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Downtown Boston has gained another Italian restaurant in the form of Joia, a glittery new restaurant and lounge inside downtown Boston’s Harborside Inn from Gianmarco Rinaldi, a former manager at popular North End spot Trattoria Il Panino.
At Joia, Rinaldi has lined up Italian classics on the menu set against the backdrop of an opulent, gilded dining room meant to evoke the Great Gatsby, he tells the Boston Globe. The menu includes bocconcini, or small fried balls of mozzarella; pinsas, an airy, Roman-style pizza; and nearly a dozen different types of pasta, including a cacio e pepe tossed tableside in a parm wheel. Breakfast and lunch will also be offered starting this week, according to a rep for the restaurant.
The restaurant’s glitzy interiors include a 60-seat main dining room, a 16-seat bar, and an outdoor patio that will be able to seat up to 24 for warm-weather dining out front of the hotel.
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Rinaldi, a Naples native, moved to Boston seven years ago, according to the Globe. His restaurant resume in the city includes years spent working under veteran North End restaurateur Frank DePasquale, including managing DePasquale’s Hanover Street mainstay Trattoria Il Panino. Rinaldi also spent time working for local restaurant group Coje, known for mastering the party-ready restaurant genre at places like downtown Boston restaurant Mariel and Lolita in Back Bay and Fort Point.
Joia is located at 195 State Street, inside the Harborside Inn. It is open for dinner from 5 to 11 p.m., and will be open for breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting on April 25. Late-night lounge hours run until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
