Giovanni's Pizza & Pasta — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

If I could give 0 stars I would. Let me first say this review is based off service alone, not the quality of their food. I have no idea what their food tastes like, and would love to know, but never will, as I wasted an hour of my time and left empty handed with no food.

Let me preface this review with saying that I have worked in the service industry for years. I have worked minimum wage jobs and I’ve worked at Taco Bell. I respect those in the service industry, especially those in restaurants, and by principle my baseline tip starts at 20%. I’ve had bad service before, but very rarely do I ever complain or write reviews. Reviews are for those exceptionally bad experiences. (Or exceptionally good) Why? Because it takes me extra time out of my day to type out a review. (And this restaurant has already wasted enough of it) But if this can serve as a warning to others than its worth it.

So. This is probably the most appalling service I’ve ever experienced at a restaurant. I called at 10:56 to place an pickup order for a small breakfast pizza. They stated it would be about 25 min. Ok. We arrived at 11:15. I pulled into an alley and my coworker ran in. Time passes. Coworker texts me to say they seem to not know what is going on, and that they might have forgotten our order entirely. An employee states that it's still going to be a bit. Time passes. It’s now 11:40. I go inside to see what's going on, because at this point we've been waiting for almost twice as long as they said it would take to make our pizza. I'm a little upset, but whatever.I get the rush (even though we were there pretty early for lunch rush)

I enter the store and the employee promptly pulls out a Stromboli and states "I mean, I have a Stomboli here if you want that instead?" Whaaat?? No? I want what I ordered. I told her no unless it’s free... Why would I want something I didn't order? (And no, she wasn't offering it as extra because she felt bad - HA) At this point I'm just confused. She kind of gives me this look like I'M in the wrong, states she will be right back and leaves the counter. My coworker informs me that she's actually already PAID. We are offered NO explanation, there is no communication whatsoever as to what happened to our pizza. The employee returns, ignores us completely, and begins answering phone calls. We overhear her say they can resend another pizza (surprise! they messed up someone else's order).

At this point, I have so many questions. I'm mainly just in shock because of how unprofessional and poor this place is run.

I understand the rush. But if you are swamped - COMMUNICATE that to your customers!

If you messed up - COMMUNICATE that to your customers! Don't lie or play stupid.

I would have no problem with someone apologizing for the wait, and telling me it would be a little longer.

OR offer a coupon? A range check? (lol yeah right) Maybe even just an apology would have been nice, honestly.

I have a feeling our pizza was never even made and no one had the guts to tells us that.

Anyway, we're still standing there waiting for GOD KNOWS WHAT - when my coworker says "can I just have a refund?" and the employee says she'd get the manager to do it. We wait more.... "manager" finally shows up, and she's more unprofessional than the employee. The "manager" has even more of an attitude, and says nothing. Not "sorry for the confusion" or "sorry for the wait" or "can we fix this for you" NOTHING. She counts out the bills from the register and hands them back to my coworker without a single word. My coworker says "I also left a $2 tip". Manager angrily unscrews tip jar and thrusts two bills at her. An hour after ordering our pizza, we walked out of there with no pizza, no explanation, and no apology. That's an hour lunch break I have to claim for work. Not only did you waste my time, you wasted my money. I will never. Ever. Give this place my service. I don't care how good your pizza tastes, you won’t last with employees and...

Thought this place was going to be good because my friend ate a hoagie our first night here 12/3/20. My sister and I walked in and was greeted promptly and with friendly faces. Being our first time there we asked for them to give us a few moments. The two young ladies at the counter was very nice and started taking my order. In the middle of the order another lady came and told them she would finish the order. I ordered manicotti, chicken fingers, a Greek salad and a small BBQ pizza. My total $56.28... my sister proceeded to order a small cheese pizza and the lady told us they were running a special for a large cheese pizza for 9.99. My sister got it and ordered wings and a Ceasar salad no chicken. We was told 20 min so we went back to our room to wait. When we arrived back to pick up our items everything was bagged up and tied. We got back to our room and realized that my BBQ pizza was missing. Went back and was told oops we are sorry it was an overlook and we will have it ready in 10-15 min. I expressed to then how I wasn't happy about having to wait 40+ minutes for my food and she offered me a dessert or drink. I declined and she offered breadsticks. After waiting so long I had lost my appetite but decided to try and eat some of the pizza. It was horrible! It was dry and the dough wasn't fully done. It was late so I decided to just go to bed. Today waking up, my daughter took the pizza back (uneaten) and asked for a refund but instead was told they were going to remake the pizza and that they would give her a call when it was done. NO CALL!!! So she went back to check on the remake. When she arrived she then was told that they weren't going to remake the pizza and that she could have a dessert instead. (Now I work in the industry and a 5.99-6.99 dessert is not equalite to a $15.99 pizza!) My sister grabbed a dessert and told my daughter don't worry and they proceeded to leave, as they were leaving the young lady accused them of theft even though another lady behind the counter said I told them they could have a desert! VERY RUDE AND VERY UNPROFESSIONAL! I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO ANYONE!!! HORRIBLE FOOD HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!! IT'S A PANDEMIC YOU SHOULD TRY TO KEEP WHATEVER BUSINESS YOU GET INSTEAD OF RUNNING PPL AWAY. WE ARE HERE FOR ANOTHER 4 DAYS AND SINCE THEY WERE SO CLOSE WERE GOING TO UTILIZE...

I hate to be the person giving a bad review but at the same time I want to be able to share my experience with others. Myself and my husband came in on Sunday the 7th of Sept as we had been at a convention. My husband was extremely excited as he loves your Alfredo pasta, so I was happy to give it a try. I chose to get the Chicken Parm as that’s always a winner, we chose to pick up a pizza to take home later, and obviously my husband got the Alfredo. We asked for everything take out as we knew we would have leftovers and it meant less dishes for the staff!! The portion sizes were amazing, however the marinara sauce used had a very sweet flavour. This flavour was completely unexpected for me and just did not taste right. I am somewhat of a marinara addict, I always ask for extra marinara on every pasta, pizza, meatball sub etc. for me I just love the tangy, savory, delicious tomato taste and I wasn’t getting it. So I was highly disappointed especially since everything I ordered whilst with you guys had marinara. I was only able to eat maybe three bites total before I had to call it quits. My husband LOVED his Alfredo though, but again when he tried the pizza he had the same issue, he felt the sauce was waaaay too sweet and he didn’t enjoy it at all. For an order which cost around $65 we got to enjoy maybe $20 of that. I really wished there would have been some form of a sign or a description of the marinara being sweet, I’d have ordered something completely different...