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Giovanni's - Upper State
3020 State St, Santa Barbara
Phone: (805) 682-3621
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Reviews by the General Public
Giovvani's
Reviewer: Dan
from Santa Barbara, CA
We approached Giovanni's from the west-northwest, the majestic Santa Ynez mountains in the near distance to our left. The restaurant is so modest that we nearly missed it, which would not have been a problem as the parking lot is actually all the way down the block and around the corner. This last point took some sorting, but after three tries, we found the lot at the end of a public alley off Calle Laureles. The lot itself had recently been resurfaced. An exceedingly smooth ride with clearly marked spaces greeted us, as did an employee on his smoking break.
We entered through the backdoor, under Giovanni's classy green awning. I was a bit put out that I had to walk past the bathrooms on my way to the counter, but then I suppose it was the back entrance after all. Joke's on me!
To our left, we observed with delight a mural of the canals of old Venice, replete with water. The halcyon dome of St. Mark's Cathedral shone in the distance like a beacon in the sun. The mural, though somewhat architecturally inaccurate, was a hoot!
Speaking of water, don't bother ordering it here, as beer is plentiful and economical, even in these tough times. My pregnant wife had root beer, of course! Teetotalers won't be disappointed by the wide range on nonalcoholic selections, although they may dislike having to walk past a smoking employee on their way in, that is if he is still there at the time. (Even three flavors of Gatorade! Yum!)
We each grabbed a well-laminated tri-fold menu and argued, as foodies like us often do, about our repast. We settled on the classic configuration of pepperoni and mushrooms, the well-known standard by which all pizza places should be measured. Bottled beers (Heineken) and root beer were ordered to accompany our meals.
A side note on the Ms. Pac-Man machine: Santa Barbara has a number of such machines; this, I must say, is the best I have yet encountered. No ripoffs like with the ultra-fast machine at Elsie's, and no switcheroos like at the comics shop on Anapamu. I handily quadrupled the previous high score, then made my way to our table. Soon, our pizza was declared ready by the young man at the counter.
We went up to get the pizza and the sturdy plastic plates, ample enough to accommodate up to and including two slices at a time. We soon had to return, though, to get napkins (from a dispenser) and silverware. The sturdy silverware was somewhat mismatched, but in an attractive "boho-chic" way, and not in a tacky way, which might have been your supposition. The napkins, however, were anything but sturdy, and our thoughts about them, I must say, were untoward. Our first visual on the pizza affirmed its presence. On closer inspection, the cheese was uniformly melted, although some of it had spilled past the edge of one of the twelve slices. Topping distribution was variable. Ample quantities of pepperoni were evenly distributed to within 1.5" of the edge of the pizza, but the mushrooms were weighted heavily to one side. Amateur forensic speculation led us to believe that the chef may be left-handed. We were unable to confirm this with a visual.
The pizza tasted great!
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Good Pizza and Service
Reviewer: Glenn
from Buellton
Good Pizza, more "Italian" style with spices etc. Different than a Rustys/Dominos style and different than a Cal Pizza Kitchen/Martys style. They all have their niche I think.
Nice people. Parking here is tricky, go down Calle Laureles and find the "public alley" and that will take you to parking.
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Great Pizza - the best in SB
Reviewer: Craig Jafffurs
from Santa Barbara, CA
My son and I have systematically tried all the other pizza on town. This is the best pizzza in town. Great crust and sauce. Get it cooked a bit longer for a crispier crust.
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The best!
Reviewer: ern
from santa barbara
I love this pizza. Goodbye rusty's. I used to eat at rusty's all the time. But they skimp on the cheese and are too expensive. Almost everytime ive gone to giovanis the pizza has been excellent. They dont skimp on anything and the crust is great. woodstock comes to a close 2nd followed by sal's, deanos, pizza mizza, martys.then maybe rustys.What happend rusty's you used to be at the top?
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Best pizza in town!
Reviewer: Bethany
from Goleta, CA
Not only does Giovanni's have the best pizza in town, this is the best store in the chain. My family and I are constantly saying we should go to the "good" Giovanni's. Not to put people off the other stores but in terms of service and quality, this is the best!
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Real pizza :)
Reviewer: Virginia Young
from New York City, NY
Unlike MOST that have reviewed this restaurant I am NOT A LOCAL. Born and bred in NYC/NJ area where there is a pizzeria on almost every corner. I am a regular now to California (visit every 6-8 wks) and have had the pleasure of eating at this place 5 times now. Unlike the stuff that California in general passes off for pizza this restaurant makes a pie similar to the food Im use to in our area. Thin crust with lots of cheese and good stuff. Sure you have the pizza hut and Little Caesars stuff but real pizza is hard to find. I have also had the pleasure of eating their Italian food and that also rates far above alot of the places I have had the displeasure of trying while out in your state. Now remember I AM NOT TALKING GOURMET just plain old good food. In fact we love this restaurant so much we took the kids and grandkids there this past summer and the baby (3 yrs) tried to eat 3 slices. This is a child that don't eat alot. :) .. We are coming back to Santa Barbara for New Years for a couple days and are going to be visiting this restaurant again.
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Consistently excellent
Reviewer: JT
from Santa Barbara, CA
Service is great and the pizza is the best in town. I've been going here since I was a kid and have never had a bad experience. Keep up the good work guys
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Great service and food for catered event
Reviewer: Leana
from Santa Barbara
We had them cater a company meeting. With a mix up of messages, they had not recieved a confirmation of what we wanted to order. Danny, the owner, worked hard to get our order together in just over an hour. This was no small feat since it was a larger order that also needed delivery. Even though the confusion was equally our fault, he gave us a price break.
The food was also great! Many staff members commented on how wonderful the sausage was flavored in the meat lasagna. One staff member could not stop talking about how it was the best he had ever tasted.
It was a wonderful experience because of the accomodating service and tasty food.
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not pizza
Reviewer: Monica
from Goleta CA
this is NOT good. It's way too much cheese...this is NOT pizza..It's too greasy and cheese-filled
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BEST PERIOD
Reviewer: Greg Snyder
from Santa Barbara
Okay. I read all the bad reviews, for starters, everyone who had a bad experience the Gio's on upper state, they were all probably from LA. Come on, nobody who is a local, that is born in Cottage Hospital, not migrated up from south, will always get poor service! Real santa barbarians don't care for you! That is why you got poor service! Since day one i have been a local, since day one Giovanni's on upper state has been the place. Best for and service bar none! I am glad some don't like it, cuz that means we will never see you there again! Good riddance, bon voyage and arrivaderchi! Best Pizza bar none!!
Giovanni's - Upper State writes:
Firstly, thank you for your kind words. Secondly, we value greatly ALL our customers at Giovanni's, even tourists. We occassionally may make mistakes, as we are human, but always strive towards our goal of being the first pizza choice for all Santa Barbarans. Thank you to all our loyal customers you are truly the best!!
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We Love Gio's
Reviewer: Lori
from Santa Barbara
The best people and food. No other pizza compares even if I have to pick it up myself!(no delivery) We'll be here every weekend I'm sure.
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Mediocre Pizza, Poor Service
Reviewer: Dario
from Santa Barbara, CA
This was our first try of Giovanni's on State. We regularly get pizza at Paesano's. We were very disappointed. We ordered the pizza there for take-out. The first thing out of the young man's mouth who took our order was that they would be closing in a half hour. He seemed to want us to get out. Not a good start. Then, we ordered a large veggie. I asked if we would be able to sub pineapple for mushrooms on half the pizza. He says "yes", but when I looked at the receipt he had charged us for the pineapple on half the pizza. Why tell us we can sub, then charge for it? He should have let us know beforehand. The pizza wasn't much better than the service. The toppings were abundant, but not evenly distributed. Worse, the sauce was uneven too and bland. The texture of the crust was good, but it had no taste. Sauce needs spicing and crust needs salt! Don't waste your time with this place. The pizza at Paesano's on the Westside is WAY better.
Giovanni's - Upper State writes:
Thank you for trying our pizza and we're sorry you didn't enjoy it. I will also make an employee memo reviewing the proper way to enter the "substitute" topping and proper greetings for customers. Those things should never happen and we apologize if you felt rushed out. We hope you will give us another try so you can enjoy what Santa Barbarans have voted the best pizza over 25 times including the Independent Best of 2006, we sometimes do make mistakes. If not, may you have a wonderful and healthy New Year and good luck to you.
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