Gralehaus — Restaurant in Louisville

Gralehaus has a ton going for it with some logistical issues that made for a clunky experience for me that could have been great but landed as good in the end. My wife and I went in at 11AM on a Sunday for brunch.

I have zero experience in the food service industry, so my take on this experience may be clueless, but it’s just that—my experience.

I do want to start with the positive—the food. I had the French toast with eggs and sausage on the side. The bread tasted extremely fresh, and the texture was perfect. The dish itself was complex and not just overly sweet. The cookie butter, syrup, and cream were a great balance of sweet and salty with a hint of sourness. Maybe the best French toast I’ve had. My wife had a frittata that was extremely well executed. The sausage was a large patty, and it tasted fresh and local. The coffee was delicious.

We were ushered to the waiting area located through a courtyard in another building with the bar and taps. I cannot stress enough how beautiful this place is. But this was the first bump in the road for me. We were able to order drinks, but everything needed to be shuttled back and forth by the servers, which made service more difficult to render and to receive. The coffee really needed two sugars, and we were given only one. Not a big deal, but it’s not like a server can just grab you something easily when they need to go to a completely different building. By the time we were seated and our food arrived, we’d been nursing the same cup of coffee for probably 25 minutes. This was the second bump. My wife asked for a warm up for her coffee and was told they don’t do “free refills” but we were free to order another cup. At $3.75 a cup, this felt a bit silly. I can understand not wanting to give out bottomless coffee, but a single top off for a cup of drip coffee being out of the question was a big turn-off for both of us. It’s a first world problem, for sure, but on the spectrum of hospitality, it comes across as inhospitable to me.

Lastly, I’ll advise that it’s tight quarters. This is definitely a me thing. I get a little anxious dining in small spaces with lots of people. There was probably enough information available for me to come to that conclusion beforehand, but I didn’t. Hopefully this helps someone else set expectations. In hindsight, it wouldn’t stop me from going.

I’m nitpicking the negative things, but those small things that rubbed me the wrong way really rubbed. The positive aspects really did shine. Don’t expect the things that I did, and I’m sure you’ll have a fabulous experience.

Posted Fall 2023.

Updated 4/2024 to remove irrelevant...

SO disappointed with our experience here. The ambiance was adorable, the restaurant seemed to have so much potential and our little group was really looking forward to it! Instead, the system they have in place made absolutely no sense, we left feeling like we’d just been part of some weird bait and switch scheme and with a general feeling of confusion and frustration. When we arrived the host let us know there was a 35-45 minute wait but we were welcome to sit in their waiting area and grab a drink. Great! We walk over to the awesome looking bar area through a garden patio, sit down and start browsing the menu. As we sit there, more people come in until the waiting area is totally filled. The “bartender” (who was very nice) starts taking orders one by one and you have to pay for your drink upfront. Before you get it… So THE ENTIRE ROOM orders drinks at essentially the same time and we all realize she is simply ringing them in so that a bartender inside the restaurant can make them and then she can walk through the little garden patio to fetch them and bring them back? Mind you it appears we are sitting in a totally functional full service bar… 40 minutes goes by and not one of us has a drink. That we’ve already paid for. To allegedly drink while we waited for our table. Our turn to be seated comes and still no drinks, we sit down and no one really acknowledges this or us, welcomes us to the restaurant, tells us to go fly a kite… nothing. Our drinks get dropped off and before we can speak the server runs away again. At this point we’d been there almost an hour and decided we’d had enough so we finished our drinks and left.

Here’s the thing. We get that a brunch restaurant is going to be crazy busy on a Sunday morning. Did we expect a ten minute conversation about the weather and what fun things we did the night before? Heck no. Did we expect party tricks and undivided attention the second we walked in the door? Absolutely not. BUT whatever weird system they have in place for ordering drinks was an absolute crock that made it so you couldn’t change your mind and leave once you’d ordered. To not even acknowledge that sort of delay when you’re basically advertising this “drink while you wait” service was really irritating. There could be a reason they didn’t use the waiting area bar, who knows, but a little transparency goes a long way to change the...

I’ve wanted to make it to The Gralehaus since they first opened, but living an hour north in Indiana I just never found myself in the area. And making a special trip wasn’t something I really had time or motivation to do. Now that my wife and I live in Louisville we decided to make the short trip over to check it out.

We decided to sit outside, and I have to say that the outdoor are is one of the better outdoor dining areas I’ve been in. It’s not a massive dining area, but it gets the job done. Even on a hot day it doesn’t feel too bad due to fans and the abundance of umbrellas giving shade. There’s also a large amount of flowering plants which helps give the area a pleasant and welcoming feel.

For food my wife and I both got the biscuit and gravy. The sausage gravy was superb, and the maple syrup takes it to another level. The biscuit itself is a good size with a texture like a drop biscuit. Smothered in the gravy, maple syrup, and topped with a fried egg it’s definitely something I’d recommend.

For drinks I started with spicy beet Bloody Mary. If you enjoy a good bloody mary, and aren’t afraid of beets, it’s definitely one I’d recommend. It’s spicy without being overpowering and the beet juice adds a different sweetness from tomato juice, which lends itself well to the drink. I then moved had a KY cold brew: a mixture of nitro cold brew, cream, orange, bourbon, and sorghum that any lover of both coffee and bourbon should try.

My wife started with one of the mimosas. I can’t speak to it personally, but she enjoyed it. She then moved on to an iced strawberry latte. I’m generally more of a straight cappuccino guy, but I tried it. Strawberry isn’t necessarily a flavor I would jump to for a latte, but it was surprisingly good.

Prices are pretty decent as well. The food itself was ~$25 for the two of us. The total bill was much more, but honestly if you start buying alcoholic drinks you kind of have to expect the total cost of the meal to rise pretty drastically. Even with the drinks it still came out to around $40 each including the tip. I personally find it a reasonable price for a good brunch with some good alcoholic drinks.

To sum things up, I absolutely recommend going if you’ve never been. My wife and I will...