Giovanni’s Inn

I’ve been here twice, and both experiences were excellent, so I’m not sure why such low rating.
Let’s talk food first.
Was here last night for Wednesday night pizza. They cook the pizza outdoors to in their brick oven.
Margarita pizza — love that mozzarella cheese! And that balanced aroma of fresh basil. The basil is picked straight from their garden! Literally, one of the chefs went to the garden several times to grab basil and bring it back into the kitchen.
Custom grilled eggplant and sausage pizza — my husband liked this more, but I liked the Margarita my me.
I really like the doughy crust of the pizza. It was a bit wet for my liking, but it was still delicious. We drove upstate on a Wednesday evening specifically for their summer Wednesday night pizza — obviously, pizza is the main attraction this night, but they have some stuff from their regular menu too.
We also had clams — that sauce is phenomenal. My mouth is salivating as I type and reminisce.
Stewed rabbit penne — delicious, that rabbit was like chicken but leaner and had a slightly different flavor.
We sat in the garden which was a bit buggy (bug spray took care of that), but very nice.
I don’t have deets of our first visit on a non-​Wednesday, but I remember I had risotto, and it was so good. Full menu in effect on non-​pizza nights.
Oh, I also want to add that the main chef is born and raised in Italy primarily. Dining here felt like I was in a country home in Italy.

As soon as we walked in, we knew it would be a terrible experience. But, we were hungry and route 209 was closed due to an accident so we decided to stick it out. Terrible decision.
It was pretty busy, so we didn’t complain when we stood around awkwardly waiting for the hostess to finally seat us. It seems as if they crammed us into an extra table by the front door, with absolutely no room. The layout was pretty bizarre.
After we’re handed our menus, a waitress eventually brings a small bowl of Parmesan cheese and butter. About 15 minutes or so go by and we’re still waiting for our waitress. The bartender comes over to take our drink order in the meantime. Another waitress comes by to tell us our waitress will be by ‚“as soon as she gets the chance” and brings us a small basket of bread. My husband and I were all set to pay for our drinks and go elsewhere when our waitress appeared and apologized for our wait.
We order and wait forever. The food was good. Not worth the price we paid, but was definitely decent. After we eat, we sot and wait for the waitress to come over. And wait. And wait. Makes eye contact with my husband but continues to walk by. When she comes back around, my husband finally asks the waitress for our check she tells my husband she’ll get back to us. Disappears and comes back to ask if we’d like dessert or coffee. At this point we just want to leave so she says she’ll send another waitress over with the check. She leaves someone else’s container of leftover food on our table and walks away when we try to tell her its not ours.
The other waitress comes over and hands us our check and tells us we can pay at the bar. I let her know that those leftovers aren’t ours and she seems confused. She actually asks us, «oh so you paid already?» Wtf! You literally still have the check in your hand and the leftovers have nothing to do with the bill! We could’ve easily said yes and walked out without paying our expensive bill, but we’re decent people who even left a tip.
I left my husband to pay the bill because I couldn’t stop laughing. Such a weird experience. Such a weird place with weird décor. I’m hoping their service was just a one time thing, because if that’s how their service usually is… Over an hour and a half experience when all we had were 2 house salads, 2 entrees (one of which was a simple dish of penne w/​garlic & oil) a root beer and a beer, is pretty unacceptable.

after driving past this place weekly for close to 6 months, i finally asked my boyfriend to take me. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG?
this place is fantastic! first, the décor. lots of horse ribbons, odd art-​i-​facts, and plenty of taxidermy animal heads mounted on the walls. if this place hadn’t been around for ages, i would say that they were cashing in on the hipster scene. but they are not. they are for real.
the weekend menu is decent enough — for the middle of nowhere ny. if they upgraded to mesculan mix salad greens the prices would be fully justified. however, they have the most delightful old lady jazz pianist, who sings all the classics with a killer voice and looks like marylin monroe. this makes up for the ‘maybe’ overpriced weekend menu. but, the food is fresh (one time we had eggplant parm made from eggplants grown in the backyard!), and the desserts are not to be neglected.
the real prize is their mid-​week menu (in the summer!) when they fire up the pompeii style brick oven the the yard, and serve pizzas and other delicious items baked inside. AND, live music on wednesdays! you can sit around a bonfire, eat pizza, drink beer, and listen to neil young tunes until 10 pm. pretty sweet country living.
i’ve been here in large groups (20+), in parties of two, and in reasonably sized dinner parties. the waitstaff is incredibly friendly and helpful. if you’ve been wondering whether or not to check this place out, don’t wonder any longer. just go. if not for the food, for the ambiance :)

Food was excellent, service super friendly. Chanced upon Giovanni’s from a highway sign. Well worth the stop! Baked ziti and pizza awesome…

I went here on a Thursday night and it was really sub-​par. It’s a very average place to eat. I DO NOT! recommend this restaurant for any meal.
I ordered a Caesar salad and it was a regular salad with lettuce, tomato and unions with a very lousy salad dressing that tasted nothing like Caesar dressing. My eggplant Parma was like a eating a lousy frozen dinner. You can get a far better meal in Pine Bush at Joey tomatoes.