Grimaldi's Pizzeria — Restaurant in Houston

This review is based solely on my experience and personal opinion.

We went to Grimaldi's Pizzeria on Saturday day night, 11th of Sep. 2021 and it was our very first time at this specific location. here is what we ordered.....

FOOD: we ordered one large Garden Pesto Pizza, a large House Salad, one Bruschetta Trio, one diet Pepsi and one regular Pepsi. LARGE GARDEN PESTO PIZZA = The pizza we ordered was actually a large pizza with two flavors, half of it was garden pesto and the other half was quattro formaggi. I loved both toppings, especially the quattro formaggi side that had a very distinctive Gorgonzola taste; the garden pesto side could have used a little bit more fresh pesto and a little bit less raw onion, just to have the perfect balance. I liked it regardless. The Ingredients are very good and you can taste it. I love their Mozzarella.. LARGE GRIMALDI'S HOUSE SALAD = fresh ingredients, good flavor, good condiment and as you can see in my photos the large salad is actually a huge portion that can easily feed three people. BRUSCHETTA TRIO= our choice was marinated mushrooms and roasted peppers, roasted red peppers and ricotta cheese and classic tomato & basil. the Marinated mushroom was absolutely my favorite. roasted red peppers and ricotta was good even though the Ricotta cheese on top was sweet which I did not find particularly pleasant. The classic tomato & Basil was good but definitely too much garlic in it. overall pretty good. DIET PEPSI= it had an off flavor to it, not sure why. REGULAR PEPSI= it was ok.

STAFF: our waitress was super nice and friendly and she knew the Menu, which is always a plus. The Pizza Chefs put up quite a show when making the pizzas, it's very fun to watch. now, while I liked her and the other guys and the way they treated us, I did NOT LIKE AT ALL the comment made by this one random waiter, tall & white apron, that at some point walked up to our table to bring us the salad and made the following comment "I see you are taking photos, hope you enjoy". This very passive aggressive comment, mafia style, is exactly what gets them a 4 stars review. Now, while I did not care it made my wife feel uncomfortable. I want to remind him that in the state of Texas as well as in many other states in the US, you can take all the photos you want as long as you are a customer and you are using the business's service.

PLACE = Very nice place indeed. well furnished, old-industrial is the main vibe that reminds you of a Brooklyn style Pizzeria of the 70's. great Décor and many amazing vintage photos of New York City. All together it creates a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. Great for families and big reunions. They also have a BAR and an outside patio, if you want. nice.

CLEANLINESS: clean and neat. The busboy was always around cleaning, resetting the tables and disinfecting. well done!

RESTROOMS: spotless and with a lovely fragrance. They have toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap and a trash bin.

LOCATION: it is conveniently located within the CITYCENTRE shopping mall, just off of I10, close to the Memorial district and right before the Energy Corridor. Before and after your great Pizza at Grimaldi's you can enjoy the shopping mall shops and restaurants/cafeterias. Plenty of free, surveilled parking close by and an amazing place for kids. Family friendly place I'd say, with shopping, movies, bowling or a relaxing evening on the Green.

PRICE: fair prices. I would say average for a good pizza.

CONCLUSION: yet again one of the best Pizza I have had in the States. It's a thin crust pizza, Roman Style, with fresh Mozzarella (made by them). The crust is a bread like crust, nice and crispy and with overall very good balanced flavor. The coal-fired brick oven is definitely what makes the magic happen. It is just like the pizza you would get in Rome, Italy..... in one of the small pizzerias around the city. We will definitely go this...

Ordered the sweet deal on 12/16/2020, like we usually do. Get home and my daughter finds a dead fly in her cesar salad. I immediately call the manager and tell him the situation. Real nice guy. Tells me he would put it in the system. I paid cash so he couldn't do anything for me but told me to let the manager know when we order again next time.

The family decides to order pizza again so today I call and ask to speak to the manager. Ramon gets on the phone and I explain to the manager about what had happened previously. I couldn't remember the name of the manager I had previously spoken to but I had thought it was Chris. Ramon seemed a bit annoyed because he replied to me stating there is no manager named Chris. I had said sorry, I thought that was his name. I proceeded to give him whatever information he needed.

He checks his system and our info was in there. I ordered the same sweet deal (sweet deal comes with a 18" pizza, salad and a dessert for about $30). I figured he was going to get us all setup. My wife goes to pick it up and its the same price $30. I then asked the manager how this was making things right because its the same price? He explains to me that he is giving us a free salad. Seemed like it was the same deal to me because it was still $30. I said instead of giving us another salad, a discount would be better but he said no because it was already a deal. Wow, really??!!

Anyways, the manager was a jerk and not friendly at all. If he represents the company this way, I will no longer be eating there again. I had to put 1 star but would have given them no stars. What a joke. Plenty of other pizza restaurants out there. It doesn't take much to keep your...

I am deeply disappointed and disturbed by my recent experience at this Grimaldi's location. On December 21, I visited with my family to celebrate my niece’s birthday. While everything started off well, the situation quickly turned into a nightmare due to the overwhelming smell of bleach.

As someone with asthma and a respiratory allergy to bleach, the strong odor triggered severe symptoms. I began coughing uncontrollably, could not breathe, became nauseous, and ultimately had to storm out of the restaurant in a rush. Outside, I vomited repeatedly for 15 minutes near a tree, all while staff stood by, watching from inside. The only assistance I received was a cup of water—offered only after my sister requested it.

It’s unacceptable that cleaning with such a potent chemical was conducted while customers were still dining. Proper scheduling and consideration for guest safety should have been prioritized which it was not. Despite my obvious distress, no apologies or efforts to remedy the situation were made by the staff. Even worse, when my mother attempted to speak to the manager, they never showed up.

I could have had a life-threatening reaction and it would had happened had I stayed inside a few more minutes, and the lack of care or accountability from the staff is appalling. This experience has left me angry, dissatisfied, and unwilling to ever return. It’s shocking that this location continues to operate with such poor management and disregard for customer well-being. I am glad I responded quickly or else I would not be here typing this review and this location would have ended up in a scandal...