Giuseppe's Restaurant — Restaurant in Burnsville

Had a very unfortunate experience for our Christmas Eve this year. We tried ordering Delivery from Giusseppe’s through DoorDash tonight and after our order was confirmed by the restaurant I received a call from the manager informing me they were out of the Caesar salad for the night. Mind you, I am a restaurant manager as well and have been for quite some time so I know these things come about and I understood the situation. After finally being able to get a sentence out after being so rudely interrupted repeatedly I asked the manager to please just cancel my order all together. I would have cancelled it on my end but because the order was confirmed the order was technically “being prepared by the kitchen” so I wouldn’t be able to get my full refund back. Mr. Z Wang the manager then informed me he didn’t know how to cancel the order which I then explained to him I could walk him through the process because I too am a restaurant manager and I’ve gone through the same situations before. The man refused to listen, he tried finding every excuse in the book and hung up on me not once but THREE times refusing to refund me telling me DoorDash was closed when he clearly wasn’t even attempting to contact them but would try to cover it up by selling me a Tiramisu. After spending $45 on food that I was never going to receive and repeatedly being hung up on I decided to go into the restaurant so I could walk Mr. Wang through the cancellation process. When I arrived I walked into the restaurant to hear them all the way from their back kitchen mocking me calling me vulgar names making fun of the entire situation. They were so loud and caught up in their conversation I was able to walk to the front counter, sit down and record their entire conversation start to finish. This is when Mr. Wang comes out and invites his two kitchen staff to be a part of the situation when they have no business being there in the first place. Both kitchen staff continued to call me “bat sh* crazy” and called me a b*ch while I was trying to have a conversation with ONLY the manager. It’s unfortunate to have been going to this restaurant with my friends and family for years to now be writing a review that doesn’t even deserve 1 star. Please bring back the old owner and his family, they would have never allowed this type of service.

The manager working was Mr. Z Wang (or at least that’s what he told me his name was) and the 2 staff were a middle aged shorter blonde Caucasian woman and the (I believe) dishwasher who was a younger tall African American man. None were wearing masks or gloves in the kitchen and probably won’t be held accountable for any their actions because Mr. Wang clearly doesn’t know how to manage and little do they know I pretended to walk out and again was able to record their mockery of me after they went to the...

I remember the first time I came here when I was in high school I was just accustomed to eating at chain and fast food places. Back then it tasted like heaven with my minimal culinary experience, but I can say that now ten years later after I've explored so many local restaurants in the metro areas Giuseppe's still blows me away. When I want italian there's just no other place that compares. The menu is classic, and their dishes are perfectly seasoned, incredibly generous portions, hot and delicious! I'm not kidding about the generous portions, you will most likely be packing leftovers, which is yet another blessing Giuseppe's gives me. By blessing I mean leftover pasta I can microwave at midnight.

My favorite of the appetizers is the calamari sauteed in a lovely white wine tomato sauce. You can expect a delicate but absolutely full bodied flavor. That's what you'll get here, flavor! Honestly, I haven't tried all the pasta dishes yet to determine an absolute favorite, but I will say that I have NEVER been disappointed. When deciding what you want it's really just based on if you want a lighter pasta or a heavier dish. Anywhere on the spectrum is delicious, though. AND GOD, THE FREE BREAD WITH THE DIPPING SAUCE. Indescribable. You could bribe me with $1000 to not finish the basket of bread dipped in the herb oil before the food even comes. I'd be like, "Sick, great deal. I can do that!" and then immediately fail. Once my server sees that basket empty they wordlessly grab it to fill it back up with fresh hot bread. It's like some kind of telepathy.

I have also always felt welcomed and waited on, great staff, and if you see the owner he's always smiling and so happy to have you there. And sure, the decor could be considered dated, but there's a warmth that the hippest and most well designed Minneapolis restaurant just can't achieve. I really...

Just returning from my first—and last—visit to Giuseppe’s. First, the online menu is NOT the same as the menu in the restaurant. I went because I’m looking for good egg plant parmesan. According to the waitress, they haven’t served it for at least nine years. So I ask rhetorically, shouldn’t someone make the online change?

Ambiance: light, warm, clean, comfortable but cramped, at least that’s how I felt sitting next to a wall.

Service: too relaxed but very friendly. It was NOT busy when I was there. I understand they have call-in orders, too, but I’ll bet I stood there a good three minutes before I was greeted. Then, I wondered if the waitress had forgotten me after she gave me the menu. Easily five minutes. No one else was in there until after I got my food. The waitress never checked to see if everything was okay.

Food: I had the shrimp and scallop Forentine. Generous serving for $18 but no flavor. None. Scallops were tiny, shrimp were small, as well. Very oily. Their fresh bread was excellent.

I tipped over 20% because I know servers are having a tough time in this pandemic. Had I tipped based on satisfaction, I would have tipped maybe 15%.

Evaluation of food and art are subjective. Still, I wasn’t impressed enough to where I’ll return. It wasn’t bad, mind you, but if I want bland, I’ll go down the road to Olive Garden where it’s cheaper. No thanks. I’m still looking for GOOD egg plant parmesan in the south metro of the Twin Cities. Gawd, how I miss the great...