Il Giardinetto

Finding places that will do a group meal for 21 people can be difficult, but our guide for the trip to Cinque Terre was able to arrange for a typical Ligurian meal at Il Giardinetto. The place looked closed when we got there, but eventually they welcomed us in and ushered us into a back room near the kitchen.
The waitress did not speak English, so our guide did the translating, so be warned if you are dining and do not speak Italian. However, I think that is a good thing! They have a nice menu with a variety of dishes for everyone, so if seafood isn’t your thing, you will find something too. We were told by our guide that the pasta with pesto is one of the specialties of the region, so a number of students ordered that. I chose to go with the spaghetti with vongoles (clams).
Our guide ordered a couple of starters for our table, one of them being the Octopus and Potato Salad. Now… my experience with Octopus in various dishes has not been successful, so I didn’t anticipate liking the dish. However, I felt I did need to set an example for the students and give everything a try. I’m glad I did! The Octopus and Potato Salad Starter is amazing! The Octopus was meaty and tender… not rubbery. And however they flavor the dish… kind of tasted like olive oil, lemon, and maybe garlic was brilliant with the Octopus and Potatoes.
Dishes started to drift out of the kitchen very slowly and our table was the last to be served. Our guide was actually starting to get a bit agitated and did say something to the waitress. While they do cook to order, I think cooking for a large group may have thrown them off. My pasta came out and it looked lovely! A pile of spaghetti with small clams dotted all over the pasta with a sprinkle of parsley. It isn’t a particularly saucy pasta dish, so if you are looking for loads of sauce, this isn’t for you. This is a light dish, filling, but won’t leave you wanting a nap afterward. I ate everything… ok, not everything, I did leave the clam shells.
Everyone seemed to enjoy their food, although one of the students had ordered the Swordfish (I should probably take the blame for this as I was telling him how lovely Swordfish is when we were at the fish market in Venice), but said that it was very oily and fatty. The guide, my colleague, and I all looked at each other because that is not the experience any of us have had with Swordfish, but he still ate most of it and did have a plate of pasta before it.
The price was very reasonable, in fact I thought it was pretty inexpensive. The students did pay for their own meals and not one mentioned the price, so I do take it that they thought it was good value, otherwise I’m sure we would have heard about it. I highly recommend this place if you are looking for typical Ligurian cuisine and don’t want to end up at a tourist trap.

Bonne adresse avec super produits locaux. Bonne cuisine. Seul bémol: service lent. Il faut compter env. 1 heure avant d’être servi !

Whoever does not want to be the «typical» tourist, is here at the right place. Mostly Italians visit this place. English is hardly spoken, food is amazing, typical dishes, very nice and very cheap.