Giorgio’s Family Kitchen — Restaurant in Georgia

I don't leave reviews very often, probably only my second. But my family and I tried this place for the first time last night based on the reviews, menu, and wanting to try a new place in town. For those wanting a quick summary, I will most likely not be returning. The taste and presentation of the food, outside of the pizza and garlic bread we had, can only be described as bad. The two star rating is only applied because we did have fantastic service, and the patio was very nice (minus the very wobbly table that needs some screws tightened).

Detailed, we ordered garlic bread to start with both the alfredo and marinara sauce. Both sauces were OK, nothing to die for but not terrible. Bread itself was good. Light, airy, and full of garlic flavor. My sons pizza was also pretty good as well. While I have had better locally, and the toppings were skimpy, overall the flavor was good.

But it went downhill from there. My wife ordered the Florentine shells and I had the tour of Italy to try a sampling of what the restaurant had to offer. My wife's dish was plated fine, looked appetizing, and her comments were again, this is "fine". Not wow, not great, just OK.

My plate on the other hand, looked like a Stouffers Family TV dinner. All the items were covered in cheese and sauce, and that immediately concerned me. I had to cut into each item just to identify what I was eating as visually, you had no idea. The Cannelloni was the best of the plate, and that is not saying much. All I could taste was sauce and cheese to the texture of ground beef. The chicken parmesan was over-fried and had a distinct burnt taste that stuck through the sauce and cheese. I only ate half at the restaurant, and at home that night when it chilled, I confirmed it was indeed black / burnt on the bottom once I could separate the sauce and cheesy cleanly. The side of rigatoni pasta alfredo was "safe", but i had to add alfredo from the bread stick order just to give it some flavor as it looked like it was misted with sauce. Pasta itself was nothing special, but i mean, what can you say about that?

Now we get to the part of the meal that is why I will not be coming back; the lasagna. As an American Italian restaurant staple, this has to be good because its like getting a cheeseburger at a burger restaurant. If that sucks, why get anything else?I took one bite, immediately put another on my fork and handed to my wife with the words "Try this, don't worry, you've tasted this before so you'll recognize it." She took the bite, swelled, and with eyes wide she laughed quietly. Straight up, it tasted like a can of Chef Boyardee Ravioli/Beefaroni (you pick, they taste the same). If they were going for a copycat taste, they NAILED IT. It reminded me of my childhood. That is not what I want from my dinner at a decent Italian place. I took a look at the inside and the layers were so thin, I couldn't even see any filling and explains why I didn't even get a ricotta taste.

As before, the saving grace was the service. I feel terrible because I am bad with names, but she did a fantastic job. Drinks were refilled, always checked on us. One of the best serving experiences in town. Again, that alone got a whole star. Whoever was serving the table just outside the patio last evening at around 5:30, they get my kudos.

Finally, I have seen the "owner" leave very scathing replies to others here for bad reviews, in some ways mocking them. Go ahead, no skin off my back :) I have nothing to gain by leaving this other than to share my experience...

UPDATE PIZZA TAKEOUT: we decided to support our local restaurants. They are known for their BOGO pizza. We ordered a Small BOGO and large BOGO; total of four pizzas. When placing it online, the price does not reflect the BOGO price. We called in and they said it’s reflected when picking it up. I got there and the price was MUCH higher than expected. I asked if the offer was applied and I was told that they take off the lowest price pizza rather than BUY a 14” and GET a 14”. Very deceptive, in my opinion AND forgot to give me my breadsticks. I asked for a credit and still haven’t received it. So, as it sits right now: 2 small and 2 large BOGO for $90 w/o tip.

June 2019 After returning from vacation from Italy and Greece, I had a real taste for the food and wanted to try a new local place. This fit the bill!

Out of the gate, the service was great although the decor and menus were a bit run down (pic of my menu being tattered and torn). Our server was prompt in taking our order; that consisted of bruschetta, two Caesar salad‘s, a bowl of minestrone soup, and a Gyro wrap.

We had bruschetta for almost the past three weeks because we love it and we were rating it in Italy, so we wanted to see how this one would be. To my surprise, it rated in our top three of our month long journey in Greece and Italy. I, personally, did not like the olives nor feta cheese in the recipe however it was as the menu stated.

After that, things sort of went downhill. The restaurant got a little busier and our service got a little worse. For example my daughters sprite did not have syrup in it. Hey And easy fix however she didn’t get her drink until almost after her meal was done even asking for it on three separate occasions. The minestrone soup was bland and the Gyro meat was just OK.

Thus, I must give it an “OK”rating of...

I am not a local of the area but I do travel quite frequently (even though my google reviews don’t show it.) I’ve been throughout the United States and to a few European countries including Italy. This is one of the worst representations of Italian food I’ve ever experienced. I honestly don’t understand why this place has such good reviews. I think it’s because people from Georgia don’t know what the remnants of Italian food is. Besides the water that tastes like it was promptly scooped out of a still water creek, the food is not fresh. It’s obvious that the shrimp is frozen and the “Italian” sausage is probably frozen as well. I actually got the Sausage Parmigiana that was supposed to come with regular marinara but instead came with Chef Boyardee bolognese. Dare I say off brand Chef Boyardee. The sausage was also mushy and provided no snap when biting into it. For an appetizer we ordered the breadsticks because it said there was an option of “pink sauce” for dipping which we assumed was vodka sauce. We ordered the breadsticks and then the waitress asked us if we wanted regular marinara or Alfredo sauce for dipping. We said that the menu has the option for “pink sauce.” I felt bad for her because she was obviously confused as to what to do, but said they have to make some for us as if it was never an option in the first place. It’s fine if they don’t have it; they just shouldn’t have it on the menu. I’m sure the rest of my party has more complaints, so these are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problems with this place. Honestly it’s on me for seeing that a plate of chicken parm was like $12.50 and I thought to myself that this place could actually serve decent food. I gave the place two stars for the fact that our...