Giovanni’s Ristorante & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Torrington

Being a non-drinker has never been a problem for me at a restaurant- until I went to Giovanni's. I had never been before, but decided to try it out with some friends.

The first thing I noticed was that the bartender seemed very intoxicated. She was prattling about herself in a way I couldn't follow, as if she were continuing a story I had already started listening to. I saw her pour shots for customers, and give herself one, too. She was blindly pouring herself huge shots, drinking half of them, and leaving them around the bar. She even left an empty glass in front of me, and never cleared it. She bragged she had just poured a round and done a shot when we came in, as if that would impress middle-aged adults.

When she asked me what I wanted, I said a Club Soda. She rolled her eyes at me and walked away. From that point forward, she would not look at me or ask if I wanted anything. She was attentive to my friends who had ordered drinks, however.

After about ten minutes, when my friends already had cocktails, she walked over, looked away, and put my drink down, refusing to even acknowledge anyone was in a seat. She went over to someone within earshot of me, and complained loudly that I was not drinking...over and over again. I was feet away.

So, if you go there, know you'll be treated poorly if they think you'll hurt their tip or reduce a bill's potential. And know you should go soon, as the bartender is in danger of drinking the profits that are not spilled on the bar.

I was planning to buy dinner and drinks for my friends before I was treated so poorly. Funny, I...

Would be zero stars if possible. Unorganized, bad attitudes, and a waste of time. We called a week ago to reserve the upstairs dining for a group of about 20 people. My fiancée and I have a lot of family in town and we loved this place when Bachi owned it. We raved to all of them about how great it was. We didn’t realize the new owners have ruined it. We confirmed the date and information with the woman on the phone when we made the reservation a week ago. Today when we walked in we weren’t greeted, we went upstairs to an empty space clearly not set up, went and told the bartender to which his response was “well, she didn’t mention a party was coming in and it’s just me and one server so…” and that was about all we got. Another large party came in right after us with a “reservation” that also was never communicated. They were smart enough to call ahead with their food order though. We waited 15 min for a table to be set up. Sat around for another half hour with ZERO service. A few people ordered drinks that took forever. When we finally checked again, we were told the owner and a server were on their way. They never showed while we were there. We ended up calling the restaurant next door and they happily had a room set up for us in 10 minutes. So after 45 minutes we left Giovanni’s without any words at all from the staff, no apology or even a glance in our direction. This place used to be great, don’t waste...

We had a party of 4 head here for lunch on a Sunday afternoon. This place was half full at best. We ordered 2 appetizers (garlic bread & Mac n cheese bites), a pasta dish and 2 pizzas (lg cheese and small sausage). Took 30 mins for the appetizers and starter salad for the pasta. Pasta came out right after. When questioned about the pizzas, the waitress told us the “kitchen is busy today” and the pizzas would be out soon. Meanwhile it felt like almost every other patron in this place received their food no issues and in a timely manner. After another 30 mins (over an hour being here at this point) the waitress comes over and states there was an “issue with the pizzas” and we would have to wait longer. We immediately ask to speak with the manager. The manager comes over and directly states to us “I hear there is an issue over here”. We explain we were trying to have a relaxing lunch and we understand things go wrong, but this is nuts for a plain cheese pizza and a small sausage. He stated that the “ticket never made back to the kitchen” and our pizzas STILL WERE NOT MADE after over an hour since we placed our order. We ultimately left and would not recommend unless services improves….which is sad, we used to love this place...