Gino's Original Pizzeria — Restaurant in East Hartford

After years of looking past poor customer service and food quality I have finally had enough of this greedy place.

The second time I ever got Gino's I got plastic wrap in my whole ham grinder. I called them immediately to tell them and see what we could do since thats disgusting to bite into and pull out of your mouth. I was treated like I was lying even though I had pictures of it deeply wedged in the sandwich still where part of it was left from the bite.

Gino's also sends $20 off birthday coupons. The first year when I brought in the coupon they emailed me and verified with my ID that it was my birthday they treated me like I was stealing from them. Last year I went to use the coupon again. This time however, I was blasted for ordering after they opened and told when I got there it just started cooking (after the 45 min they said first) I had a very important appointment that day and after waiting for the pizza to cook the man in the kitchen told me he could not hand me the pizza I already paid for and was ready the waitress had to. I then stood there for at least 5 more minutes while she stood at a table and just talked with the customers. Finally I just took the pizza and left.

This year I went to use the birthday coupon again. To begin with these greedy people took it from $20 off to $10 off. Ok whatever it is still a deal even though that is a disgusting amount to reduce it by when the prices are already inflated for this type of food. I looked over the entire email and no where did it say there was any restrictions just a bit about it might vary contact the restaurant. So I make sure to call to order so I can speak to a staff member and tell them that I have this coupon. After I tell the girl my order I let her know I have the coupon. She responds with another new change this year that was not there last year and that was if I had not ordered in 90 days I might not be able to use the coupon but she needed to ask the manager/owner and put me on hold. This was not a short hold either so they definitely were talking about something. When she comes back she says she is not sure but I can come in and they will take care of it. She tells me it will be 35 minutes. I wait the 35 min and go there. When I go to pay I show the coupon and the girl gets another woman. This woman says oh no you have not ordered anything since January you need to have ordered in the last 90 days to use this coupon. KEEP IN MIND Gino's sent me this coupon in my email one day before my birthday. I have used this for at least 2 years prior without ever hearing this. I even called and spoke to them IN PERSON and they still had me come down there and waste my time just to play in my face when they could have checked this over the phone. All she did was type in my number. Which according to their own insane policy should never have even been sent to me since it had been well over 90 days since my last order.

Clearly this is a tactic they use assuming most people will still collect the food they ordered and pay the full price and not use the coupon. To purposely waste someone's time on their birthday in hopes of scamming them is disgusting. There was no way I was picking that order up I told them to forget it and walked out.

How much did all the food you threw in the trash cost? Was it less than the $10 you would have saved? You lost 2 customers in my family from this and we are telling as many people in East Hartford as possible to never eat here again as well.

If these coupons make you so mad STOP SENDING THEM. Seeing your replies to other loyal customers who have this issue with the b-day coupon is disgusting. You would rather lose customers who may purchase multiple times a year just not in the last 90 days & lose customers who come in just for their b-day, all just to not lose AT MAX $10 on an order once a year? You need to re-evaluate your business and customer service because this honestly seems like borderline illegal marketing under CUTPA. I will be filing a complaint with CT Dept. of Consumer...

It’s been a couple weeks since our visit because I was going back and forth with myself on whether I should post a review but after just having a great experience at another local restaurant I decided it should be addressed….

I took my daughter here the day after school got out to celebrate all her hard work, we had a special afternoon together and decided to finish the night by going out to dinner and since we live super close we decided to walk over and have a bite to eat however we barely ate anything and I had to come home and make us both something to eat because yes it really was that bad! My first red flag should’ve been when we walked in and we were the only people in there but I digress… We both ordered a pasta dish so I decided to get a garlic bread with cheese because who doesn’t want to dip that in a yummy sauce right?…. Wrong! When the food came out I immediately noticed that our pasta was literally swimming in water so either it was frozen and reheated or you didn’t even bother to drain the pasta, it was overcooked and the sauce was bland but what really took the cake was when the garlic bread came out and it literally looked like they just put some slices of American cheese on it and called it a day….. I told her to just eat a couple bites because I didn’t want to be rude and would’ve totally left this alone but when the waitress came over to greet the table next to us that was just seated she asked if we needed any boxes and I said no thank you we’ll just take the check I could see it clicked to her that we didn’t enjoy our meal and she did ask when she brought the check out if there was anything wrong with it because we barely touched it and I answered with the nicest thing I could think of at the time and basically said the sandwich cheese on the garlic bread kinda threw me off and she flat out lied and said it was mozzarella 👀😒 and walked to the kitchen as we walked to the counter to pay we overheard her little conversation with the cook lol… I never once complained simply answered a question when asked, never asked for anything to be removed from our bill and still gave her a 20% tip because it’s not about the money for me we eat out every Friday and like to try new places and already knew we wouldn’t be back but next time you wanna bash a customer maybe wait until they leave doll that’s not a good look for the business and reviews like...

I grew up on Gino's pizza. Every time I come back to CT, I will go there. Then, 8 years ago, they were gone. No more Glastonbury location. So imagine my surprise and elation that I find this article that they have a new location. Thanks to the pandemic, it's been several years since getting back to CT. Only have 3 days there, but I make time to go. 15 years since I've had Gino's. At least once a month, my mom, Uncle Buddy, and Grandma Fern would invite friends to join us in sharing a pie from Gino's. We would squeeze into the small dining area and fit over who got the corner pieces. In the end, the only thing left was the box. I am now in the restaurant in East Hartford, and I am really looking forward to a pizza. I place the order for a medium and tell the waitress the toppings. The last topping I tell her I only want on half the pizza, and I tell her it's because my husband does not like mushrooms. She asks if I want extra cheese on the other half. Sure, I guess? And we wait. And why is it soooo cold in there? I had on 3 shirts, and I was shivering. We wait a while, which is fine. Lots of people come for pick up while we wait. The pizza comes, and all the toppings are on one side and cheese on the other. My husband is irritated. He sees no point in eating cheese pizza, and he won't touch the other half because of the mushrooms. We don't touch the pizza. I asked the waitress for a to go box. I tell her ots not what I ordered, but I get that it was some mind of miscommunication. She insists that is what I ordered. I tell her it's fine. I get it. I am paying for the pizza. Can I please have a box to go? She brings a box and again tells me that is what I ordered. We are still hungry. She is being argumentative. My blood sugar is low. I pay the 25 and leave. My husband goes through drive-thru. I eat a couple of pieces from my lap in the truck. It was not the experience I was hoping to have. I still enjoyed the pizza, but I did not enjoy the experience at all. This is the first time I have ever had my order miscommunication. And I still took responsibility for it, though I do think I was clear. I look at the person taking my order, I pronounce my words, and I project my voice. Whatever. Why was it so cold in there, and why was she argumentative when I was being over the moon nice about the situation? And my Grandma Fern would have chewed her out for...