Gios Pizzeria Napoletana — Restaurant in Myrtle Beach

We finally went to Gio’s. After walking past it many times, saying “next time”, this time it was next time.

I’ll start with the surprise at the end, the bill. About $160 for two. Sure, we should have kept track, but Mamma mia! For a moment, I thought I was paying rent, not dinner. But then I looked again: two appetizers, one big pizza, three drinks, coffee, dessert. Okay, maybe not robbery, but let’s say it’s not your casual Tuesday-night pizza. And $25 for a pizza? In Naples, for that money, I expect the pizzaiolo to sing me a love song.

But forget the numbers, the food, la cosa più importante. The salad was fresh, crisp, almost joyful. And listen: Italians don’t rave about salad unless it surprises them. We ate every leaf, not because we were starving, but because it was actually good. Bravo. The burrata, creamy and delicate, looked beautiful on the plate. Delicious, yes. But at $14, I raise an eyebrow. At $11 o $12, I would tell you: order it, subito.

Now, the pizza. We went with Gio’s fave, with spicy soppressata as the hero. Simple, direct, satisfying. It had personality, which is what I want in a pizza. Gio’s has Napoli in its name, but it is not quite there; still, let’s be clear, it left me thinking: next time, I’ll try that other one too. That’s a good sign.

Dessert? Ah, here comes the tragedy. The tartufo. At $10 or $12, cannot quite remember, I hoped for something homemade, indulgent, con amore. What arrived was clearly the industrial version, the one you buy in a box. Buono? Sure. Worth twelve dollars? Only if it comes with a glass of grappa. Next time, I’ll take an espresso instead and dream of gelato back home.

The service? Friendly, yes. But slow. In Italy, slow is tradition and it’s part of the opera of dinner. Here, it felt more like someone forgot me. A smile is not enough when I’m thirsty and the glass is empty. Atmosphere? Quiet, tucked away in Market Common, no music. Just voices and plates. For me, perfetto. I don’t need a DJ when I’m eating pizza. I need to hear the person across the table.

So, Gio’s: too expensive, yes. But good enough that I’ll be back. Because when a pizza makes you plan the next one, you...

We have dined here many times and unfortunately, we won’t be returning. We completely understand that mistakes happen but it’s how you handle them that is important for any restaurant. We ordered three pizzas and continually watched tables that arrived later than us receive their orders. Our waitress had a lot of tables she was managing and we were hoping she would come by to let us know that our orders were coming out soon. We noticed a table receive pizzas that they were explaining to the food runner were not theirs. She removed them and brought them back again. I was fairly certain they were ours as that table arrived over 30 minutes after us. We watched our waitress and another have a discussion with the food runner. Our server then brought a pizza to our son and explained that the table runner was new and was having trouble with table numbers and confused ours with the other table. She apologized and said they were expediting a remake of the pizzas for my husband and myself. This was already 45 minutes after placing our order. It took another 25 minutes for our new pizzas to arrive. We were very disappointed that a manager never came to our table to apologize or offer us something. My husband has worked in restaurant management for 30 plus years and couldn’t believe that during the entire time we were there we never saw a manager on the floor and that they never came to our table to apologize. Our check arrived with no adjustments - we did not ask for anything but were hoping they would make things right by applying a discount or removing the appetizer. When the waitress came to get the check we explained our disappointment. She said she would talk to the manager. Wait for it! She comes back and says a discount was applied - we looked at our $97 check and $3.50 was removed!! That to us was a clear message and our final decision on never returning. This is truly terrible customer service and...

tonight i went to gios and to say it was a disappointment is an understatement! heres my experience, i walked into this restaurant excited and sat by the bar with a friend. While i was walking to the bar an unfortunate employee as she appeared was looking at me in a nasty way! i was on ft with a friend as well inviting her to this god forsaken place. When i sat down i had my vape in my hand i had accidentally hit my vape, as soon as i did that here comes this employee rushing over to me to inform me i cannot vape in the restaurant i apologized bc i was wrong! after i apologized she then peaks over the bar and looks at my laptop and says "are you on ft" i replied with yes? she then says " make sure you're keeping the volume down to a minimum of the music playing the the background if not you will be asked to leave." i could not believe what i heard for starters i was not loud what's so ever i was laughing with my friend! i ended up telling my friend do not come here because of this employees rude attitude. As i was drinking my overly priced drink $16.00 for an aperol spritz i asked the bartender if she was the manager the bartender says "no that's the owner and he's the owners husband" pointing to a man drinking a beer while wearing a gios uniform and WORKING! i was shocked... then 10minutes later the owner starts drinking on the job as well. i then realized the reason she was so nasty was because she appeared to be under the influence. imagine if she's on the job drinking i can only imagine what her cooks are drinking on the job..... DO...