Giovanni's — Restaurant in Fairborn

Let me first say I do not normally "rate" restaurants. I don't believe that a single good or bad experience should define a restaurant.... until today. I was searching for Mother's Day events and ran across Giovanni's Untraditional Mother's Day Buffet. My wife LOVES Italian cuisine so I made reservations immediately. The ad stated the "buffet" worked as follows... "Unlimited Salads, Soups, Appetizers, and Desserts. And your choice of 2 entrees." We drove the hour and a half to get to Giovanni's and were sat pretty promptly, a few minutes ahead of our scheduled reservation. The sign said "12 and up were 28.95, 12 and under were 12.95" We were a little confused as to how much our 12yr old would cost so we asked our server who said she was fine to be priced at the children's level. Cool. So we each ordered the buffet and were told we could choose 1 salad, 1 soup, 1 appetizer, and 2 entrees. If we wanted more of any course she would cover that "later". No problem. We ordered several items and this is what we recieved....

Mini Antipasto = 1 slice salami, 1 piece Mozz, 1 Artichoke Heart, 2 Olives Very good taste but incredibly small appetizer.

Caesar Salad = Delicious, Zero Complaints Traditional Salad = Great, No Issues

Garlic Soup = Delicious but 3 of us received half of a small cup each Wedding Soup = Spectacular

Prime Rib = Totally overcooked. Dry and flavorless. Chicken Parmigian = Totally overcooked. Dry and flavorless. Served over plain, flavorless spaghetti noodles. Could tell it had been sitting under a warmer for a LOOOONG time. Lasagna = Decent but very, very little cheese Seafood Ravioli = Decent taste but were only given 2 ravioli on what is supposed to be an entree. Was much more of a small side.

Basically the entire meal was meh.... Much more like eating in a cafeteria or at a Wedding Reception than in an "authetic" Italian ristorante.

Was still willing to overlook as I was excited about dessert. The ad said "unlimited desserts including Cannolis, Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Cupcakes, and more" Needless to say we were looking forward to it. The waitress brought the dessert tray to our table to let us pick... on the tray were several pieces of cake, a few cookies, and some pudding cups. We asked about the cannolis and tiramisu and were told.. "Those aren't part of the buffet" We said the ad stated they were and showed her the ad. She said she would talk to management. When she returned she said we can give you one of the pudding cups which tastes like tiramisu (it didnt) and could get some mini cannolis (could tell they were purchased, not made) if we would like one. We accepted and continued our meh experience. I apologized to my wife for a very underwhelming experience and we waited for our bill.

The waitress brought the check and after she walked away we realized she had charged us (2 adults and 3 kids) for 5 adult meals. When we inquired at the checkout stand our waitress was walking by and said she didn't even know there was a separate children's price.... seriously???

I had had it and just walked out leaving my wife to pay as she stays much more calm than I. We will not be going back. For the money spent we could have gotten an amazing meal from The Spaghetti Warehouse instead. Hindsight is...

New update: let begin that have have been eating their pizza for 20+ years. Ordered a not so Jumbo with Pepperoni, sausage, extra cheese, and extra sauce. Coming in a whopping 29 bucks. Paper thin dough, like a small was super stretched, suprising it held up, but literally had no chew. Pepperonis were skimpy, the sausage was none existent (literally had more pieces with no sausage the pieces that had it), cheese was plentiful, but the sauce was scarce! Tasted like chewing on a warm block of cheese. This place was in my top 5 for a long time and now I'll probably never go back. Either will the people I shared with (a small buisness owner also on main st). Pizza has a huge mark up there is no reason to skimp as bad as you are and charge the prices you do. Greed will be your down fall for sure. I definitely miss my neighborhood giovannis!

You are literally running this place in the ground.

Talk about unorganized and a terrible manager. I ordered the big superbowl special the day before and had a pick up time of 5:45. Well I arrived a few minutes early and waited 10 minutes before I was helped. Told them my name and I was told half my order was ready and I was just waiting for my pizzas. waited about 15 minutes and I asked how much longer and wasn't given a time. Waited about another 10 minutes and I was asked 3 more times my name and what did I order. No one even checked where my pizzas were. At this point I'm noticing other boxes had later times written on their boxes. So I asked again about my order and got the same answer as before. Mind you another guy was having the same issue. The manager never once got involved and at one point she told someone she wasn't worried about my order, surely she had to realize I,ve been standing in front of her for a better part of 30 minutes. This lady had no clue on what she was doing or have the skills to handle any kind of situation. For a place to be in business for as long as you all have you guys really don't have much of a clue.

If it wasn't for Ty , i'd probably still be waiting. He did what the manager should have done and took charge of the situation and handled it. As thye were finally making my pizzas I believe the owner came out and told the manager to give our money back but not once looked at us and apologized. Then when I finally got my food mind you the wings a bread stix sat on top of the oven for over a hour. If they were going to comp it ,it was whatever at this point.I had to ask the manager for my refund and she said she didn't hear the owner say that. I call bs on that but however she refunded it but it was cash cause she couldn't figure out how to add it back to my...

June 2023 Update: They've really simplified their menu since the pandemic. It's boiled down to limited appetizers, a couple soups and salads, four sandwiches, and a few entrees, in addition to their pizza menu.

The food was all tasty, traditional, basic Italian and pizza fare. I believe they still serve some other dishes as I noticed the old pasta with meats dish, including sausage links, served at another table. That's a bit frustrating to know there's more available than listed.

Biggest issue this time was speed of service. It was the kitchen, not the server. She was good. One member of our larger party ordered before everyone else because her dish was baked to order (30 min). She ordered 15 min before everyone else, but it took almost an hour to get the rest of the meals out ... after her dish was served. ??? For spaghetti and meatballs? I have a feeling they were trying to time everything to be delivered simultaneously, which is fine, but leads me to believe they were quite understaffed on a Saturday night.

Interestingly, they only had Bud Light on draft, everything else was bottled.

So not a great dining experience this time, but still good, simple Italian eats and I imagine we'll return.

UPDATE: Just returned for our yearly visit as we pass through Dayton. This time, everything was spot on! I didn't order the pasta and sausage dish this time, but will definitely try again with the owner's suggestion about links. This time, the house dressing was just as I remembered. Pow! It's a sock to the taste buds I'll take any day. Word of caution, though. It's better for true garlic lovers, so if you're just experimenting, order it on the side and add what tastes right to you. The owner's comment on fresh ingredients makes sense. It's a risk worth taking. This time, I just went with pizza and I was knocked over. It was amazingly good! I gorged myself knowing I wouldn't get to leftovers on the trip. I vividly remember leaving a couple slices on the pan as we left, thinking "what an absolute shame ..."

OLD REVIEW: Decent food, but it lacked the flavor of previous visits. Had the pasta and sausage dish (sausage crumbled in, not links), but wouldn't have noticed it was in there except for texture. No flavor from it. Sauce was a little bland too. They've also seemed to have changed their recipe for the house garlic dressing. Not the curiously powerful punch it had before but it was still good. We'll see how it...