Jo Jo’s Pizzeria & Restaurant

Been going to and ordering from Jo Jo’s for over 20 years. Service has only gone downhill year after year while the prices skyrocket. Today was the last proverbial straw. We placed an order for delivery to the beach block & boardwalk for one cheesesteak & an arugula salad. Over $ 20 just for that! No drinks. To top it off they didn’t even bother to include a plastic FORK for the salad not even napkins.
When I called the restaurant the guy said the girls putting the orders together don’t have enough common sense to bother to include utensils. Go figure. The delivery was to the beach after all. I could see if it was to a residence.
Anyhow. Bye bye Jo Jo’s and all the other over priced served with an attitude holes the wall places on ventnor ave.

Excellent dinner with my parents. The place is now called Sapore. The sauces were made with unusual skill. They also have a wide selection on the menu. From pizza to veal to seafood. I had the shrimp scampi. And I tried some veal and Bronzino. Will be back often.

This place is now called Sapore. Don’t order from here. We placed an order for delivery over an hour and a half ago and still haven’t gotten it. We called and were told it was out with the driver. We called again about 5 minutes ago and they told us it was leaving in 5 minutes. They couldn’t give us a straight answer on when it was going to be delivered. I can’t comment about the food since I haven’t had it yet. We will not be ordering from here again.

I guess they sucked and discriminated themselves into closure! Good riddance. Bad food, minuscule portions, and ridiculous pricing — on an island with Italian food on every corner. Sheesh, get over yourselves!

The waitstaff is friendly, but that’s the only nice thing I have to say about this place. I stopped dining in or ordering take out from here all together. Not being able to substitute side dishes is ridiculous. Their pizza is greasy. The manager is twitchy and rude. Boooo

My daughter and I were on a desperate search for a burger before going to the Flyers Zone. I thought I recalled «Jo Jo’s» being a take out pizza/​steaks/​hoagies type of place and figured «score!» WRONG– the menu is very nice (and pricey) full of italian fare but NO BURGERS… or any sandwiches that I saw. After reading the menu I politely told the waitress (who was AWESOME… if I rated her alone she would get 5 stars) that we were going to go… my daughter REALLY wanted a burger. She said she was going to check with the kitchen if they could do it. She came back with good news… burger and fries were a go. I got a fennel sausage pizza.
Food was decent… calamari app was fried, frozen thick, flat rings… not a fan of that type. I like the round rings with legs! The pizza was flat, woodfired, kind of greasy… not horrible but questionable at $ 15 and about 12″ or so. Burger was actually really good. So why is it not on the menu? They have burgers, buns and fries on hand???
Anyway…food was average, prices were above average and service (from the one particular waitress) was excellent.

My family and I love Jo Jo’s!
After coming under new management last year, Jo Jo’s has developed into a quality Italian restaurant in an area desperately lacking in dine-​in options. Our family visits Jo Jo’s every time we come to Ventnor (which is about twenty times per year). We have always enjoyed coming to Jo Jo’s but their new and improved menu is really phenomenal!
MUST try:
— Il Classico Appetizer (moist meatballs and spicy sausage in a rich tomato sauce)
— Carbonara Pizza (cheesy pizze, covered in crispy pancetta and a FRIED EGG!)
— Mt. Etna (layers of creamy mozzarella, vine ripe tomatoes, plump eggplant and other vegetables, covered in balsamic reduction and fresh basil)
— Literally any of their pastas (spaghetti pic-​pac, orecchietti with sausage and broccoli rabe, papardelle with lamb ragu, pasticcio (which is basically their version of lasagna, but with a bechamel cream sauce), ravioli, gnocchi); we tried and loved it all!
Also LOVE the new complementary bread selection with accompanying caponata spread (think sweet and salt vegetable compote with olives, eggplant, peppers, onion and olive oil).
Would have given 5 stars but one of my favorite dishes — fried calamari — is often hit or miss here (and more on the miss side than not). It’s never bad, but the batter used is usually too thin and the fry is too quick to give it that tender-​on-​the-​inside but ultra-​crispy-​on-​the-​outside quality.
Note: This restaurant is BYOB so be sure to stock up before making a visit!

We have been customers for years and that changed this summer. First it was being served a barely enough entrée with my ala carte salad (come on, we’re not fine dining here). Then it was having a burned pizza with barely any cheese delivered. We easily found replacements for what used to be a reliably good Italian place.

Good Taste! Just a very small portion. I ordered a Spaghetti dish because I was looking for something hearty and filling, I received what looked like a appetizer portion. I question the size with the waitress and the Manager. Be a while before I return. LOCAL!

We’ve eaten here twice this past week, and found the food excellent and the service attentive and competent. Entrée highlights were the Bronzino and veal limone. Portions were generous and fairly priced. Noise levels and general table comfort were satisfactory — no blaring background music always a plus. The need to wait for a table — reservations not accepted — attests to the improvement in quality JoJo’s has made since we were last there. We recommend!

I love Jo Jo’s and so do my parents. I’ve been here numerous times over the past 7 years and it’s even better now than ever. We usually go for lunch, but dinners have been great in the past, too. The service is attentive. If you go during the day, you may meet Joanne – she’s awesome! I love the flatbread pizzas, the broccoli rabe and the sausage & fennel dish is outstanding, just to name a few! I will continue to dine here because it’s a neighborhood staple – the food and service are very good and it’s consistent. You can’t beat that!

We ate here last night and I will never go back. My young son asked the waitress if he could just get the gnocchi with a pink sauce and she replied sure no problem. Then my wife asked if she can just get the veggie appetizer and have it come out as her dinner when we got our dinners. Again waitress said sure no problem. When we got our bill they charged me 19.99 for my sons small bowl of gnocchi which was $ 4.00 more than the gnocchi dinner on the menu. They charged me double, $ 19.99 again, for my wife’s appetizer because it came with our dinners. When I questioned they waitress she apologized and said this is what the owner told me to charge. Sorry I can’t change it. Over priced food, small portions, mediocre dishes and a greedy owner equals a one star rating. Save your money and choose another restaurant.

Would’ve given zero stars if I could.
Don’t waste your time or money.
WOW that was seriously the worst pizza I’ve ever had. Ketchup on cardboard would’ve had more flavor. BLAND!!! Margherita pizza was awful! Dough, sauce ZERO flavor!
The Jo-Jo’s on the black horse pike is a million times better. Will never go back.

We ate at JoJo’s countless times over the past 20 years. I knew I could rely on the good basics like Chicken Parm, Pasta, Salad, etc. NO MORE. We had our last visit to JoJo’s tonight. I wish I’d read some recent reviews — it would have saved us this bad experience. We had not been there in a few years, and the place is not what it used to be. The reliable classics are gone. Every dish is a combination of crazy ingredients. The prices are high, and seem much higher when you see the tiny portions. The service was awful. We should have been clued in when the place was mostly empty at 6:30pm on the busiest shore weekend of the year. Our food took over an hour to arrive. When we asked the waitress what was taking so long, she exclaimed «we’re so busy’ — which was shocking to to hear given all the empty tables.
There is no shortage of fantastic Italian food in this area. JoJo’s used to be among the good places, but now it isn’t even in contention. I would not recommend it to anyone.

I ordered the Stromboli which had limited toppings to choose from. It came greasy and the dough was half cooked. Never again!

It’s terrible. I’ve been going there for years and it was great. Not anymore. I ordered chicken parm. It wasn’t on the menu I asked if they could make it. I now wish they didn’t. It tasted like a TV dinner. It’s a neighborhood place and there trying to make it like a restaurant on the Italian riviera. The menu is ridiculous. I’ll never go back there again…

I have to say. Wow. Awful dining experience. I called to say I was dining with 5 kids. No word was said to me about it not being kid friendly. We walked in to lots of stares. I asked for kids menu, nothing. Then I said is there any crayons or anything for the kids to do? The manager came back with one crayon. Yes. Thanks. One crayon? So we are told off the bat they are out of mussels and clams yet we look at another couple eating their mussels. We try to order the kids drinks; lemonade? No. Chocolate milk? No. Only soda. Oh thank you. I love to give 5 kids soda and soda only for their beverage. Then the Soda comes In old style bottles that easily could have been shared. But
No, nothing is mentioned to us about this when we order them. We order the food and we are very clear that we will be sharing some entrees for the kids. When the food comes, they bring out all the food, the kitchen cannot split it– we have to to do it ourselves– ok, no problem, except they wait until the whole table is served to bring out the extra plates to split with. Did I mention we had 5 kids? Then we notice how small the portions are. Did our waitress not hear we are splitting? I said to her, «geez these look awfully small for $ 15 a piece». She replies we are sicilian style, like first course, second course. Ok. Did you not hear me say we are sharing??? Why didn’t she say, «oh we are sicilian style?» Nothing. My kids were starving! We will never go back. Not to mention the $ 15 in sodas on our bill! Awful customer service. Unwelcoming to kids. Beware

I went to Jo-Jo’s restaurant in ventnor on Sunday night with my family and 3 kids. I was told they didn’t have a table inside for us because we have kids. I walked inside and saw the entire restaurant was basically empty. The owner came out and told us that it was an intimate setting and that they didn’t want kids inside the restaurant anymore. He said they didn’t want to disturb the customers who want an intimate dinner. The owner told me that last week some people walked out because there were some kids that were too loud so they made a business decision not to allow kids in the restaurant anymore so they didn’t have more customers who will walk out. So this review is for all the families who want to go out to a nice Italian dinner in Ventnor… Jo-Jo’s discriminates against families with kids. Don’t come to this place with kids. They will turn you away! They care more about people who want an «intimate» dinner than other loyal customers with kids. I am extremely offended that we were treated this way. We have been customers at this restaurant for many many years. One star for hospitality!

Grew up loving Jo Jo’s pizza and became a staple take out spot. Always looked forward to grabbing a slice when in the area. Went last month to grab a slice and they don’t sell slices anymore just specialty personal pies. Okay fine so I order a personal pie and my boyfriend shares it with me. Not very filling and I promised my grandparents I would bring them back a slice. I ended up walking across the street to grab a to go slice from them. Made total sense to have paying loyal customers walk across the street to get 2 slices of pizza to go. Oh well.

I just read Carl P’s review (5÷28÷2013) and have some additional comments to make.
I’ve been a loyal customer at Jo-Jo’s for probably the past 20+ years. I have a condo nearby and It’s my go to Italian Restaurant during the spring and summer months.
My wife and I were there this past Friday night.
She always orders just Pasta with marinara sauce. The price is still $ 10, but the portion was about half the size and no soup or salad was included.
The bread was cold, hard, and lousy.
I had trouble finding something to order on the new menu. MY first choice was Chicken Parm., but it came with some vegetable like squash and NO SUBSTITUTES WERE ALLOWED. I wanted to order pasta with eggplant added — –waitress told us that Chef will not change anything on the menu. Now we know the waitress, and she’s been there for years and is very nice and pleasant.
It was made clear that nothing on the menu can be changed.
I had to settle for a deep fried chicken Panini since they took the Grilled chicken Panini off the menu. I was disappointed with the bread used in the Panini sandwich.
There was a large party of 10 – 12 seated and left shortly after looking over the menu.
When we finished the meal and went outside, there were customers complaining about the menu, portions, and elimination of soup/​salad.
We won’t be going back here again. I honestly don’t think that the new Management has a clue about how to run a restaurant.
NO SUBSTITUTES — -Are you kidding me???
If you want to add a side of pasta to your meal, they will charge you $ 8.00
I just don’t get it.
It’s a shame cause they remodeled this place during the spring, and now they are going to lose most of their loyal customers that stuck with them during all these years.