Giovanni's Italian Restaurant

OMG...this place is wonderful! Fast friendly service and talk about GREAT food! I got a chance to meet the owners and chat with them they are wonderful people. They are very passionate about their restaurant and customers. This is a must for all that order carryout/delivery it is very affordable with nice size portions. You can feed a family of 4 for under $20 bucks.
We will definitely spread the word about this great place.

I have only been here one time but that was enough! It was not that the food was bad (it was decent) it was the owners, they were absolutely CRAZY rude and ungracious! Not realizing it was close to the 9pm closing time we came in and they promptly seated us, we ordered quickly and were brought our food. IMMEDIATLEY after that every chair in the place went up around us and we were stared down by the owners, mind you we were eating as fast as we could. It was the strangest thing I have ever encountered! When we very courteously asked if there was something we did wrong they proceeded to berate us about everything from what we were wearing to the fact that we were feeding our 2 children cheese pizza this late at night which contributes to the obesity epidemic in America. Mind you the owner and his wife are overweight and the 4 of us would all be described as very thin! It was nuts! The poor waitress was standing behind them silently mouthing "I am so sorry" and looking so embarrassed and ashamed it was unreal! Anyhow we happened to have on cowboy boots because we had been out riding horses earlier but not realizing and having them seat us with no problem and then suddenly being treated like this was very rude. It was by far the strangest thing that has ever happened to us at a restaurant and I guess it gives us something to laugh about nowadays :) Our biggest consolation was when they closed up shop; it just seemed fitting! LOL Best luck to these two nut jobs!

Comments (4)

FYI - 04/04/09
Didn't close just relocated to a much better location!!! HA HA HA

FYI - 04/04/09
They are in a much better location...and why would you go to a sit down restaurant at closing time you were the rude one. Most small restaurants don't serve you if you arrive to late to be served. Closing time means they want to close their doors and go home just like you when it's time to leave work. Next time you should show some respect to the staff or owners whoever they may be...GET IT TO GO!!!

Tonya - 04/14/09
Where did they move to? They closed the location on Main st. right after we moved to town and we were disappointed because people had been raving about the place.

FYI - 04/14/09
They re-opened Feb 27 in New Baden as a carryout-delivery company. If you live in Mascoutah they deliver there for a small fee. Check the listing or give them a call during regular business hours.

The food is excellent and they have half-orders available for the diet-concious, although we just order the full item and take home the leftovers. Salads are fresh and tasty. The bread they serve with the meals is wonderfully thick and crusty. Haven't ordered pizza yet, but other diners seem to really enjoy them. They put the pizzas on a rack on your table so you don't put your sleeve all over them. The only reason I didn't give them five stars is because they don't serve alcohol. The owners are very involved in the store's operation. We've eaten there twice and haven't had a stinker meal yet. This was formerly a local Dairy Queen location, so it's not really big. Much better than a Fazoli's!