Giacomo's

Typically, pasta feels heavy, but Giacomo's has hit the spot with making their sauces light and still creamy. We added a chicken cutlet to the fettuccine with peas and prosciutto for more protein. The lobster ravioli was light and tasty. If you like lobster, get this. The calamari is a must get.Our server was super nice and accommodating with the 3 kids we were with and super quick with the drinks and food. The restaurant was casual and slightly dimmed. It is definitely bigger than the ones in Boston so better suited for larger groups.

Fantastic local Italian restaurant. The cocktail menu is on point. Service is attentive; even on a Friday night. Everything coming out of the kitchen looked amazing. The seafood platter (for two) looked AMAZING. Huge lobster surrounded by other amazing seafood. The wine menu is delicious and affordable. We got a bottle of Duckhorn Cab for only 36$. House salad was delicious. Lightly dressed.The chicken Piccata was crisp and lemony and delicious. The lemon fettuccini with scallops and shrimp was also delicious. And the pasta was of course; Al dente.The chicken Parm was HUGE and delicious.We also ordered a platter of the broccoli rabe. Nice and spicy, but a little bitter due to the size of the stems.

This was our first visit to this location, have been to the sister restaurant in the North End. The atmosphere was vibrant but very crowded and equally noisy. Got a table for 6 in the back which was more spacious and less noisy. The service started off a bit slow but we had a great waitress, very friendly, funny and attentive. We ordered several different meals so we had a good sample of the menu as a party of 6. The food was ok at best, not super tasty but ample quantity. We will probably give it another try but will not hurry back. If you want to avoid Boston for Italian, Petrillo's in Peabody is head and shoulders above in all facets.

Decided to try the Melrose location (we usually go to the north end and sometimes the south end location). Had reservations on Sunday at 5pm. Came in and the place was packed, even the bar. Highly recommend making reservations if you plan to eat earlier. By 7pm there were few empty tables and no wait. There is street parking in front and they have a big parking lot in the back. This is a plus compared to their other locationsService was attentive and friendly. Food was good but not the same quality as the north end location. But still delicious and plentiful. We got the large calamari, clams linguini and 2 Fra Diavolo FruittiDiMare linguini (very generous with the seafood compared to other places). Seafood were all very fresh.

The Medford location was not as great as our experience with the North end location, food was mediocre.Service was really okay they rushed us to be seated and rushed us to order and rushed us to get out, don't go on a Friday evening!

Giacomo's serves absolutely impeccable italian food at an affordable price. While the atmosphere isn't as inviting as the north end, you don't have to wait in long lines, but still get that amazing , authentic north end quality. I highly recommend the fried calamari to start, and you cannot go wrong with any of the entrees. I loved my chicken piccata. They also make an excellent dirty martini. And we had the fried banana cheesecake with strawberry ice cream for dessert. You have to pay them a visit the next time you're craving Italian!

First time at this location. The appetizers antipasto and chop salad was really good but the main courses were bland. The lobster with calamari in red sauce was bland avd the shrimp in red sauce over pasta as also no flavor the pasta linguini abd the fettuccini pasta was over cooked. No garlic flavor. The service was very good. I gave only three stars because of the flavorless pasta dishes.

I wanted to love this restaurant 100% and be super thrilled to come back. But I can't. It was good. Was it Northend good? No. Was it authentic Italian good? No.It was solid American Italian food.Let me explain my experience here.I went here with three folks. Made a reservation. On a Saturday at 7 PM. There was no need to do that. The place was relatively empty inside, and we were even able to get outdoor seating. Without any special accommodations.We sat down and waited a little bit, but I did see the way to running around like a chicken with his head cut off, so I was OK it was sitting outside and waiting.He came to our table and he was very, how do I say, Boston? Hey how you doin..He says. Can I get something started for ya?We opted to start with a large order of fried calamari. Which, when it came out, was really good and a very ample portion. I think you could even use it for a main meal instead of an appetizer it was so large.We got a bottle of wine as well. It seem like a better choice with three folks as opposed to individual drinks. Came out to be the same price.We ordered the Fra diavolo seafood, the The lemon fettuccine shrimp dish, and chicken Parm. Nothing fancy, routine items on the menu it seemed.They didn't take very long to come out and didn't all come out at once. Again, our waiter was super busy with all the tables outside for himself.My chicken palm was not steaming hot, it was warm, even hot, but not as if it just came out of being cooked. More like it probably had been sitting under the heat lamp for a few minutes. Maybe while everything else finished cooking?The lemon fettuccine dish looked really pretty and my friend said it tasted really good.Hubby got the seafood fra diavolo. Again, it looked really good, but he said the sauce was relatively underwhelming and not spicy enough at all.We were never offered grated cheese or hot pepper to put on our food if we wanted it. I don't know if they even have that there.Also, when we got our bread for the table? Three small pieces that we used with olive oil. The bread was really good. But we could've used more and I waited never asked us if he wanted some.Oh and all it was a positive experience, but just not exciting enough for me to really go back again. Paragraph plus, parking and getting into the restaurant is kind of weird. They don't tell you that the entrance to the restaurant is on the side in an alleyway. So we had to walk all the way around the building only to find the entrance was literally right where we had parked!!

I've enjoyed Giacomo's for years. Mainly on special occasions like Valentine's Day. But this place is great for even just craving good Italian food. Brought the hubby here for father's day. I do always recommend reservations when a place offers it. The place was mid-full around 630 on Sunday, but it did get packed very quickly after. Also, be mindful, that the bar is small, with only a few seats available there.decor: is your usual somewhat dim romantic Italian decor.Drinks: I got the 454 which was very good and hubby got his usual raspberry lime Ricky which he loves.Food: we started with the arancini balls, much smaller than anticipated but very tasty. The sauce was good, it is a slightly sweeter sauce than what I like but still good and I know hubby loved it. For entrees I ordered the Lobster Ravioli in white sauce - soooo yummy, pasta cooked perfectly and you def get chunks of lobster in most bites. Hubby got the chicken piccata.....but chicken parm came out. Oops, no problem was corrected seamlessly by our waitress. We also tried their tiramisu which was very very tasty and not overly sweet, just enough. However, they drizzled caramel sauce over??? Not sure why.Price is very fair given the amount of food. and of course, we recommend and will be back again and again!

Sigh. Our family has always been big fans of Giacomo's but we went there over the weekend and had a very poor experience. The service was especially inept: inexperienced unsupervised server; multiple mistakes with our order; appetizers brought out at the same time as the main dishes; poor quality clams (my favorite thing to get there); bizarrely bad iced tea; mediocre calamari (something that has always been very good there).There were some dinners that were good as we remember them but the chaotic service really is a deal breaker. We will not be returning.