Cafe Giovanni

Wish I could compare it to Pizza Hut but when I called at 9pm they answered the phone and said they were closed when Unilocal says, they close at 10… #nofoodforme!

03/​24/​2016 — 1^st timer — I usually give a place 2 visits. I’ll wait 6 months before even thinking about it again.
Tiny place seats approx 48 at tables + has a bar — had a couple of bar patrons might have had a bit too many — they were getting a few looks from diners.
Gyro plate served with (GREEK) salad? Lettuce was crisp — slightly overdressed, 1 olive + 1 cherry type tomato lettuce + dressing. Why even bother if your only going to give 1 olive + 1 tiny tomato each? It only serves to show how cheap they are. No feta cheese — pathetic. They must be getting real tight at this place, the gyro meat was cut like a ceaser salad. Never saw that done before. Even the potato wedges were brought in frozen. Pathetic is the best word to describe the meal. Even my wife’s french fries were poorly executed. I did not even eat the majority of my meal — paid — gave the nice waitress a tip + walked out disgusted. They need to drop the GREEK food since they don’t know how to do it. The tzatziki sauce was the worst I’ve ever had — no hint of dill whatsoever. Seemed like sour cream + some cucumber at best. Horrible!
The only things worth anything were pita bread /​lettuce + Guinness blond.
To ALL the employees: Find another job NOW — this place is not going to make it. Don’t wait to be unemployed. You deserve better than what I’m sure are paltry tips.
To the owner /​mngr: cutting corners on the food is the worst thing you can do to keep your place open — THE WORST. Try very hard with good food or find another place.
Maybe you should serve wings + extend the bar — put in a pool table forget about a restaurant. You don’t seem to care about your diners.
PS: I live w/​in 25 miles of this establishment.

Several times we’ve eaten here and the overuse of dried spices was a deal breaker. The effort is there in the kitchen but my gosh lay off the spices. I grew up in New York City and lived in Italy for four years. You’re killing the dishes. One time we came by and it was about empty, yet somehow service was still sluggish. I’d love it if this place put out good food. We need it around here.

The Greek food was ok! Our server was good but we sat next to the bar which, apparently, is where all the drunks meet in Commerce! So note to self, do not come back on a Friday night if you want a quiet meal other than that everything was just fine.

I’ve eaten here twice since it opened… the food was okay but nothing extraordinary. Staff was friendly and the restaurant was clean. It suffices if you don’t want to cook Italian at home, but it’s definitely no match for Olive Garden/Carrabba’s and the like.
*Edit: They’ve stepped their game up since I was here last. The food is getting better. Definitely try if you’re looking for Italian food. Pleasantly surprised :)

It was the best Italian place I have eaten at. The bread was delicious and all of the pasta was great.

This guy has stolen all of the signage and logos from my Uncle’s restaurant in New Orleans. The real AWARD WINNING restaurant with 25 years in business and countless accolades.
Disgusting have you no creativity of your own?
For reference the real Café Giovanni is a 5 star elegant dining establishment in New Orleans not some cheap pizza and beer joint… shameful

Cheaper than olive garden and may even be tastier too. When its busy prepare to wait but its worth it!

It’s great to have a authentic Italian restaurant that’s not hours away by driving. I usually order the eggplant Parmesan. I heard they’re fresh to order New York Italian style pizza is out of this world… going to have to order it someday. lol

All in all not a bad meal. The service was friendly the eating area was clean, a bit dated, but nonetheless, clean and comfortable. The meal itself was a little better than I expected from the appearance when I walked in. I didn’t care for the store bought croutons on the salad, but the rest of the meal was really good. It was nice to have a beer from the tap rather then just a bottle which I sort of expect from smaller restaurants.

This is a nice place to go for pizza in the Commerce area. Pizza was above average, beer was super cold and waitress was nice and friendly.
The main reason for two stars is they need to clean up their act. I don’t know what they find attractive or inviting about having old guys sitting in front of their building smoking cigarettes.
Next time in the commerce area I will try again, as long as the smokers club is moved to the back of the building.

Not very impressed. The waitress was not on her game. We drink club soda in restaurants usually. We asked for that, and even though this restaurant had a full bar, the waitress obviously had no idea what we were talking about. Ended up with less-​than-​stellar unsweet tea. We ordered Greek Fries, which turned out to just be fries… they were cooked well, but there was nothing Greek about them. Also ordered a Greek salad and a pizza… the waitress completely forgot to bring out the salad and then blamed it on the kitchen. With only 3 tables seated, well, that’s just bad service. The salad seemed slightly overpriced at $ 6.99 for what it was. Pizza wasn’t horrible, but it was soggy in the middle and the veggies were undercooked. All in all, it wasn’t the worst restaurant, but I wouldn’t class it above average in any way.

The food is usually very good. Depending on who is working the service is good (sometimes). A little disappointed tonight with our pizzas. We have never ordered to go. We live maybe 5 minutes away. Our pizzas were soggy… really soggy. Soaking through the boxes soggy: (
We paid almost $ 29 for two 10 inch pizzas. I expected them to be very good.
It was an easy fix though. Just put them in the toaster oven for about 8 minutes :)

As another said, I’m really surprised by the negative reviews for this restaurant. I’ve visited twice and enjoyed everything about it, service, food, and prices.
At my first visit I had the gyro plate… yum! Everything about it was tasty and filling. You get a lot for the price with the plate consisting of a gyro wrap, Greek salad, and Greek seasoned potato wedges. It was so good that I stuffed myself finishing the whole plate. My hubby had the pasta with red sauce. Now I myself make a killer red sauce so I don’t usually like sauce from anywhere else but I would absolutely eat it here.
The second go around had to be for pizza. Wow! It was fantastic! I do not like any franchise pizza joints, all the pizza tastes the same, so it is nice having a place which makes the pizza from scratch. Don’t even order extra cheese on it because they already load it on beautifully. You have got to try this pizza!
The prices are not high at all. Most places we visit cost close to $ 60 for our food and beer. At Café Giovani the prices are just right. Love this place!

I’m not sure where these people who gave this place negative reviews ate because we just ate here and we received excellent service and food. I had the Stromboli which was full if meat and delicious. The meatball sub and Italian sub was good. We shared a Greek salad and I requested extra peppers and they piled them on so our over all experience was great.
This was the first time we’ve been here but we plan on returning soon. If you are reading this, give them a try and disregard the negative feedback. I think you will see for yourself these comments are not true.
Enjoy

This was the absolute worst food I’ve ever eaten. Will never come back. This dump doesn’t even come close to Little Italy in downtown Commerce. Pasta is frozen and saturated in sauce. Should be zero stars.

Had dinner here, mostly what I expected. Not ‘real’ Greek or Italian, but pizza, Stromboli, and some pasta dishes, in addition to hot subs. Ok for a change of pace; I was in a nearby hotel so I walked here.