Giovanni's Ristorante — Restaurant in Detroit

When asked what our occasion was at the door I told them we were celebrating my girlfriends birthday. The hostess proceed to seat us in a "quiet" back corner table of the wine room.

SERVICE (1 Star): To start with our server, while friendly and knowledgeable about the dishes, rarely rounded on our table even though I frequently saw her making her way around out in the main dining area waiting on other tables. This was especially frustrating when the tables around us were being checked on frequently by their servers. Our server also seemed to have poor time management skills. Example... We ordered drinks and ask for more bread and when she'd finally come back she'd brought the bread and not the drinks then another long delay before returning with the drinks. Our drink glasses were empty more than they were full! In contrast the guy that walks around filling water glasses was so on point that we joked we'd be so full from water we wouldn't be able to eat our main course. It also took an unacceptable amount of time to get our main course. We were there for over 2 hours and only had a couple drinks, a couple of appetizers, our main course, and dessert.

FOOD (4 stars): I had the veal cutlets and my girlfriend had the lamb chops. Both dishes were prepared well and plated in an attractive manner. The food was hot, surprisingly since it took so long to get to the table. The portions were appropriate with what you'd expect from a fine dining restaurant. My meal also included a small dish of spaghetti (pasta and tomato sauce, no meat) and I do agree with other reviews that stated that the sauce tasted like Ragu or the like. While I don't think it was actually Ragu I do feel it was just a very plain ordinary seasoning of sauce that was certainly nothing special considering this is an vintage Italian eatery. The salads that came with the main course were pretty lacking as well, just a small portion of greens with salad dressing, 2 small pieces of tomato, and 2 small pieces of cucumber. Appetizers were as expected and the complimentary bread was tasty, hot, and fresh. They did also give my girlfriend a complimentary piece of Tiramisu for her birthday.

DECOR (3 stars): The interior is decorated with old school Italian wall hangings and such with nice romantic dim lighting. The main dining area is one large room and the tables aren't overly crowded together. There's also a wine room off to the side with only four or five tables (where we sat). The exterior of the building has a nice stone front, too bad you have to drive into and through a nasty run down area of Detroit to visit this establishment, it's near the Ambassador Bridge.

PRICE (2 stars): The total of our visit was approx $160 for 3 drinks (my 2 beers and her glass of wine), 2 appetizers, 2 main courses, and dessert. This price would have been justified had our service been top notch but it was not!

MISC: I did not include this in my star rating but I thought I'd mention it anyway. We were seated next to a large table with several loud and obviously drunk couples that ruined the romantic atmosphere. They were obnoxious and inconsiderately loud to everyone seated in the wine room which was apparent by the looks given to them by fellow patrons. While this may not necessarily be the fault of the restaurant I do feel that the hostess should be more mindful when seating couples who came for a nice quiet romantic dinner. Choices of parking are either valet or on the street across from the restaurant if front of an overgrown vacant lot and boarded up abandoned grocery store. (see Google Maps street view)

SUMMARY: Overall I was pretty disappointed with the dining experience here considering the hype I've heard about the place. While the interior did have the look of a romantic Italian restaurant I don't feel like service was on par with other fine dining establishments. As I mentioned the service did not justify the price. I don't plan on...

Hit and miss service & food throughout the night. Best risotto EVER, but the chicken piccata was terrible (tasted like salty jarred chicken gravy, not the signature light lemon butter wine sauce it deserves).

"Relaxing" dinner I can appreciate. 3 hours and 15 minutes even with desserts to go... ridiculous. I understand homemade food takes time, but it was 45 minutes for the calamari appetizer, however it was heavenly and a fair portion to share. The house salad dressing is unbelievable, which makes me wish I had gotten more than 4 lettuce leaves to dip in it...

All this is splitting hairs though. The unforgivable error was that they are known for having phenomenal homemade pasta, and they thankfully offer a gluten free option daily! We were celebrating anniversaries with another couple, and we had 1 person who suffers from celiac disease, so she was sure to call a day ahead when making reservations to assure they'd have gluten free pasta that day. Well, they did NOT. She was told at the table that certain dishes could still be made gluten free, and 15 minutes later, we were informed they could NOT. Eventually she got a chicken breast in burnt butter sauce (I can't remember what it was supposed to be, but it was unpleasant).

After 2.5 hours, we asked for our bill and dessert to go, and it literally took 45 more minutes til we were walking out the door (we actually watched the clock as our disappointment became humorous at this point. They made up for the gluten free error with 1 free slice of flourless cake).

Worst tiramisu I've ever had, and I've had a lot. It was difficult to judge though, since the slice isn't even 1 inch thick. It lays on its side and looks like a slice of striped bread. It is completely dry like bread too. No juicy espresso flavor at all, thin layer of mascarpone was the only hint that it was even dessert.

Also they don't split checks, which is clearly stated on the menu, but come on. Also your bill comes as handwritten chicken scratch like you might expect from a coney island so its hard to tell what was charged... this is the 21st century, this isn't quaint or upscale it's irtitating.

I know, this place is fancy, its old world Italian, but leaving hungry would have your old world Italian grandma rolling in her grave. I would go to Moro's the next time I want a $200 extravagant meal.

Not all bad though!!! Which is why it got 3 stars. I feel many of its disappointments could just be 1 bad experience.

My husband loved his dish (some cream sauce ravioli that was a dinner special) and I can't imagine a life without that spectacular risotto, so we will return, on a weeknight (not Saturday) and refuse the waiter we got last time (it felt that we got the bad service because we were younger than other more obviously wealthy customers next to us. I hate to think it, but these people who came later got their entire meals sooner and left long before us. Treat me like you assume I won't tip because I'm young or of lesser means, and guess what, I won't tip well, when I would prefer to be excessively generous if only tip break stereotypes, but I cannot reward disappointing service).

I will probably order carryout or even call ahead to ensure timely dining...

It's been over 20 years since we've been to Giovanni's, but remember the food and service as being amazing. The good news is that this is still the case. The calamari was wonderful so were the arincini's. Our waitress offered to make a plate with the appetizers for each one of us which was very much appreciated. For entrées, we had the Alfredo (added shrimp), the shrimp scampi, the Zuppe (pasta + fish + seafood) dinner special and filet. All were great. The Tiramissu is probably one of the best we've ever had and the cheesecake was delicious.

However, when the waitress dropped off the bill, our very positive experience was turned on its head. Found out that the dinner special was $44, not in the mid $30's as the waitress said when asked, the upcharge for side Caesar was $7 ($9 instead of $2) - had 2 of those plus $3 charge for 4 small pieces of anchovies (really guys?). For adding 3 shrimps to the Alfredo, that was $5 each ($15 total). Were told that they're $4 each to begin with, so there goes $3 unjustified charge. By the way, they were not as large as the shrimps in the dinner special plus they were a little charred. Finally, the waitress asked if we'd like her to take care of the valet fee. I said that she can just add to the bill. Not sure if it was because I used a credit card, but the fee was $7 instead of $5. All in all, I feel we were overcharged $31. For that, I'm deducting one star and for the waitress being misleading (should have been accurate on the prices of the specials, the extra shrimp, the Caesar and anchovies upcharge), I'm deducting another star. I considered the rib chop dinner special, which sounded amazing, but Thank Goodness I asked about the price, which I was told it was $72.

I should also say that Giovanni's met expectations for good size portions, so the prices are justifiable. Based on the waitress recommendation, I selected the Filet ($47) instead of the Veal Marcella ($33). In retrospect, I should've picked the Veal Marcella, which I'm sure would've been one of the best I've ever had, but we won't be going back any time soon to try it. Our bill for 4 people, which included 3 cocktail drinks was $291. Recommendation for Giovanni's management is to ensure the staff are crystal clear on the prices. $31 overcharge is a big deal especially for those of us that work hard...