Girasole Restaurant and Bar

Hi girasole owners,
I’m a regular at girasole and the new changes with the pizza and salad are sub par to the great food I use to have in the past from girasole. The pizza crust is thin and hard with no taste compared to previous light and fluffy with flavour. What’s up with taking top seller spicy kahulua pork pizza away, I miss it. The bacon blue salad had some old lettuce in it and previous salad was micro green. Server was slow to wait on us. Love to see the original recipes back that made girasoles great.
Have a great day.

Re-​Writing my update as I’ve been back a few times now. I guess we caught them on a off night the first time because the pizza here is spot on.
While I’m partial to the Mimi the other pizzas they have are done well. They corrected their beer issues as mentioned in my last review and they even had live music this time.
Overall the vibe of the place has been much more lively and enjoyable. I’m upping this for now but it should be a 3.5. They’re winning me over one slice at a time… And they’ll need to keep it up since even more pizza joints are opening up in St. John’s!

I am from Jersey. These folks know how to make Italian pizza. No, it’s not NY style. It’s the only spot I have found for true Italian style wood fired eats. It’s a nice break from every other kind of pizza. Try the wood fired pretzel with homemade cheese sauce — it’s delightful. The atmosphere is always friendly and warm — Cheers style. It hops too with live music and big tables filled with family’s & crowds of neighbors. It’s a gem in St. John’s dining.

Arrived a it 15 minutes ago. Waitress said to sit anywhere. We sat by the fire, no service. So we moved directly to the bar. We literally have had FOUR different staff members behind the bar (stand directly in front of us– clearly seeing is) and have not even been acknowledged. No thanks– I’ll spend my money elsewhere.

Well the service is just terrible now. Our waitress could not tell us what was available to drink. She literally said «I don’t know.» Then she put in our orders wrong, delivered foods we were allergic to, and then ignored us so that we could not address this. We sat there with empty drinks and nothing to eat. And yes, the music is so loud that we could not talk to one another. This was a ruined birthday dinner. Never will return.

No, no, no. This place is just bad all around.
Waitress took forever. We asked her what there was to drink that was «non-​alcoholic.» She looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language yet there was a family with kids sitting next to us drinking milk so I’m not sure why that seemed like such an odd question? Root beer? Lemonade? Freakin water?
Ordered a pizza, caesar salad appetizer, and when neither came in 20 minutes, decided to try for a pretzel. Soooo hungry and no food came in like forever.
Pizza finally came. Tasted gross. not good crust, cheese, and toppings were on the slim side. Caesar came second. Tasted like garlic. Pretzel finally came last. it was probably the best thing we ordered. Everything was salty.
I won’t be back.

Was excited to try this restaurant being that everything is prepared in a wood fired oven. Was not able to last week as the St Johns Bridge was closed due to an accident.
As I pulled up, the restaurant looked rustic and warm with floor to ceiling windows. String lighting along the ceiling gave it a nice festive touch. When I walked in, the band music was extremely loud, which led me to the sit at the bar farthest from the sound.
I ordered the lasagna and a 10″ pizza. I was extremely disappointed at the quality of the pizza. Only way I can describe it is day old pizza which was warmed up in the oven. The cheese was hard as were the vegetable toppings. The crust was like cardboard. The lasagna was edible. Nothing special.
I was hoping to add this place to my list of repeat offenders but It’s going to be on my ‘hit it and quit it’ list.

I have been here four times in the last 10 months. The 1^st time I was unimpressed by the service, but I figured they were still working out the kinks. After a few more visits it didn’t seem to get better. Which is a shame as they are the only family friendly place with live music in st johns, that I have found so far.

Girasole always has incredible pizzas to choose from. I’ve never been disappointed by anything I’ve ordered here.
My favorite is the godfather pizza. I love all the onions and meat.
The nachos here are delicious as well! I love how they utilize their pizza oven for more than just pizza.
The new renovation looks incredible and I think having a bar will really make this a fun place to go on weekends, when they also typically have live music.
They have gluten free and dairy free options for the pizzas as well.
Parking is generally pretty easy. This place is located right next to the farmers market so it’s a great way to spend a Saturday.
This place is definitely a must in St. John’s.

Putting another low-​ish rating in for this place. We saw the reviews and still gave this place a chance. The service was pretty sparse but okay, but we were annoyed to spend $ 20 on a pizza that really did taste like a frozen pizza. The crust was cracker-​like (par baked?) and didn’t have the char I would expect from wood-​fired. And the toppings were okay but the pizza was dry — like there really wasn’t enough sauce. The table we sat at hadn’t been wiped well, there were rings from someone’s drinks on it. We won’t be coming back unless they can fix all of these issues.

We had the pretzel with queso dip, mixed greens salad with ridiculously thick shaved carrot, the mimi pizza which should be called bacon lovers pizza… Look, I’m on my period and could eat a lot of food right now… The fact that we had most of a pizza remaining at the end of our meal says ALOT. I can’t say i’d go back. The Basil cocktail was good and so was the pretzel. That’s about it though. Too bad because St. Johns needs a good pizza place and I was hoping this was it!

This is a sweet up-​and-​coming café and the beer on tap tastes home-​brewed. I had a stout and it was very rich, very fresh. The portobello mushroom burger offers a very good vegetarian option in the St. Johns neighborhood. The service was very personal, caring, like the person serving the food owned the place.

The location is nice and the inside is clean and has a solid vibe. They have a nice selection of beers on tap and a full bar.
A few issues we had.
1. Taps were blown on two of the beers we wanted.
2. They didn’t have some items on the menu.
3. The menu is a little small and somewhat pricey for a 14″ pizza.
4. The service was on the slow side and the place was pretty empty.
Some good things:
1. The pizza was good. I wouldn’t write home about it, but it was good.
2. The waitress was very nice and apologetic that a pretzel we ordered was cold.
3. The salads were great (see photos.)
Overall, it’s just another pizza joint. I think if I make it back in here it will be for a salad.

I really like their pizza. The décor could be better inside and the service a bit more personable and faster. Besides that they seem to really care about their customers and the pizza is my favorite.

The place looks good, the menu has only three apetizers, three salads and plenty pizzas. Went there w my wife to have a cool night out. There was a band playing inside, but to our surprise we couldnt talk for the whole dinner bc the band was so loud.
Food wise, the pizza was very whatevers, not tasty, and i even assumed the dough wasnt fresh. We got a very small salad for $ 7.50 w greens and a few sliced almonds. I repeat, $ 7.50 for a small salad.
Good thing thou, free coke refill.
Somebody call Marcus Lemonis from the porfit to save this place.
Cool service at least!

I loved the wood fired pizza. It tasted good and unique with its flavor. I loved the crust.

Great pizza, great beer, fun atmosphere. The live music was a blast! Pizza was overpriced, but overall a good experience. We did end up with a $ 90 bill for two pizzas, two pretzel appetizers, two lemonades, and six beers. WOW.

Okay, so I am still deciding whether I should give this restaurant a one star or nothing at all?
I will give them one star. Hopefully they will get their act together!
Where do I begin? Well, I have been living in St. John’s for three years now. My first experience was delightful in 2011-​12. They had a play area for children. It was very family oriented and welcomed those of us who were seeking a relaxing lunch or dinner without the hassle of your kid jumping all over the place.
Apparently, that happened too much? Kids are really no longer welcomed as it once had and being a family in this place is not very comfortable. The upgrade is kind of ridiculous. I don’t think their focus are in the right places. Doesn’t feel like a pizza shack or a restaurant. It feels like they are still developing customer service with short staff. These people need help! They need constructive criticism before their business goes down in the gutter. I kind of feel for them in a way?
So, the service is really poor here. There is practically no service. I have had bad experiences time after time. I should have left. I am beginning to think these people clearly care about their ambience more so than their service and menu. They still don’t know how to manage a restaurant? It’s appalling! After such bad reviews, you would think they would sit down as a team and let’s say, talk about improvements?
Their pasta options are only shell pasta and lasagna. The wait is forever for absolutely everything! That’s including a friendly greeting, acknowledgement, water, drinks, and about a half an hour in the waiter just might stop by your table or booth after you have walked out of your seat tagging him or her down. It’s terrible service. Unbelievably bad.
I looked into their website. These people need help with their menu. They need a server training. They also need to organize a few things, like having copies prepared for the kid menu. They also need to teach their servers how to engage with public in a setting where you serve people.
My experience was really bad. I am also going to write the owners and let them know they should update and pay someone to fix their website. They are currently using a blog site, and they don’t have the menu for a category? Is this a restaurant or a complete joke? Get it together, you guys. This won’t last too long. Prices are too high for this junk. Get it together.

I’d give the service 4 stars because our server (a 30 something male) was super nice, attentive and quick, but the 2 star review is for the quality of the food. It’s not very good. I hate to say it, but the pizza tastes like a jazzed up version of a frozen Totino’s. It’s bland, flat and overall not impressive. The small Caesar salad was good, in my opinion, but my guy wasn’t a fan of the dressing, he didn’t even finish his portion of his salad. We got a small pizza and small salad it was enough for the both of us considering we were going to the movies directly after where we knew we’d order some popcorn. The sizes of their meals are a bit bizarre though. Had we not been going to the movies, we wouldn’t have been satisfied. Price increases dramatically from the small sizes to the larger sizes.
We live in the neighborhood and we’ve always wondered why it seems so dead in there all the time, unfortunately, I think we figured out why.
This place could be so cool! Change your menu (whole new pizza crush and sauce is needed), adjust your sizes and pricing and we’d totally come back. Would love to be able to support another local business.

Im sorry because you seem nice enough, but the food at this place is just not good. Ive been there 3 times now and I wont be back, it’s been a disappointment every time. I really think you need to get like Gordon Ramsay in there or something and have him refresh your menu. The pasta section? Like come on you guys. So weak. Also, for boasting to be a pizza joint you need to learn how to make pizza dough. So nasty. And SUPER overpriced too. St. Johns is so small whyyyy must we waste dope restaurant real estate on this place?

This place is overpriced. Since when did a pizza dinner for 2 adults = $ 50? This doesn’t include so-​so drinks.
The salads are $ 7-​$ 8 for a small and $ 18-​$ 19 for a large. The salads are mediocre. I do like the pizzas but the large is more of a medium size. When I spend $ 23 (not including the tip) I expect it to be enough pizza for adults. The pizza is over salted and compost soup tastes like canned soup.
I’m not sure why they are so slow to serve since they never seem to have customers.
This area needs a good pizza place. Please shape up.

This is as pleasant a place as I know of to spend an afternoon (especially a rainy afternoon) picking up a snack, perhaps having a beverage, and staying all nice and warm and cozy and perhaps reading a book. That’s what I did last weekend and it was the highlight of the day.
The décor is casual and rustic using lots of wood. There is a fireplace as well. There is live music on Friday and Saturday evenings, and I think this would be an ideal venue for such.
I was greeted at the door by the very friendly manager, given my choice of booth, and given menu and ice water. I opted for some french fries and they were fried in garlic and rosemary and very tasty. The wood-​fired pizzas on the menu looked terrific, so I’ll save those for a time when I’m hungrier.
This is yet another St. Johns gem. It’s got great ambiance, great food, and great friendliness. Be sure to give it a try!

Tried Girasole out with my boyfriend after passing it up for years and was pleasantly surprised. Our waiter was great, the food was awesome and the music they were playing was the best. The atmosphere is just nice, good for St. Johns. It’s our new date night spot and the Godfather is our new favorite.

I don’t even know where to start…
The food was amazing! The service was top notch and the atmosphere was perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon. I can’t wait to eat here again! We sampled a little of everything, pretzel with cheese sauce, pasta and a pizza, delicious! I would be cheating everyone if I gave Girasole anything less than five stars! GO THERE! Support local business and wood fired everything!!!

***Pretzel Review Only***
Not the best pretzel porn, but I could not let this stop me from adding Girasole’s wood-​fired pretzel to the Throw Down. It’s always a good day when you find a pretzel in a non-​pretzel serving location. This time it was a pizzeria in St. Johns. These pretzels are clearly made by hand by people who make pizza on the reg — hence the hand-​crafted unique shapes. They’re boiled, salted and fired in the oven along with the wonderful pizzas Girasole pumps out. The pretzels come with a BOWL of warm white cheddar-​jalapeño cheese dipping sauce, which is how dips should be served anyway. Just to give you a perspective, the bowl of cheese is the same size as the pretzel. This makes me happy considering the only other joint in town that does this is my favorite.
Husband and friends Becky, Beau and myself enjoyed the first one so much we ordered a second.
Girasole’s rendition of the pretzel does not include lye or mustard — it’s about soft, pillowy dough, a chewy crust, some salt and glorious tangy-​creamy cheese sauce. And how can you say no to that?