Giovanni's Rustic Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria has been part of the Lynmore landscape in Rotorua since 2017. Family-operated and warmly regarded, it serves fresh Italian food made daily by hand — handmade pasta and wood-fired pizzas above all — alongside New Zealand-style signature dishes including excellent steaks and innovative chicken.
The kitchen caters for most diets, with a dedicated vegan menu, vegetarian meals and gluten-free options, so mixed groups can order without compromise. Fully licensed, Giovanni's pours an extensive Italian and New Zealand selection of wines, beers and other beverages.
Dinner runs 5pm-9pm, Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays), with bookings subject to 90-minute seatings — just ask if you need longer. Takeaway is available via online ordering, gift cards are sold on the website, and the team takes venue and function enquiries. Check the Facebook page for the latest news. Ciao!
On Te Ngae Road in Lynmore, a short drive from central Rotorua, Giovanni's Rustic Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria has been part of the neighbourhood since 2017. It is family-operated, warmly local, and — in its own words — home to a legendary dining experience built on fresh Italian cooking and pasta made by hand every single day.
The word 'rustic' does a lot of honest work here. This is not fine-dining theatre; it is the kind of place where the fundamentals are taken seriously — dough, fire, fresh pasta, good wine — and where the same family has been greeting Lynmore regulars for the better part of a decade.
The backbone of the menu is fresh pasta, made daily by hand. Giovanni's describes its cuisine as 'fresh Italian daily hand-made pasta, pizza and more', and the handmade pasta dishes are the clearest expression of that: beautiful, rustic Italian plates built on pasta made in-house every day.
Pizzas take the same path: straight into the wood-fired oven, the traditional method behind the pizzeria half of the name. Wood fire brings a base and flavour that other heat sources struggle to match, and it is the house way of doing things at Giovanni's.
For all its Italian heart, Giovanni's is well regarded for its New Zealand-style signature dishes, including excellent steaks and innovative chicken. That breadth solves the eternal group dilemma — one person wants pasta, another wants a steak, someone else fancies a creative chicken plate — and it is a big part of why the restaurant has stayed a Lynmore fixture since 2017.
Plenty of restaurants nod politely at dietary requirements. Giovanni's builds for them: there is a dedicated vegan menu, a wider range of vegan and vegetarian meals, and gluten-free options, with the kitchen stating plainly that it caters for most diets. If your table includes a vegan, a vegetarian and a committed steak-lover, this is an easy venue to agree on.
Giovanni's is licensed, pouring an extensive Italian and New Zealand selection of wines, beers and other beverages — a list that mirrors the menu's two hemispheres. Match an Italian bottle with the pasta or a local pour with the steak; either way, the cellar has you covered.
Dinner service runs from 5pm to 9pm, Tuesday through Sunday, with the restaurant closed on Mondays. One practical note: all bookings are subject to 90-minute seatings. If you are settling in for a celebration, mention it when you reserve and the team will do their best to accommodate a longer stay.
Request a table through the website's contact and reservations page or ring 07-213 1364. If you would rather eat at home, the menu is available for online ordering, so a wood-fired pizza or a pasta dish is only a few clicks away. Gift cards are sold on the site, which solves the perennial problem of what to give the pasta-lover in your life.
The venue and functions page covers events and group occasions, while the website's shop and experiences pages offer other ways to engage with the restaurant beyond a single dinner. The restaurant points visitors to its Facebook page for the latest details and news, so it is worth checking there before you head out.
Whether you come for hand-made pasta, a wood-fired pizza, a New Zealand-style steak or a fully plant-based feast, the promise is the same: fresh, generous, handmade food from a family that has been part of the Lynmore landscape since 2017. As the website itself signs off: Ciao!