Giovanni Ristorante

Because it was the legal New Years holiday (January 2, 2012), many local restaurants were closed. Not Giovanni's. It was about one-third occupied so I thought I would re-visit the place. I had dined there once before and found it lacking. I wasn't disappointed.....it was lacking in everything you would want in a decent restaurant. The server took our cocktail orders promptly and delivered them to our table. Twelve minutes later the server unveiled the ""specials of the evening"".....and returned five minutes later to take our orders. We were not contacted by the server during the rest of the evening. My guest ordered the five giant shrimp over pasta evening special. Thirty-five minutes later another sub-server delivered the food on un-heated plates.....which is sort of OK because many restaurants don't have plate warmers. The food had probably languished under the heat lamps for ten or fifteen minutes. It cooled quickly and if you like luke-warm veal picatta, you will like Giovanni's version. My guest pointed out to me that the ""five shrimp special"" contained only two shrimp. We together undertook a search for the missing three shrimp. They apparently were lost at sea. The search was difficult because the lighting was dim. If you enjoy dim lighting, you will enjoy Giovanni's. we decided to leave (although we ate only half of the meal presented to us). In trying to get the check, we could not locate the main server....so we walked to the front cash register to pay our bill. And there he was, Our bill was presented to us at the cash register.....we complained about the missing three giant shrimp and he wanted to undertale a post-mortem examination of the half-eaten plate. I refused this joint opportunity to find the missing three shrimps. ""Just give me the bill"", I said. He did by slapping it on the bar near the cash register and he walked off. If you enjoy bad service, slow delivery of food, you will be very comfortable at Giovanni's more

This is my favorite neighborhood restaurant. I have eaten there numerous times since 2002 when it opened across the street. I love the rich, Southern Italian style of cooking and have always found the owner and the staff courteous, helpful and friendly. Richard, the owner, has gone out of the way to help our family when our 2 year old grandson accompanies us, getting him a meal and milk immediately. more

The chef/owner should stay in the kitchen because his people skills (or lack thereof) drove this customer away. \r \r When we walked in, he attempted to greet us to his completely empty restaurant. He said that he didn't know if he could seat us since he expected a rush in 60-90 minutes; he would have to defer to his hostess. \r \r Later, he came out to speak with us about an issue with the meal, and at first we thought he was going to be pleasant. Instead, he defended the dish and said that he shouldn't have the ""eat the cost of it"" because there was nothing wrong. \r \r We had our food (except the errant dish) packed up and went home where the atmosphere was much better. While the food was good; we will never go back. \r Pros: OK food Cons: The chef/owner more

This used to be my favorite Italian Restaurant in the valley (I'm fr: Jersey and very picky about my Italian food). I was happy to hear that Giovanni's moved to a larger location but that was before I went to their new location. The new location is across the street but the feel is totally commercial - it no longer has that NYC style Italian restaurant. The woman who seated us was very rude, unprofessional and not helpful. She made us wait when we had a reservation and there was no one else there. She sat us at the worst table and we had to ask to move. The service and food was ok but there is nothing special left about this restaurant and I would not suggest you go there for Italian food! Pros: ok Italian food Cons: lost the special touch more

TERRIBLE! Absolutely terrible!! I went for Valentine's Dinner with my husband. He made reservations before hand and the hostess was terribly rude. We got there and she grumbled something about us being 10 minutes late for our reservation. This is not a meeting! We were going there to have a romantic dinner. The we were standing there waiting to be seated and she had her back to us the whole time and was grumbling around at the front. Then she told my husband to move as she needed someone to come through the door. Yes, MOVE. Not can you please move over or could you please open the door, but MOVE. And so he moved over, and this man came in to drop off a package, a neighboring business owner. He wanted her to hold this package for him until tomorrow, however, then she started talking to him and blocking our way right while we were standing there waiting to be seated. She was terribly rude. We were the paying guests. I can understand doing this guy a favor but we were their FIRST and we are the CUSTOMERS. My husband tried saying something to her but she just ignored him and shuffled some papers on the desk. Finally, she sat us down at the front, by the door with a draft. The place was basically empty and so we asked for another table and she told us nastily that it wasn't available because they planned it all out. We were going to at least look at the menu, but she started grabbing plates from the table and roughly reminded us that we NEED TO BE OUT BY SEVEN. I don't know who would put a time constraint on a paying customer and say it in such a rude manner. It was very disappointing and I would NEVER recommend going there. Pros: Nothing Cons: Terrible RUDE SERVICE more

The food is great and reasonable.My wife and I go about every six weeks. The service is attentive. Try the mixed seafood (red sauce) over pasta if it is one of the specials or ask them and they'll make it for you. Whatever you order, you'll be happyA great little place. Too bad more people don't know about it. Pros: inexpensive, quality food more