Giada De Laurentiis launched a trio of successful restaurants over the years.
So why did they close down?
Which ones are still open?
Keep watching for a closer look at the Italian-American chef's dining empire.
Though she might be best known for her TV series on the Food Network, Giada De Laurentiis
is also well-known for the restaurants she's founded based on her dishes.
De Laurentiis promotes three restaurants on her website: Giada, Pronto by Giada, and GDL
Italian.
Of those three, Giada came first, and opened its doors in Las Vegas' Cromwell Hotel.
This Italian restaurant has both brunch and dinner menus that feature Italian dishes such
as pasta, seafood, and fresh pastries — all with a Californian spin.
"I tried to pick iconic dishes that I knew people loved, of mine."
The eatery also serves a long list of cocktails, beers, wines, and other beverages to sip on
while you enjoy your stay at the Cromwell.
The Giada restaurant has been a huge hit among Las Vegas diners.
It has a 4 out of 5 star rating on TripAdvisor, and on Yelp, there are many reviews praising
the service and food at the Giada, with many diners pledging to return to what they called
one the best restaurants in Vegas.
Giada followed up the success of the Giada restaurant in Vegas with a second establishment,
Pronto by Giada.
Much like her first restaurant, Pronto serves Italian foods with a Californian take, except
it has a much more casual tone, with a brunch, lunch, and dinner menu listed on the website.
Here, you can find salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and many other foods featuring Giada's take
on Italian cuisine.
Like Giada before it, Pronto by Giada is also located in Las Vegas, inside the Caesars Palace
hotel and casino.
De Laurentiis' third restaurant, GDL Italian, was much like her other restaurants in the
sense that it served her iconic Italian dishes, with a slight tweak.
According to her website, Giada aimed for a more, "family-friendly" atmosphere with
her third restaurant.
It was also her first East Coast restaurant, located inside the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore,
Maryland.
Like Giada before them, both Pronto by Giada and GDL Italian garnered positive reviews
from diners on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, with visitors praising the quality of the
food, the staff, and more.
Despite the incredible success of her three
restaurants, Giada De Laurentiis could not predict what was to come in 2020.
Thanks to the pandemic that hit the globe, numerous restaurant industry staples suffered,
and many were forced to shut down entirely.
In March of 2020, De Laurentiis released a post on all of her restaurants' Facebook pages
regretfully announcing that she would be shutting down all three of her eateries until further
notice.
Like many other restaurant owners at the time, De Laurentiis cited protecting the health
of her staff and her diners as a key reason for the pause in service.
The post goes on to say that De Laurentiis felt that it was best for her and her restaurants
to follow the guidelines set for the restaurant industry by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, while also offering hope that the restaurants could open again soon.
Though fans of De Laurentiis were understandably upset, many also offered statements of support
as she put her staff and her customers first in a difficult time.
Sadly, though, March 2020 was just the beginning of the pandemic shutdowns that would continue
to affect the restaurant industry for more than a year, and De Laurentiis and her restaurants
would have more struggles ahead.
Since March 2020, a lot has changed for the restaurant industry, and Giada De Laurentiis'
three restaurants are no different in that regard.
While she was able to reopen both Giada and Pronto by Giada in Las Vegas, as of this recording,
Baltimore's GDL Italian is listed as being permanently closed down on Google.
Strangely enough, a September 2020 post on the restaurant's Facebook page stated that
it would be reopening with tables available on weekends.
However, GDL Italian is also no longer listed as taking reservations on OpenTable.
While no official statement has been put out by De Laurentiis as of this recording, a September
2021 article on Baltimore news site SouthBMore.com listed GDL Italian as one of, quote, "several
restaurant vacancies" at the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore.
With this information, it's a safe bet to assume that GDL Italian will not be reopening,
at least in its initial location.
The reason that it shut down may be due to the financial struggles the restaurant industry
faced in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, which clearly impacted all of De Laurentiis'
restaurants.
However, GDL Italian apparently fared the worst of the three eateries.
Luckily, there's much more good news in regards to Giada De Laurentiis' other two restaurants.
On October 28, 2020, De Laurentiis joyfully announced the reopening of the Giada restaurant
in the Cromwell Hotel in Las Vegas.
On Facebook, she shared a video post showing off the restaurant's dining room and some
of the dishes available on the menu.
De Laurentiis thanked everyone who made the reopening possible, thanking her staff, as
well as the diners who were eager to return.
By the summer of 2020, De Laurentiis was also able to re-open her Caesars Palace restaurant,
Pronto by Giada.
She posted a similar message on her restaurant's Facebook page announcing the reopening, along
with the safety measures the restaurant would be taking to ensure its staff and guests'
safety needs were met.
De Laurentiis wrote,
"Your safety is our top priority, and we have put in place a number of changes to ensure
your health and safety while enjoying a meal in our dining room and on-the-go."
Both Giada at the Cromwell and Pronto by Giada at Caesars Palace initially re-opened for
service on weekends only, but since then dining has picked back up in Vegas, and both restaurants
are now open once again, all week long.
It's nice to see that, while her restaurants certainly faced some hardship, De Laurentiis
was able to keep two of her popular establishments going.
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