Gianni's Restaurant, Brisbane

December 26, 2009 - It may have been a hangover from their xmas day 500+ cover lunch from hell, as our waitress informed us, but for a boxing day, 30th wedding anniversary, Gianni at Portside was as damp as the weather. Firstly, they had not secured our booking, but a quick shuffle of settings, thankfully secured a table with the fabulous view Portside is renowned for. For entree, three of the four diners chose the MORETON BAY BUGS WITH TOMATO & RED ONION LEMON & OLIVE OIL DRESSING, but all that was presented was a sad, empty half shell, and an over dressed salad, with no more than four sparse bug meat pieces to compensate for the $21 price tag. For mains, my companions faired better, but my TAGLIATELLE ALL' ABRUZZEESE (slow cooked veal ragout with mushrooms) lacked flavour, sophistication and I must say, mushrooms. The grease that coated the over cooked pasta finished me off, and I just couldn't eat it. The PETTO DI POLLO AL GUSTO (Organic Oven Baked Chicken Breast with a Vegetable Ragout) was basic, rustic fare, but tasty, but at $29 the expectations were of something so much higher. The over cooked, FILETTO AI FRUTTI DI BOSCO (Organic Eye Fillet, Wild Mushrooms, Truffle Mash & Red Wine Jus) was the stand out of the lunch, very tender and very juicy. After airing a reluctants to pay for the pasta dish which I had not eaten, nor enjoyed, they did remove it from the bill, but not a single word of an apology, or EVEN to inquire as to my reasons. Surely a manager's role is to make sure the customer, regardless of their complaint, returns, or considers such an option. Sadly, all i'll ever consider returning for is the coffee, which was superb. 3 / 10