Giovanni Pastrami — Restaurant in Honolulu

Want to share my poor experience with this specific location.

Around 9:30pm-9:45pm I struggled to call this location and order online for a simple small pizza. After struggling with their website for 15 minutes, I was finally able to put in an order online for delivery for a small pizza. Keep in mind I am located literally in the hotel right above from where they are located.

I received a text saying my order was received at 9:47pm and will be delivered from 10:30pm-10:45pm. According to their automated phone service that they never picked up since 9:30pm they close at 10pm.

I call the restaraunt at 10pm just to make sure they are still going to deliver my pizza that I have made a purchase online and even gave tip since I knew my order was late. Again no answer when calling. I assumed they started cleaning up but are still making my pizza since I receievd the text that it was recieved.

So I waited til 10:30pm and nothing/no one came. Called again and no one is answering. Figured I've give it til 10:45pm....however once that time came no one came to deliver my pizza.

Kept calling and no one answered, at this point I feel like I've been scammed by the restaraunt and won't get my money back til the next day.

A little extra back story, on their website instructions they specifically put for this location is to state which room number in the delivery/special instructions for them to deliver. Which I did, and also included a note stating I'm in the hotel literally above the restaurant.

I walk downstairs to the restaurant and notice luckily there were still people there drinking at the bar. Luckily the front entrance door was open even though the sign says closed. I walk up to the bar tender and asked her where is my order. She politely stated she will have to talk to her manager.

Manager came out gave me my pizza and all that was said was, sorry no one came to pick up the order...like wtf their website literally has my number. No one bothered to call or text me saying your order is done, got no one to pick up or deliver your order. Nothing. No update whatsoever.

Still heated how terrible this service was, and pizza was alright. I just needed food and this was way beyond...

One of the worst dining experiences I’ve never had — because Giovanni’s Pastrami made sure I couldn’t even get that far.

I tried placing an order with Giovanni’s Pastrami on Friday, April 25th, between 8:30 and 9:30 PM. I called multiple times over the course of an hour, and no one bothered to answer the phone. Zero acknowledgment, zero response. After finally giving up on the phone, I placed an order through Uber Eats, thinking that would be more reliable. Big mistake.

Despite being directly across the street in the Embassy Suites — literally a one-minute walk — the restaurant claimed they couldn't find a driver to deliver the food. Strange, considering this is a busy area and Giovanni’s is listed as a preferred restaurant for the hotel. Still trying to get dinner, I walked over myself to ask if I could just pick up my order. That’s when it went from frustrating to infuriating.

When I arrived, they told me the kitchen was closed. I explained I had already placed an order and asked what happened to it — they casually told me it was never made because “a driver couldn’t be found.” Not only did they refuse to make the food, but they made absolutely no effort to rectify the situation or offer any apology. The staff clearly had no interest in helping, and it felt like they had already mentally shut the place down for the night and didn’t want to deal with anyone else.

Let’s be clear: the issue wasn’t Uber Eats. The issue was pure negligence and a complete lack of customer service. They ignored multiple phone calls, refused to make food they knew had been paid for, and wouldn’t accommodate a guest literally staying across the street. A short walk could have solved the problem — or better yet, answering the phone.

Giovanni’s Pastrami may be coasting on location and reputation, but they clearly don’t care about their customers. The experience was a total waste of time, energy, and money, and it left a bad taste — without me even tasting the food.

Avoid this place if you expect even basic...

MEAN GIRLS and MEDIOCRE DINNER Girls at the front door are rude and need supervision. Food was inedible. Overall experience: F

When my father and I arrived for dinner we spoke to the Hostess who was initially very nice. The wait was too long for a table, so the Hostess referred us to the cashier, Jenna, to take our to-go order. Jenna paid very little attention to what I was saying and openly expressed the inconvenience we were putting her at when we asked for a menu to figure out what we wanted. Then Jenna started passing notes on a sticky pad back and forth with the Hostess while giggling and looking at us. I felt like I was in a high school movie. While I was ordering, I had to keep repeating myself because Jenna was looking everywhere but at us. Afterward, we were told to wait outside.

Our order was ready very quickly (a little too quickly we later realized) so I was ready to forgive the rude behavior of the front door staff until my father asked for salt. Jenna shoved the food at us and told us they didn't have any; which we found hard to believe at a restaurant of that size.

We were very disappointed when we got back to the hotel and saw our food. The spaghetti had very little sauce on it (which is why all you see is plain noodles with some cheese on top) and the meatballs were dry. The fettuccine alfredo noodles were passable but the chicken was quite small and also dry. Btw you pay an extra ~$7 for the meatballs or chicken! At this point, we couldn't shake the belief that this was an intentional screw you for some imagined slight. We didn't eat more than 1/4 of each plate and ended up throwing the rest away. This was not worth the $50 we paid.

I highly recommend you go to Taormina Sicilian Cuisine or Yard House if you want better food with service-oriented staff. Yard House has a very diverse menu with great Happy Hour specials. We got a cocktail, chicken strips, pizza, and queso plate for $36...