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Pizzeria Garibaldi

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Slug
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4 out of 5
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Pizzeria Garibaldi - Lashings of Great Quality Pizza!

  • July 18, 2009
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Slug from Huddersfield, United Kingdom
Pizzeria Garibaldi - Lashings of Great Quality Pizza!

We decided to stay in the town of Mestre, just over the main bridge to Venice for our recent trip. This would mean we could afford better quality accommodation, as hotels in Venice itself are very expensive.

We also avoided the "trolley run" in the centre of the car-less city. Judging by the numbers of sweating tourists lugging their suitcases over the humpbacked canal bridges in the centre of Venice in the midday heat, our decision proved a good move.

Another benefit of staying in Mestre was that our evening meal costs tended to be cheaper. A bar close to our hotel sold beer for three and a half Euros; the same beer in the city centre would cost Six Euros. Assume you sink a fairly restrained three beers each on an evening; it would save a couple 15 Euros a night. Over three nights, this would prove to be a considerable saving.

The downside of Mestre is that it is an unexceptional, and in places, an ugly town. It is at the heart of the industrial hinterland around Venice, and the town centre itself is largely a 1960’s built shopping centre. It was almost like spending a weekend in Basildon in the UK.

Fortunately, we spotted a couple of good restaurants in Mestre. One was the Pizzeria Garibaldi on the edge of the town centre, and in a rare older part of town. The Pizzeria Garibaldi is a large and very popular restaurant, with a nice array of outside tables. I particularly liked the Pizzeria Garibaldi, as it seemed very popular with locals; being out here, it has to ensure its customers come back, and makes a special effort with the quality of the meal.

The only downside to the alfresco dining is the trendy bar opposite. First, it made me feel old and reminded me that fifteen years ago I would have been drinking at the other side of the street, sneering at the oldies having a boring meal and a glass of wine. Second, the music was fairly loud trance dance music. I didn’t actually mind the music (heh, perhaps there is still hope for me!), but it might not be to everyone’s taste.

Given the name, the restaurant specialised in Pizza, and I was dazzled with the full four pages of the menu devoted to the stuff. If you don’t fancy Pizza, there is plenty of other pasta and Italian choice. Rather than the Pizzas being perhaps 9-12 Euros as they are on the other side of the long bridge, here they started at 6.50, another little saving for this canny traveller.

To start our meal, the restaurant served us with a few fresh ciabatta buns. The bread was delicious, and added one and a half euros each to the final bill.

My pizza was the food highlight of our trip; I chose the spicy salami, roast red pepper, olives and mushroom Zingara, and was rewarded with a lovely fresh and heavily laden pizza. I was completely stuffed, but determined to finish off. I would have only regretted leaving some!

I ordered a side dish of tomato salad, and the waiter asked whether I wanted the tomato on the pizza, with the pizza or before the pizza. Unfortunately, the salad was a little bit of a disappointment, as it was literally two plain sliced tomatoes. I was kind of expecting a little fresh onion and a drizzle of basil infused oil. For an extra 50 cents, my beloved received the same two tomatoes, but mixed into a load of green salad leaves; this seemed by far the better choice.

To accompany our meal, we shared a large carafe of house wine. I am always disgusted when restaurants serve poor house wine, and fortunately, this was on the right side of reasonable, although nothing to write home (or to igougo) about. Unfortunately, the wine proved to be a very slight "rip off", as the wait staff had not provided us with wine prices, and we foolishly assumed it would come in at around 10 Euros (as it did elsewhere in Mestre). Fifteen euros didn’t break the bank, but it left a slightly bad taste.

Our service was good fast and polite, and although the restaurant was busy, they left us to linger to finish off our wine after our meal. Sweets were of the pre-prepared kind, although the local speciality, Tiramisu was home made. Unfortunately, our stomachs were too full to take a sample.

Overall, we found the Pizzeria Garibaldi to be a good solid choice, and reasonable value. As there was no automatic service charge included, our meal came in at 45 Euros for two.

From journal Venice - Italian Dining

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