Griffin E Cipolla, DO

I have been a patient of Dr. Cipolla’s for 8 years. I have a medical condition that requires me to labs done at least twice a year and I see Dr. Cipolla several times each year. He has been a health advocate, compassionately directing my care for almost a decade. He is direct, yet caring. Some have mentioned that he does not have an on-​sight lab, this is true. You do have to go to an outside lab to have blood work done. I’ve been to other valley doctors that did have lab services in office but the level of care was sub par. I would prefer to use Sonora Quest to draw my blood a few times a year (and you can schedule appointments with Sonora Quest, never have to wait more than 15 min there). Dr. Cipolla knows my name, my history, and cares enough to ask about current events in my personal life. Each time I visit his office, I feel like I am visiting a friend. If you want an extremely knowledgeable Family Practitioner, who truly cares, Dr. Cipolla is your guy.

I very much wanted to find a male compassionate doctor in Phoenix. I spent days searching reviews and finally decided to make an appointment with Dr. Cipolla. Upon arrival I was greeted by a man who I realized quickly was the doctor himself. I did the normal check in, gave him my medical records, insurance card, drivers license and debit card. Filled everything out and then waited to see the doctor. I told Dr. Cipolla that I was seeking to establish medical care and needed someone who was primary care and internal medicine both.
My visit with the doctor was unremarkable, rushed & weird. He asked me to give him the «Readers Digest» version of my medical past. Hum, the Readers Digest version? I am searching for a doctor who can spend a little time with me and get to know me and to give him the readers digest version is almost impossible. However, I did my best. He listened (sort of) spewed out his version of my situation, gave a skimming look over, (open mouth, lifted my shirt, laid me down on my back, tapped my stomach, pulled out of my private parts from my pants — looked around and sat me up).
We talked a few more seconds, he left the room and came back with lab orders in which I was supposed to take to an outside lab to have my blood drawn. I asked him, «Why do you not draw blood here?» He didn’t explain and walked away.
Once, I got to the front desk I realized that my insurance card and DL were missing and asked for them to be returned. I also had to ask for my medical records to be returned and I was told he wanted them. I asked them to take a copy of what he needed and return my originals. The front desk person seemed annoyed that I would request my records back. (At this point I wasn’t sure if I trusted this facility to leave 20 years of medical records with them) «Give them back now I said.» She eventually found them and returned them. I was then told I would be charged 178.00 for this office visit and I know I only pay 54.00 per visit each time I go to the doctor. She argued with me and told me that was their rate and I again told her I wasn’t comfortable with that rate and I know my insurance covers all but $ 54.00 (co-​pay). She said she would look into it and let me know.
I asked the office manager if they did or did not draw blood in the office. She seemed as if she was ashamed of the answer. «No, not usually. We usually send our clients to another facility for that.» I told her I was not wanting to go to another place to have blood drawn and that I’ve never had to do such a thing before in any other doctors office. I left the office visit feeling sick to my stomach, confused and extremely annoyed.
I did go to Sonora Quest to have my blood drawn and when I arrived I felt like I was at the Drivers License department. I walked to the front desk and was told to take a ticket and that there was a 2-​hour wait! Hell NO I thought! I walked out.
What kind of doctors office are you running Dr. Cipolla? It felt very SELF SERVING AND LAZY to me. Your office staff is overwhelmed, rude and un-​compassionate. When asking them very specific questions I only heard a SMOKE SCREEN of information coming from a talking head at the front desk.
I won’t be back nor will I refer you to anyone.
Lastly, before you unzip someone’s pants you may want to ask them if it’s ok to pull out their male genitalia before hand. It seemed you just wanted to take a look for yourself, or you felt very entitled. Because, I am not sure what my penis had to do with this visit?
I left your office feeling violated, unsafe, annoyed and confused at what had just happened. This is not someone or a place that I put my medical trust in.
Beware Folks — There is something really wrong with this place.

Dr. Cipolla’s office is tucked away on a quiet street off of 3^rd St in CenPho. Wait times can be quite variable, I’ve noticed that he likes to accommodate walk-​ins and squeeze in appointments when possible, which can cause a crunch. Sometimes its straight in and sometimes I’ve had to wait upwards of 30 – 45 minutes. Another factor that can add to the wait is the doctor’s excellent bedside manner. He will actually listen and chat with you and give you as much time as you want. I’ve never felt cut off or ignored here and have had several good bitch-​fests with the Dr about the current state of healthcare. He is also an LGBTQ ally and can be found on weekends volunteering at homeless shelters around the area.
Dr. Cipolla is great. Try him out if you are looking for a PCP in CenPho.

If you don’t like your money see this doctor’s office. I received a $ 50 charge on my account from Dr. Cipolla’s office. Come to find out they somehow made an appt. for me that I NEVER made and I called to have it removed. They agreed I never made it and it was an error. They told me they would call me back to remove it, they never did. On my third call into the office still with no return call.

So far I have been a patient of this office for over 1.5 years and have had no issues. Obtaining an appointment in a reasonable time frame has been fine, though waiting in the office on the day of the appointment can sometimes feel long (but pretty average for doctor’s office in my experience)

Dr. Cipolla was fantastic. I went in with a fairly serious (and slightly embarrassing) health problem. Dr. Cipolla did a great job of helping me feel like he is in my corner helping me fight for my health. He listened to what I said without making judgements regarding my situation which allowed him to treat effectively treat me. I am pleased to have found such a good doc. Thank you!

Update:
In one of the most pitiful examples ever seen of «you can’t fire me, I quit», the doc has sent me a letter stating that he will not see me as a patient anymore. Oh,…REALLY?!
It sure is a pretty bad case of misplaced self-​worth that must make him think I ever planned to go back to his crooked place that I had already told him I thought was a patient-​robbing, fraudulent-​billing, insurance-​money, thievery office.*
°°°°°°°°°°°° (this is a backed-​by-​facts, highly professional opinion — please see full, original review here:
)

I’ve been with Dr. Cipolla for about two years; the staff is friendly, appointments are easy to book, many times within one or two days, and Dr. Cipolla is so nice!
If you’re uncomfortable with doctor visits, he’s perfect for you. He’s soft spoken, caring, gentle, and best of all, very friendly.

Dr. Cipolla is a great doctor, friendly, caring and thoughtful toward his patients. However, the wait time is intolerable and the receptionist Peggy couldn’t be less friendly or robotic. Every time I’ve been to Dr. Cipolla’s office she’s rude and her estimation of wait time is completely out of touch with actual time. I sympathize with working as a receptionist in a busy office having done so myself, but that’s no excuse for an obvious lack of care and total flippancy toward anyone waiting to see Dr. Cipolla.

This a split review because honestly, I would give Dr. Cipolla five stars for he himself because he is really great. Dr. Cipolla is good at what he does and he seems so genuinely caring towards his patients. He is the favorite doctor I have ever had. Now to the negative. I would give 1 – 2 stars for the awful wait time. I recently had a 9am appt with 8:40am check-​in. Mind you, I was not a walk-​in appt so I did not expect to wait too long. I checked in at 8:45am and was not called back until 9:40am. When the aide/​secretary checked my vitals, brought me into the waiting room, she said the doctor would be in soon. In my head, I am thinking yeah right because I usually have to sit in the examining room for at least 20 minutes to a half hour. Sure enough, he came in at 10:10am apologizing for being late. So, my appt was at 9am and I did not see the doctor until 10:10am. I wish I could say that was a rare occurrence but that it what my husband and I both experience 95% of the times we go there. Terrible. The thing is, Dr. Cipolla is the only doctor there so I guess that explains the long wait times. It’s hard because by the time I am fuming, vowing to never come back, and ready to storm out of the examining room, Dr. Cipolla comes in sweet as ever. He is such a nice guy, dammit! And kind of cute, too, but don’t tell my husband that! Maybe the long waits are the standard now, I don’t know, but I might need to look for a new doctor since I am unwilling to deal with that.

Dr. Cipolla has been my main care provider for the last 6 years + and has always been fantastic. His office is well maintained by a staff of very friendly, caring and competent professionals. He & his staff have always seemed genuinely concerned for my welfare & well being. The doctor himself is down-​to-​earth, pragmatic and no nonsense.
As a gay man I have always felt welcome in his office. When I had a really serious condition last year, he had no problem allowing my partner to come into the consultation room with us. I cant say that about other homophobic establishments I’ve been to. And when you’re sick or something’s wrong, the last thing you need to worry about is how the doctor or staff feel about your sexual orientation or lifestyle.
I have noticed that the practice has really built up and the waiting room is usually packed nowadays. That, my friends, is a sign of a good doctor. I would recommended Cipolla to anyone!

I found Unilocal because Cipolla is such a great doctor. Every time I go to him he is to the point. He finds the problem, he doesn’t just write a prescription for the symptom. I can get in pretty quick if I need him. He has been my doctor since 1996 I only go to specialists when I have a problem, I don’t have to many other doctors in my rolodex he nails it almost every time.

I have a feeling this doctor wasn’t totally crazy about me, but gosh I am so crazy about him! He’s just simple and to-​the-​point, and the office is clean and well-​kept. I can’t ask for anything more in a doctor, honestly. He’s also pleasant to look at and well dressed!