East County Gold, the Family Feast (Sun-Thu) will easily feed 6 & it's under $50. Wow!! The service was great & they make their own Giardiniera. read more

Its obvious they just stopped caring. The food is boring and flavorless. The lasagna I had could have come from a box. The sauce was bland and uninspiring. The staff is friendly enough but have quit trying. When not helping customers they are idle. They watch TV or are on their phones. The restaurant seems dated and unexciting. There's nothing that would ever make come back. read more

I placed an order over the phone, while looking at their website menu. 2 Tortellinis $17 each 1 large pizza half Pepperoni/half Pineapple and Canadian Bacon...23..25 bucks ( I figured it would cost a couple bucks more for the extra toppings) when I got there to pick up...the bill was $92...I was in shock but paid the bill cause my family was home waiting for dinner. When I called, the Manager tells me that their pricing has changed and that to go orders have extra fees. I'm super disappointed. We've eaten at Bongiovannis for decades and have never had this problem....but he didn't offer anything for compensation...no $20 credit for the bait and switch. Beware of Togo oders..be sure to check the pricing before you place your order. Just saying.... read more

This place is more expensive than most of the high quality Italian restaurants in San Diego... but the food here is the quality of a high school cafeteria or dare I say PRISON. There is no doubt in my mind that the food here comes out of a can and thrown in a microwave. With these prices you'd think they could at least afford to replace the tables and silverware that are falling apart. Time to put grandpa Bongiovanni to bed. read more

Adorable space wasted on frozen food, soggy salads, sesame seed hoagie-roll bread, and service that felt personally offended by our presence. I came in wanting to love this place. I would've accepted "meh." What I got was a culinary crime scene. The building is cute. Very mom-and-pop Italian energy, which makes it extra tragic that the food tastes like it fell off a Sysco truck and was reheated sometime last week. Sunday night, prime dinner hour, a dining room full of open tables, and the food still took at least double the amount of time that it shoukd have, to arrive. Add to that a huge menu (always suspicious), and the outcome was inevitable. Spoiler: it was bad. Like, aggressively bad. Every dish was practically floating in water, as if it had been frozen, thawed, and then dumped straight onto a plate without so much as a courtesy drain. Honestly, the kitchen could benefit from a good sieve. The salad was soaked in watery dressing to the point of being completely inedible. And the bread? A warmed-up sesame seed hoagie bun. That's it. That's the bread service. The restroom deserves its own warning label. Not "needs attention," but "is there a plumbing situation or has this smell been living here rent-free for years?" bad. My drink was empty before the food arrived and I was never offered a refill. The girl behind the bar gave off massive hangover vibes... bentover with forehead on the bar, low energy, and a general sense of please don't make me do this today. We couldn't eat the food at all, so I politely asked to speak with a manager to figure out the bill. Enter: server with peak mean-girl energy. She refused to get a manager, kinda walked off, came back and said she'd "just charge me for my soda" complete with a dramatic eye roll. Cool. Except the bill was $8. For one glass of soda. I didn't mind paying something for wasted product, but don't say you're "only charging for a soda" and then charge more than double what a soda costs. I planned on tipping for the full meal because bad food isn't automatically the server's fault. The attitude made that decision... significantly less compelling. In short: adorable building, massive potential, but terrible food, questionable hygiene, and service that actively made the experience worse. I wanted to love it. I couldn't even like it. read more

Bongiovanni's Italian Restaurant - Sesame Seed Hoagie Roll for bread service - Italian Near Me - El Cajon, California

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We went here with our grandson and his girlfriend for an early Christmas dinner on Sunday, December 21st. Saying that I was disappointed is an understatement! My husband and I ordered the Chicken Cacciatore to share, which has always been our favorite. It used to be served with 2 good sized chicken breasts, but at this visit, there was only one, so we cut it in half. Chewing on the chicken was like trying to chew a tire. I've never had such a tough piece of meat. There was a lot of pasta and we ended up bringing some home for dinner the next day. The service was okay. We were seated for quite awhile before our beverage orders were taken. I ordered a glass of wine only to find out that they were out of it and my husband ordered a Pepsi, which they were also out of. After the experience we had, we will most likely be looking for a new Italian restaurant to go to. read more

Bongiovanni's, an East County essential from my childhood! Good ol' classic American Italian food. Excellent antipasto, delicious garlic bread, super yummy pasta and pizza. Good service, good happy hour specials, and an old school, laid back vibe! read more

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Another reviewer used the term "culinary crime scene." Having ordered off the meal menu, I totally agree...it was nasty and I'll add ridiculously expensive for crappy frozen food. I noticed most other guests ordered pizza or sandwiches, which they seemed to like, so maybe I'll give it another try for those. Service felt like a dive bar. But hey, that's the charm of East County. read more

Friendly quick service. Delicious food. My friends and I go often to eat in and a few order to take out.

Pizza was great. Reheat in air fryer was so good. Meatballs were good. My only complaint is they put dressing on the salad. It was a waste completely soaked couldn't eat just threw away. So always ask for dressing on the side. I'm not sure why they don't do this for to go orders. read more

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Me and my family of 4 ate there and we held out hope the food would be good after seeing the outrageous prices but that too was disappointing. The meat sauce was watered down and the alfredo tasted wrong. The soup was good so that was refreshing but the salad was lettuce with sauce dumped over it to make it inedible. The service was okay and the servers were kind but with everything else we won't be coming back and will be warning others. It truly is sad how much this restraunt has fallen off since it used to be wonderful. read more

The first couple of visits were great. We love their bread! But its gotten worse and worse since. Today we ordered a meatball sandwich and spaghetti/ravioli. It wasnt even busy when we got there. It took forever and i finally had to get up and ask for my salad. She said she was waiting for the bread. Salad was soaked in dressing and bread wasnt fresh and not even hot. Then we waited and waited again for our food. Sandwhich bread wasnt toasted, tiny amount of meatball in pieces and not even hot! Cheese had firmed up like it had been sitting. The meatballs were not delicious as in the past. Weird consistency. My pasta was not hot at all. No steam, just barely warm. Basket of bread wasnt even warm as it usually is. Butter didnt even melt. I told the server and she said "maybe because its cold in here." That was it. The food is pricey but it used to be worth it. Today it was a total waste. We didnt even bother to take it with us. How disappointing. read more

I've been eating at Bongi's for years. All the food I've tried has been good and the pizza is the best in Alpine by far. The service is always good too. read more

Ordered an iced tea, coke, and a torpedo, for $28 and change. I should have looked to see that the drinks are $4.75 each. Their prices are too expensive for the food they serve. I've eaten there a handful of times over the years, I won't go back to spend $30 for two drinks and one sandwich. read more

Service was ok. The ambiance decent. I had seen this place since I was young and was always wanting to try it. Many years later and I'm very disappointed! Pizza looked amazing coming out but it looked better than it tasted. I think mushrooms were out of a can, I asked for extra pepperoni and couldn't taste it. The sauce lacked flavor and salt. The dough was cooked fairly good. We order some fried zucchini and it was very good. The Caesar salad was very good as well but the croutons tasted old. Maybe the other dishes taste good but I was not too thrilled about the experience. read more

Bongiovanni's Italian Restaurant - Pizza - Italian Near Me - El Cajon, California

I grew up coming here and it's just as amazing as I remember. I ordered a Hawaiian pizza and a French dip sandwich. Both were large portions appropriately priced. Our server Sienna was nice, attentive, and provided exceptional service. The food was delicious. I am happy we were able to make another family memory at the same place I have so many fond family memories. Please don't ever change Bongiovanni's. read more

Food was super good ordered simple pep pizza and drank beers. Was a Saturday and surprisingly it was very empty. Had the whole restaurant to ourselves. View is beautiful. Service was excellent, staff was very friendly. Pizza probably on my top 5 list of pizzas. Will be back again. read more

Bongiovanni's Italian Restaurant - Main restaurant - Italian Near Me - El Cajon, California

Food usually good... The place needs a major cleaning inside and out. Ideally, restaurants should put aside $$$ for this. Nothing has been done, or changed since I've been going there for many years. read more

Excellent Service Large variety of food Decent prices Comfortable atmosphere Awesome waitresses ! Highly recommended! read more

I always pass this restaurant but never stopped in. The pizza is amazing and I love how thin the crust is. My husband is a sucker from meatballs and tortellini and they did not disappoint. read more

Bongiovanni's Italian Restaurant - Sausage and pepperoni pizza - Italian Near Me - El Cajon, California

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Old retro restaurant that has not been updated at all since it was built. All the plastic plants from the seventies were awful, haha. The bathroom was the most retro thing I've ever seen. Very casual dining atmosphere, everyone was wearing sweats and hoodies. TVs with sports on. Most people were eating pizza, but we ordered pasta. Soup and salad was not good, just tasted like the cheapest salad mix from Walmart, and they put too much cheap salad dressing on top, I could not eat it. Soup was from a can and overpriced. Pastas were okay, but too overpriced for what you get. Obviously from frozen. I don't think they make any of the pasta themselves, it tastes like cheap frozen bulk premade food. Good thing was, cocktails $9 were strong. But Strawberry daiquiri $9 was gross and tasted like freezer. Service was decent and friendly enough. I think most of the high reviews were from before they raised prices and lowered the quality of food. I think locals go here because it's casual laid back and there aren't too many other food options nearby. There was also a bar lounge that looked popular with locals. read more

Best pizza ever in SD! I am from Italy and the pizza is by far my favorite from San Diego. The bartender Katie was very sweet and on top of things. read more

Awesome, awesome place! Great for families and groups! They have a Banquet room for big parties with sports TV's, so those who hate missing the game due to family obligations (like my husband) don't have to. Lol. It is our family and friend's family's "go to" when we eat out together. They also have a great bar where they don't skimp on the good stuff. My husband loves to wait there for our take out orders...but don't tell anyone that part Lol Due to being a bit off of the beaten path, it is rarely very crowded and there is plenty of easy parking. Interesting and yummy appetizer's, loaded pizza's, huge antipasto salad's, great sandwiches and tasty pasta with both red and white sauce. The best garlic bread too, especially if you like sesame seed French bread like I do. There is also a more intimate dining room and a patio. Great place! read more

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I love the food at this italian Restaurant. The pizza comes the way you personally want it . Thin crust or thick. The bar area is friendly and fun . The service is one of best. Ambiance is homey and local fun place. I recommend this great place. read more

~Ordered the calamari strips, had to ask for cocktail sauce that they don't have. Given marinara sauce instead. ~No bread, had to ask. ~Ordered the lasagna. It came with no cheese on top, and was told they never put cheese on top. (Can't call it lasagna then) ~Had the waitress stand there letting us know lasagna doesn't come with cheese on top instead of getting the manager to tell us that. ~Cheaper utensils than my camping gear. ~The most expensive menu in comparison to the other 4 Italian restaurants in the local area. ~White clam sauce wasn't bad, little on the fishier side, but definitely edible. ~In their defense, every photo on google reviews of their lasagna has no cheese on it. read more

Place is garbage!! Never got my food even after I asked my waitress. It was a salad. Waitress never came around to check on us. The table next to us had the same issue. DONT GO HERE !!! read more

Mediocre at best. They wanted to charge me $10 xtra to change sauce on my pizza but failed to inform me. Mgr was disgustingly rude to me when I questioned my bill. Slamming things on the counter like a child. I'll never go back. read more

Actually love the pizza but their new policy sucks. Live pretty close and go to is half Hawaiian and half mushroom and sausage pizza. Went to pick up my $21 dollar pie and my pie was now $34?????? The new policy is they charge by ingredient. With that, do they double the ingredients for the extra charge? Hell no they don't! Makes zero sense, just another example of the Covid up charge. What a rip off read more

The server was nice. That's about it, the food was disgusting. The pasta was way over cooked MUCHY salmon was under the pasta in a gross white sauce when it came to the table it very disappointing, she couldn't even eat it. Same thing with the lasagna I could barely finish 1/4 of it after I poured a plate full of oil out of the dish. Brought back memories from 10 years ago why we said we would never be back. Needless to say, we will never be back. There are much better places in the east county then here, very disappointing. read more

I would normally not post something like this, but I know a lot of East County people eat here and I feel like this needs to be said. An entire family's disappointment... This is not because our food was horrible... which it was! (Burnt pizza, over cooked chicken, salty artichokes, unclean and chemical tasting lettuce, and salty eggplant) This is not because our reservation wasn't honored... which it wasn't! (Booked the game room for a large party with kids, but it was written down incorrectly and we ended up in the main dinning area) This is not because our party of 30+ people was only given 1 server... that was it! (But management did nothing to even assist, just stood there leaning on the counter watching us) This is because, even after us conceding to all of the above, the servers had the audacity to speak poorly about our party right in front of us. And when the manager was approached about it, she not only acted very aloof about the situation, but then engaged in the "smack talk" with the same staff members in front of other members of our party. We have came here as a family for decades, always enjoyed the food, staff and atmosphere. Tonight, we're completely disappointed and insulted. This place has gone really downhill and we will not be returning. Very sad. read more

I understand that this is a popular place for "regulars" to come and dine, based on the crowded parking lot when we left around 6:30 on a Saturday night. However, for folks just looking for good service and good tasting Italian food, this is not a place I would recommend or return to. My eggplant Parmesan was downright gross, with big slabs of tough eggplant not dipped in any kind of batter or coating- just possibly sautéed in oil and covered in sauce and mozzarella. My party all agreed that the sauce could have been Ragu for its lackluster seasoning and thin consistency. The same sauce was splattered on all of our pasta dishes. I appreciate that people return to a neighborhood restaurant for reasons other than the best food ever or best service, but if you are looking to try a new place to eat, albeit a clean place with pretty scenery, I would keep looking. Overpriced and underwhelming. read more

Food was awful. The Alfredo tasted like ragu. I couldn't even eat it. And then on top of everything I found mouse droppings on the wood that separates the booths. Safe to say we will not be back... EVER. read more

I love going to this spot. Canadian Bacon, Pineapple, and Jalapeno Pizza - spot on! Rigatoni OH YEAH! Antipasto Salad to die for! couple of glasses of Chianti -- Life is good! Thank you Bongiovanni's! read more

Burned pizza and biased customer service. I called in a large cheese pizza for carry out. Great price and value for the money. I did not leave a tip today, it's the only time I have not tipped on a carry out order, I'm very generous in that regard because the girls working there make a living that way. The gentleman (presumably the owner because he's been in the background ever since I can remember) seemed offended by this and his whole demeanor changed. Without going into detail, I was mistreated and feel it was intentional due to my lack of tipping on a $14 pizza that I drove down to pick up and take home. I was ignored after this while waiting for the pizza to come out, and watched him treat the other patrons coming in to pick up their orders with a completely different attitude from me. There are always young female servers and hostesses up front and there was one girl that helped me find a napkin or cup for my sons skittles I was holding in my hand that I didn't want to melt, and another girl brought me the pizza that was sitting on the counter in the back. Meanwhile the gentleman is still right in the front and the girls are moving around him to help me. I should have looked at the pizza before I left. See attached photos and you will understand why. Ive been coming to this restaurant since 2004 to support local business. I've had my children's birthday parties here and brought countless numbers of friends and family, but starting today I will no longer be bringing my business here. read more

Bongiovanni's Italian Restaurant - Burned cheese pizza - Italian Near Me - El Cajon, California

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The lasagna has no baked cheese on it. They raised their prices quite a bit, and still have the cheapest silverware.

I used to go here all the time and I do not know what happened to them but they suck!! Waitress did not know anything about the menu, sat at a table in the corner of the restaurant with the other workers and they were all on their phone. My salad was all of the yellow bars pieces of the lettuce head and my raviolis tasted like the sauce was from a can! What has happened to this place???? read more

The Calamari Appetizer is really good. Hubby and I shared a lasagna it's big. It was tasty too. But the next time we are in the area it's definitely the calamari and a glass of wine. The staff was friendly and attentive. Over all we had a very nice early dinner. read more

Bongiovanni's Italian Restaurant - Calamari and a salad - Italian Near Me - El Cajon, California

It was really good. They were nice enough to seat us outside on the patio even though it wasn't open. Everyone was attentive from the moment we walked in. Emily was our waitress. Very sweet. Ordered Cesar salads, side of meatballs and a meatball sub. Everything was good. Great sauce. read more

Bongiovanni's Italian Restaurant - Nice view - Italian Near Me - El Cajon, California

never going back. The service was terrible and the inside was old and dungeon like. The food was not great either. We got an assortment of pizzas, anti pasta salad and bread. The bread was hard and cold. The antipasto salad was the best part. The pizza fell apart and was mushy. The service was terrible trying to get new bread and refills. The other great part was the bar area has games for the kids which gave them something to do and that was really nice read more

Visiting from out of town from Long Beach area. Had pizza here. Wow great pizza And not too greasy. Plenty of tomato sauce and cheese. Good flavor to the meats. Good size and reasonable price. Plenty of space and a beautiful view of the mountain side. If im back in the area I'll sure to visit again. Just one draw back, I paid for the juke box kiosk to play music and music volume was very low. I wished it would played the music louder as I enjoy food pizza listening to Journey read more