Ristorante Italiano Da Joe has been in Walking Street,
South Pattaya, for three years. It is on the ocean side about 50 metres past
the Marine Bar, heading towards Nang Nual and the Siam Bayshore Hotel. The
frontage is narrow, so look for the large illuminated sign, to proudly
indicate that this is Da Joe.
And it is a proud sign, as the man behind Da Joe is a
proud and passionate Italian, Joe Parlati. Joe has been in the restaurant
business in Pattaya for 16 years, and will be here for at least another 16.
“It’s-a all I know,” says Joe, with a wave of his hands and a big
smile.
He
has divided the restaurant into two distinct sections. There is the
air-conditioned inner area that you come to first, after walking through
Joe’s narrow ‘cellar’ full of bottles of Italian wines. This first
section has cozy tables and chairs plus alcoves, with a central refrigerated
salad bar. On the walls there are many paintings and prints of Verona.
“It’s-a my home town,” said Joe, again proudly.
Continuing on through the inner section, you come to a
covered, but open air section looking out over the water. This has been
enlarged since our last official visit and now seats around 50 diners under
overhead fans, to keep the cooling sea breezes circulating. The tables are
covered in bright check patterned tablecloths and the bench seating is now
also padded. We chose the outer section, as we had come ‘en famille’
complete with carry-cot. Not that we should have worried, Da Joe’s bevy of
charming service girls in their blue shirts were all vying for who would
cuddle our daughter most!
The menu covers antipasti, starters and salad, ranging in
price between B. 50-350, with many dedicated vegetarian items on offer. Next
up are pastas and soups (B. 140-200), then seafood with the majority B
150-300.
Mains cover the full Italian range with most between B.
200-350, pizzas (B. 140-250) and finally desserts and coffees. There is also
a small Thai menu (B. 100-180) for anyone who does not understand this is an
Italian restaurant!
We let Joe do the ordering for us, and he presented many
of his dishes for us to try. We began with antipasti, with a selection of
cold meats, including Parma ham and a few different cheeses, including
parmesan in the block. Madame chose the red house wine, whilst I had the
white (a Trebiano). Both were eminently drinkable, and as Joe was quick to
tell us, “To make a good French wine, you need 50 percent Italian
grapes!” (Did I mention that Joe is Italian?)
Joe followed up our starters with a selection of pastas,
“The pastas, they’re-a all-a home-made,” said Joe. What is more, the
sauces are also! We tried the tortelloni alla ricotta e spinaci - my
favourite that evening. Superb flavour. We also had the rigatoni al pesto
(again all home made by Joe) and this was Madame’s choice in the pastas.
For mains we tried the pork medallions, with a mushroom
and Madeira sauce, which were wonderfully tender and the sauce just so
smooth, plus a pan fried beef steak, pocketed with gorgonzola, with a fresh
gorgonzola sauce with red wine. If you like gorgonzola (which I do), this
dish is an aromatic delight.
Despite our pleas, Joe insisted we have desserts
(Italian) and it did not need much arm twisting for me to finish with a
limoncello. A wonderful evening.
Eating at Da Joe is the full (real) Italian experience.
It is like dining with an Italian family, with Joe as the host. There are
few restaurants as welcoming as this one. The food is good (and Italian),
the wines are good (and Italian), the convivial host is Joe (and Italian)
and the prices are very reasonable. He also boasts the largest selection of
Italian wines in town. This restaurant deserves all the success it has had.
Very highly recommended. Do go when you want to eat Italian.
Da Joe, Ristorante Italiano, Walking Street, South Pattaya (ocean side
between Marine Bar and Nang Nual), telephone 038 710 733, open 3 p.m. until
midnight.
