Il Giardino Ristorante
Il Giardino Ristorante is a italian restaurant in Oceanfront, Virginia Beach, located at 910 Atlantic Ave. Old-school Oceanfront Italian dining room built around Virginia's first wood-burning oven, with a nightly 5-7pm half-price bar happy hour.
Founder Tony Gargiulo saw a wood-burning oven in Florence in 1983 and built Il Giardino around it — the first oven of its kind in Virginia, still turning out fresh focaccia and pizza to order at 9th and Atlantic. The dinner-only menu leans old-school: spaghetti with clams, chicken parmigiana, and seafood pastas a couple of blocks from the Boardwalk. The bar runs a nightly 5-7pm happy hour with half-price select appetizers and drinks.
Amenities
- Wood-burning oven
Hours
Best time to visit: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun — 5pm-7pm (Half-price select appetizers and drinks in the bar)
Know Before You Go
- Consider skipping if: lunch (dinner-only menu)
Visit
- Address: 910 Atlantic Ave, Virginia Beach, VA
- Phone: (757) 422-6464
- Website: https://ilgiardino.com/
Last verified 2026-07-10.
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While You're in the Area
17th Street Surf Shop
Virginia Beach's original surf shop since 1970 — a Pacific Avenue retail store plus Seth Broudy School of Surf camp sessions from 1 to 4 days.
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Virginia Beach's original watersports operator since 1985 — parasailing, jet ski and kayak/SUP rentals, and banana boat rides at Rudee Inlet.
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An early-1900s former Coast Guard surfmen's boarding house two blocks from the Boardwalk, run under the same family lore that gave it its name.
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Upcoming Events Nearby
Neptune Festival Boardwalk Weekend
September 25, 2026 – September 27, 2026 · annual
Virginia Beach's signature festival closes out September with its 52nd Boardwalk Weekend, spreading across the Oceanfront between 1st and 35th Streets. The headline draw is Neptune's International Sandsculpting Championship — 22 large-scale works by sculptors from around the world — alongside an art and craft show with more than 200 artisans, twenty-plus musical acts across festival stages, the Grand Parade, Neptune's 8K, and a surfing competition at the jetty. Most of it is free to attend, and it reliably fills the resort area for one last big weekend of the season.
Virginia MOCA Boardwalk Art Show
October 9, 2026 – October 11, 2026 · annual
One of the longest-running outdoor art shows on the East Coast marks its 70th year along the Virginia Beach Boardwalk. Produced by the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, the juried show brings artists from across the country to sell painting, sculpture, photography, glass, and fine craft directly to visitors with the Atlantic as the backdrop. Hours run 10am–6pm Friday, 10am–5pm Saturday, and 10am–4pm Sunday, and October's thinner crowds make it an easy, walkable browse.
Wicked 10K Weekend
October 30, 2026 – October 31, 2026 · annual
Coastal Virginia's largest Halloween race weekend starts at the Convention Center on 19th Street and finishes on the Boardwalk near 20th, with runners in costume covering the flat, fast oceanfront course for the 10K, a Wicked 5K, or the shorter Monster Mile. A costume contest and a post-race beach party with food and drink follow the finish line. Presented by Sentara and run by J&A Racing — the same organizer behind the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Weekend — it's the Halloween counterpart to that spring race on the same stretch of Boardwalk.