Gianni's Pizza — Restaurant in Monterey

Looked like a cool spot. And that’s as far as it went.

Walked in. No one greeted me. Never been there before. There’s a register with a guy that was just starting off in the distance. I got his attention and he finally acknowledged me. I started to place my order and 5 words in, a random lady walked up and started a conversation. No excuse me or sorry to bother you. Just jumped right in and they talked for a solid 2-3 min. They finally stopped and the guy actually had the nerve to say Sorry for the Wait. Lol.

Ordered the wings and a 14” cheese pizza. About as basic as it gets. Wanted to keep it simple and see how the ingredients were.

They hand you a number and you seat yourself after giving them a tip and paying up front. Shoulda been the first red flag. Found a seat and had to walk to the bar to get a beer because you don’t have a server. Remember you already paid and tipped. Before you ate the food or got the bad service. Nice tactic.

The wings came first. Not sure if they boil the wings or bake them. They for sure don’t fry them. Zero crisp. Soggy as you can fathom. And with almost no sauce on them. How do you make a soggy wing that has almost no sauce? Stay away from the wings. $15 for 8 soggy wings. Not worth it.

The pizza was cooked well but they either use straight mozzarella with no blends of cheese or use pre shredded processed cheese. You’ll usually never hear me complain about too much cheese on a pizza but it was so thick it just fell off the slices because it wasn’t baked in due to there being too much. Maybe try making a homemade sauce, get a good cheese blend, and then cook it. No one gave me napkins with my wings or pizza. I found a station in the middle of the restaurant that had some stuff on it but I wasn’t sure if it was for employees or guests. And if you didn’t guess already, no one came to check on me, offer me a plate or silverware, ask if I needed a box (which another guest told me was under that station I got my own napkins from).

Needless to say, as a visitor, I will never return or recommend this place to anyone. It sucks because I had one evening and I just wanted a good slice of pizza. Maybe this is good pizza for this area. But for a non big-box place, waaaaaaaaaay off the mark...

We held a wedding rehearsal dinner here (week of April 8th) and everything turned out fantastic!

We made reservations in February for the large private party room in the rear of the restaurant. Andy (the owner), worked with us regarding the number of pizzas and drinks to order relative to the number of people we had coming. We verified the number of pizzas earlier in the afternoon. The back room was set up perfectly. Long tables with chairs (enough to seat our group easily) in addition to a table for the pizzas. Andy and the staff had also put out plenty of plates, napkins, chili flake shakers, parmesan cheese shakers, with plenty of water pitchers and glasses. The room itself was spacious and handled the 50+ guests with ease. Andy suggested we start with eight pizzas and then add to our number as the evening progressed. This made hot and fresh pizzas available throughout the evening. Andy and the waitresses checked on us several times to make sure things were going smoothly. Andy’s pizza estimation was so close we left with about two-thirds of a single pizza. And I have to say, the pizza was just as tasty the following morning.

The bar area was well stocked and Zach the bartender was terrific. While I did not partake myself, several guests and family members said that he mixed a wide variety of potent and tasty well drinks. Zach also kept up with the pitchers of beer for our group in addition to drinks for the other restaurant patrons.

This place was packed up until 15 minutes before closing time. I saw several distinct groups; couples on a date, families eating together, at least two birthday celebrations, groups of friends enjoying a meal, etc. This was on top of the robust take-out food they were selling. Gianni’s was remarkably busy (on a Wednesday night no less), and Andy, Zach, and the rest of the staff completely delivered (pun intended) for us in addition to taking care of everyone who walked in the door. I cannot recommend Gianni’s Pizza...

Lot of fanfare for frankly mid tier pizza.

First of all it's counter-order with free for all seating, which is fine except when it gets crowded. Then it's a straight up frenzy for available tables. Everytime a party stands up after their meal, crowds large enough to fill a mediocre college football stadium swarm to snap up the table. People stalk the aisles like sharks hunting for the next group to leave while their partners stand in the order line. Hungry humans revert to their most animalistic form, stopping at nothing to stake their claim. Even children understand the dog-eat-dog world, literally cartwheeling through narrow aisles to get to the open table before you do.

Once you finally sit down, treating yourself to the delicious $1 garlic and cheese breadsticks (strongly recommend btw) while reading framed certificates on the wall proclaiming this restaurant the "best of Monterey County (2022)", you can't help but soak in what is actually a nice atmosphere. People are eating pizza, everyone's happy, you've scored a table, and the breadsticks are bomb. You've won.

Until you get the pizza. Don't get me wrong, they absolutely nail the thick crust. It's almost as good as the breadsticks on its own. But honestly, the rest of the pizza is mid. It's no better than fast chain pizza to be honest. After the adrenaline-fueled calamity that led here, it feels disappointing and anti-climactic, like a post-Endgame Marvel movie. Like it's not bad, but after all that, I would've expected something a...