Tried to avoid this place because of the reviews, but ended up trying it. We ordered a Caesar salad and BBQ chicken pizza. We sat on the patio shaded by an umbrella as it was a little too warm to sit inside. The salad was yummy and fresh. We got our pizza and it was just as good. Lots of chicken with a good amount of BBQ sauce and yummy cheese. I would probably go with a thin crust next time but I am glad we stopped in. read more

Stopped here with my family on the way back from a beach trip on April 8. Since we stumbled upon this place a few years ago, it has been a favorite of my boys. The atmosphere is friendly and reminds me of a pizza parlor from the 70's or 80's. Brick and booth atmosphere with big windows to people watch if desired. Pizza orders are varied and pretty good. It is closer to thin crust than thick (a personal preference) but is still good. Its a nice place for kids because it actually has old-school video games as well as prize machines. However, most of the video games are in wretched condition, so be aware. Single TV in the main dining area which has DirecTV. Has a nice patio area for outdoor dining. However, they are undergoing "renovations" and the back area is a disaster. Since my stops here are infrequent, I can't tell where they are in remodel phase. But, the remodel has dropped the restaurant down to a single uni-sex bathroom. I'll definitely return when I'm in the area. read more

Im on a mission to eat at every public establishment that serves food in my little holiday town. Tonight I was in the mood for a good antipasto salad so I decided to stop by Gios since it was a few blocks from the pad. At 7:30 on a thursday I had the place to myself. I ordered a small antipasto salad, small chicken parmesean sandwich and a coke and it came to about $18 bucks. It was kind of pricey for the meal I got. The salad was nicely made but some of the lettuce was obviously past its prime. What got me was the sandwich; it was about 2 parts bread 2 parts cheese and about .5 parts chicken. The marinara was nothing too special. Overall for the price I really dont think a second trip back is coming any time soon. I cant recommend this place too much, the competition in this town is probably killing this business anyway. 3.5 stars. read more

decent local pizza place. They could use to clean the place up a bit - comes across a bit dirty. But it's cheap pizza and sides. 1 comment, if you place a phone order, make sure to have them repeat it back to you. On numerous occasions, I've placed orders for pickup that just get really screwed up. Be prepared, however, to still have your order messed up. The food itself is nothing special, but compared to the other options locally (nutbelly is a little pricey for a quick pizza, dominos is dominos, I just don't think rustys is that good), it's a decent fall back option for those nights when you need something quick and don't want mcdonalds... read more

Love this place best pizza and pasta in carp we eat here often it's really good you should eat here

I hate to be the person that writes a real bad Yelp, but let's get real. THIS IS THE SERVICE I RECEIVED. I order a dinner for my girlfriend and I. It includes a Pizza and a Chicken Parm Sammy. We get a Pitcher of Shock Top to chase down our fun on the patio. Well while my Pitcher is being poured the keg blows. The beer guy tells me "you can have this, we are changing the keg". I thank the man and think to myself, this is exactly why I tipped. Karma comes full circle. I give the man like 5 min to swap kegs and work out the kinks. As I return there sits a 1/2 Pitcher of Shock Top. I ask the guy if he's serious!?!? He says yes. I now realize it's time to let the workers know my expectations. I hand my warm flat blown Pitcher back to the guy and ask for a full new Pitcher. After a few dirty looks and most likely a bunch of food spit the customer is served. Really? As I hold down a table in the inside corner waiting for my girlfriend I began to sweat worse than the sauna at the gym. It's pushing 90+ degrees inside with the humidity of what feels like 95%. My girlfriend finally comes out of the bathroom, and before I can share my story experience she starts telling me that the entire floor in the restroom is trash and nastiness. She went into details that I would rather save. I could go into more details about this place, but I think I've already said enough. We can chop this up as my 1st and last trip here. No loss to hit the other 7 Pizza joints in town. read more

This place does not even honor it's own coupon. Went here tonight after my son's karate class across the street and the clerk was VERY rude and refused to honor the coupon they had on their website. DO NOT go here. read more

By far the best pizza in Carpinteria, the salads are delicious, the lasagna is delectable. Everything í have ever had there is spectacular. The people are great and the prices are much better than Rusty's. I don't understand why it has Rusty's as being cheaper on yelp, Thats just false. read more

HORRIBLE SERVICE!and that was the night manager on Sunday the 17th of July 2016. We live in Carp and will never eat there again. I would give it zero stars if yelp would let me read more

We just had Giovanni's deliver lunch for our office Christmas party. They delivered lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, salad and garlic bread for 13 people. It was a hit with everyone, inexpensive and we had leftovers for days! Win/win! Love the personal touch of dealing with the owner, great guy! read more

We always go here when we come through Carpinteria and it's never disappointed! Closest to New York pizza I've found in the area. I love it!

My Dad and I stopped to get something to eat on our way up north and we decided on pizza. We saw 3 different pizza places in town but decided on Giovannis and we're so happy that we did. They have great service and great pizza ( I also suggest the cheesy garlic bread ;)) we plan on coming back next time we're in town. read more

I hate to slam a local institution but I have to add my negative review to the others. Went here tonight and ordered a caesar salad and a medium combo. The salad was drowning in dressing. I guess thats on us, we should have ordered dressing on the side. But the pizza was the big disappointment. Topping were good, however the crust was undercooked and made the pizza a soggy mess! Here's the best part, when I went up to get a box to take the pizza home so we could cook it more and try to salvage our dinner, I mentioned to the guy who took our order that the pizza was under cooked. He gave me a box and didn't says a word. These guys don't care about the food they sell. Maybe they see so many tourists that only stop by once, that they don't think they have to make a good product. But for those of us that live around the area, anywhere would be better than this Geovanni's. read more

Went here last night for dinner. The family loved it. We got a big Giovanni's special which has salami, ham, sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, and veggies. It was a feast. I liked the pizza sauce- spicy and plenty of it. The pizza could have been cooked a little longer and the beer was pretty small. If I knew how small it was going to be I would have gone for a pitcher to split. read more

I recently had pepperoni pizzas here. I was surprised to see this place rated only 3 stars. I would give 5 stars ONLY for their pepperoni pizza, but feel that wouldn't be a fair review of the overall restaurant and menu (which I know nothing about). Probably one of the best pepperoni pizzas I can remember having. The pepperoni was full of flavor but not over-salty, thick enough to provide a rewarding chewing experience (along with the crust) but not too thick like cheap frozen pizza pepperonis that have to be bitten off in one bite. The crust has this semi pan crust crisp to it that complements everything in the pizza; the cheese, sauce, pepperoni. It is incredibly gooey, greasy, and delicious. Don't go to this place if you want a "healthy" pizza. Go this place if you want to indulge. A complete pleasure to eat. read more

August 5, 2014 I agree with former review writer no parking and the outdoor area needed cleaning. Although busy, I had a glass of red, moderately priced, and the pizza was ready as promised on time. Stay away from the antipasto..old stringy cold cuts over lettuce. Pizza was good!!!!!!!!!! read more

I can't remember the last time we were in a place this run down and crappy. Kids were starving so we stopped here while passing through. Pizza was soggy, hot sandwich was cold, beer was warm. How this place stays open I have no idea. Dirty and run down beyond belief. Health inspector must be a realitive or was paid off. Jose behind the counter could care less. Scary to think he made our food with his flighty hands. Yes, I'm a dumb ass for not walking out when I know I should have. See a common theme here? This is my first yelp review but have never felt this strongly about a place to leave a one! read more

Disgusting. Don't look up at the ceiling fans. Reminds me of Cambodia. Don't know how Carp puts up with it.

I've been eating at this restaurant since I came to Carpinteria in 1994. I often went there for lunch, getting their "slice and salad" lunch. Everything about this place is like an old school pizza place, like from the 70's. The pizza is okay, and the crust has great flavor, best in Carpinteria, but is VERY soft. If you like your pasta al dente, don't order pasta. I order the spaghetti when I want to remember the cafeteria food of my youth. The lasagna and ravioli are pretty good, as are the sandwiches. I like the Italian or the meatball sandwich. I get the large and get two meals out of it. The delivery salads are very generous, which is great, but there is never enough dressing, so we always order extra. I like to get one each Ranch and Italian. Here is one problem to watch out for. If you order for delivery, make sure they repeat it back in great detail. If I don't do this, they only get our order completely right about 50% of the time. I just wish they stayed open later, but it's a small town, and most places close early. read more

Best Pizza in Carp! Not my all time favorite, but this is my local go-to spot. Granted I like to actually go there, cuz the place is usually filthy and if there's a crowd it gets noisy. They do a trivia night on Mondays which is fun. And karaoke on Wednesdays which sounds awful... read more

I'm a foodie, and this place has really good delivery pizza. Affordable, tasty, consistent.

Giovanni's Carpinteria has gone very far downhill in the last decade. The Pizza used to be good, now it is wet cardboard with a little cheese. Despite that, I still ordered a local delivery and two hours later no pizza, no one there remembers, and no one could care less. Carpinteria is too small a town to mistreat your customers. Please leave soon and make way for a restaurant that cares. read more

An hour and a half it took too get our pizza, while others in our party received not one but three separate orders before we even saw ours.

Pizza is okay when hot and turns into a dud after about 5 minutes. Service is great and has great owners though so it is a great place to get a drink and hang out. I'd recommend getting a sandwich! read more

Sunday afternoon: was looking for good local craft beer and the line for Rincon was out the door. Wandered next door to Giovanni's--great choice!! Excellent sandwiches, friendly wait staff and great local craft brews on tap! Highly recommend! read more

Eeeh. For some reason the kitchen staff can't figure out how to get the salads and appetizers out 15-20 minutes BEFORE the pizza. Pizza is just basic pizza. Nothing special. Only eat here if you are really craving pizza. Otherwise don't expect much...and be prepared to have your order totally screwed up. We had 5 couples and everybody had their order messed up. read more

One of the employees was extremely disrespectful and rude towards my family when we had an emergency before we went into and ate he made us move our cars out of the parking lot and had a very mean and rude demeanor. read more

FILTHY, FILTHY, FILTHY!!! A health inspector should close this place down!!! Tables have not been cleaned. Booths are ripped and repaired with duct tape. Ice tea and soda machines are disgusting. Napkin dispensers have not been cleaned and were covered with what looked to be pepper. There is a table behind the soda machine in the kitchen area piled high with miscellaneous items that have nothing to do with the restaurant. Dirty dishes were piled up in the kitchen. The bathroom skeeved me!! There was hair and water on the sink and a wet napkin stuck to the ceiling. I was honestly afraid to eat here. There were more health code violations than I care to count. This place is a case study for Restaurant Impossible!!! read more

Food was cheap and yet still overpriced. They yelled out numbers but no one could hear them so our food sat on the window. Several other customers also had their orders up and could not hear their numbers being called. Food was decent at best. Overall, while not a horrible experience I will definitely never go back. read more

Nothing really special. Table was not particularly clean, pizza was ok, but toppings would slide off the crust, so there was a bunch of toppings left in the middle of the tray as we removed slices. Outdoor seating, but just 6 parking spaces to be shared with another restaurant. read more

O.K I would have given 5 stars but the quality has gone down. It is a tradition of ours to camp at carpinteria or go on a moments notice. It is with the same enthusiasm to ,afterwards, hit Giovannis.Everytime the place is really busy but the wait times weren't that bad and the wait was helping the expectation of a well made pizza. The toppings always fresh and the crust thin and crisp. last sunday we went to carpinteria and had a blast with my grandbabies. afterwards went to Giovannis and as usual the place was busy. This time there seemed to be alot of confusion behind the counter. seemed more stressed which carried over to the customers. We ordered 2 extra large pizzas and 2 pitchers of soft drinks ( water and lemonade). It took about 45 minutes to get our pizzas and although the toppings were great the dough was tough and rubbery. It was alittle disappointing because going there for many years we got use to a really great pizza but now it is mediocre at best, everyone has a bad day so we will try again but if the tide continues we will set sail for other pizza shores. read more

Unbelievably bad customer service. I live about 7 miles from them and they always delivered to me. Tonight I ordered two large pizzas and an hour later they called me and said that they wouldn't deliver that far because "they can't waste their time going that far". They were not apologetic at all. Their pizzas are mediocre anyway but this is unforgivable. We were standing in the driveway expecting our pizzas when we got this call. We ended up eating leftovers. read more

In town over night and was looking for a local pizza joint by the Beach, seen this one decided to try it out. The service wasnt to great for paying $40 for pizza and salad and they charged us 50 cents each for ranch! Pizza was okay beside being GREASY! read more

Pizza and salad are great. We ordered ravioli and I thought it was a little in the salty side. We only have it delivered so I can't speak towards the restaurant itself but the food is ok! read more

OMG! Worst cardboard tasting meatballs, water soaked pasta..and cold. I do not know what seasonings used in spaghetti or pizza sauce, all I can say is ewww...almost Tastes like Indian spices. Place is filthy, even bathrooms. I don't advise. read more

this shhhhhhhhh/t sucks!! go elsewhere! ____ Came here because my family and I was camping at the beach (down the street), we came here because of the coupon & should have read other people reviews. * they do not honor their coupon, had to get a friend to come inside and talk a little smack for them to honor* We were a big PARTY and it was not busy. ___ FOOOD: horrible, uncook pizza, Found hair in one of our pizza, one pizza was uncool- pulled a slice and everything fell off. Super Unsatisfied. Tables were pretty dirty, peppers/cheese shakers were dirty and where they place it is dirty. JUST FILTHY PLACE! read more

I love the outdoor seating. The pizza is great. The service is excellent, like "you read my mind" excellent... Great for kids.

Please don't eat here we are from San Diego and visit often it's just to dirty I don't know where to start

Held a wedding rehearsal dinner here for 20 people. I worked with Shawn who provided excellent service. Food was served buffet style outside. Baked spaghetti with meat sauce was exceptional. Vegetable lasagna, salad, bread & fountain drinks completed the meal. Cost $$ including 2 pitchers of beer and a bottle of wine. Decor is used but not unclean. Staff helpful & friendly. I definitely would eat here again on a personal basis and I recommend it for small casual gatherings. read more

Excellent! Big and juicy pizza, nice old-fashioned comfortable interior. Our group arrived hungry and left very, very happy.