Giovanni’s of Solvang

permanently closed
32 years in business but no more.

Not really a restaurant like their ad suggested (order at the counter, pick it up yourself, gather your own plastic ware.) Completely EMPTY at 5:00 pm
Soggy crust :(
Doughy ends :(
Greasy :(
Slightly less than average quality toppings :(
Refills extra :(

Unless you are desparate… keep driving.
The italian sub was a big joke. Week old yellow lettuce with sweaty cold cut meat (type of meat was a mystery) with tons of mayo. Yuck.
The meatball sub was a bit better but not special. Would have been cheaper to go to subway (which I dont care for) with better quality.
Good thing I didnt get a pizza as the one I saw was burnt.
No wonder this place was empty.

I’m live locally and the food is pretty good but the staff is terrible. An old friend came to visit and wanted to get some pizza on Saturday night April 25, 2015. We got there at 8:45 PM and were told we could only get a pizza to go because they are closing. The guy was rude too. I’m not coming back again to this place. By the prices on the menu we would have spent around $ 75 with beer. They don’t want to do business I guess…

Really BAD food. We stopped by on our way back from LA to SF. Everything tasted old. We got the ravioli and a cheese pizza. The sauce on both was bad. The pizza was too salty and tasted stale. The ravioli was soggy and the cheese was bad. The side salad was old, soggy ice burg lettuce. Barf.

I honestly don’t understand why some people post such negative comments about this beautiful place. I live in Santa Barbara, whenever I am in Solvang I always go to this place for pizza. They have the best pizza. The name ‘Giovannis’ is a franchise pizza restaurant in Santa Barbara County but I was very surprised to know about this place that it is independently owned and operated by a very honest and cheerful South African man. I love everthing this restaurant offers. They have the best pizza, bread sticks, chicken wings and spaghetti.
Please don’t go over those negative comments and give this place a try. I assure you that you’ll love this place.

I honestly don’t understand what all these bad reviews are talking about! We were visiting family from Los Angeles and came for a quick bite. The lady was very nice and made our food as soon as we ordered it. We ordered the 12″ special, which says it feeds 2, but really feed 3. It was delicious!!! One of the best pizzas we’ve had in a long time, and my brothers-​in-​laws are chefs and they approved! Maybe all these people are too high maintenance, but for us it was perfect!!!

Pizza was above average but don’t order anything else. The pasta sauce tastes like Ragu. The salad was old and varied on what was offered on the salad. I would strongly recommend take out only. We ate inside the restaurant and the service was super slow.

Ordered a half Hawaiian half cheese for pick up. Barely got there before the manager was leaving due to getting lost.
When we arrived, instead of the manager being annoyed he was more then welcome to let us get our pizza. Customer service was a nice change of pace.
(Cheese Pizza)
In my opinion to really judge a pizzeria, you start with the basics: cheese, sauce, crust.
I wasn’t expecting much (no offense) but holy S**T that’s some damn good pizza!
The cheese was on point, and you can tell they give a F**K about it. Not too chewy, not too salty, but not too bland. It’s also NOT one of those pizzas you let sit for a minute and the cheese turns to rubber, gross.
Nah this stuff is the real deal.
THAT. SAUCE.
Don’t you love when the sauce on the pizza is just oozing out the sides with every bite?
Yeah nether do I
This is the perfectly seasoned, perfectly portioned sauce a beautiful crust like Giovanni’s deserves.
The Hawaiian pizza was just as good. Good fresh chunks of pineapple, nice hearty slices of savory Canadian bacon.
Best part about this half, TWICE as good in the morning!
I’m just praying it’s this good back in Santa Barbara

Locals… they just don’t care about you. Here’s an equation that sums it up…
Very mediocre food + POOR customer service = might as well call dominoes.
On my birthday, November 17, I ordered $ 45 worth of food for my family. This could have been the only thing that went right on my bday… TWO hours after I ordered, I finally got my pizza. This was of course after two phone calls to check on the pizza, where I discovered the gal didn’t even put my order in.
She…who was sweet and felt horrible… said…“we will comp your meal, it was my fault”. Great! She must have worked for a decent place, prior to her employment at giovannias. Apparently, a comped meal was not granted after all. AND, I was never notified that the owner decided that he would not comp my meal. TWO HOURS FOLKS… WAITING ON MY BDAY. Therefore… we will order from another tourist laden pizza joint. The owner is cheap. And could care less about locals supporting the business. Could have comped the bill to gain our business in the future but he rather skip out on covering $ 45 and sticking to what was promised by his employee, rather than gaining $ 500 over the next year. (Yes we order pizza often).
Save your taste buds, time and wallet by ordering elsewhere. Tower pizza, pizza shack, …shoot…El rancho market even makes decent take n bake pizzas. Just don’t support this lack of care for product or customers.

We should have read the reviews before we went. We did get lucky, though. The girl that took our order was patient (although she rolled her eyes because we took our time ordering… there was nobody else in the place), answered our questions and took our order. $ 43.00 for a large four topping pizza, two antipasto salads and ice teas. The tea tasted old. The salads were really good, the pizza, not so much. It was difficult to find the sauce (there was barely any on the pizza) the cheese wasn’t very good and the toppings sparse. There was no seasoning to speak of on the pizza, or in the sauce. The TV blasting the SYFY channel was the worst. The fans were cranking and the door was open (it was 59 degrees outside) so it was chilly in there. This was our first and last visit to Giovanni’s in Solvang!

This place sucks — burnt pizza and bad customer service. So the owner has figured out how to write people back on Unilocal — good for him. Now it’s time to not burn the pizza, stop overcharging customers, and teach your staff how to be courteous.
You mention to another reviewer that you’re not on site — well you were the guy I dealt with directly and apparently you’ve refused to Improve what you’re doing.
Become a better place and your reviews and business will get better. That’s how it works David. Writing a few letters to people doesn’t make a difference.

If I could give no stars I would. Burnt cold pizza delivered. Refunded but gave themselves a $ 10 tip. When I called to speak to a manager I never got one and after 10 tries I called corporate. The owner was arrogant, rude, and was telling me it was my fault for letting the pizza driver leave cuz I didn’t ck the pie first. What??? Wow! Finally the owner agreed to reimburse me but never did. No accountability poor quality food, we threw it out after calling to tell the server it was uneatable. Offered to let them come pick it up. They wanted me to trash it. So I did. Lesson here is this place is not worth your time or $$$. Super disappointed.

I used to live right near gio’s and I’m not sure why there’s so much hate. The pizza was always good, and right in line with what I expected based on the cost. Good wings and while it is by no means a mind blowing affair of rare yellowtail tuna yukon gorgonzola pizza… they do good rustic pizza at a reasonable cost. Thanks for the delicious HUGE pies Gio’s!

It’s not the best pizza in the world but their sandwiches are decent and if your looking for a quick lunch this place is ok. I came here a couple weeks ago and got 4 extra large pizzas (I wanted 5 but they didn’t get the order right) and it cost me $ 90. I only got cheese and pepperoni but still that’s a lot o cash for bread, sauce, cheese and thinly sliced meat. If your buying for the office I would recommend going elsewhere.

BEWARE! The prices on the board are different from the price you’ll be charged.
Don’t know the conspiracy there… maybe if your not a local. or if your white… my husband confronted them and they said «oh, those are the old prices» Well my husband confronted him and said your going to honor your price on the board RIGHT?
And they did… but reading threw other comments, I wonder! I haven’t read all, but one from 2011 said the same thing… so go figure… The pizza is very bready… used to be really good, but it’s changed.

My husband and I ended up here on accident because we originally googled a different place, however, it ended up being really good. We each got the lunch special which was two slices of pizza, salad and a drink for $ 6.99. Everything tasted really good. The pizza was hot and crispy, the salad was very fresh and simple with tomato and mozzarella cheese. I would definitely go back.

I’m really glad I didn’t read the reviews before ordering here because I wouldn’t have bothered but I’m very happy I did. The service was very fast and it was so delicious. I ordered a large thin crust cheese pizza (I’m very picky about my food especially pizza) and it was hands down the best I’ve ever had. I would most definitely come back! Loved it!

I love coming to solvang just for this pizza! The garden pesto pizza is the best pizza ive ever eaten. The place is always clean when I have gone. The bathrooms are clean as well. I plan on driving up to solvang this weekend and hitting this place up again. YUMMM

Eh. Saw an ad in a magazine for this place, and expected more of a gourmet restaurant, but it’s just a little pizza place. We were looking for a place to get salad/​veggies, and not a ton of meat. Got a bbq chicken salad — the sauce was pretty good & spicy, but it was basically just a bunch of chopped iceburg lettuce with chopped chicken in bbq sauce tossed on top.
Maybe their pizzas are OK if you’re a local, but if you’re vacationing, I’d go somewhere else…