Oldest Italian Restaurant in Manchester – Don Giovanni

Manchester prestigious and the oldest independently owned Italian restaurant established since 1984.

The restaurant is located on Oxford Street which is close to the St. Peter Square tram stop and the Midland hotel. S walks past it quite often, and it’s always busy every time when S walks past. Therefore, S decided to give it a try!

The restaurant was bigger than S thought since there was more space in the back of the restaurant. The restaurant was quite full and busy on the day S visited, however, the quality of the service wasn’t affected by it. The staff were friendly and considerate during the time when S was there. There are different menus for you to select for different time periods in the day. Prosciutto E Funghi (£11.45), Pollo Alla Milanesé (£15.95) and Risotto Di Maré (£16.95) were the dishes S ordered that day. S went back again during the 50% off deal in August, and she decided to try something different. Grigliata Mista Di Pesce (£25), Risotto Aragosta (£18.95) and Scaloppine Al Funghi (£16.95) were the ones S tried during the second visit.

S ordered Prosciutto E Funghi pizza as a shared starter. S was looking forward to this because the funghi pizza she had before at Gusto was amazing. The taste here was different than S expected. The taste of tomato was stronger and the flavour of funghi didn’t really stand out. However, the topping was generous and the taste was still pretty good.

S was a bit surprised due to its portion size when it was served. The chicken was bigger than S’s face! These chicken was pretty tender even though the chicken was thin. As for the spaghetti part, it was standard spaghetti with Napoli sauce. If you like something with a strong tomato flavour, you will like this sauce. In the end, the chicken was so big that S could barely finish it.

The Risotto Di Maré was definitely the spotlight of the dish that night. When S first saw it, she thought it would taste strongly of tomato again. However, this dish didn’t taste much of tomato flavour which S quite liked it. Furthermore, the portion of the seafood in it was very generous and fresh. S would certainly try a different type of risotto the next time she visits.

The portion of Grigliata Mista Di Pesce was rather small for its original price, and to be honest, S wouldn’t recommend it even it has 50% off. The seafood was fresh but S wouldn’t say it was worth the price. S was a bit disappointed since S was really looking forward to try this dish!

Again, S was pretty surprised when the Scaloppine Al Funghi was served, and it was not the good kind of surprise. The portion was extremely small compared to the original price. The taste was alright since S didn’t know what to expect at the first place.

The Risotto Aragosta was the biggest disappointment for that night S has to admit. There was no lobster meat in that shell which the shell was just a decoration, and you can barely see or taste any lobster in the risotto. However, when S saw other pictures on the internet, they seem to have lobster meat in the shell. Moreover, the risotto was hard and feel like it didn’t absorb the sauce properly.

Overall, the portions here were all quite generous and the taste was also divine, and it’s certainly worth the price. Don Giovanni will definitely be on S’s list and would recommend to people who are looking for some good quality Italian food. However, S would surely recommend NOT to go during the deal time period, since the food was not as great as the normal time. S would like to give it another try next time to see if the quality goes down was because of the discount.

Restaurant info: 
Address: Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5AN
Phone: 0161 228 2482
Opening hours: Mon.-Thur. 12-11pm/Fri. and Sat. 12-11:30pm/Sun. 12-10pm
Site: http://dongiovanni.uk.com