Giusto

Guisto is definitely one of the best restaurants in Newport. They consistently have the best bar program I have found anywhere south of Boston and the food and service are also exceptional. There are also surprising (and terrific) gluten-free options, including the squid ink calamari. Gorgeous outdoor space in summer and cozy indoor in winter. Truly excellent bar staff.

Large Groups be forewarned! We had very high expectations for celebrating my daughter’s 35th birthday there last evening, and I so want to be able to provide a 5-star review. Sadly, this is not possible as our dining experience last evening was underwhelming overall, bordering on bizarre, maddening, sometimes hostile, and downright illogical throughout the entire experience :(( Details: We were a party of 11, our reservation time was 5pm, and we were seated in the “alcove” area to the left of the entrance. Both our daughters had eaten here last July with a small party of close friends (5 people), including one friend who is the owner of a Michelin Star Italian restaurant in NYC. They all apparently enjoyed very much the Chef’s Tasting Menu during that July visit. But for this special event, my daughter only agreed to the very early 5pm time slot because she specifically DID NOT WANT the Chef’s Tasting Menu—especially since there were so many dietary restrictions with this large group of attendees. She preferred a 7pm reservation, but was told parties of 8+ would only be served from the Chef’s Tasting Menu at that time. She only agreed to taking the 5pm time slot after being assured (by the Hostess) that attendees would be allowed to order off the full menu. Several of our guests had Gluten allergies, one had a serious shellfish allergy, another with a dairy allergy, and one Pescatarian among our guests. The wait staff had to ask “special permission” of the Chef to allow our party to make our OWN food selections from the menu presented and in quantities that made sense for our group. The Chef initially refused to allow our group to make their own menu selections. Upon learning of this Chef’s Tasting Menu requirement, my daughter explained to the wait staff this was clearly NOT what she had agreed to when she booked the reservation ~6 weeks ago. My daughter then approached the wait staff privately to explain if they did not make this accommodation then our group would have no choice but to leave and go next door to another restaurant where she was confident our large party could be seated AND order off the full menu. The Chef then agreed to allowing us to order what we wanted with the caveat that we would “not be allowed to order more than 3 protein plates for the entire table”—meaning 11 people would have to share 3 main protein entrees for our entire group. It was made abundantly clear that the Chef was unwilling to allow our guests to order 11 separate entrees, even though we assured them we didn't care how long it would take to prepare & serve us those individual entrees. In the end, we were allowed to order 2 pork tenderloins meals to share + 1 Striped Bass meal for our lone Pescatarian to share with other hungry guests. When we asked to add 1 additional Pork meal + 1 additional Striped Bass meal we were emphatically told “No. The Chef will not allow you to do that.” We got the same response when we asked for an additional (small/tapas-sized) Plate of Pasta. Despite the aforementioned hassles and aggravation, we still ordered 7 or 8 desserts—which were heavenly. In retrospect though, I'm shocked they didn't also place unreasonable restrictions with regard to our dessert selections. The maddening and illogical part of this whole experience was that we could easily have spent another $300-$400+ in food items had we been allowed to do so. In the end, we all spent $100 each and left still hungry and extremely annoyed. Nearly everything about this dining experience was a complete and total HASSLE when it should've been a joyous celebration of my daughter’s birthday. Not one of us ever intend to dine here again. Note: That same daughter who booked this reservation for her younger sister’s birthday had also considered booking another event there to coincide with the mid-June Season 2 Premier of one of her tv shows. Safe to say Giusto just missed out on that one. I'm awarding 2 stars for location/ambiance and food/beverages—which were equally delicious and beautifully presented.