Jimmy D’s Spaghetti Joint — Restaurant in Grover Beach

This place has been around for a few years now, I've even been told good things about this place. Well I finally gave it a try for an early Saturday dinner on July 5th 2025.

The crowd was decent and still we did not have to wait, our server was quick with the menus, slightly slower on the drinks (coffee and two waters). They do not have a fountain soda system and I was not paying $3.50 for a single soda can/bottle. It was a good 15 minutes after the drinks that we were served the bread for the table. The bread was good and went well with the oil and vinegar, but the butter served was cold as if straight out of the fridge and could not spread it on at all. My water i had finished by now and had set it near the edge to be refilled where any staff could see it empty.

It was about another 10-15mins after the bread did our food arrive. Our plates were served with the food still hot and fresh as if right out of the kitchen without it sitting around waiting to be served. The portions were decent, but... the flavor and contents of the Shrimp Primavera was nothing to write home about and I wouldn't agree on its price. The Eggplant Parmigiana, I don't think I'd order again. The flavor was ok. When I think of eggplant parmigiana, I see a nice thick hearty slice of eggplant. A decent 3-4 slices I'd say can be cut out of an eggplant, but these serving slices were a fraction of what one slice of it should've been. There was easily more breading than eggplant, I even had to cut open multiple spots just trying to find the eggplant. We requested a refill on the coffee and bread basket about a third of our way into our entree, not till just before we were done with our plates did the coffee and bread get refilled. As our entree plates were bussed I had to ask for the refill on my water. A good 10 minutes passed till we were tended to again, more plates picked up. At this point I asked for the check and for my first water refill again. The timeliness of the entire dinner service and simple water refill requests I feel we're not up to par for a small quaint restaurant that this place is.

Overall I would "maybe" give this place another try but as an initial first visit I was very disappointed. Not to mention uncomfortable chairs and also overhearing two other table's conversations about the slow and poor service. For a dinner for two with this experience, I don't think it...

Good but some details are missing. They have a kids menu but no coloring sheet or crayons. The highchair made the walkway practically unusable for staff because the tables are too close together how they have it arranged. Also, there is no soda fountain. Sorry but it's really obnoxious if you have soda on your menu and it's not a fountain drink. Either have fountain drinks or don't do anything soda related, because no one wants to sit there rationing out a single bottle of Coke for an entire meal. Wine is literally served in a glass tumbler. Again, details. Can you not get wine glasses? Or just serve a mini bottle? No one wants wine out of a tumbler unless you're at a house party in college.

Chicken parm was okay. The sauce tasted like bell peppers. Chicken was good, nice breading. Fettuccine Alfredo was decent. Sauce was somewhat watery and tasted mostly like garlic. I wouldn't even call it Alfredo sauce so much as a white garlic sauce like what they use on pizza. The "side of chicken" that we added was literally just plain cubed up chicken breast. No breading. No seasoning. It looked super unappetizing and tasted like nothing. What is even the point of that? Season it or don't serve it! and have breaded chicken available. No one wants gross plain chicken on their food. The cost to add a soup or salad to your meal is half of the cost of a meal. It should be free or like $2. Garlic bread, toasted ravioli and the bread with butter were all fantastic. Dessert of spumoni was also great. Staff were friendly but clearly had so much to do that they couldn't really connect with customers. Also annoying that you have to go to the front to pay instead of being brought a bill. I feel like the food is decent, but they miss many details and it all adds up to make it a just okay experience. Go here for lunch, but I wouldn't eat...

My wife called to place a take out order. Machine said we do not take orders over the phone when we don't answer. Fine. We grabbed our coats and drove the mile. People were waiting, with open tables. My wife tells the lady at the counter, "We'd like to make a take out order." She snaps back, "No to go orders! Quickly, she says, it would be 40-50 minutes!" My wife politely responds with, "we don't mind. We'll come back." Again, only much more rudely announced, " No to go orders!"

Shocked at her tone, my wife and I leave! What a crusty old woman! I'm sorry, but their food isn't that great. One step above fast food! We decided since it was our 3rd attempt to patronize a local restaurant and were AGAIN treated so horrible, it was the finale.

I really hope the owner's realize what kind of employee they have! We sat in their parking lot, decided on Rosa's in Pismo, called in our 5 to go orders and waited our 30 minutes and headed over. We were greeted with a smile, picked up our hot bags of food, paid the $130.00 tab in cash, left a very generous tip and scooted home!

The full LOAF of warm, freshly baked bread permeated our car! Best Italian dinner ever! I would think a to go order would make sense to a restaurant owner for two reasons: Makes less work for staff and, more dining space for those waiting.

The plus side is, we rekindled our love for Rosa's not only for fantastic Italian food but the staff was...