Giovanni's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Copperas Cove

Never visited this place but have passed by on numerous occassions and was curious to try. Called for a take out order for two meals. Phone conversation was pleasant and efficient.

Parking lot was packed - good sign. Order was ready in the time promised and price was more than reasonable for two dinners.

Food when unpackaged only 2 minutes after pickup was barely warm but certainly not hot.

Neither dinner was marked and both looked exactly alike so it was impossible to tell who's was who's. A simple marker pen would have made a huge difference in our opinion of this place.

At the time we were both so hungry from a day away from home that we, at first, thought the food was pretty good. But after a few bites and hunger subsiding, the food began to taste a bit more processed than actually made from scratch. By the time we got to the last bite we definately were eating cold food that had very little taste.

Today, after reading other reviews about the posibility of heating up frozen food to serve to guests, I began to wonder if our meal was frozen. I remember commenting, at the time, that Stouffer's Frozen Lassagna had a better taste. Today I remember that the bread sticks included with the meal were tough and chewy as if they had been warmed using a microwave.

We were trying to determine if we'd like to repeat our patronage. For take out the answer is no. But for dining in we thought we'd like to give them another chance. However after reading so many of these negative reviews with a very common thread running through them all, I have my doubts as to whether our dining experience would be pleasurable or worthwile.

I'm not a complainer, but I do hold restaurants to a critical standard. It's not good enough to do less than adequate service or to provide less than stellar food. IT IS YOUR BUSINESS AND YOUR LIFE. Why should I visit your restaurant IF I could do better myself at home - Better myself when I'm not a professional and you are? That says a lot.

I've read most of the reviews and the owner's responses. I find the owner definately concerned and extremely eager to satisfy. But this is all after the fact. The owner needs to make the necessary changes now, NOT AFTER the customer complains. If it is his profession and his business, WHY DOES HE NEED AN AMATEUR to tell him what is wrong.

While I appreciate that Covid 19 has made a huge impact on everything, I think we're long past the point of blaming Covid 19 for all of our problems. It's a fact and we must deal with it. So DEAL with it and stop using it as an excuse for poor performance. YOU KNOW what you want to do and what it takes to do it. If it takes more now because of Covid...then put more into it. Or change what you do to compensate for the shortcomings but don't make your customers suffer for it. Do LESS if necessary to maintain your standard. Less staff must equal less meals served. No quality ingredients, means you must elliminate some of the menu items...

Remember Clint Eastwood's line: "A man's got to know his...

Tonight I ordered dinner. I ordered bruschetta, lobster and shrimp ravioli and tiramisu. We placed the order through We Deliver Killeen at 6pm. We were told it would take an hour for delivery. Fine. It’s Friday night we assumed they were busy. Husband got a call from driver after our delivery time that the order was running behind. 7:30 rolls around, still nothing and driver calls again saying food still isn’t ready. Finally my husband calls the resturant and resturant says the good is almost ready almost an hour and 45 minutes after it was placed! Finally got the food about 8pm.

Food was cold. Bruschetta was just ok. Bread that can with it was bland. Small salad was fresh but dressing wasn’t to my liking. What really upset me was the ravioli. Cold at this point. The ravioli was clearly not homemade- it certainly came premade frozen and they just heated it up. The shrimp were extremely over cooked and tough. The sauce? Supposed to be a lobster sauce with brandy. Certainly not! I tasted no hints of brandy and the sauce was either a vodka sauce or pink sauce. Absolutely no lobster was in that sauce.

I called and spoke with the manager who claims the long wait was all the driver’s fault. That wasn’t totally true as when we had called about the order the person on the phone even told us (an hour and half in) the order was almost done. When I complained about the ravioli he said he didn’t want to blame me but maybe I had it some where else and basically maybe they just made it different because it was fresh. This absolutely was not totally made from scratch. What’s the phrase? Don’t spit on me and tell me it’s raining? He apologized and offered me 50% off my next meal there. Absolutely ridiculous!

Only good thing was the tiramisu. It is possible that was made in house. I grew up in the good service industry. I know you can get so much premade from wholesale- and I’m even willing to accept that if it is cooked well and tastes good. This want that at all. I will never be going to this...

I took my two children to eat dinner this evening, 04/22/21. I hesitated to stay / try to go in when I saw that the parking lot was almost completely full. Cars were pulling in left and right. Against my better judgment, the kids and I went inside. It was dinner time and we were hungry. We had already driven from the far end of Clear Creek Rd (near the airport) specifically to eat there. As we went in, I noticed lots of people coming in , which I overheard was for a military hail and farewell. There was also a party of 8 waiting, but they were seated within just a few minutes of us walking in. The young lady at the hostess stand was clearly VERY overwhelmed and confused. She asked me how many in my party and I told her there were three of us. She asked me to give her a minute, which was completely understandable and not a problem. Obviously they were busy, so I was trying to be understanding. After a few minutes, she said that she had a table for us and started to walk us to said table. All of a sudden she stopped and said that it would be another minute, proceeded to walk us back to the waiting area / lobby. Meanwhile, a party of four came in, and was seated within a minute or two. After waiting a few more minutes, the hostess then asked for my name to put it on their list. At this time, there was nobody else waiting in the lobby area. I gave her my name and phone number. She did not give me any sort of time frame for the wait. After several more minutes, I asked her if she could tell me how long the wait would be. At this point I didn’t think it would be very long since there was nobody else waiting. She then tells me that it will be AT LEAST 30 MINUTES (or more)! My children and I left. The level of confusion and lack of information / customer service was totally unacceptable and very unprofessional. We will not be returning or recommending Giovannis. After living in the area for 8 years now, a loyal customer...