Food & Drinks
The selection at Gio's Al Fresco is smaller than the one at Giovanni's, but features some of their best stuff – including the All-meat and Four Cheese. Plus, they come in both small and large sizes.
We got ourselves a half-n-half pizza with Spicy Chicken and All-meat toppings (Rs. 2000).
Always so generous with basil leaves, the All-meat half was comprised of bacon, pepperoni, chorizo, ham and chicken. So much smokiness is going on here, a lot of meaty taste too, all thanks to the copious amounts of meat they had tossed in.
A tad fluffier than Giovanni's, and yet crispy as hell, the crust was lovely. Honestly, unless if you're a regular at Giovanni's, you cannot quite differentiate this from the wood-fired version. It's that great.
The Spicy Chicken half was full of shredded chicken, sliced up black olives, onions and bell pepper. There was a sprinkle of chilli flakes that made the whole thing spicy, and the veggies provided a really nice crunch. Gio's Al Fresco does calzones too, and we opted for the Four Cheese Calzone (Rs. 1400). Oozing out with warm, gooey, melting cheese, this folded up pizza had a bright yellow-hued crust, and was soft, along with a fair amount of chewy quality to it.
The salty notes of parmesan came through really nicely, while the blue cheese hints its presence in the shuffle of creamy ricotta and mozzarella.
The Narang Juice (Rs. 350) was pure sweet-and-sour goodness, squeezed from the freshest narang.
Ambience & Service
The road next to the Dining Capsule can get loud sometimes, but it's all good as Gio's Al Fresco plays some good music. The staff was wonderful as always. They quickly noted down our order, cleaned up a table for us, and served the food within around 15 minutes.
Conclusion
Giovanni's is the king of pizza in Colombo, and this is enough testament to that. Wood-fired or oven-baked, they certainly know what they're doing with pizza.
P.S – If you wish to grab a beer with pizza, make sure to check out the Box Bar that's right next to Gio's Al Fresco.