Dinner at Giuseppe's Italian Deli and Market

A friend of mine had suggested for me to buy the Dealfind voucher for this restaurant b/c she had heard really good things about their food.  I thought why not, $20 for $40, and I get to try a new place.  Sadly, she ended up having a horrible experience there (maybe just an off night, who knows) so I was quite worried myself when I decided to go last week.  However, I actually had quite a decent time with my brother.

Since some of the online reviews stem around complaints of long waiting times for food, my brother and I made 5:30pm reservations and we were the second table there.  We were greeted by a very flamboyant server, whom my guess is the owner, and was quickly brought to our table.  Another server came by and took over from there.  Fearing of long wait times, we ordered our two pizzas and antipasto together and asked them to bring everything out at once.  However, the food only took about 20 minutes to arrive! As a result our little table was overcrowded with everything.

Here’s what we shared tonight:

Complimentary bread and oil & vinegar dip

Not sure if these were baked in house, but they were average.  I didn’t care for them and only had a piece.  They were soft and chewy – not warm though.

Crostini
served with antipasto platter

I didn’t have any of these, but my brother enjoyed them all.

Antipasto Italiano – $16
mixed plate of salami, prosciutto, Bocconcini Mozzarella, brie, Parmesan cheese, marinated tomatoes, marinated cucumbers & Olives marinated artichokes – all on a bed of spring mix

I was a bit scared when this was brought out b/c I didn’t realize it was such a big platter.  I crossed out the items in the menu description that was not on the platter and replaced it with items that were.  Everything on the platter was pretty standard but I really liked the marinated vegetables.  The meats were ok – the fat part on the prosciutto was very tough and hard to chew through which I have never experienced before.  I liked eating the salad with the shaved Parmesan cheese.

Quattro Formaggi – $12.99
tomato sauce, mozzarella, fontina, asiago and chevre

Very thin crust pizza with a decent amount of toppings.  I liked how the crust was not greasy but it was a tad dry for me – I like my crust to be a bit more chewy.  I prefer this one among the two we ordered.

Pollo Pancetta – $13.99
tomato sauce, mozzarella, torn cubed chicken breast, bell peppers, pancetta and fresh parsley

There was way more pancetta than chicken on here, but at least it was a decent amount of meats overall.  However, the pancetta was more like leaned cooked ham to me.

We thought the food here was decent and was happy we had a positive experience.  It wouldn’t be my first choice to get pizza due to my personal preference of the crust, but I would definitely try their other dishes.  Our server gave really good service and we enjoyed conversing with him.

After dinner we browsed the market downstairs for a quick bit.  I have to say I was disappointed with the selection b/c some items were things you can get at a general grocery store, with the exceptions of a few oils, vinegars and pasta.  Yet there wasn’t even that much stuff anyway.  There’s a selection of desserts too that you can buy and eat it at the tables on the lower floor.  The deli part had pay by the weight items – we saw some that was on our antipasto platter.  I also saw a freezer with some meals that you can take home and reheat.  I didn’t look further to see if there was sandwiches or anything.

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