Da Gianni - A Great Place to Dine in Hull

.....a culinary pleasure in Italian all round dining

Da Gianni - 48 Princes Avenue,

Kingston-Upon-Hull HU5 3RX

I had not really noticed this place before, tucked away on Princes Avenue. Hannah, our good friend and babysitter had mentioned Da Gianni in the past but I had not really paid much attention (shame on me!).

By pure coincidence, the Saturday evening we had arranged for Hannah to babysit, we spent that morning with two of the restaurants' employees....who just happened to be parents of one of Raffi's nursery school friends, lovely Melanie. We had chatted in the morning about the restaurant and I thought it would be perfect to take Eric there for a meal. We both adore Italian food and this place was not to far from home and fortunately they had a table available for us.

My first impression was WOWWW, really, the sight that greeted me can only be described as ten foot leaping flames either side of the entrance door. Spectacular and certainly a "head turner" for the numerous people frequenting this cosmopolitan area of Hull. Always known for its cafe bar culture, many pubs and general rowdiness and increasing at an alarming rate. The crowds were overspilling onto the pavements giving an almost Mediterranean feel (apart from the weather that is!!). Great for the regular diners and drinkers but I guess not so great for the locals living close by.

Da Gianni have got it just right. They ARE imitating the Mediterranean outdoor eating, cafe bar culture, and successfully beating the weather with huge magnificent outdoor heaters. Absolutely perfect for free advertising as people have to look..well done Da Gianni.

Once inside, ten minutes earlier than our booking time of nine oclock, it turned out to be no problem for the staff and sat down immediately at a spacious table near the bar. The restaurant operated 2 sittings, one at seven and one at nine. The seven o'clock diners were just finishing, there was a warm level of noise with piped music and gentle chatter.

By nine thirty the place was virtually full of noisy yelling people. It was a nice atmosphere but not really good for intimate conversation.

The service excellent, as was the food, certainly worthy of A class Council rating, not B class as quoted on the door!

The waiters, very attentive, all male, but not Italian!

The outdoor area with its leaping flames was truly amazing to see from the roadside. It was even better experienced close up. We stood outside and people watched whilst our food was being prepared, enjoying the warmth from the massive heaters. You could have imagined very clearly somewhere with sunnier climes, the only difference was that all the girls in their summer frocks were catching a major chill from the British weather in the pub outside next door!

Nice one Da Gianni what a great way to make the heads turn.

Now to the food, very quickly our plentiful food arrived, piping hot and looked extremely appetising. Although I did think the green salad was rather unimaginative along side such splendid dishes of Prawns, Mussels, Pate, Pizza and Lasagna. This was merely a minor point... the superb taste of all the dishes far outweighed this small niggle.

We drank red wine and vodka and our bill was under £50.00, very reasonable we thought.

I was pleasantly surprised at their professional website, their food certainly lives up to their quality advertising on and off the web.

http://www.dagianni.co.uk/

I would certainly recommend Da Gianni restaurant and I have heard the take away two doors down is just as good.

Enjoy your meal!