Giardino Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Virginia

The service is absolutely terrible, and the general manager needs to learn how to use his online ordering software. We ordered dinner for 8 people and spent $180. The online ordering software said 25 minutes, so we drove over. They are throwing a big party outside for a large group. The hostess explains that the wait will be an additional 30 minutes. An hour and 45 minutes later the food is ready. We get the food home, and our order is wrong. We ordered 2 of the same appetizer and 2 of the same entrée, but they only gave us one. The rest of the food is ice cold. I call, and the woman on the phone promises that they will take care of us "next time." As in, "Next time you come in, tell us about this experience and we will make it right." Umm....no! We ordered, waited for, and paid for food that you didn't give us. She finally says the food will be there in 10 minutes. Note--they are ONLY offering to replace the missing food, and not the rest of the ice cold food.

I talk to the manager and express my displeasure. They either need to learn how to update their wait times on the online ordering platform, or they need to learn how to turn off online orders when they get this busy. He tells me that under no circumstances would they ever turn off online orders or "change the way we do business just to suit you." He then offers to comp my next order from Giardino's, but I tell him no--I don't want my next order comped because I am NEVER coming back after this experience. He then says he will comp the missing food that I had to drive back for right now. However, he doesn't believe the food was ever missing because when he pulls up the ticket, it only lists 1 of each food. So then he goes into the online system to verify that yes, I did order 2 of those foods! Then the manager explains to me that he can't give me a refund "right now" because that's "not how the system works." As of today (5 days later) he has not refunded the missing items, nor has he refunded the entire bill as he had claimed he would.

The wait times should be accurately reflected in the online order. It is 2021. We have been ordering online for over a year now. Every other restaurant has figured this out. Giardino's has no excuse.

If the kitchen is that backed up, they need to stop accepting online orders. Other online ordering systems, such as square-site, automatically updates wait times and limits the number of orders per hour per kitchen capacity. The person at the take out stand shouldn't be telling people that orders were paused when the manager is saying under no circumstances would they pause orders. Get on the same page.

Further evidence of the restaurant just not knowing how to use their online ordering software: for weeks now the price of a medium cheese pizza has been $21.95. The...

I would not return here for a meal. Management and the bartender were rude and unwelcoming. My dentist gave me a coupon for a free dessert for my birthday, so I ordered a meal online for carryout. It was sometime around lunch on a Sunday and it wasn't crowded, in the restaurant. As I walked in with the hostess to the register to pay for my meal, a man who was seated in a booth gruffly asked to see my coupon and reached his hand towards me. I stepped back and asked who he was and why he was asking for my coupon and he said, "I'm the manager/owner and businesses give out these coupons and they are supposed to change something about them and I want to see if they did." I showed him the coupon and he took it from me. I asked for it back because it had my personal information on it and he said "Oh you can have that back I don't need it" and proceeded to rip the birthday card in half and gave me back the part with my information on it. I paid for my food and while doing so he said "I bet you're wondering why I'm just asking you for your coupon out of the blue" I responded with something to the effect that it was an abrupt and unseemly request. He responded that a lot of people come in with the coupon and they don't purchase food to go with their dessert. This sounded like a B to B issue and not a B to C issue to me. I sat at the bar to wait for my meal and the bartender asked if he could get me some water or something else while I waited so I asked if the bar gave complimentary beverages for birthdays and he replied "we don't give out free drinks for birthdays - everyone has them" and his friendly expression turned sour. I responded that the restaurant does give out free desserts for birthdays. After this entire exchange I knew I wouldn't step foot back there. Another business brought them a customer, and they didn't appreciate it at all. Not sure why I had to deal with an attitude from the manager when he could have easily taken the issue up with the referring business to whom I've shared my unfortunate feedback. Of the two options I had to choose from for my birthday treat I'll drive farther to a the other restaurant where they know how to treat paying customers. My tiramisu would have tasted better had it been accompanied by superb customer service. After that experience I ended up throwing it...

Let me start by saying that this was the absolute WORST "Italian" food I've ever had.... I had ordered two entrees to-go, for dinner and a lunch or two. I was extraordinarily disappointed with the quality of the food, though, what little service I received from the staff was friendly. So, I ordered the penne primavera with chicken in their "garlic sauce" and their veal frascati. There was absolutely nothing fresh in these dishes. I'd expect a primavera to be full of fresh, but tender, vegetables and this was far from it. From what I can tell, everything was either from a can or a jar, except for the broccoli, which were probably frozen. The mushrooms were definitely canned/jarred, which are disgusting. The peas, definitely canned or extraordinarily over cooked. Then the asparagus, which tasted and appeared to be canned, but was cut up very tiny to probably hide that fact. They were all horrendous. Then there was that awful garlic sauce... more like vinegar sauce by the taste, probably from all of the canned/jarred vegetables in it!!! It was the worst thing about it. The penne was very over cooked. Then the chicken was dry, tough, and bland. Now, the veal frascati, the veal was very tough and exceedingly difficult to chew and eat. That was it's most serious flaw. The vegetables in it were about 50/50 with the fresh/canned-jarred ratio. And the spaghetti was also very over cooked. Overall, it was bland and hard to eat. I had very high hopes for this place, given all of the great reviews I read and from a few of the pictures posted of the food, plus it's close to my work. However, it was probably the worst "Italian" food I've ever had and I will never be returning to this establishment. I'll also actively deter anyone I know from going here as well. Serious changed need to be made, to make their food...