Licari's Sicilian Pizza Kitchen-No.1 — Restaurant in Grand Rapids Charter Township

It takes forever to find a parking spot. There must be some kind of local event, because there are many people milling about the outside of the restaurant and there seems to be a line out the door. Still, I can see some empty tables on the patio so we circle around and come back just in time to snag a spot right out front, as another patron drives away. Score!

Despite the gaggle of people nearly blocking the entry, there is no one waiting at the hostess stand just inside. Unfortunately, there is also no hostess. We wait, standing, as server after server passes by, flashes us a quick look, then continues about their business. It takes about 5 minutes before a pretty young waitress approaches us and announces it will be a 30 minute wait for a table. What about the 2 or 3 empty tables I can see in the dining room? It’ll be 30 minutes, she repeats. Clearly, she wants us to leave, but I am stubborn. Why the wait? The kitchen is backed up 30 minutes, she says. Fine, can we get drinks while we wait? The bar is right there, she tells us. (And, indeed, the bar is right there, with no chairs available.) I play my final gambit: “How about this...you seat us at one of the empty tables and we’ll order drinks from our server?” Sure, she says, but it’ll be 30 minutes for food. Fine.

We are seated along the far wall, at a narrow two-top. It’s not the most convenient location, as servers whisk by carrying big plastic bins from the bar to the kitchen. (One server even accidentally smacks the chair of our neighboring diners with a large plastic glass holder.) Suddenly, our waitress appears to take our drink order. She is friendly, keeping up with the dinner rush with humor and efficiency. I get a Peroni on draught to start. She leaves and a couple minutes later, another waiter appears at our table, asking what we’d like to drink. What? We explain we already have a server. He appears confused and flustered, then slinks away.

When our waitress reappears with drinks, she asks, “Have you decided on dinner?” What? We’d been told it would be a 30 minute wait and here we were, ordering after only 10 minutes! Excitedly, we get the Arancinis, crispy rice balls filled with meat sauce and mozzerella. They are beautifully composed and a perfectly crispy, gooey temperature. However, they are also filled with peas, and Juliet hates peas. She gamely picks them out, eating around the green. I really enjoy them, but I feel kind of bad for her. It would have been nice to know ahead of time about the contents of the arancini.

For our main, we go back and forth, finally deciding on Gianni Za, a stuffed pizza filled with ham, tomato, and green olives. I guess I didn’t read the fine print, though, because the sauce is not tomato but olive oil and herb. The tomato slices are thick and really hotter than the rest of the contents, making it a risky venture with each scorching bite. I am not a fan of the crust, which is too dry and crunchy. It seems as though they par-baked two crusts, put toppings on one, then just put the other on top before finishing the bake. I would have preferred a true stuffed pizza and tomato sauce instead. Overall, I find it dry and not much fun to eat.

All new restaurants need some time to work out kinks, and I hope Licari’s can find a rhythm. Not including our great waitress, it’s been awhile since we’ve had such laughable service. Although the arancini seemed authentic, I am not a fan of their pizza...at least the stuffed version. I can’t think of any instance where I would choose to...

Rating 3 stars for my most recent take out lunch experience from here. I have been other times in the past for dinner, dine in, and would rate those experiences at 4or 5 stars.

For my recent lunch I ordered a bruschetta salad, since it was going to be my whole meal I got the larger size and added chicken. This alone puts you at over $20 which I feel is pretty steep, but I was willing to try it since my other meals here have always been so good. At a friend's recommendation, I also added a side of chips and dipping sauce. Since all the sandwich meals come complementary with chips I thought there would probably be a discount for ordering the salad &chips together. There was no combo price. So my lunch for 1 was about $28, again, steep for me but I was hopeful. Unfortunately my salad was not very large and the spinach didn't seem super fresh, there was not a lot of bruschetta on it either. There was plenty of basil dressing and it was good. I can't remember what else was on it as there wasn't enough of it to be memorable. No idea why this alone is priced anything over $8. The chicken was grilled perfectly, but again, was a single regular size grilled breast. For a $7 add on it seemed meager. The chips were good, but again, not worth $7. I was glad I ordered them though, because the salad alone would have left me hungry soon after. I don't understand why everything was charged ala carte, full sandwiches on the menu come with chips for $15ish. It's not like bread & meat is less expensive than spinach, and the construction of a salad takes about the same amount of ingredients/effort as a sandwich, less so than a hot sandwich.

Anyway, my lunch food was fine to good and the staff I met were very friendly. I'm glad they are still in business so paying a lot for 1 meal I wasn't totally impressed by isn't going to sour my whole memory of Licaris. Word to the wise though, if you want to be full after lunch and spend considerably less than $30 for just 1 meal, just stick to the sandwiches and pizza. If/when I return, that's certainly...

This was one of the worst restaurant experiences. Our party had ordered over $500 of take-out/catering several days in advance. We were told a 6pm pick up. I arrived at 6pm, let the staff know I was there for the pickup, but then had to wait AN HOUR for my food. This was after asking the staff for an update on our food at least two or three times. I was dismissed on several occasions (“the food is coming out of the kitchen as soon as it’s ready. It will be out as soon as it’s ready”). I only received my food upon the third or fourth inquiry to staff, after the dinner rush began to subside and a staff person had the time to take me seriously. All of this made me question whether they had our food even prepared or if they had forgotten about our order. And, in the end, our order still was not even correct when we got the food to our home.

Other things I saw during my hour of waiting? Customers waiting 1hr+ to get seated but then leaving because no server came to their table. Stressed out staff dropping dishes on the floor and screaming cuss words so loudly the whole restaurant goes silent. Front end staff so busy that they can’t keep track of who paid and customers walking out with pick-up orders they never paid for. Lots of other customers anxiously waiting for orders or to be seated well after their estimated waiting time expired and being told “probably another ten or fifteen more minutes.”

Do not get me wrong, the food was good. This restaurant has potential. But this was one of the poorest restaurant experiences I’ve ever had. At some point, the ownership and management will not just be able to blame all of this on their recent move to a new location. They were not prepared for this and their young staff are taking the blunt end of it all. All of this seems indicative of poor management. I hope they figure it out, though, because there is potential. Until it get figured out, though, I recommend going elsewhere during busy periods like Friday...