Giovanni's Pizzeria And - Valley Stream

Always enjoy everything that we have. Everyone is very nice and friendly

The food was excellent and the staff was very courteous. I will continue to patronize this restaurant.

Saturday 8pm The food was good in terms of quality but the service staff needs improvement of food preparation. I waited like 45 minutes for my entree platter and I was wondering why it took longer than usual for my order. The food was great overall but I just didn't expect longer service.

Friday on Long Island would mean much less without a good slice of pizza. That's why my wife's family has been ordering 2 pies from Giovanni's every Friday since they first opened. Keep in mind Giovanni's offers much more than pizza (the place is really more of an Italian restaurant), but we still seem to get a full pie or two every Friday, along with a side of garlic knots (an absolute must). Fortunately Giovanni's offers great quality and prices for all these items and more. Let's start with the pizza. We normally order a full pie with extra cheese plus another pie that's half mushroom half sausage. I personally am not a fan of those savory fungi, but those in the group who love mushrooms really enjoy a few slices of the mushroom pizza. The sausage pizza is definitely meaty (you get your money's worth) and the extra cheese pizza is incredible cheesy. In short, the pizza is tasty and the garlic knots are terrific (large, soft and made with just the right amount of garlic). In terms of the restaurant, my wife and I dined her once and certainly enjoyed our meal. We came in the middle of the week, when Giovanni's offers some great specials for an excellent price. I've had their calamari and chicken parmigiana, which are both very good. The staff here is friendly and the ambiance is dimly lit and romantic. I enjoy dining in here and probably should do so more often. If you're in Malverne, Lynbrook or Valley Stream definitely give Giovanni's a try. They serve authentic Italian American food at reasonable prices and with great service.

I really, really WANTED to like this place since it 's so local and we were regulars of the prior Café Marcello (who renovated the space to its current attractiveness . We 've dined at Giovanni 's at least 8 times, maybe more. Food has been generally good, though the bar selection is limited to basic house wine (the small, but nicely appointed bar from the prior ownership is essentially defunct . We last dined here about a month ago and I have intentionally let some time pass before writing this to get my feelings in check a bit because I was extremely frustrated and disappointed after our most recent visit. Our last two visits illustrate a major problem with Giovanni 's Pizzeria 's brand promise in addition to customer experience management. Can you call yourself a pizzeria when twice not once, but twice we couldn 't get a slice of pizza? The first time we were told our dough machine is broken . The second time, on our most recent visit (about 5:30pm on a Sunday , the waiter came to apologize and informed us that we sold our last slice of the 'house pie ' and cannot make a whole pie for just one slice . Umm, isn 't this a pizzeria? Shouldn 't I always be able to get pizza here? Is this really how they were going to treat a regular customer? And to make this more frustrating, I actually called the restaurant ahead of time to make sure they had pizza that day (yes, they said . A ridiculous question to have to ask a pizzeria, right? But our son is autistic and, on the heels of the broken dough machine incident the prior time, I wanted to check in advance and set his expectations properly. When I expressed my frustration and explained that I had called earlier in the day, the waiter was very apologetic and sympathetic and agreed to speak to the manager or owner again. The outcome? They still refused to make a whole pie since a we only needed 1 slice and b the cook was too busy because he had to run the kitchen as well as the pizza oven. Wow. So, to salvage the experience with my family I agreed to purchase an ENTIRE pie. And, yes, they charged me for the entire pie. (I was hoping that management would realize what a poor customer service move this would be and just charge for the single slice we wanted. There are many very good, very established Italian restaurants/pizzerias in the area. I think Giovanni 's really has to take a hard look at how it runs the establishment and serves its customers if it is to build a loyal clientele and survive for the long run. We won 't be returning to find out, which is a shame. As I said in my opening, I really wanted to like this place.