Gio Rana's Really Really Nice

If you want to get your food within 30 minutes don’t come here.

We waited almost two hours for our food to arrive. Our waitress Flora kindly informed us that we should’ve have expected our food to arrive almost two hours late because “it was Friday”. Wha’s funny is that they have a 2 hour seating policy because it’s one of their busiest dinners. By the way, if you want your food on time, she recommends you tell the waitstaff all of your business, what you’re doing that night and how much time you actually have just so they can actually give you service, not good service but the basic service. Personally I never had to do that any other restaurant but Flora insisted! I feel bad the other guests didn’t know because they probably had to starve for dinner as well.

Flora was also quick to blame her manager for our missing entree as if she didn’t take our order for it. Hopefully the other staff aren’t taking as much blame as Flora’s manager.

As you may be able to tell already, we received no apology for the wait, only unsolicited and unreasonable advice-really Flora was the sole reason for that. To top it off, the food wasn’t even good enough to have waited all that time! Maybe it’s because we only had about 5 minutes to eat it and we had a side of Flora’s attitude.

I hope that anyone else who eats here can actually appreciate the food or at the very least get it in a reasonable amount of time. Wish this place all the best but I can’t imagine that happening with Flora in-house.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 1

Terrible customer service, specifically from our waitress, Flora.

We arrived at 6:10 PM and promptly ordered appetizers, drinks, and mains for four people. By 7:20 PM (over an hour later) our mains still hadn’t arrived. When we asked, Flora said they were “on the way,” but it was obvious the order had never been properly put through.

At 7:45 PM, we still had no food, and we had an 8:00 PM concert to attend. When we told Flora we had to leave, instead of apologizing for the delay, she blamed us: saying it was our fault for not telling them in advance that we had somewhere to be because it was a Friday. That response was completely unprofessional. What kind of a restaurant requires 1.5 hours to cook 5 mains? So either Flora is terrible at customer service and gaslighting us or this restaurant doesn’t know how to manage their flow of customers or cook food timely. (FYI - we were told at seating that there’s a 2-hour seating limit so it’s obvious that Flora had forgotten our orders, or else it’s ridiculous to expect us to eat everything in 15 mins).

To make matters worse, every table seated after us had already received their meals.

We asked for the bill and takeout containers since we no longer had time to eat. The couple with us asked whether their grilled fish was ready and, if not, to cancel it. Flora’s response? “I didn’t see a fish on the grill? The manager just gave me this receipt, I don’t know about any fish” At that point, it was clear she had forgotten to place at least one of our mains… had we not proactively asked.

Food: pork had too much black pepper, focaccia was dry, meatball was average and tasted just like pure tomato sauce (flavour had no nuance)

Average food, but it was really Flora’s terrible customer service that completely ruined our evening and our date night. We had to go to the concert without eating any dinner. We won’t be returning

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 1

Excellent food, great service, wonderful vibe. Music is a tad loud so sit away from a speaker but WELL worth a visit or ten!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great food. Love their dessert. Music is very loud and hard to have conversation. Suggest to print some larger font menu as it's impossible for seniors to read the super small font menu in very dim light.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Giant Meatball and Tomato Ragu, Braised Veal Ossobuco, Panna Cotta

I went to the original Gio's in the Beaches many years ago and was expecting the same great food. This is not the same at all. The pana cotta was like instant pudding and not Italian. The pasta was average and the bathroom was freezing cold and the door would not close. Again, okay food but nothing I would return for.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 4

Been here several times in different settings.. and every time I come I ask myself why I don’t come more often. Food is always good, music is sooo good that you don’t want to talk with people you came with 🤣. We had risotto balls, rigatoni, pork shoulder something OMG deli, beet salad.. love love

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Outstanding service (shoutout Chloe)! My friend and I had a really nice time here. Ambience was so lively (Friday night) and we never felt rushed and were consistently checked in on. My only note was that the rigatoni was a bit too al dente for my liking, and I felt like the baked gnocchi lacked a bit of flavour, but I know these could just be preference. Would definitely recommend the giant meatball and the focaccia though!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

The best

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

10/10 no notes...

That meatball dish...I'm dreaming of it wow a true ratatouille moment! Enjoyed the Papparadelle and the Raspberry Torta for dessert. The service was absolutely impeccable! Will be back!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

There are some great options on the menu. I highly recommend the meatballs and the ragù type pasta!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Went on a Friday night without a reservation. Put my name on a list and got a table for two after about 45 minutes (consistent with what the host said).

Service was great. Didn’t catch the name of our server but he was helpful during ordering, friendly, and the right level of attentive.

We got 4 dishes, and overall the food was excellent and very reasonably priced given the portion sizes.

Giant meatball (5/5) - amazing, sauce was spot on, very generous portion
Pearled couscous (3.5/5) - a bit underdone and one of the mussels tasted off, otherwise flavor was great
Ossobuco: (4.5/5) - creamy and decadent, would order again
Beet salad (4/5): Not a big beet fan but this was still good, would have liked a bit more goat cheese

Atmosphere was nice and lively. Music and general volume was a touch loud, but not impossible to hold a conversation. This would be a fun place to share a meal with a group of 4-6.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Excellent service and a more excellent plate of pasta.!!! Coming from an Italian background and an avid traveller to Italy (once a week). It's hard to find something this good in Toronto! I wish there were more stars!

amazing food, great service and a lovely cozy vibe. staff was very accommodating to some dietary restrictions in our group and our food was INCREDIBLE. highly, highly recommend!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Delicious food shared amongst a party of 10+. Family style but more than enough food for everyone. Great service, delicious food highly recommended

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Giant Meatball and Tomato Ragu, Tuscan Fries

A little pricy but another wise pretty perfect restaurant experience. Friendly and attentive service, hip vibe, and a delicious menu that I want to come back to keep exploring! I highly recommend this place!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Fresh Italian Burrata