Grimaldi's — Restaurant in Huntsville

I have to tell you that we ate here on a Friday night after our first choice had an hour and a half wait. We have driven by a few times but had not eaten there before. There were a lot of kids eating here! We fit into that demographic because we were bringing two teenagers with my wife and I. There were either four or six bathrooms; all of them were non-gender specific which is a pretty neat way of maximizing efficiency. The bathrooms were clean and all of the paper products were well stocked. I was surprised at the limitations of the menu. The only thing they sell is pizza, with a few salads offered as appetizers. My intention by going out that evening was that I really wanted a Stromboli; that is not on the menu because that is not pizza and pizza is all they sell. I had decided I would have a salad, and the salad is sold as either for two or for four people. I ordered the salad for two although the server was trying to convince me that if I was going to be eating it as an entree I needed to be ordering the salad for four because that was an entree size. The picture that I included was my salad which was $12 and it was the small salad for two and I can't imagine eating a larger one. Also, when I told the server I would be having a salad for an entree I definitely got the raised eyebrow. This kind of gets at my chief complaint. For a salad with no added protein that is supposed to feed two and very clearly serves one person, and for it to cost $12, is a bit of a stretch. For a personal pizza and then a shared pizza and my salad, and teas and sodas, we paid almost $125 for our meal. I think that's insane. For a restaurant setting that has tons of kids, super loud, high ceilings and a warehouse feel, I'm paying prices that need a white tablecloth kind of setting, in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying for an amazing experience but this place just charges too much money and offers too little ambiance. I guess if you're a retired military person who's working as a contractor at Redstone and you've got more money than sense and a couple of kids, this is the place for you. It's a little humbling to see just how blue collar some places in Huntsville think I am. When I got the bill, I was just thinking that I could have bought 10 meat monster pizzas from Costco for less money. It's probably not fair to the establishment for me to compare them with a place like that, but I did it anyways. :-( . I'd like to see a little bit more offerings on their menu but I can understand the maxim of picking one thing and doing it well. My wife got the cauliflower crust pizza that came with a $3 up charge that I don't quite understand and she said it was very good. The kids got a white sauce pizza with some veggies on it and they said the pizza was very good. I got the apple walnut salad with no protein and it was also good. I won't be going back, but if someone wants to get me a gift certificate I'd be there in...

Summary of my long review:

Great atmosphere. Good pizza, not great. Way too expensive for what you get.

Review:

I love pizza, and I was really excited about a new place opening in Jones Valley. It's been a few weeks since it opened so I decided to give it a go this week. I went at lunch, just after rush and it wasn't busy at all.

Atmosphere:

The place itself is pretty cool and I like how they decorated it. The music adds a nice touch to the atmosphere as well. When I was there it was nothing but Frank Sinatra. I think it would be a nice place to visit at night, not being able to see out into the parking lot might give you a feeling like you are in NY. However, at some point you have to step outside and smell the cows :-)

Pizza:

I have to say that I was not overly impressed by the pizza. I would call it good, not great. I think one of the issues was that I read too many of the Google reviews, so my expectations were really high. After eating here I am kind of amused at all the, "this is the greatest pizza I've ever had" comments. Look, I have a friend that thinks the last place he ate was the best thing ever, maybe that's how these people are as well. Jon, if you are reading this, I'm not talking about you! I'm kidding, of course I'm talking about you!!

To be fair, the pizza had a good flavor, but it did get rather hard after a little bit. Our last few pieces were not that enjoyable, the crust was almost too crunchy. Also, one of my main complaints regarding our pizza, was toppings. If you are going to charge me $25 for a 16 inch thin crust pizza you better load that sucker up!

Price:

Expensive! This is one of my complaints regarding the pizza besides the lack of toppings. I thought about building my own "Supreme" pizza, but it would have been over $30 just for the pizza. I went at lunch with one other person and a 16" pizza with 2 cokes and a tip was just over $40. That is unreal, especially considering the lack of toppings. It is just WAY too expensive for what you get.

Was it good? Yes

Was it the greatest pizza I've every had? No

Was it the greatest pizza I've had in HSV? No

Will I go back? Yes. I always like to give places a go multiple times, and I will probably come back and update this review.

Will I take my entire family? No. I cannot imagine taking my family here for dinner. It would be over...

We were fortunate enough to be invited to a pre-opening event to try out the food here. Honestly, genuinely, you're in for a treat if you like thinner crust!

In the old Mezza Luna location in between 5 Guys and Another Broken Egg, you'll find this new pizza joint. They've done a great job renovating the space. It's a nice balance between homey/comfy/accessible while also feeling a touch upscale! Perfect for a low key date night or maybe a girl group meet up for book club or something.

The menu is fairly simple: a couple of classic Italian appetizers (caprese, bruschetta, etc), salads, pizza, and desserts, to include cheesecake and cannolis. Their pizza comes one of three ways: traditional red sauce, pesto, or a white pizza, which is no sauce and some extra cheese. Fun fact: you can add ANY of the numerous pizza toppings to a salad to build your own salad to perfection if you're not looking for pizza as an entree.

We split a large Caesar salad, a 1/2 pepperoni and other half pepperoni and mushroom pizza, and a slice of cheesecake. The large salad is simply massive and I'd say too much for one person's meal, much less an appetizer. DEFINITELY shareable. They cracked fresh pepper for us. It was bright and refreshing with crunchy croutons.

The pizza was the star, as it should be. The crust is fantastic, slightly chewy and slightly crunchy. My favorite part was actually the sauce!! I tend to be pretty particular about sauce, but this stuff was the perfect balance of slightly sweet and slightly herby. The pepperoni they used was smaller, which helped it avoid getting burnt edges and also cut down on the greasiness factor. A large pizza could probably be split between 4, definitely 3 if y'all have large appetites.

The cheesecake was a great way to finish the meal. We were told it was made fresh in house. A mixed berry drizzle rounded out a perfectly creamy slice of cheesy deliciousness.

Our service was incredibly friendly, took excellent care of us, and stayed on top of everything we could ever possibly need.

Lastly, they have a full bar with some yummy sounding beverages available if you're looking for a drink to round out your meal.

I'll be returning in the future. This is a great addition to the Jones...