We had made a reservation (of course!), so the service at Gioia knew what we wanted: the chef's star menu! Gianfranco Santaguida, who is responsible for service at the restaurant in Radebeul, which reopened in October last year after being closed for around a year during the construction work on Meißner Straße, had prepared something: the table "with a view of the hustle and bustle outside" was set, and a sealed envelope told us what to expect: five courses with matching drinks accompaniment (which is provided with wine, but can also be non-alcoholic).
The restaurant is housed in a former nursery and you sit in the former greenhouse. It is almost unrecognizable, as the concept of Gioia is multifaceted: to the left of the entrance is a burrata factory, directly in the entrance area is a deli with delicatessen, to the right in the greenhouse there is not only the restaurant, but also home & living products to take away. Dennis Pentzold, who works alone in the kitchen, finds this very practical: the plates he serves on are also on the shelf. So if he drops a whole bunch at once, he can quickly find a replacement! But of course nothing falls off, the man is a professional with plenty of experience in Dresden's good kitchens (a year ago we experienced him at Kobalt, other stops were the Schönburger Palais in Lichtenstein near Chemnitz and the Genuss Atelier in Dresden.
Back to the letter that awaits us at the table. Don't open it too quickly, there's something on the back. The thoughts of the service man from Calabria, who came to Dresden around 15 years ago and has worked at pretty much every well-known Italian restaurant in the city - which is of course why many people know him. Now he is at Gioia, which is Italian and means joy - but the restaurant is not Italian! At least not in terms of the cuisine, apart from the ingredients from the in-house burrata factory. Dennis Pentzold can, of course, effortlessly incorporate these into his menu, which otherwise follows the usual composition and ingredient rules of local fine dining.
What Gianfranco Santaguida does perfectly, of course, is convey the Italian way of life. Born in Vibo Valentia, Calabria, Gianfranco also publishes subtle stories and poems in his home country - some of which have won awards. With a man like this (who of course hasn't lost his Italian accent even after 15 years, which would almost be bad for business), it's easy to parley between courses and feel entertained. And of course he knows how to make the most of show time, for example when he holds the rosemary with tweezers over a flaming fire in the sambucca pot for the aperitif. So it's fun, entertaining and gives the kitchen time to prepare the first things.
Two times the kitchen greets you in advance - of course with products from the burrata manufactory, which were served once in the dip with the bread (as always at Gioia by Sascha Stiegeler) and then in an unusual presentation of the insalata caprese (usually found on the menu in Germany as tomato and mozzarella). But cheese also played a leading role in the one of two starters on offer: smoked stracciatella | spicy honey | grapes | sumac | buckwheat. In Italian, stracciatella refers not only to the ice cream, but also to the creamy filling of the burrata - in this case it was smoked and, together with the (not really very) spicy honey, a positive taste surprise. Even for an avowed scallop fan, it was more exciting than starter number two, scallop | parsnip | vanilla | grapefruit | corail. This was also delicious - but just as expected...
With the parsley root soup, we not only experienced the now common principle of being served an almost empty plate into which the soup then flows from a small jug - the final drops of oil were also added drop by drop at the table. And no, they don't do that because it makes it easier to bring the plates to the guests, Dennis Pentzold assured me during the next course, when he added a (very spicy, as it turned out) chorizo sauce to the cod and corn and chives arrangement: "It stays warm for longer this way!" This was not only a perfectly balanced course in terms of taste, but also one with a warm sauce!
Two things were surprising about the main course: the quality of the meat, which was wonderfully tender (which is not a given with flank steak), and the refreshingly light sauce with all its inherent strength thanks to the salted lemon. The meat, we learned afterwards when praising it, was not only of quasi-naturally good quality (the chef just knows good sources!), but also first cooked sous vide until tender.
The dessert then showed what you can do with a banana, skin included. Even for moderate banana haters, this was very exciting - especially as it came with a glass of rum, which was a very good idea...
Menu
- Selection of starters
Smoked stracciatella | spicy honey | grapes | sumac | buckwheat
OR
Scallop | parsnip | vanilla | grapefruit | corail - Soup creation
Parsley root | coffee smoked oil | walnut | Apple - Intermediate course
Codfish | Chorizo | Corn | Chives - Main course
Wagyu flank steak | Leek | Yeast | Salted lemons | Quince - Dessert
Banana | Pistachio | Caramel | Rum
Wine pairing
- Aperitif with Champagne Pierre Laurent
- 2024 Cala Reale, Vermentino di Sardegna, Sella&Mosca, Sardinia
- 2023 Terre di Chieti, Pecorino, Tenuta Alisse, Abruzzo
- 2022 Los Carneros, Chardonnay, Black Stallion, Napa Valley
- 2024 Prunotto, Barbera d'Alba, Piedmont
- Plantation XO 20th Anniversary, Barbados Rum
Infos
- 3 courses incl. table water Table water €65 | with wine accompaniment €81
- 4 courses incl. table water €75 | with wine accompaniment €96
- 5 courses incl. table water €85 | with wine accompaniment €85 Table water 85 € | with wine accompaniment 110 €
GIOIA Deli Burrata Manufaktur Food & Living
Meißner Straße 94
01445 Radebeul
+49 351 31271234
gioia-deli.com
[Visited on February 18, 2026]
