Giuseppe's — Restaurant in Tucson

✨ Amazing Family-Owned Italian Restaurant!

Came here for the first time(22nd & Harrison location), and it was a great experience! The calming Italian ambiance, outstanding food, and happy employees made for a perfect night out.

First, I’d like to point out a couple of small opportunities for improvement: 1.) It took a little longer than expected to be seated, even on a not-so-busy night. While I completely understand taking small breaks, and waiting wasn’t a big issue, a friendly reminder to the hostess and busser - customer service should always come before social time with coworkers. 2.) We switched tables, which was our preference and not an issue at all - the staff was very accommodating! However, the table we moved to didn’t have the table setting. It would have been great if the hostess had noticed this and provided the necessary items (napkin, silverware, and plates). Not a major issue, just a small detail to keep in mind for future guests. 3.) Our pasta dishes were served without being offered Parmesan, while our neighboring tables did get it offered. Although neither dish needed it (they were delicious on their own!), it’s a small touch that would have been nice.

Okay, onto the best part!

The starter bread was served hot and fresh - absolutely perfect. We did get 2 appetizers, we tried the Scampi and Stuffed Mushrooms, and both were delicious. For entrées, the Chicken Marsala was divine, and the Penne Sausage was the perfect balance of meat and red sauce with a small hint of spice. I highly recommend any of these dishes!

I also heard the steamed mussels are spectacular, so that’ll be the next appetizer we try when we come back (which we definitely will!).

From afar, we noticed dishes that others ordered. Their pizza looked fantastic - about a 10”-12” personal size, with a perfectly airy and fluffy crust and a generous layer of cheese. Their soup looked delicious too! They have a 3-course dinner special for $39.99 that looks absolutely worth it!! We did not get dessert, but it looked like it did not disappoint. Can’t wait to try more items on the menu next time!

Despite only having about 7-8 employees working, the service was excellent, and the food came out in a timely manner. You can tell these dishes are made to order, with great quality and pride put into every bite.

As for pricing, appetizers ranged from $12-$18, entrées from $20-$32, and wine & cocktails were only about $2-$5 more than your typical restaurant. In total, we spent about $25-$35 more than we would have at a chain Italian restaurant for 2 people, and it was worth every penny for the homemade quality and genuine employees.

I regret not taking pictures this time, but I won’t forget next time! If you’re looking for incredible, authentic Italian food, I highly recommend Giuseppe’s - it’s my new favorite Italian restaurant...

My first experience was 5.31.2022 and it was frankly "very disappointing". First off, I didn't see a spaghetti/meatball offering on the menu. I thought that was weird? I asked if they could make me a large bowl of spaghetti and meatballs dinner. At first, I was told no, then I was told yes but they only had angel hair pasta - that was great for me!

What I received was a small side dish of fettuccini pasta (about 1 cup), another small dish with 3 meatballs (about the size of golf balls), and a third small dish with about a serving spoon amount of marinara sauce. No garnish, no parmesan cheese, no garlic bread, and no side salad. I was charged almost the same amount for a full-size dinner. The best part of my meal was the Sinatra Manhattan - that cocktail was AMAZING!

My friend ordered the Penne Sausage and when it arrived it was missing the sausage! The waitress took it back and then returned to tell us the chef said it had sausage! As she moved the pasta around to look for the sausage, the grilled chicken came to the top! We told her that's not sausage it's grilled chicken - she didn't believe us! She said she would bring the chef out and we told her to take the plate back. We watched her and the chef "ponder" whether it was chicken or sausage. Finally, after making many odd faces they took the plate and decided to make her a new one. 15 minutes later her new Penne Sausage arrived (with sausage).

I hope the owners get this review and get it together at their new location because they could really be successful if they fixed the problems with their chef, kitchen, wait...

Update.. we’ve given Giuseppe’s three more tries, and raised our rating to a resounding five stars. Love the staff, the setting, the pace. Mussels are very good (although there is this little place on Cape Benton Island…). Salads are super fresh, pasta is NOT overcooked, menu variety is refreshing, what more to say. We’ll be back often. Ignore the cranky old coot who wrote the earlier review.

We tried Giuseppes for the first time a couple of days ago during the lull between lunch and dinner crowds. Good: very clean and bright, ample elbow room between tables, friendly and attentive staff. Mussels were excellent. Caesar salad was ultra fresh and crisp, not drowned in dressing. Not as good as we hoped: chicken Marsala - pasta slightly overdone for our personal taste, sauce not bold, kinda bland, chicken flavorless as if was precooked with no spices at all, dressing added at last second; pasta carbonara - one of my favorites, glad to see it on the menu, pasta cooked just right, sauce very good, see further comments on the accompanying pork chop; BAD - the pork chop served with the carbonara was way, way, way overdone, bone-dry, flavorless and super tough. Come on folks, USDA says pork is safely done at 145°F, this one must have hit 175°F. Up to personal taste - margarita made with Tuacca (vanilla). Not for us! Summary - we’ll be back to give Giuseppes a few more tries. Staff was excellent and we’ll find...