Giovanni's - Carpinteria Santa Barbara.com

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Giovanni's - Carpinteria 5003 Carpinteria Ave, Carpinteria Phone: (805) 684-8288 Category: Italian, Pizza Hours: Mon-Thu 11am-9pm, Fri 11am-11pm, Sat 11am-10pm, Sun Noon-9pm Price: $10 - $20 Serving: Lunch & Dinner Map Web Site Menu Write a review of this location!

Reviews by the General Public

HOW IS THIS PLACE STILL IN BUSINESS? - STAY AWAY! CALL 911!, 12/30/2013
Reviewer: Jason from Montecito, CA
MONDAY NIGHT DECEMBER 3OTH. - R.I.P. GIOVANNI'S CARPINTERIA I have enjoyed Giovanni's pizza for many, many years. 20 years ago, as a child I would save my hard earned allowance so that I could spend the afternoon at the Carpinteria Giovanni's eating a slice of pizza and playing a game of Pinball. I recall an older lady seemed to either be the owner or manager at that time. I frequent the Giovanni's on the Mesa and in Montecito with my children and have had very pleasant expericences. I decided to take a trip down to Carpinteria with my wife and children and thought I would enjoy a nice evening at Giovanni's! WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE, THIS PLACE HAS GONE DOWN HILL! We ordered a pepperoni pizza, 1/2 cheese and 1/2 pepperoni, guess what? They just threw pepperoni on the WHOLE PIZZA. I had to explain to the the workers that I could not give the cheese slices to my kids because all of the cheese slices had PEPPERRONI on them. Their response, "sometimes the pepperoni moves over onto the other side..." Uhh, what? They did offer to make a new pizza... but that just goes to show you how detail oriented the staff is on the most very basic details of Pizza making. IT GET'S WORSE... I could not believe how FILTHY and DISGUSTING this place has become. 4 employees were all eating in plain view of customers behind the counters, the main guy was answering the dirty phone, counting the dirty money, then gladly put his hands all over your pizza and sliced it for you ... SICK! Another guy took a bite of his sandwich, wiped his mouth, touched his face, his hair, put his hands in his pocket and then went straight to prepping a salad, then over to slice the pizza! BARF! Looking behind the counter, the rest of the food prep areas were filthy! HELLO! ALL OF YOUR VIDEO GAMES ARE BROKEN! It looks like no one cares! There are broken video games just pushed against the wall. Someone cleaned out the back office and left 2 filing cabinets, office furniture and office supplies sitting right in the middle of the "arcade." How inviting! Its seriously pathetic. If you go into the bathroom, there are electrical faceplates missing from the outlets, the faucets are about to fall apart, on and on and on...In the bathroom, look up at the ceiling, someone hasn't cleaned in years! WHOEVER OWNS THIS RESTAURANT, SHAME ON YOU! YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS AT ALL AS YOU ARE COMPLETELY NEGLECTING YOUR RESTAURANT! WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, SERIOUSLY? IF YOU WORK FOR THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT AND WANT TO BUST SOMEONE, GO HERE! IF YOU WANT A PIZZA, DON'T GO HERE!

Where's the health department .... what a filty place....
Reviewer: Susan from Carpinteria, CA
This place needs a total cleaning from top to bottom, including new employees. We used to love to go here once a week but not anymore. The tables are dirty, floors need a good cleaning. If you look at the windows they are so dirty and there are dead flies in the window sills. Where is the health department? They really need to shut this place down. Where's the owner? We definately will not eat here anymore.

Needs a Good Cleaning and a Manager
Reviewer: N & K from Carpinteria, CA
My family and I went here because we had a gift certificate. This was our second time eating here. When we walked in, the employees behind the counter were visually eating a sandwich. We witnessed this the last time we came in about two months ago. After we ordered our extra large pizza and an antipasta salad we tried to find a table in the dining room but couldn't because all of them were dirty or taken. When we asked the busser to clean the table he did so but proceeded to wipe all the food into the booth seats. We had to ask him to wipe the seats but then he only cleaned one. The mushrooms in the antipasta salad were old and slimy. My mug for my draft beer was dirty. The pizza took at least a half an hour to come out and the crust was soggy. As we were waiting, we watched the man behind the register eat, text on his cell and take money for the register... all while he made pizzas. He must have forgot to wash his hands in doing so. This place could be a great family establishment... if someone cared to take care of it and show some leadership.

Good food, they could use an extra worker
Reviewer: Glenn from Buellton
The place is pretty busy with walkins and phone in orders, I am pretty sure they could use another worker as the food takes a while to come out plus the delivery person seemed to be of that crew? Regardless all the food I had and those I sampled from others in the group was really good, I highly recommend the calzone which is a feast. The pizza was really good as was the pastrami sandwich and sphagetti. The environment is run down with machines that eat up quarters w/o getting them back and bathrooms that need upgrades. They do have adequate seating both in and out though. The workers seemed nice but overworked.

I walked out.
Reviewer: karen from Santa Barbara, CA
I occassionally have a chance to stop for lunch when I'm in Carp, and I loved Giovanni's when it was in Goleta, so I stopped in this week. I stood for a while with my $20 in my hot little hand and waited while two men ignored me. They were working on orders. Not a "hello", "be with you in a moment" or even eye contact. Soon the phone rang and one man took the phone. "Geez," I thought."He flunked customer service 101, which covered taking care of the in-house customer first." He did put the person on hold, and I thought, "Oh, good, I do come first!" But he instead turned around, worked on the food orders a bit more (I was still invisible to him), and then came back to the counter, picked up his order tablet and took the call. Since I seemed to be a non-entity to him, I and my money walked out and won't return.

Inconsistency defined
Reviewer: Matt from Santa Barbara, CA
It seems that every restaurant that features pizza should have a system ensuring some type of consistency. Giovanni's Carpinteria product barely resembles itself and most often, disappoints. Yes, the restaurant is filthy and never bussed. Yes, the employee's seem impositioned to take your order. And Yes, the pizza is never the same twice. Absent ownership could be the only root cause... In a town with only corporate, conveyer belt pizza alternatives, Giovanni's still fails to distinguish itself against no competition. Tonights pizza was pathetic and I interrupted an employee poker game to find my order wrong.... again.

okey
Reviewer: ana from carpinteria,ca
The place looks old i think it needs some remodeling!..the pizza that i got there once was a little burn from the bottom and hard, didnt like it ...i rather have rustys or dominoes...

always consistant!
Reviewer: John Doeswijk from Santa Barbara, CA
pleasant home town restaurant...great lunch specials!

Unpleasant Experience
Reviewer: Margaret from Goleta
Last Weds. on our return from Magic Mountain, stopped for pizza with three teen age boys. I couldn't believe how unkempt and not clean the place was. The service was barely functioning and the pizzas mediocre at best. Toppings just piled on haphazardly and poor quality. Karaoke was dreadful. Made you want to leave. Appeared to be a family run thing, only for their own entertainment, videowing their performances and no concern for restaurant patrons. It is high tourist season in Carp now, but the visitors and locals, sure deserve better. We sure won't return.

Dirty, old, and uncomfortable
Reviewer: Miguel Baja from Santa Barbara, CA
In reading some of these reviews, I find myself asking, "Did we eat at the same place"? The restaurant is worn and dirty. The pizza is good but not great. It's not bad and might actually be better than it seems, it's just the restaurant is so haggered. There aren't too many pizza choices in Carpinteria proper, but this would be lower on the list. Their Montecito location is significantly better, worth the drive in comparison.

Where's Giovanni's Owner?
Reviewer: Leah from Moorpark, CA
When we used to live and work in the Carp area a few years ago, we had lunch and dinner @ Giovanni's often-in house and ordering out. We used to talk to the owner who made the food himself and kept a clean place. We often recommended this place to friends and acquaintances. Now, we will go elsewhere. Most of the casual dining places in Carp are disgusting and just need a good cleaning. Restrooms are pigsties. This weekend, Giovanni's was especially bad-filthy premises, surly service and the lasagna had a burnt and tinny taste (what in heck was that meat in it?). Behind the counter, in the kitchen and out back- it looked like the Third World. We are not rich snobs-we just like a clean environ and healthy food-I believe Giovanni's could be consistently better just as it used to be.

best pizza I have had in a long time
Reviewer: Dana Gabbard from Los Angeles, CA
A friend and I shared a hotel in Carpinteria to attend an event. We had seen the Giovanni's delivery truck zipping by while taking the shuttle bus from the train station so we decided to try them for dinner. The pizza was fabulous--delivery guy shows up in less than 30 minutes, it had excellent favor and was hot. Best pizza I have had in a long time.

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