Gavino's Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant (Bearden) — Restaurant in Knoxville

This review addresses the Parkside/Turkey Creek location. The food is NOT GOOD enough to overcome the owner and staff members lack of appreciation for the customers. I was informed by staff that the owner of these 2 restaurants is responsible for the policies, which they agree with.

When I requested a straw for my drink, I was told that straws were deemed environmentally detrimental, therefore no straws are provided by the restaurant- not even paper straws. Regardless, of the fact that straws are more sanitary than the cleanliness of the glass. When I questioned what would happen if a handicapped individual needed a straw in order to drink, I was told that they should bring their own.

Now I understand why we were the only customers in there at 4:20 pm on a Tuesday, and when we left at 5:30 pm there were only 2 customers in the place. I was told that in Asheville, no straws are served, and California deems straws an environmental irresponsible hazard and are banned. This is Knoxville- not Asheville- or California. Further, when the manager of all of 2 days came to the table, she told me that I had the option to order “bottled water”- in a plastic bottle !

If these people are so environmentally concerned, why don’t they simply set up a recycle program where ALL of their disposable plastics used at the restaurant are separated by the EMPLOYEES --- that did not walk to work, rather than alienating over 50% of their potential customers in Knoxville ?

I will NEVER set foot in Gavino’s – at any location again.

The Owner- Mark- has responded to this and OBVIOUSLY is unaware that plastic straws ARE recyclable- WHOLE FOODS does it. Clearly this owner is just cutting his costs everywhere he can so that he gets a higher profit margin for himself. And he conveniently never did address a recycle program for the heaps of plastic that is disposed of in restaurants-...

May 2024

Our previous dine in experiences here have been mixed. Our food has been nothing short of excellent but the waitstaff isn't overwhelmingly great. In all fairness, they get the job done. Our last experience here within the last week may be our last. My wife found hair in her food. It was clearly not hers as it was nothing like her hair. While management handled the response correctly, we started to pay attention and notice little things. Things that we thought were required by health codes: the cook staff was not wearing hair nets or gloves from what we could see. In this day and age, this is unacceptable. These two things equates to three strikes and you're out.

April 2024

We stopped by tonight to satisfy an urge for pasta my wife was having. We started with an antipasto salad. My wife liked the salad. I thought it was excellent. Definitely something we'd order again. For our entrees, she ordered the Alfredo and loved it. I was in the mood for pizza and ordered the Grandpa. I knew I'd be taking most of it home for lunch at work the following few days but I, too, had an itch to scratch. The pizza was deep, warm and satisfying. I will have the Grandpa again. The only downside to this meal was the waiter. He was hard to locate when needed and seemingly slow to respond to requests but in no way will that keep us from returning.

March 2024

We came here tonight in search of a new place to have an Italian meal as we really hadn't found a restaurant that we could call 'our favorite Italian'. We were not disappointed. We both had the spaghetti and meatballs and we were not disappointed. Flavorful, aromatic and plentiful, the dish was supremely satisfying. We...

This was my 1st time at this restaurant. Although the food was very good, I'm very disappointed in what happened today. I'd never been here before, so it was my 1st time. I was just going by the menu that I was looking at, which was the lunch menu. I saw the chicken parmesan for 11.99. I ordered that and told him I did not want bread or pasta. I asked if I could substitute a sald, but they said that was another $3+.. so i said I'll just do the chicken parm with no pasta or bread. It seems that somehow since I said that, he decided to charge me for the full dinner portion of chicken parmesan. Even though I did not get pasta or bread. I couldn't even substitute a salad for the pasta and bread without an upcharge. I got my bill and it was over $18. They charged me basically $5 more for the dinner portion even though all I got was a single piece of chicken. So I paid $18 for a single piece of chicken. No pasta no bread no salad no nothing. When I asked him about that he said it's because I told him I didn't want pasta and he charged me for the full dinner portion from the dinner menu that I didn't even see, which was apparently a little bit more chicken. But I was not told I was being charged for a dinner portion. The restaurant decided not to adjust the bill to $11.99 and when I got the bill, they charged me to $16.99.(plus tax) Once again, an $18 meal was 1 piece of chicken and and nothing else. A misunderstanding apparently on both sides, cost me $5 more. Definitely will not come back. Please train your people to verify what they are ordering, esp if the only menu that the guest is looking at is...