Overall, reviews of Trattoria Gio describe a welcoming spot with solid Italian fare and a lively Old Port ambiance, where many diners praise flavorful pizzas, pastas, and desserts and note friendly, attentive service when it runs well. The kitchen is credited with well prepared dishes like pasta and braised meats, and the atmosphere and value are frequently highlighted. At times, however, service is described as slow, disorganized, or inconsistent, with delays in seating, taking orders, or delivering courses and occasional order mix ups, and a few dishes arriving too salty or not as hot as hoped. When issues arise, staff or management are described as making efforts to rectify things, and many guests say they would return for the food and overall experience. In sum, Trattoria Gio is regarded as a solid, enjoyable option with strong flavors and a pleasant vibe, though service experiences can vary.
Worst pasta & ravioli I've ever had. The bathroom is a disaster - broken & smelly. Service took forever even though the place was empty. Drinks & cocktails came after food!
Amazing fresh pasta & food. Phenomenal service - Yanis gave great recommendations & walked us through the menu with precision & accuracy. Would recommend to anyone in Montreal. 11/10.
Mar 28, 2026
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I went here on a Sunday night with my girlfriend & the atmosphere was what I wanted for dinner, calm setting a quite tucked place. I'm sure during peak hours it has to be busy cause the food was excellent. cudos to DALI(the chef) knows how to present a plate & empower it with flavor, & Michael( the owner) amazing guy wants the best for every person & I highly recommend everyone going to old Montreal & experience what we have cause if I lived near here I'd be here every night with the vibes they bring!! Amazing!! We ordered the rigatoni ( parmesan cream with chicken) & linguine ( olive oil & garlic with herbs) & let me tell you, your gonna want seconds because it was delicious, I highly recommend trying it you want a good classic pasta spot
We visited this restaurant as a group of 9 at 1:30 PM for their 3-course lunch menu. The restaurant wasn't busy by any means. Two of us ordered something incredibly simple - linguini pasta with tomato sauce - while the rest ordered from the special menu.
At 2:10 PM, when no food at all had arrived yet, we informed the staff that we needed to leave by 2:30 PM because we were on a tour schedule. Instead of acknowledging the urgency, they continued at the same slow pace. At 2:20 PM, they finally brought out the starters (which was nothing special to brag about) for those who ordered the special menu, but the pasta still wasn't served. In general the food should not have taken more than 10 minutes yet we waited nearly an hour for nothing.
We ultimately had to cancel our orders & leave at 2:37 PM without receiving our main courses. Not only did this make us late for our tour, but when we expressed our frustration, the staff argued with us & claimed we should have'said something sooner' - even though we clearly informed them at 2:10, & again before leaving. Paid $5 per person for the starters from the special menu.
The experience was unorganized, slow, & dismissive of customers' time. Very disappointing, especially for something as basic as getting lunch served within a reasonable time.
Would not recommend, especially for groups or anyone on a schedule
The patio is nice, inside is spacious too. The food came quickly but I found the cream pasta way too salty, it was good but definitely could have less salt. Service was great & quick .
My daughter asked for the garlic pasta. & the oil they use doesn't taste good at all. BUT. They were so kind & didn't charge it to us. She asked for a Lasagna the same as me. & it is delicious. & well served. We were at the terrace & we enjoyed it a lot. Price is not that bad either to be in the Old Port
We had a great dinner tonight at the Trattoria. My chicken was so moist & tender. My husband's Salmon was so moist & buttery. My girls loved their pasta dishes. Our server Yanis was fabulous. Such a great find in old Montreal amongst all the tourist restaurants. Reasonably priced as well.
We just had a great dinner at Trattoria Gio. We walked in without a reservation & met Yanis our waiter. The food was delicious, we had the chicken which was moist & seasoned perfectly. The salmon was cooked to perfection. Our girls enjoyed their pasta dish & we topped it off with Gelato & Tiramisu.
The prices are pretty good & the food is super yummy. As a vegetarian with celiac I really liked this place. They have four types of gluten free pasta which is really nice.
Jul 11, 2025
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Trattoria Gio deserves a special mention. The evening that we visited, there was a power outage. But we were adamant about having dinner here on our final night in Montreal & we have zero regrets! Everything we ordered - the pizza & the bolognese pasta - were amazing! The kitchen was running thru some issues due to the power outage but they still were able to accommodate our requests. We were too busy eating to take pictures, & we sure were happy campers with our Trattoria Gio experience!
Holy crap the food is NOT worth price or calories. Ceaser salad was giving East Side Mario's & pizza was Delissio from the frozen section. Pasta sauce was incredibly watery & bland, wasn't even offered cracked pepper (the pastas were close to $30 each). Our server was sweet & reassuring when the drinks took long, they also killed the dirty martini & spicy margarita so that's the reason I didn't give 1 star. Pleeeeease save yourself & pick a different spot.
The atmosphere was wonderful. A warm fall night in Montreal sitting on a patio having dinner was a dream. The service was pretty great too. Both waiters were pretty attentive to our needs. However, for my daughter & I, the food was poor. I ordered the spinach ricotta ravioli. The first few bites were delectable, however, I noted that the next few raviolis tasted like fish, which I don't like. I asked the waiter about this. He said they do have lobster ravioli too. I guess they mixed them up in my dish? It's a good thing my husband who has a fish allergy wasn't with us. The next ravioli that I tried was so hard that I couldn't get my fork through it. I am guessing it was not cooked? There were about 2 or 3 of these on the plate too. The waiter offered us free coffee & dessert, but we declined. I was comped my dish. However, when we walked away, my daughter said her pasta was not cooked well either. Hopefully this was just a 1, 2 off, & not a regular occurrence at this restaurant.
Highly recommend this restaurant! The food was amazing!!! My kids had the calamari & Alfredo pasta & rated it 100 stars!! They were that satisfied!!! The service was excellent!!! Our server was very friendly & recommended cocktails for us to try!!! Overall a great place!!!
Far from Italian food or even good food. Pizza that seemed frozen & pasta that was tasteless & sticking together. It is just a quite expensive tourist trap. Very disappointing.
Good food, good service, & great place for rest after old sight seeing at old port. Food is not super crazy but the quantity is good. *Venue: cute patio at old port plus a large space inside. We were looking for a place to eat lunch & rest after a long walk at downtown in a hot weather. The large space inside with good air conditioning lured us inside. The theme is Italian which was cute but they played latin music which was a bit unfit🙃 *Food: good portion, good quality, okayish taste. We ordered one arugula salad & pasta dish for two hungry people. We were quite satisfied with the portion. Salad taste was amazing. Pasta taste was very ordinary. We also ordered white wine, we got very small amount fod the price which was a bit disappointing 🙃 *Service: good & friendly staff but a bit slow service. *Price: I think it is a bit overpriced but so are the restaurants in the neighborhood.
