Galileo Enoteca

For a dinner night out, a friend suggested we try Galileo Enoteca for good Italian fare. The restaurant has two locations but our friends chose the one in Mandaluyong. Going to the place, my hubby and I got lost and we had to navigate the confusing side streets of Mandaluyong since we chose to go there via the Makati Mandaluyong way. There are no visible signs leading to the restaurant. Finding Calbayog Street was only made possible when we finally stopped and asked for directions.


Coming into the restaurant, you will be greeted by a freezer filled with deli and shelves of Italian pantry essentials. The walls of Galileo is lined from ceiling to floor with shelves that are filled with wine bottles, cans of lentils, tomatoes, boxes of pasta, italian soda, fiji water and a lot more. The rest of the store is lined with red bricks. The whole feel of the place is that of an old wine cellar. There are no formal dining set-ups here, just tables and benches that reminded me of those that you find at a park.

All of these come together so that you can enjoy the food and the company in a fun and casual atmosphere. Just like a big family gathering as you see in those movies about Italian families.

The interiors did not disappoint but what about the food?

For the antipasto, we ordered a cheese platter, calamari, and a bread basket which came with sun dried tomato pesto, olive oil with balsamic vinegar and tomato paste.

The bread was soft but not soggy and was just perfect. The tomato sun dried pesto was a winner and tasted really really fresh. The calamari was ok, the crunchy breading came right off but the squid itself was tender and tasty.

For the main course, Dan ordered the Italian steak while I had the Pollo Prosciutto which was Chicken wrapped with Prosciutto.

Dan's steak turned out to be a dud. The steak was tough and had the consistency of old leather. The taste of the olive oil was very overpowering and was all that he could taste in his steak.

My chicken however was a winner! The chicken breasts were wrapped with reaallly crispy ham. Hearing the crunch of the prosciutto while slicing into really juicy chicken breasts won me over. To counter the oil and fat, the dish came with a side of salad that was dressed in a light vinaigrette. The sourness and crunch of the salad and the tenderness of the chicken plus the greasy fat from the ham made this a really complete dish!

Our friends ordered a shrimp and garlic pizza and an all meat pizza. They were both good but not memorable. Another friend of ours ordered the Chicken Picatta which was tasty and which also came with a salad similar to what I had. The Eggplant Parmigiana that another friend ordered was declared to be very good as well as the Pasta with Porcini mushrooms which was creamy but still retained a very light consistency.

Galileo had a promo on their red wines where you could buy two bottles for the price of one. We got that and drank to our sanity and health.

In the end we spent about Php 400 per person which already included a glass of wine and a soda.

Service wise, the place could use more waitstaff but the ones that they do have are courteous and polite although there was a time when we had to call on several waiters to have our drinks refilled.

All in all, this is a place we would love to come back to and we would gladly recommend to our friends and family.

Galileo Enoteca
website

Ground Floor, Reyes Gym
Calbayog corner Malinao Streets
Mandaluyong City Philippines
Tel. No.: 532-0482

Ground Floor, La Fuerza Plaza
2241 Don Chino Roces Street
Makati City Philippines
Tel. No.: 817-9118
Mobile: 0917-8470061

Expect to spend at least 400 for food and soda per person (price as of May 2009)