Restaurants · Independent Review
Gemelli Italian, Broadbeach: An Honest Review
The Gold Coast’s most talked-about Italian - what to order, what it costs, how to actually get a table, and whether it lives up to the queue.
Ask anyone on the Gold Coast for an Italian restaurant recommendation and Gemelli comes up before you finish the question. The Broadbeach restaurant at Shop 2, 2685 Gold Coast Highway has built the kind of reputation that fills dinner sittings night after night - handmade pasta, wood-fired pizza, and an energy that feels closer to a Melbourne laneway favourite than a holiday-strip eatery.
The brand has since grown a second venue in Brisbane’s James Street precinct, but Broadbeach is the original Gold Coast room, and it remains the benchmark every other Italian in the suburb gets measured against.
This is an independent review - we’re not affiliated with the restaurant. Here’s what Gemelli does brilliantly, what to know before you go, and how to decide whether it’s your night-one booking or a skip.
Gemelli in 30 Seconds
- Where: Shop 2, 2685 Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach - on the highway side, not the Oracle Boulevard strip
- Style: traditional homemade Italian - handmade pasta and wood-fired pizza are the headline acts
- Crowd favourites: Diavola pizza, Rigatoni Ragu, Rigatoni Bacio, tiramisu and bomboloni for dessert
- Price: mid to upper-mid range - more than a casual pizzeria, well under fine dining
- Booking: strongly recommended - dinner runs in staggered sittings and prime times go fast
- Open for dinner from 5pm nightly, with lunch service on selected days - check current hours when booking
| Dish | Type | Why It’s Ordered |
|---|---|---|
| Diavola | Wood-fired pizza | The benchmark spicy salami pizza - blistered crust from the wood oven |
| Rigatoni Ragu | Handmade pasta | Slow-cooked ragu on fresh rigatoni - the signature comfort order |
| Rigatoni Bacio | Handmade pasta | The rich, creamy cult favourite regulars refuse to swap |
| Antipasti to share | Starter | The proper way to open while you study the pizza list |
| Tiramisu | Dessert | The classic done classically - made for sharing (or not) |
| Bomboloni | Dessert | Filled Italian doughnuts - the sleeper hit of the dessert menu |
The Food: Why the Reputation Is Real
Gemelli’s pitch is ‘traditional homemade’ and the kitchen backs it up - pasta made fresh on site, pizza dough proofed and fired in the wood oven, and a menu that sticks to Italian classics done properly rather than chasing fusion novelty.
The pastas are the heart of the menu. The Rigatoni Ragu is the dish people drive across the city for: slow-cooked meat sauce clinging to fresh rigatoni with that slight chew shop-bought pasta never gets. Its rich, creamy sibling the Rigatoni Bacio has its own following - order one of each across the table and settle the debate yourselves.
From the wood oven, the Diavola is the benchmark - proper leopard-spotted crust, good salami, the right amount of heat. Pizzas here are genuine Italian-style rounds, not overloaded Aussie pub pies.
Leave room for dessert. The tiramisu is the predictable closer for good reason, but the bomboloni - warm filled Italian doughnuts - are the order the regulars quietly think is better.
Portions are generous. The move for two people: shared antipasti, one pasta, one pizza, and dessert. You’ll roll out happy without over-ordering.
Prices: What a Dinner Actually Costs
Gemelli sits in the mid to upper-mid bracket for Broadbeach - clearly above the casual pizzerias, comfortably below the fine diners and steakhouses.
As a planning guide, expect a two-course dinner for two with a drink each to land somewhere in the low-to-mid hundreds depending on how the wine list treats you - on par with the better Oracle Boulevard restaurants. Exact menu prices move with the seasons, so check the current menu online before you book if budget matters.
Is it good value? For the quality of the pasta, yes - you’re paying neighbourhood-trattoria prices for food that outclasses most of the strip. The value equation only weakens if you default to the most premium mains and the top of the wine list, where the gap to the suburb’s fine-dining rooms narrows.
On days lunch service runs, the same kitchen at quieter pace makes midday the easiest and often most economical way to try Gemelli - and tables are far easier to get.
Getting a Table: How the Sittings Work
This is the part that catches visitors out. Gemelli Broadbeach runs dinner from 5pm in staggered sittings, and prime Friday-to-Sunday slots disappear days ahead - sometimes further out in school holidays and on event weekends.
The practical playbook: book online as soon as your travel dates firm up, and if you want a relaxed, no-time-limit dinner, ask about the later sittings - earlier slots may carry a table-return time when the night is fully booked. Walk-ins aren’t hopeless on weeknights, especially early, but treating it as a bookings restaurant is the safe assumption.
Note the location while you’re at it: the restaurant is at Shop 2, 2685 Gold Coast Highway - on the highway frontage near the corner of the dining precinct, not inside the Oracle Boulevard strip itself. It’s a two-minute walk from the Oracle restaurants and about five minutes from most Broadbeach towers.
For Friday or Saturday dinner - or any night during school holidays, Blues on Broadbeach or race weekends - book Gemelli when you book your accommodation, not when you arrive.
The Verdict: Who Should Book It
Book Gemelli if: you want the best handmade pasta in Broadbeach, a lively proper-restaurant atmosphere, and a meal that feels like the local institution it is. It’s the right call for the trip’s ‘good dinner’ night, date nights that want energy rather than hush, and groups who’ll share plates.
Consider elsewhere if: you want a quiet, romantic whisper-level room (the buzz is part of the deal here), you’re after a quick cheap feed (the pizzerias and food courts handle that), or you couldn’t get a sitting at a civilised hour - in which case Broadbeach’s other Italian rooms are genuinely good fallbacks rather than consolation prizes.
Bottom line: Gemelli earns its reputation. It isn’t the cheapest Italian in Broadbeach and the sittings system demands planning, but plate for plate it’s the suburb’s benchmark Italian - and the Rigatoni Ragu alone justifies the booking admin.
The Italian-leaning list rewards asking. Tell them your pasta order and a price comfort zone - the by-the-glass matches are consistently on the money.
Frequently Asked Questions
Shop 2, 2685 Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach - on the highway frontage a couple of minutes’ walk from the Oracle Boulevard dining strip, and about five minutes from most Broadbeach apartment towers. There’s also a second Gemelli in Brisbane’s James Street precinct, but Broadbeach is the original Gold Coast venue.
Strongly recommended. Dinner runs from 5pm in staggered sittings and prime weekend slots book out days ahead - longer during school holidays and event weekends. Weeknight walk-ins sometimes work early in the evening, but booking online as soon as your dates firm up is the safe play.
The crowd favourites: Rigatoni Ragu (the signature slow-cooked pasta), Rigatoni Bacio (the rich, creamy cult order), the Diavola wood-fired pizza, and for dessert the tiramisu or the bomboloni - warm filled Italian doughnuts that regulars rate as the menu’s sleeper hit.
Mid to upper-mid range - above casual pizzerias, below Broadbeach’s fine diners. A two-course dinner for two with a drink each typically lands in the low-to-mid hundreds depending on wine. Lunch (on days it runs) is the easiest value window. Check the current menu online for exact prices, as they change seasonally.
Stay Near the Action
Gemelli is a five minute walk from most Broadbeach towers - base yourself in the suburb and the whole dining precinct is on your doorstep.
Written and maintained by a Broadbeach local. I update this guide regularly to keep it accurate.