. I will tend to be a little more critical on the overall experience and the professionalism of the restaurant as a whole. On the other hand my wife, who has been enjoying pretty good food for some time, has grown into a little food snob herself. Her side, for the most part, will be a little more foo foo and focus on.....well I will let her tell you. Together we enjoy good food, great company, and a good bottle of wine. We hope that reading our reviews and tit bits of information will help you make the correct choices when dining out.

Our Mission (Her view)
Food snobs unite!! Unlike my husband I am not a professional chef but am a critical consumer of quality cuisine. My perspectives on food come from years of benefiting from my husband's exceptional culinary skills - did I mention he is an award winning chef! My goal is to provide you with a vibrant description of flavors and presentations of food served in local Triad establishments. You can call me the Rachael Ray of Jamestown!