Review: Galo’s Italian Restaurant
Last night, Melissa and I dined at Galo’s Italian Grill, over on Garwood Drive (East side of town). We’ve eaten there several times before; The food is usually terrific and it has a neat atmosphere.
Photo courtesy to WayNet's Flickr Feed
Most of their offerings are meat-oriented, but they do have a few items that are meatless (and tasty!), I’ll list them all at the bottom, for reference.
We had the Mozzarella Fritti (fried cheese) for our appetizer (antipasta!) and I chose the Gnocchi in Alfredo, while Melissa chose the Eggplant Parmesan with a side of “Galo’s Chopped Salad”.
From the perspective of an herbivore, the experience was pleasant. There were a good variety of menu items to choose from so we didn’t feel limited to just ordering side items. While we didn’t need to ask for any substitutions, I felt comfortable enough with the experience that if I had a reasonable request for something to be left off or substituted, they would probably accommodate me easily.
I would recommend this restaurant.
Additional Notes
Although we didn’t order it this time, one item that is a must-try is their “Pasta Mediterranean.” From the menu:
Penne pasta tossed with feta cheese, asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and olive oil.
It is delicious. The portion looks small when you get it, but it’s very satisfying.
Don’t eat most meat, and can’t eat wheat, but I do eat the fish and I found the Salmon to be very well treated here – I had it with greens in a salad.
My wife can eat wheat, but absolutely no meat – so she had pizza with veg – good crust, but both of us concluded that, while we liked what we were able to get, neither of us could manage more than 1 meal at the place – tough to want to go back and try it on a regular basis. . . .
Oh, I so WANT to love Galo’s. It definitely fills a unique niche in Richmond, and I enjoy going. But I’m not a big fan of the food. Some of it is quite lovely, but I would say there’s really only one vegetarian option worth getting.
So, the dipping oil is awesome, and I love the chopped salad. And I do like the pasta mediterranean.
However, the bread (including pizza dough) tastes like meat to me. I’m sure it doesn’t have any in it, but I don’t like the taste. Has anyone else had this experience? It’s a smoked flavor, and I have no idea what it would be coming from.
I’ve tried the basic pasta with marinara sauce (I can’t remember the name, and don’t see it on your menu) and it tasted like standard store-bought spaghetti sauce to me. So definitely not worth the $9 or whatever it was. And that, I believe, is the only vegan entree. Hopefully the pasta mediterranean could be made vegan by not including the feta?
I’ve tried the cheese ravioli and the gnocchi, also. The ravioli was good, but used the same standard-tasting marinara. The gnocchi was nice, but so cheesy and rich that I wouldn’t want to eat it again for my arteries’ sakes. I assume the fettuccine alfredo would be, as well.
I’ve had the Cheese Ravioli and the Gnocchi also — enjoyed both. The Gnocchi is so deceptive — it doesn’t look like much, but it’s filling!
The pizzas are good as well — although I’m not sure I pick up on the smoky/meat flavor you mentioned.
I think the only real problem I have with the restaurant is that it’s a bit pricey. I wish there was a little more variety in the items, of course.
Oh — the Eggplant Parm is generally pretty good (although I think Mel’s Eggplant Parm is way better
). We ordered it one time and they gave us a bad cut of eggplant (the heel or something) — it was really tough; They replaced it though, so it’s alright.