Giovanni’s Coal Fire Pizza (Parkland)
***** Giovanni’s Coal Fire Pizza, 7625 North State Road 7 (Waterway Shoppes), Parkland, Florida (954) 345-9282
In recent years, coal fire pizza/chicken-salad joints have been popping up all over Southern Florida. In past writeups I have told you about Anthony’s, Red Rock and Coal Mine.
Tonight, I stuffed my face in Giovanni’s which opened about 6 weeks ago. Let me start by telling you, that in addition to coal fire pizza/chicken and salad, this joint has other stuff like pastas, meatballs, chicken parmigiana, all kinds of desserts and a wine list that is seemingly endless.
Now let me tell you the gory details. Tonight I “sampled” the Italian Salad, Caprese Salad, Ricotta & Meatball Pizza, Coal Oven Roasted Chicken Wings and the San Genero Feast (cheese ravioli, meatballs and chicken parmigiana). Sensing that my shorts were starting to feel a bit tight, I reluctantly passed on the dozen or so desserts that Giovanni’s features.
The food is terrific. The service is terrific. Owners John and Ted eyeballed “every” item that came out of the 3 coal ovens/kitchen. As for prices, no more expensive than your favorite neighborhood Italian restaurant.
The joint is done in brick-walls, black ceiling with an open kitchen. There is a separate bar area and enough flat screen tvs to keep the sports crowd happy. An outdoor patio featuring a gorgeous “man-made” lake was jammed with diners enjoying an absolutely gorgeous South Florida Daylight Saving Night.
This joint is a home-run. Try it…Giovanni’s is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.
Jeff-
Unfortunately, my family and I had a terrible experience at Giovanni’s tonight and I have been surfing the web looking for someway to express my disatisfaction via a food review. Anyway, my wife and daughter went there this evening at 5:20 PM(3/14). The hostess sat us, and we noticed that we were only one of three tables with customers. The # of staff in the place was incredible, at least 12 waiters and a Manager-type running around waving a sheet of paper. Amazingly, we sat there until 5:40 and were never approached, acknowledged or spoken to. It became almost a joke as we talked among ourselves and watched as waiters and the Manager-type walked by us dozens of times with their noses in the air and the “busy” look on their faces. Finally, we got up and walked out. I gazed directly at the Manager type who had a surprised look on his face, but he said and did nothing. As we left, an employee who was outside smoking said “thanks for coming!”. No idea how the food is, and will never know because I guaran-freakin-t you that we will never go back.
Mike Powell: Just had a chance to read your post…it sure sounds like you and I were at two different joints…Just curious, why didn’t you approach the “manager” or a waiter-waitress or host-hostess and quickly complain about not getting service?
Anway…thanks for reading jeffeats.
Hindsight being 20/20, I should have tried to pull someone over, however the total lack of attention to us with dozens of people walking by, looking at us, and continuing to keep moving to their tasks just P.O.’d me. I did catch the eye of the Manager type as we got up and left, fully expecting him to make some kind of move, but he did not so we just kept walking. Too bad, but the good news is that we did end up going to Scarfones, another coal fired pizza place and it was terrific. You should check that out, we liked it even a little better than Anthony’s, and we had gone to Giovanni’s tonight because of our love of coal-fired pizza,and had been excited to try it. Thanks for your time, enjoy your reviews.
Mike Powell: Just finished eating at Giovanni’s and the food and service were terrific. I can’t explain the “bad” experience that you had. My suggestion…give the joint another try, because it really is terrific.
We have eaten there 4 times. The food was great all 4 times. The service was fine 2 of the times and awful the other 2. I mean awful. Management didn’t seem to care about the problems.
David: Just had a chance to read your post. I ate at Giovanni’s last night (March 30,2007) and everything including the service was terrific. Based on a previous e-mail I mentioned to John (the owner) that some folks were not happy with the service.
Anyway…thanks for reading jeffeats.
I owe Giovanni’s a fair and balanced update. I did give them another visit yesterday with my wife, and am very glad I did. Contrary to my previous poor experience in march, I can report that the service and the pizza were terrific! Our waitress was friendly, prompt and professional and the Manager on duty stopped by our table and asked how things were. The pizza and salad was great, and the whole experience was fun. I will be back!
Mike Powell: Mike just had a chance to read your post. Glad to see that your second visit to Giovanni’s was a “homerun.” I really enjoy this joint.
Thanks for reading…jeffeats.com
We tried tonight 8/9/2008 and the deep dish was horrible. COLD PIZZA. The waiter said sorry and returned 20 minutes later with a burned black deep dish which was also COLD. This is pizza, how can u screw it up????
We went to Giovannis and the pizza was out of this world…I highly recommend this restaurant.. you can even check out their menu online..
http://www.giovanniscoalfirepizza.com
Hadn’t been back to Giovannis since 9/8/08. Had dinner tonight and the chicken and pizza is still great. Great restaurant.
Just love the chicken wings and pizza. Also love Carolina’s pizza in Delray. Not too thrilled with Anthony’s or Coal Mine.
Jeff, we usually agree on many things, but I found the pizza here awful. My review will be quite different
Food C+
Service B
Giovanni’s pizza was great when it first opened. Don’t know what happened but ate there last night and the pizza was undercooked and soggy,the wings were also undercooked. Won’t be back.
Went to the Sunrise location, and the pizza was awful. Very soggy, and cheesy. Worst of all, were we served the salads, wings, and 2 pizzas at the same time. They did not give us time to eat our salad, wings, then the pizza.I will never go back.