Giovanni Ristorante & Bar

We had the best time at Giovanni’s! Ron, our server, was fantastic. He thoroughly explained the menu and gave us great detail on the kitchen and what they could make for us, even if it wasn’t in the menu! Our drinks were never empty and we left extremely happy!! The crème brûlée was to die for!! We will be back :)

PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU GO!! My husband and I spent $75 on 2 waters & the 2 cheapest entree’s only. This restaurant is not what we expected at all but we still had a great experience. My husband and I are here in Nashville for our friend’s wedding and to visit family. We were so so tired and decided to just get a quick pizza for dinner then go to sleep as it’s been an exhausting week of back and forth, traveling and whatnot. We didn’t want to spend much, we saw a photo on here that pictured a menu with a pizza for $20! We were sold. We came to the restaurant to find we were SEVERELY under dressed, and this did not look like a pizza place at all, but we saw the pic of the menu and the room looked the exact same so we got seated. We opened the menu and realized there was no pizza and everything on the menu was much higher in price than we had in mind. I of course got so nervous and whispered to him that we should just leave because I felt so out of place. He mentioned it wasn’t a big deal and that we could honestly probably use a nice date night and it was fine. So we stayed, only got waters and our entrees (we both got the cheapest thing on the menu) and it all came out to $75. We were originally expecting a $20 pizza as pictured on the menu here on google. (The menu layout and branding looked the exact same and the photos of the restaurant looked exactly the same so yes we did come to the right place.) Regardless, we had a wonderful experience! The food was excellent, the service was incredible, and it was so relaxing other than my slight anxiety about the price bc I was just not prepared to spend that much on a quick dinner.

We went in for a light and quick lunch and the place was very accommodating and tasty! I’d like to come back to try more dishes sometimes.

Our server, (I hope he said his name was Ron) was amazing! He made the experience that much better. He was attentive, fast, and very knowledgeable about the menu. The place itself is decorated beautifully. The host at the front said, "you have a reservation I assume?". When we said "No", he sat us immediately anyway, so a reservation isn't really required, but we did eat on a Wednesday night. All around delicious food. My husband had the squid-ink pasta. It was a bit spicy, but not too hot to handle. I had the potato soup and it was fantastic. I also had the tagilatelle and man, it tasted so good. You can tell the pasta is handmade.

From start to finish, a triumph. We were seated promptly by a friendly and warm hostess. Brought bread almost immediately. Our server noticed right away that I pushed our preset wine glasses to the edge of the table, and removed them silently. He informed us of the specials, in an informative and amiable way. Our bread was warm and soft. Olive oil was offered and balsamic vinegar by request. Both of good quality. We had the octopus appetizer, and it was great. The octopus was tender, with the perfect char. Garbanzo beans very well cooked and the sauce was flavourful. I could have had three more, honestly. My wife had the Ravioli and I, the Marsala. Both were prepared expertly and delivered steaming. The Ravioli filling was velvety, and the pasta obviously handmade. My Marsala was moist and tender, the mushrooms cooked perfectly, and both dishes were just what I expected from a restaurant with such a fine reputation. We had three desserts, limoncello, tiramisu and creme brulee. All of them exceeded our expectations. RYAN was especially affable and made us feel right at home. Our other servers name we didn't catch, but he was also top notch. Overall a 5 star experience that will very likely not be our last.