Trattoria Giovanni

This was my first — and last — visit to this restaurant. After being seated, we waited over 10 minutes for our server to greet us and give us menus (even though there were only 3 other tables filled and two servers). The fried calamari appetizer was so tough that even with three people eating it, half was left. The menu states that salad was included with entrees. When we asked where our salads were, we were told they were «request only.» Two of us ordered the lasagna — it was «OK» — if I wanted OK I would have stayed home and made it myself. Final strike — one of our entrees came out completely wrong. Even though at this point the chef came out to apologize for the mixup, if something like that happened in other restaurants, that entrée would have been taken off the bill for the inconvenience. Having read reviews on this restaurant and seeing that people say this is the best Italian food in the area and they «know» good Italian food — let me clarify that I lived most of my life in northern NJ, have worked in New York for 30+ years, and have many Italian friends who are great cooks — I KNOW GOOD ITALIAN FOOD… and this was not it!

What an awesome experience! My boyfriend and I came to Giovanni on Sunday ⁸⁄₂ and it was phenomenal!
We walked in to this quaint little Italian restaurant and were able to seat ourselves. We both got appetizers, I got fried calamari with fria diavoli sauce and he got mozzarella correzo? It was basically a grilled cheese that has been deep fried and he loved it. Upon sending our orders in we received our toasted bread with softened butter which was crusty and delicious. The salads and dressing was to be expected. All the while the owner was walking around conversing with customers and friends, being a social butterfly. It was definitely a welcoming sight!
Upon receiving his chicken Marsala, he realized they put the wrong type of macaroni with it, which is extremely minute. I ordered cheese ravioli, it was very delicious and filling. By far the best part of the meal was dessert. We splurged and ordered gelato, I got chocolate and he vanilla, it was to die for. So rich and creamy and smooth, not too sweet and very natural tasting.
Overall our experience was wonderful experience, from the appetizers to dessert we enjoyed this meal. I would say it is a little overpriced. Other than that, delicious!

If you want a mans sweat dripping in your food that takes forever to get to your table then this is the place to go. You can hear him scream at his employees and while it’s been 30 minutes for your appetizers he’s out front chatting with regulars. Oh and the «homemade» desert… Yeah not really. He scraped off the mold and had his employees serve it.

THE ONLY GOOD, REAL ITALIAN RESTAURANT IN ALL OF THE TOMS RIVER/​SEASIDE AREA!
After years and years of spending summers in Seaside Heights and being horrified by the quality of the food everywhere for dinner, my family is grateful that we finally found a place that stayed amazing for longer than two summers. Giovanni has great quality food, reasonable prices for the area and everything tastes great! I order the Scungilli all the time, which is a hard dish to nail and its delicious. I am from Brooklyn so I actually know what real Italian food is supposed to taste like and believe me, if you want it, this is really the only place around that you will find it. Expect to spend two hours here because the food will take a long time, but will definitely be worth the wait, as the waitress says «giovanni is making everything himself» The portions are generous and everytime I have gone with a group of people everyone’s dishes have been great from the Marsala to the Francese to the fish dishes and more. I don’t understand a lot of the bad reviews here, I believe it is people that are more used to the Olive Garden type and boardwalk quality food that wouldn’t know a real plate of Italian food if it hit them in the face.

Went to get a stuffed artichoke, it was absolutely delicious. Place is so cute and the employees are so nice. Can’t wait to go back and try more.

We’ve gone to this restaurant for a couple of years, it used to be one of our favorites until this summer. The cook (Owner) Comes out in his Filthy Apron walking around, asking people how the food is. Don’t ask for anything to be made special, he doesn’t do well with change. If your really Unlucky he comes out with the other cook and sings… Ugh ! No Dean Martin here. The straw that broke the camel’s back was purchasing a restaurant. com Certificate, Handing it to the waiter and The owner came out raising his voice and saying how he doesn’t accept the Vouchers and restaurant. com are crooks, yada, yada. Rude, and Ignorant to say the least

Great little Italian Restaurant. BYOB. My veal Milanese was delicious. Husbands chicken Marsala awesome. Veal parm very good. Waitress was good. The only thing was small portions and a lil high priced for the amount of food you got.

Slow serice, but found out someone called in sick. Mozzarella and tomatoes too salty. Hot peppers very good. Stuffed artichoke good. Chicken Parmesan tasty. Small and cozy place. Décor could be updated. Reasonable prices. I’d go back when in Toms River.

Authentic North Jersey/​Italian cuisine. Consistently delicous dinners. You won’t be disappointed. BYOB! Check it out for yourself. Closed on Mondays. Been going here for years!

By far the best food down the shore. In fact probably the best in the tri state area. Service was fantastic. Good beyond description.

My favorite local Italian restaurant. Always has interesting specials and the pasta and beans is better than anywhere’s else. Highly recommend this small secluded restaurant for a nice quiet dinner. A very friendly and homey atmosphere.

Small and and hidden but the best Italian food i’ve ever had. The shrimp and broccoli in lobster sauce over angelhair is amazing.

Absolute shit food was disgusting and upon sending our mushy calamari back the chef came out and insulted us terrible experience never again

Was there with my wife on Friday 5÷25÷13 she had veal parm that she enjoyed, house salad was good, I had Zuppa di pesce very disapointed Mussels.& Shrimp where definitely frozen. Mussels where hard, Shrimp small no taste.

Big meh.
Came in on a Wednesday night, there were two other tables of two, and a table of 6 came in later. The server was slow and rarely seen.
The tomato and onion salad was great. The stuffed mushrooms were pretty good as well.
My fiancée enjoyed her mussels.
I had the cavatelli with broccoli and pancetta. There was hardly any pancetta, and the dish overall was extremely bland. I wound up adding lots of pepper and cheese to give it some flavor.

We took a chance on this restaurant, even though we could only find 2 reviews, because it was on
and we could get a nice discount. It was perfectly located for us, on the way home from a day at the shore, and we love a good Italian meal. Unfortunately, our experience was almost entirely negative. Where to start: The food was diner-​quality at best, with some items underseasoned/​bland. There is an overuse of oil and bread crumbs at this restaurant. One item we ordered — the fried hot peppers — was drenched in oil. Not FRIED, but SOAKED. It was inedible. The tortellini alfredo was decent-​tasting, but the sauce was watery. The other appetizer we ordered — which was a plate of fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers, tomato and fried eggplant with a balsamic glaze, should have been delicious, but it was bland/​underseasoned and just so-​so. The only really tasty items were the desserts. The coconut cream pie was homemade and very tasty and the tartufo was extremely good. Prices — considering the quality of the food — were high — appetizers were in the $ 8-​$ 12 range and entrees $ 15-​$ 23.
The other problem was the service which was extremely slow and disorganized. There were 14 tables and on a Saturday night during peak hours there were only 2 waitresses. Both seemed to be covering all the tables with no method to their arrangement, so there was often confusion, with lots of auctioning of items, items being brought to the wrong table and so on. Neither waitress introduced herself to us and the wait time between courses (as well as the wait to process our payment) was incredibly long. Our meal took 2 hours and 40 minutes in total. The bus boy/​helper spoke mostly with his hands when he came to our table, so we assumed he was deaf, but later we heard him talking.
We were surprised that this restaurant was packed, considering our experience, so we can only assume that there must not be many good options for Italian food in Toms River.

Had a big get together of about 18 friends and friends of friends. Generous portions of tasty Italian food and BYOB. Good times.

The sleeper restaurant at the shore. Small place with about 14 tables. His specials are incredible. The best soft shell crabs in garlic you can ever have. His special chicken dishes Valentina and Taoromina are incredible. Go there and relax with great food and an easy family atmosphere. Oh yeah. The price on food is sooooo reasonable! Unreal food with great prices.