Gianna's Grille
$ - inexpensive
American, Italian (Southern), Pizza
Vegan cheesesteaks, desserts, and more
Gianna's Grille, named after the owner's daughter, has a wide selection of pizza and subs, including vegan, vegetarian, and omnivorous options. They also have a large selection of desserts, all of them vegan, including soft-serve ice cream, cake, cheesecake, and cannolis.
In 2004, it was uncovered that the soy cheese that they have been putting on their pizza was in fact not nome made, nor was it vegan. They now offer both a non-vegan soy cheese, and a vegan soy cheese. Please be careful in your ordering, as Gianna's will not replace a mis-ordered pizza.
Between South and Lombard
Added by Dave Rolsky on Feb 11 04 (updated Apr 5 05)
Reviews
I've been here a few times and I keep coming back because I love the idea of vegan pizza and cake but I'm consistently let down. The food is mediocre and the staff is completely clueless. The cheese, the BBQ chicken, and the red pepper and artichoke pizzas (vegan varieties) are all pretty good, but they always seemed dried out.
I tried the Philly cheesesteak, and I have no idea what sort of faux meat they use, but it seriously looks and tastes like puppy kibble. Gross. It's like chunks of flavorless soy with an unidentifiable sauce over it. Yuck.
The desserts have been hit or miss--the cannoli is always good--but I had the blueberry cake last time and it was hard and tasted like baking soda. I also think they copied all of Vegan Treats cakes (out of Bethlehem, PA) and don't give them credit. Not cool.
There's many non-traditional veg. food items here that are vegan, including vegan cheesesteaks. The cheesesteak I had was good, but nothing I would brag about. The desserts here, however, were amazing. They have a huge selection of all kinds of vegan cakes as well as other bakery items. The chocolate chip cookie dough cake was my favorite.
Booooo! Booooo! Giannas deserves some nod for serving veggie food. However the lied for years about casein in their "vegan" cheese. The service is horrible. Rude! I last ate their back in 2004. I will never go back. My name is Morty McNutt and that is what I have to say.
Gianna's is over-rated. Their desserts are not that good and the food is marginal. Also, they make their meat dishes right next to their vegan dishes and don't seem to be very careful about cross-contamination.
Gianna's has been a mainstay of my diet since I discovered this new (at the time) south st location a few years ago. They feature vegetarian and vegan versions of regular south philly food. All of their mock-meat "cheese steak" sandwiches have clever names to help differentiate them from non-veggy menu items such as The Freebird, a vegan chicken cheese steak, and the Fighting Dog, a combination of the vegan chicken and the vegan sausage. In addition to sandwiches they also carry pizza, hot dogs, burgers, nachos, the occasional mac-n-cheese and DESERTS!
There was a situation regarding their "vegan cheese" not actually being vegan at all. There was a period of a couple months where the owners stopped using the cheese in question and did not offer a vegan alternative. Thankfully this soon ended and they now proudly use Follow Your Heart brand cheeses. There was a lot of drama and speculation caused by this mistake and that is what the whole situation was. A mistake, but the owners did apologize for it and have been moving forward with their new vegan cheeses.
In 2004, it was uncovered that the soy cheese that they have been putting on their pizza was in fact not home-made, nor was it vegan. They did not bother to apologize to the vegan community. I do not want to support a restaurant that lies to its customers, and acts as if it's 'no big deal'
the whole ordeal has been recorded here in the Philly Veg Out Livejournal Community
The food here always ended up making my stomach really really funky after eating there, before I learned that the stuff wasn't really vegan. I haven't been back since then. Even if there are vegan options now, the food is too greasy and unhealthy to be enjoyable IMHO.
Yum, vegan cheesesteak.
Basically, Gianna's is vegan junk food heaven. The Strawberry Paradise cake I tried had a wonderful light icing, and the cake was moist and rich. The Chocolate Cookie Dough Cake was also good, though the icing was a little too oily to be perfect.
The most annoying thing about the restaurant: no free water. The only drinks they have are for sale, so if you want water you have to buy a bottle. That's just weird. And I could've done without the radio tuned to a station that played Guns'n'Roses, though I guess there's a certain nostalgic "charm" there.
Good vegan/vegetarian junk food. Can leave your stomach hurting sometimes, but it's junk food after all. Their desserts leave a lot to be desired, but their vegan pizzas are usually pretty good. With their history of inexact-vegan-knowledge, I'm always left worrying, though...