Giovanni's Ristorante in Highland

My partner ordered the spaghetti bolognaise which seemed like it had been sat out for over 15mins. I ordered sausage pasta which was 10/10. We got garlic dough balls for starter which were hard and stale. Only got 4 balls which cheese melted ontop and tomato sauce which was about £6! My negroni wasn’t very nice. Definitely more of a family restaurant. I was surprised when the many was pizza or pasta, is there nothing else that’s Italian?

We booked dinner and I ordered mozzarella sticks which came with a pomedore sauce. The sauce served to myself and the wee one under 5 got contained chilli. I have an allergy to chilli and deliberately chose a non chilli sauce (pomedor) . On complaining, the waitress said oh it comes with this spicy sauce. I said no that's not right and did say it was not correct. I also said why would a child get a spicy sauce. Upon checking the menu I was correct and sauce was a plain tomatoe one. The waitress made out it was my fault and said the sauce was spicy as per the menu and the attitude was not great. Would not reccomend.

Very impressed! After a long days travelling to Aviemore we had pre-booked this restaurant and to be honest I wasn’t really expecting much. We arrived at 5pm and ordered from a very typical menu of pizzas and the usual meals. I was with my family of 2 adults 2 children 9 & 12. The food came out piping hot and in less than 5 minutes! I had ordered the spaghetti Bolognese and it was really tasty, I’m not a massive foody but there was something special about it. Everyone else loved their pizzas too. Desert was ordered and came out in a similar fashion and they even had apple crumble with custard which was nice as I didn’t fancy anything too rich. After chatting to the manager they have a new chef and some new staff and it’s doing really well.

I asked for a focaccia, and they brought me three slices of bread with a bowl of oil (it was not clear what oil it was) and a teaspoon of salt. What??? and they call it focaccia. The carbonara? With rocket?? With bacon ( you must use pork cheek, and I didn't taste any Pecorino Romano flavour). This is not an Italian restaurant! There is nothing Italian inside. Only the three colors of the flag outside.

Delicious Italian food, with super quality service! A fine dining experience at MacDonald resort!

Shrimp linguini was the bomb!!!

Food was horrific, service diabolical and we paid £30 for a bottle of white wine they hadn’t chilled so they offered us ice cubes. We didn’t even finish our mains it was that bad

Excellent food. Service was fast. Staff were very attentive. We had Spicy pizza, carbonara n Vanilla & Nutella Creme Brule. Very tasty. Great atmosphere. We had £50 (£25 each) budget being on half board with hotel. I was only £10.40 extra for drinks. Great Value. Defo recommend

Penne Arrabbiata was delicious. Well done chef.

I came to Aviemore expecting to find Leprauchans and soon found myself disappointed after realising that was an Irish creature and not Scottish. The overwhelming disappointment had a cascading effect and lead to me being famished. Out of pure desperation, I flocked to the nearest restaurant with decent ratings and found this place, built and constructed by Mr Giovani himself in 1602. As a one man restaurant I wasn't expecting much, but was incredibly surprised. Not only did this place help me get over my rational fear of Scottish people, but it also served me a hearty meal. Let me start with the setting. This little restaurant takes very avante gard approach to decor with seaweed and marijuana on display in little cute Italian bottles. It caught me off guard at first, but its all a part of the art exihibition; that was the meaning behind the art, the shock factor. This instantly added at least 2 stars to my rating. The Scottish actors that were paid to speak with an Italian accent were very impressive. Now let's get to the meat n' taters, or should I say the pizza n' pasta (that's what me and my partner ordered). First of all, the pricing was very high. Maybe it was meant to be a striking piece of social commentary on capitalism; either way, very avante gard. The food took very little time to get onto our table and into our gobs. Good to know the microwave was working. The carbonara was very oily and tasted of carbonara. Maybe a bit more like subpar carbonara. I ordered the fun guy pizza, because that's what I am. I think the chefs forgot the main ingredient, the taste. The dough was very nice though. I expected so much after seeing that they cooked it in a medieval forge that would make even the tightest of dwarves proud. The food was food and that was definitely one of the meals of all time, I can tell you that much. The dude who looked like Owen from 'The Haunting of Bly Manor' was very kind. Liked him a lot. Same goes for the lady who looks like Marie from Breaking Bad. Much love from Bilingo!!!! 🇻🇮🇻🇮🇻🇮

Amazing place. The staff were outstanding and the pace was really fast, in a good way! We will defo be going back here next time we are in Aviemore.

We visited the restaurant during our stay in the resort. The adults food were nice, served very quick, but I was highly disappointed with the kids meal. The breaded chicken stated on the menu it is free range chicken breast filet and what we got was chicken nuggets, which my daughter didn't like at all.

family of 3. Ordered a starter, main and desert each. Service was first class and foot was really nice. I would recommend to anyone visiting Aviemore to come here

Excellent all round. Very fast and efficient and everything arrived super fast. Good value and very nice staff. Pizza and pasta dishes were excellent. Proper pizza oven and open kitchen setup! Couldn't have been better!

Absolutely loved the restaurant and the food - couldn't fault a single thing

Just because you have a good pizza oven doesn’t mean you know how to make good pizza. Anchovies don’t look like nor taste like mackerel. Italian pizzas don’t have semolina on the base, they use flour. £40 for two smallish pizzas and two soft drinks is a disgrace.

I had the prawn Linguine and it was amazing , the staff are also really nice and welcoming, this place is definitely worth coming

Food was absolutely gorgeous and staff were very warm and welcoming especially Marina.

This a an amazing place for super. Me and my family went and we all loved it I definitely recommend

Food was amazing and staff were friendly, specially Marina 😊 I really recommend going here

Pizza was very good made in a traditional italian charcoal oven. We did not taste any pasta because other reviews were critical. Service was very good after we first were ignored at the entrance waiting to be seated. Ambiente was also ok, but nothing special. Restaurant was pretty good to reach per foot when staying at the McDonalds Highlands Resort

Pizza’s are good. Other options were of poor quality. Kids Pollo Milanese - in name only - were cheap pieces of processed chicken. At £6.50 for three, not only was the quality horrendous, the portion size was too. If you go, get pizza!!

The food was absolutely amazing, the staff were so friendly and accommodating they went over and above. We will definitely be returning. They said service would be slow but food came within 10 minutes!! Brilliant.

Pâtes à l’amatriciana: j’ai dû compter 3 ou 4 micro morceaux de viande, la quantité de fromage reçue était ridicule. 3/5. Dessert: crème brûlée. Elle était froide sur toute sa hauteur (sans doute grillée dans l’après-midi). La pâte avait un bon goût mais une texture pas comme elle aurait dû être (légèrement grumeleuse). 3/5. Service sympathique : 4/5. Prix: ok.

Nice wood fired pizza oven. Some staff had fantastic service skills, ( a guy from Stonehaven) most were so terrible it was almost funny, trying so hard to not look at customers one waitress walked into a table.

Amazing Italian restaurant with tasty pizzas and pastas, plus you can get any of their options in a gluten free version, which was essential since my wife is a coeliac. The staff is very attentive and polite.

Good restaurant, perfect for us as we were staying on the Macdonald Aviemore resort and didn't want to go far on our first night. Really busy. A bit pricey but that's what you get for a convenient location. It's a novelty to see a real pizza oven in action.

Absolutely stunning. Pizza was fantastic, pasta amazing and the pizza chef really friendly. The evening was positively awesome 🙂🙂🙂🙂

Great service and great food! Very accommodating with a hangry toddler.

Some of the starters were pre-cooked, which came 1min (mozzarella sticks was cold and dough balls were microwaved) after we ordered. Staff was mostly pleasant, except one young waiter in a blue shirt being quite arrogant. If you have to order anything I would go for the pizza, at least that was cooked fresh. Otherwise typical cafeteria food as others mentioned. Wouldn’t go again.

I used to love crème brûlée…..then came here. Sad times.

Went there for Pizza while staying at the resort. Food was great! Despite being mobbed and being 2 servers down, they kept up with the crowd. The Host was brilliant, he kept his cool despite some people being very rude and impatient. I would say he did a fantastic job and should be commended on his efforts.

Food was amazing and staff were friendly I really recommend going here

AMAZING! Got what you expect from an Italian restaurant. In a party of 4 we came here for breakfast and dinner both were amazing. Staff so friendly and really fast service. I would recommend coming here instead of aspects. Good job staff!

We had a reservation for 9pm, we reached the place at 9:05, nobody attented us for almost 6-8 minutes and then we were told restaurant closes at 9pm. No clear communication between the hotel and the restaurant reception. How can they give us a reservation for 9pm when the restaurant closes at 9pm? Absolutely ridiculous service and attitude. Please avoid this place at all costs.

Had a meal here tonight. The hotel seemed to have overbooked the restaurant and we, and others, had a bit of a wait for our table, but the attitude and service of the staff more than made up for any inconvenience. The food was great, and I cannot commend the staff highly enough. They worked quickly and efficiently with smiles on their faces (under their masks lol) . Well done to them all. Thanks for a lovely evening.

A week or two ago we actually stayed at the Macdonald resort just around the corner from Giovannis and I also went there for breakfast about 3 days out of the 4 I stayed there. I see a lot of mixed reviews for this place but let me tell you, don’t get put off by the negative reviews, it’s definitely worth a visit. The breakfast was really delicious and the service was very great too, I had the same breakfast the vegetarian full English 3 times in a row I enjoyed it so much! They also offer the meat version of course and a whole bunch of other things like continental breakfast etc. They also do amazing pizzas, takeaway aswell, my sister had one and I had a piece, I enjoyed it so much I got one myself the next day. The restaurant itself is very tidy and well decorated too.

A fantastic restaurant. The food was excellent and the staff were very friendly. You all accommodated our needs to the highest of standards. Thank you.

No complaints! an absolute saving grace when we visited aviemore as all the other restaurants were booked up. Giovanni’s accommodated us last minute and couldn’t of been more lovely. All the staff were spot on with quick service ( the food came very quick). The food was lovely too. Would recommend!

Went 2 nights on the trot while staying in macdonald resort as the staff were brilliant and the food also pizzas great and had pasta 2nd night also good definitely recommend if you are in aviemore

Fast service, they were trying hard to make sure safe distancing was adhered to. Felt the staff were all quite new and finding there feet but were happy to check on what a dish contained if they didn't know. Food was generally good or very good. Would happily go back again.

The staff are all very pleasant, helpful and efficient (goodness knows what happens at Brexit, given none were British) but the kitchen lets them down. The food doesn't rise above mid range cafeteria quality. Prices are acceptable for the quality but expectations were higher for a 'resort' property.

We have ordered two Margherita pizza and probably a frozen pizza from Aldi would have tasted nicer. It cannot be considered an Italian restaurant.

The food is fine, also as the dessert. The table is shaking all the time which is so annoying and uncomfortable. And we need to ask 3 times for water. It will be my last choice to come here again.

Do not reccomend service was very slow waited 25 minutes to order our food. When the food arrived my portion of lasagna was tiny with more pasta and cheese and what meat there was it was dry, had more wilted salad than anything and the garlic bread was just buttery bread, my partners pizza was very oily and couldnt taste anything else.

The only restaurant where we could have pasta for the children in the resort complex. We ordered 1 cheese pasta, 1 bolognese, 1 puttanesca and 1 mushrooms&truffles...all of them were far away from being Italian recipes. Personnel was kind, location was nice, price high

Worst Italian ever! Person who created menu should be sacked. 5 pastas 5 pizza - that's it! Arriabata is inedible as it is made from scotch bonnet chillies. Two haggis flavoured pizza out of the five! Brushetta with no tomatoes! Macdonald hotel should be ashamed. In comparison Aspects their signature restaurant is v good.

Service was slow. Got order wrong. One of the starters was not very good. The Pasta stated Gigli was not what was delivered instead we got Rigatone. Nice enough but not as advertised. Asked for garlic bread that was not on the menu and couldn't or wouldn't supply. Staff were friendly though but I think their lack of English was difficult for them. As far as Italian restaurants go not that good.

Wonderful place. Way better than La Taverna

All I can say is that it was a horrendous experience!! Dough balls were like rocks and bolognese was vile unedible,!!!

Only been here once, but were not impressed. The evening buffet selection was basic. Only two dishes were good. The pizza was rather disappointing.

Ripoff . Near 40pound for two bowls of pasta and a beer and a coke. The Bolognese was watery and bland and you'd get better out of a supermarket. The prawn linguine was watery tripe just covered with loads of chilli. Go to latervana real italian food for half the price

Ate here twice during Thunder in the Glens weekend, the first time out of choice, the second out of desperation as everywhere else was fully booked. The food is overpriced and at best average. The first night I opted for prawn linguine, glad I went for the large size as it was a small portion. £15 for 4 prawns and a small amount of pasta is outrageous! Second night I opted for mushroom risotto which was completely tasteless and swimming in some bland sauce, it went back after 3 mouthfuls! hubby had a calzone pizza which was mostly crust and had little filling. I then had tiramisu which was an extremely merge portion for £5.50 sprinkled with so much cocoa powder I could barely taste anything else! Had to laugh when the head waiter advised me they hadn’t charged for the risotto like he was doing me a favour not charging for something I didn’t eat! No apologies or offer of any reduction in the price though! Food aside the front of house staff are friendly and helpful, pity about the Chef!

We spend a week near to Aviemore every year. Unless the restaurant has changed substantially, I am surprised at the 3 reviews so far posted. We have visited it for the last 4 years and all of us have been very happy with the food there. Our 2 grandsons, now aged 10, find lots of choice there, and they are fussy, my son who has big intolerance problems with IBS has also enjoyed his meals there, as has his sister, my husband and myself. I am therefore sorry to read that the restaurant seems to have changed, since I am about to book a table there for this year.

Service was not very good, nearly walked out as they took so long to come for our order and they werent busy. Wish we had. Food was ok but not what I would class as Italian. Fish was dry, prawns were tasteless. I had Fish Misto and asked what was in it as I don't like squid or calamari. I was told Fish, prawns and langoustine. I got fish, prawns and calamari. Asked for a jug of water, got 1 glass of water. Drinks were overpriced. WON'T BE BACK. Only went there as we couldn't get into the other very popular Italian in Aviemore, near the roundabout.