Giovanni’s Restaurant

Amazing very Italian restaurant. We had no booking but they managed to squeeze us in on a Saturday night. The atmosphere was pleasant and the brothers very entertaining for the guests. Bread, tomatoes and the most amazing olive oil was served to start. We opted for a Sicilian red to drink and it went perfectly with all out fishes. Mains included pork and veal sausage with fennel on a bed of lentils, chicken pieces with white wine and a chicken breast with mushroom filling. Vegetables came separately and at £4.50 were rather expensive. The food was great and the wine delicious but the prices did put me off a bit! Great place for a romantic date or a quiet rendezvous.

This is one of the best surprises that my friends and I stumbled upon when we were visiting from California. The owner, Pino, was so welcoming and we quickly discovered that he was also hilarious! He let us stay a little past closing time to finish up our bottles of wine we ordered for the table, and then we had a dance party that ended with a conga line led out the door and into the street.
The food is so fantastic and even though the waiters did not speak English, we still all enjoyed every second of our visit here. One I will never forget and still talk about to this day, and this happened back in 2008. Highly recommended!

What a great little restaurant. I ordered the pumpkin ravioli with sage and the veal medallions. Both were absolutely wonderful. The best veal I have ever had. If you have sweet tooth make sure to order the tiramisu. It’s amazing!

As the other reviews have said, this can be a little tricky to find, but it’s well worth it. It’s cozy, and the staff was very friendly and welcoming, making you feel like part of the family.
As a traditional Italian restaurant, the pasta dishes are considered starters, but you can ask for them as entrees, in which case they’ll give you a larger portion.
I had the pappardelle with peas, Lima beans and mint. Very good. But it was the sea bass that was simply amazing. I had the cannoli for desert and it too, with orange zest, was one of the best I’ve ever had.
My husband had the pumpkin ravioli which was fantastic and the best spinach salad he’s ever had.
All in all, one of the best meals we’ve had in London. If you like typical bland English food with overcooked vegetables and shoe leather meat, you will be disappointed in Giovanni’s, but the rest of us enjoy it.

The front door is around the corner and down an alley, so don’t be dismayed if you can’t find it right away.
The staff, and I believe owner, was great. Super friendly and chatty, really interested in each customer.
The food was delicious. Great Italian food. Just know that just an entrée isn’t enough, I’d recommend getting an appetizer on top of the bread & entrée.

Overall very good. The décor is a bit outdated, and the soup is bland, but the pastas are excellent! The sizes are a bit small, but it’s very decently priced. Very much enjoyed my experience here.

AWESOME little restaurant tucked away in Covent Garden. The staff was wonderful, and the food was DELICIOUS! Best meal of our trip, definitely! Can’t wait to go back, :)

Tucked away this little Italian restaurant is a gem. Once owned by Ava Gardner it is oldy worldly and the food is delicious. The Gnocchi is light and wonderful and the sea bass was cooked to perfection. The manager Pino gave us his card along with all kinds of tips for our upcoming trip to Italy. Great place after the theatre.

What a great little find. I have been twice and it will be on my must visit list each time I come to London. The owner is friendly and fun, the food is very fresh. The oil he uses is amongst the best I have ever had and the orange salad is to die for. The gnocchi was light and not too heavy on the sauce. The chocolate mousse cake was also light and airy. The mozzarella appeared home made and perfectly complimented with fresh tomato. The bar is not very well stocked and I was disappointed that he didn’t have a martini shaker, so I settled for a couple of beers, all that could have been colder, but that is typical in Europe. A must visit, make the effort to find it as it is well hidden.

Fantastic little place with great ambiance. The food was simple and fresh. Not a huge scene and the owner accommodated my somewhat unusual request for a gluten free dish. Wonderful tomato soup, orange salad with fennel and red onion and oil cured olives, and I hear the carbonara is to die for. Thank you for a memorable evening from your guests from San Francisco!

Omg, the best place ever. Cosy, hidden, traditional and original. From our tiny little table we would see the waiters come and go with the trays that came from the kitchen down below the restaurant with the storage elevator. With our tiny little canddle we had a great carpaccio and pasta (maybe a bit too oily) and fruity dessert. The staff was very helpful and as italians are, had a lovely chat with them about football :). Couldnt had been better!

I’m lost for words after this experience. In fact, no I’m not. It was so bad that I have decided to print.
Wandered in here after the theatre. Generally we love our food and wanted to avoid the «chain» experience. Giovanni’s from the outside looks inviting and the menu looked short which is generally a good sign. We didn’t know it then but this was the moment the evening peaked.
As we walked in, we were ignored for a while whilst the two waiters seemed to wander around the restaurant. Eventually I walked up to them and asked for a table. There seemed a little confusion but then they waived us towards a table for 4.
A few mins later the menus were shoved into our hands and a wine list. I couldn’t put my finger on it then but I felt uneasy.
Prices were high (£10 for a mozarella and tomato salad starter) but I guess we assumed reassuringly expensive and this is an expensive part of town (theatre land) so maybe fair enough.
The owner eventually came up to take the order, very rude found myself talking to thin air as he just walked off.
Ok, well, maybe he didn’t hear. I waited. And waited…
Eventually I called one of the other two waiters over (3 waiters, about 30 covers in total, around 10 occupied). As he shuffled towards me (no, I’m not being mean, he shuffled) I asked for a bottle of Orvieto from the astoundingly overpriced wine list and some tap water (eco thing, you know).
He went off to ask the other son to bring the wine (they must be sons, the Owner surely wouldn’t employ them for any other reason). Son No 1 then brought over some slightly stale dry bread and what I think was meant to be a Bruschetta type dressing. Oily oil (i.e. cheap), a few chopped tomatoes (but curiously only the skin parts) and some other vegtable). Amazingly they charge you £1.50 a head for this experience.
Son number 1 came over with bottled water ignoring our request but by now, I had lost the will to live or complain having of course worked out our mistake…
One hour to wait for antipasta Son number 2 came over with the wine, we were invited to taste, and it was passable. Not great but ok.
Miserably we ate the starter and started to drink… heavily. Whilst drinking the average wine heavily we looked around. The restaurant is adorned with hundreds of pictures of celebs some of whom seem to have actually eaten there. I say some because I really don’t think Marlon Brando ate there but the Hoff seems to have. Why, oh why hadn’t I seen that at the beginning.
Let me tell you about the dumb waiter. No, not Son number 3 but really the dumb waiter. This brings the «food» up from the depths of hell (sorry, the kitchen). Well, having just been to see the play, Ghost Stories, perhaps we were a little imaginative but this made the most bizarre creaking sound. All the while Sons number 1&2 roamed around the restaurant unable or not allowed to do anything of responsibility (like take an order or get the bill). Maybe they were zombies? One of the other reviewers refers to a funereal ambience… I concur.
A few mins later the mains actually did arrive. My pasta dish… what can I tell you. Over cooked, birds eye peas, lardons (I think instead of pancetta) and, well, I can’t bring myself to tell you more… the memories this morning are too painful.
We ate. Quickly. There is a Carluccios down the road. Rather than have a coffee at Giovannis (and probably another bottle of plonk to drown our sorrows) I couldn’t bring myself to give the rude Owner any more custom. My girlfriend left to catch Caroluccios before they close and order a coffee. I got the bill and paid. I always leave a tip but I couldn’t do it, it would be an insult to every other waiter and waitress that have ever served me.
There is more, the washing up liquid in the soap dispenser in the toilet (leaving your hands smelling of lemon harpic), the ten minutes it took to get the bill, the not so subtle hints about service (sick) not being included. I could tell you more but you get the jist…
Leave it to the poor tourists, they don’t deserve it but nor do you… ABSOLUTELY AWFUL
ENTER HERE AT YOUR OWN PERIL