Heard a lot about the infamous Gondolier and had to try it out for myself. It was on par with what I expected. Saw the breadsticks and was immediately appalled at the shape and texture of them, it was giving frozen breadsticks. The marinara sauce was straight from a can, a puree of no seasoning at all. The salad was okay for a Greek salad, very basic ingredients. The pizza was not bad, all the vegetables on the pizza were clearly canned vegetables. The sauce was on the sweeter end and the crust was a biscuit taste. Service was quick and staff was friendly. read more

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I love Italian food. While Gondolier is not traditional Italian cuisine, it's an excellent Italian-American restaurant. Generous portions, a wide variety of both Italian and Greek dishes. The staff is very friendly. The salads are crispy and fresh. My sister and I pop in for a late lunch or early dinner after shopping or appointments. It does get very busy around dinner time but we were still seated quickly. read more

This is a good location to visit. The restaurant is clean and there is plenty of seating if you were to be having a large gathering. The service is always consistent and great. The food is cooked perfectly and always a large portion. I would recommend this Restaurant to anyone who wants good Italian food in a casual setting. read more

Gondolier - Cheese Steak on Pita - Italian Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

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You can't beat the lasagna at Gondolier. I don't know about any other entrees. I'm certain they are good as well but I can't say because I always order lasagna. About the lasagna: ooey gooey cheesy deliciousness. On point every time. What an amazing comfort food. It takes me back home to memories of my Italian mother serving it every Saturday night. Oh, wait, my mother's not Italian but if she were I would be able to tell this story. Hahaha The Caesar Salad was delicious. The salad was crisp and Icy cold, the dressing was done right and the grated Parmesan cheese and croutons finished it off. Served in an ice cold bowl, this in itself with a glass of Chard would be superb on a steamy hot afternoon. Our server, Melissa was attentive to our needs. She was everything a server should be. Thank you Melissa!! read more

Gondolier - Baked Lasagna - Italian Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

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By far the best part of Gondolier is their dessert selection, as anyone who has ever been knows. The cakes (made by a bakery down the road a bit) are towering masterpieces of yumminess, and it's worth $7.99 a slice. 5 stars for the desserts, although my last takeout order was wrong, giving me baklava cheesecake (the only "meh" dessert I've ever had there) instead of the decadent brownie cheesecake I had requested. The salads are always fresh, and the Italian dishes (Americanized Italian...nothing authentic here) are comfort food, filling and typically laden with cheese but not overly inventive or likely to knock your tastebuds out. A step above Fazoli's, maybe? The prices aren't ridiculous, but the food quality is certainly not on par with the prices. $9.99 for basic spaghetti, and close to $20 for a square of lasagna and a side salad. You can't order online from this location, but they are quick and friendly if you come in and order to go. The dining room is spacious enough and clean, although the decor is dated. All in all, it's a 3 for the location and the menu, but Gondolier is a solid place to have dinner with the kids or old friends, and don't dare to skip the dessert. Actually, I would say order the desserts to go and make your own spaghetti at home. read more

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While this Gondolier has some of the best lasagna around, the pizza (the Greek pizza at least) doesn't measure up. The price is right (about $16 for a large pie), yet the toppings of Kalamata olives, gyro meat and feta cheese are sparse. Apparently this pizza also comes with onions, however, they must have melted into the sauce. When we first arrived, our friendly server asked what we wanted to drink. My spouse replied, "a glass of red wine." Well, this ITALIAN restaurant, alcohol-wise, only serves beer. Then he said, "rootbeer." Nope, just Pepsi products sans rootbeer. Next he inquired, "Then, soda water from the fountain dispenser?" Three strikes -- no soda water, so he settled on plain water that came with a wee slice of lemon. Overall, the food is pretty darn good and the prices seem reasonable. Desserts in the display case look decadent and delicious and worth the oodles of calories if you can afford weight-wise to indulge. read more

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Got the sampler platter. Well, they did not inform me that they was out of jalapeño poppers. Instead, they sent out 5 burnt onion rings. The marinara sauce for the bread sticks tasted like water down sweetened tomato juice. Breadsticks was hard. The Venetian pizza was horrible. The chicken was dried out and had no flavor. The artichokes was so dry and hard. The sundried tomatoes was rubbery. The meatball sub.... Well, it had no flavor what's so ever. Dessert was ordered. The baklava had no flavor. Very sad. Tried a cannoli. It had flavor, but the shell was very soft. No crunch at all. Very sad and disappointed with them. Will not be back at all, even if it was a free meal. read more

Gondolier - White Venetian Pizza - Italian Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

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This establishment has been in my neighborhood for some time now. Years.... It was good in the beginning and went down hill quick. They have posted under new management twice now but the funny thing is it's still all the same unprofessional ppl. Will not be back to this place ever and would like a response to this. read more

We got an order to go for 8 people and everyone loved their dishes. The desserts looked amazing but no one wanted dessert. I do have to say their breadsticks were bland and had no flavor. They need to have garlic and/or Parmesan on them. read more

Had lunch with a friend. One of the best times I had at this favorite spot! They have hosted many networking groups I have been to, and a dinner or two with HH (hungry hubby) , but last week was one of the best! The bread & dipping sauce came out HOT, and yummy! Our meals were quick the the service great! read more

I'm not sure what is going on with this place because the first time we loved. Not this time. We had some kid service us we he never cleared are dishes even though the place was empty and there was no reason for it. The food started out good with the breadsticks and the sauce that came with it that was delicious. Then we got calamari that turned out to be Frozen and chewy half of a plate even though it costed us $12 not worth it. Did my husband got a calzone with no flavor and I got the eggplant with water down tomato sauce and chewy spaghetti the eggplant tasted old like it was refried or something no flavor. When my husband told the kid that my food was terrible the manager couldn't even bother to come over to my table even though we were table number three in the whole restaurant. When I went to go pay they asked me how long it was still I told them it was just okay no one came to talk to me. With the way food prices being so high it's a luxury to go out to eat so I am disappointed that we wasted our money on this place. I completely understand now why there is no customers. read more

Gondolier - Not worth $12! Frozen and chewy... - Italian Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

Got my order wrong and pointed it out as soon as it hit the table. They would not fix my order and charged me the price of the wrong item because it was more expensive. Would not fix the price. Wont be back. read more

I have been to all of the Gondolier restaurants in Knoxville many times and, with the exception of this location, I would easily award them each four stars. I am actually surprised to be writing a second review about this Gondolier location, given than I vowed not to return in the first review that I posted a couple of years ago. As circumstances would have it, my wife wanted to pickup dinner for us on her way home and we agreed on Gondolier. It didn't occur to me that she might pickup food from here, given our last experience and geographic location. This location has now disappointed me twice. The first time I visited, the service was so bad that we left after being seated at our table for over 30 minutes without even being able to order because our waiter was on his phone. This didn't allow me the opportunity to review their food. Unfortunately, the food we received in our to-go order was so disgusting that it was preferable to throw it in the trash, instead or eating it. My order was for the baked Italian sub with no vegetable. I am not even sure what they call the sandwich that I received, since it is not on their menu. What I received was a sub on rubbery bread that had disgusting yellow American cheese, melted on some nasty sliced turkey. There was also a slice of gray ham, a few pepperonis, and 2 pieces of salami, per half sub. There is no sandwich on the menu with this combination of meats and cheeses, so I will call this the mystery sub, and it is something that I would NEVER order. The turkey was so disgusting that it reminds me of pre-made sandwiches sold in vending machines. The nasty American cheese was like sludge and the bread was rubbery. I tossed this thing in the trash. I simply wouldn't feed it to my dogs. My wifed ordered shrimp Alfredo and 3 of her shrimp were cooked and still in their shells. The sauce and noodles were so displeasing that she tossed her dinner in the trash with my sandwich. To be fair, our breadsticks were great and my Italian cream cake was amazing. Ordering our food to-go also mitigated this location's poor service. Honestly, I would have preferred to have had poor service and left over this experience-picking up food that was so terrible that I threw it in the trash after paying $50 for dinner and deserts. Gondolier is a great restaurant with a broad menu of excellent food. If you have a group of friends that all have different palates and bring them to ANY OTHER Gondolier, everyone will be happy with their meals. Dear Gondolier, please remove your name from this Gondolier location. It is not worthy of your brand. read more

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My first time at Gondolier... Sunday for lunch when everywhere was crazy busy, decided to try take-out here. Ordered a gluten free pizza and large Greek salad and was told it'd be ready in 10 minutes. Sure enough, it was super fast! Great service. The food was very good. Gluten-free pizza is hit or miss, and this one was pretty good. Very happy and will return! read more

My wife and I eat here often and it's very good and clean restaurant. But, they nickel and dime you for every little thing. The service is usually terrible. Safe location. read more

We have a new favorite Italian and Mediterranean restaurant in town. We love the Greek salad.

I was mainly disappointed because this place could be so much more. It's not that it was bad. It wasn't bad. It was just, well, disappointing. The signs from the outside were not great. The parking lot showed Aubrey's next door was rammed. This place was maybe a third full. At peak time on Saturday night. Have you ever been somewhere on a glide path to Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares? The menu was too long (a sure sign you're trying to please too many people), Christmas decorations bundled up and taking up a booth at the back, and... what's with the green neon everywhere? It just makes the food look... odd. Our server had that first night enthusiasm about him. Eager to please, but not knowing how. He missed one of our four orders completely, and got another wrong. He brought his buddy over to tell us about the beers because he didn't know what they were. He listed the beers and my wife picked a Dunkel. Back came a glass of fizzy amber, delivered with a smile. "Dunkel is a dark beer" we queried. "I got it from the Dunkel tap" was the reply. Not an angry tone, just bewildered. He returned later to explain "someone connected a keg of Dos Equis. We have no Dunkel." We passed on the beer and didn't dare try the wine. The food was OK. I liked the breadsticks and the little salsa-bowl of marinara is a nice touch. My pet peeve at the moment is salad that isn't spun dry, but sitting in a puddle of water, check. My baked tortellini was thrown together from all the right components with the sort of mozzarella lid I should expect at a place where people order with tomorrow's lunch in mind and the servers hand out more styrofoam boxes than anything else. Less is more, sometimes guys. I wanted to like this place but next time we can't decide between Fazoli's or Carrabba's we'll flip a coin rather than look for the center ground alternative to the OG. read more

We've eaten at the Gondolier several times while in Knoxville. It has always been good Italian food on a par with an Olive Garden or Carrabba's. Not super high end or fancy, but good solid food. This time, we ordered a bunch of dishes to go for a big family meal at home. So we got to try several dishes we hadn't had before. We had the lasagna, ravioli, chicken alfredo, Italian salad and the appetizer combo. Again, everything was good. I think I liked the lasagna the best - very cheesy with lots of meaty goodness! If you're in the mood for casual Italian food and are in the area, give the Gondolier a try. read more

Gondolier, first time in forever since I have been here. First impressions when we walked in was it really smelled clean. We were quickly seated and served drinks. The menu is extensive. Could definitely be modified and made shorter, by like three pages less would be great. Wanted to order the calamari for an appetizer. They were out of it. We both ordered the baked spaghetti. First came the fresh bread sticks, very good. Then the dinner salads. I really appreciate the fact that they leave the dressing on the side. Then the main course. Neither of us could finish the spaghetti. It was good and it was hot. Don't think I've ever had a baked spaghetti like that before. I would say it was most likely just there basic spaghetti with a twist of the veg in it covered in mozzarella and placed under a salamander for a few minutes to finish it. I guess that's a baked spaghetti, but definitely not a traditional one. That being said it was all good, the server which I wish I had got her name was one of the best servers I have had in years. So there you go, clean restaurant. Good hot food. And excellent service. If the calamari was in stock and was good I would change this to a five star rating. So maybe next time it will be. I judge all Italian places by the calamari. read more

Friendly low-key Italian fare. Large portion sizes, delicious tortellini and yummy philly cheese steak. Only dings, and they are minor, were that their breadsticks (which are strips of their pizza dough) would sing with a healthy slather of butter & garlic salt instead of being dry and their chocolate cheesecake lacked flavor, it was just sweet but not chocolate-y as I had hoped. Overall, I recommend and we will be back! read more

We ordered take out, got a pizza and the breadsticks with cheese. The pizza was good and the bread sticks were too. We enjoyed what we tried except for the red sauce that came with the breadsticks, it had a very strange flavor, overwhelmingly sweet and tasted faintly like cinnamon. We ordered online and got a text message when it was ready, it was quick and easy. read more

Ordered from Uber eats and cheesecake was missing called them to verify and they told me it didn't come from there but after looking I realized it did come from there called back and they told me we already told you it didn't come from here and I told them yes it did so she screams at someone in background and he says tell her called Uber eats to get the money back . . . that's great but they at least could have said sorry for your order being wrong and that never happened she hang up pathetic customer service last time going to Gondolier since they don't seem to care to say I am sorry read more

It's okay! I recommend the pizza. The veal parm was not the way to go but it wasn't the worst thing ever by any means. It was cold and the pasta was over cooked. The pizza was good though. The bread sticks are pretty good. The marinara is pretty great. The service was excellent. The folks at my table who got meatballs were really praising them. I'm extremely picky and a little over critical of Italian places so this might be your 4- or 5-star. For me personally it is a 3-star, but it is definitely worth a try. read more

Best calzone I ever had. Truly a local Italian place. My husband enjoyed his pasta dinner too

Decent food. Nice spacious space. Helpful and attentive staff. Not a place to bring a date. Perhaps your grandparents.

Called in an order and it was all mixed up. When we went to go pick up the two people working didn't seem to know what was going on. Once we got home, we realized we were missing stuff so we had to go back to get the rest of our order. The food was okay, not the best I've had from other Gondolier's. read more

Not my favorite pizza in town but it's good, the salads are good, the number one reason I go here is they have gluten free crust for my daughter and the people are very friendly read more

The restaurant itself is very clean so we takeout from here often. It's inexpensive and decent food. The calzones are usually good, not amazing but standard fare. read more

Terrible food and gross customer service. Do not eat here manager has a terrible attitude Also.

Great food and the desserts... oh, my heavens! Wish we had a Gondolier in Louisville, Kentucky.

Great lunch place, quick and easy! Love the style and service! The prices are very reasonable and the portions are fitting.

Our go to pizzeria in west Knoxville. The quality is always great, service is quick and friendly.

Nice place. Family dining place but much tastier good them diner food. I had the Teriyaki chicken with shrimp. Very good. Slight salty for me. But I believe the Teriyaki sauce was the extra salty. I wanted the very good looking lemon cake I seen. But that was all gone by time I ordered it. The service was friendly and fast. Service with a smile. My first Tennessee place and I can see myself returning read more

Gondolier - Chicken Teriyaki with Shrimp - Italian Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

Good pizza great hometown atmosphere. The pizza sauce for the breadsticks is different sort of like spaghetti sauce. The breadsticks with dinner is a nice touch. Price is very affordable. Dinner for 2 with a small pizza would probably be enough with the breadsticks and if you order a small salad. Beer mugs were not cold so a little disappointed with that, but with the game on the TVs and a nice meal a good 4 stars. read more

Gondolier - Complimentary bread sticks! - Italian Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

The worst Italian food I've ever eaten, even including frat guys dorm meals. The pasta was over cooked, chicken parm was breaded with cardboard, and garlic bread tasted like it was just some Sara Lee white bread that had been lightly toasted. The only redeeming quality was a kind and friendly wait staff, but the food keeps me from ever returning read more

Generally speaking, I find their pizza to be good. However, on my previous visit the service was lacking. On this visit, I finally had to walk away. I arrived as part of the early lunch crowd. Placed a simple order, drink and pizza and read some news online. Found the restaurant to be louder than previous trips because all early guests were being seated in front section. Watched as many others that came in immediately before and after me received their orders. Server came by and just shrugged shoulders and said sorry. About 5 min later someone came from back and asked what my order was. Apparently the order had been lost. Offered to pay for my drink but was told their was no charge. Lost 30+ min of my time while they realized they had lost the order. All other places in area now have their crowds in place so I get to wait elsewhere. General suggestion. More attention to orders and experience of all guests. For the one gentleman server, don't acknowledge people across the restaurant floor when they enter or call out to tables until you get closer to the table you are serving. Your voice carries and is actually a distraction for tables around you. read more

They are very reasonably priced. You get breadsticks every time, staff is always very kind and up beat. The food isn't bad for a southern Italian place. They probably need some new plates though :) read more

Gondolier - Italian Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

First time there and will be back soon! Great friendly service, hot delicious food BBC and we were a table of 8 individuals! Our server was very attentive! We had a huge order of wings that everyone shared, they were really good! Three of us shared a large pizza. It was the way I like it, the cheese thick on the toppings and it would burn the roof of your mouth if you couldn't wait a minute to devour it! It was delicious! I'm from Pittsburgh and Italian and this is the best pizza I've had in a long time! One of my friends had the Greek Salad with Salmon and I really wanted to stick my fork in and grab a bite! We had an order of Calamari, it was pretty good too. Too full for desert! Wish they served wine! Thanks for a great meal!!! read more

My first visit to Gondolier in several years Excellent service...very attentive, drinks always filled. House salad was good..cold, crisp, dressing on the side. Great breadsticks served with little dish of marinara. Grated parmesan and hot peppers on the table. The pizza was delicious... the sauce itself was a little thin for my taste but the overall presentation was pleasing and quite tasty. Didn't try dessert but the way-high cakes and cheesecakes in the cooler looked amazing. Varied menu of standard Italian fare including sandwiches. Glad I visited; can't wait to go back. read more

Asked my daughter to bring me home an order of soup since I wasn't feeling very well and a pineapple pizza for later after her lunch there with friends. Soup of the day was vegetable. Worst soup I have ever had; the stock was what I suspected a tomato base but was a weird-colored greasy orange. The only vegetables were broccoli, yellow squash, and zucchini! My first thought was those veggies were probably yesterday's leftover veggies of the day. I certainly couldn't return the soup. So, I doctored it up by adding firmer mixed veggies (green beans, corn, carrots, diced onions, peas, etc.) and some crushed tomatoes with garlic, salt, and pepper. It wasn't the most amazing soup ever eaten, but it was halfway decent and I ate it all. BTW, I haven't touched the 2-day old pizza at all because the sauce topping is the same color as the greasy soup stock and the grease of the pizza has completely soaked through the bottom of the box. Ugh. That's read more