Grimaldi's Pizzeria — Restaurant in Overland Park

Update 6/18/23: We stopped in for a late Sunday lunch at 3 pm and on this second visit we were VERY DISAPPOINTED with our experience.

When we came in, we were told at the door that we could only order salads - no pizzas of any kind - because their wood-fired ovens "were off to be re-stoked." This seemed odd in the middle of business hours but we were very hungry and so decided salads were ok. We were seated and I saw the people at the only other seated table on our side of the restaurant were eating a pizza which seemed strange because we couldn't get one. Our server arrived and took our orders for a Mediterranean salad and spinach salad with a small antipasto plate and two unsweet iced teas.

Our antipasto plate arrived and our server told us that the five small thin slices of French bread would be all we could have because there was no more bread available in the kitchen - another unexpected surprise. Our antipasto plate was ok - some bland marinated red pepper strips, four slices of plain mozzarella, four thin slices of salami, and two green and two black olives.

Our salads arrived. My companion's Mediterranean salad ended up being 95% romaine lettuce pieces with a few marinated red peppers, feta cheese crumbles, and a few kalamata olives mixed in with a skimpy vinaigrette. My spinach salad was better but had multiple large clumps of precooked commercial bacon bits added that I couldn't break apart with my knife and fork and with too many blue cheese crumbles added. We ate what we could.

Our bill arrived and I was surprised to see that the total bill for two bowls of salad with no meats added except for my inedible bacon clumps, one small antipasto plate with insufficient bread, and two glasses of iced tea was $44 dollars before the tip. Our server gave us good service so she received a 20% tip because whatever was going on in the kitchen during open business hours that afternoon, it wasn't her fault.

How a pizzeria restaurant with little on the menu but pizzas and other oven-fired baked items was unable to serve us pizzas or calzones of any kind in the middle of their business hours because their ovens were down is a mystery to me. A chef friend who makes wood-fired pizzas at his location told me his wood-fired ovens are never down, ever, for any reason until the end of business hours. It would have been a nice gesture to have been given a little off our bill for the inconvenience of not being able to order anything from most of the menu, but that didn't happen either.

I've changed my original 5-star ratings from my first visit to reflect our latest unexpectedly poor experience at Grimaldi's. After this visit, we won't be back.

Stopped in for lunch. We split a 12" coal-fired pepperoni and sausage pizza and a small spinach salad which were both delicious. Our service was fantastic from start to finish!...

Grimaldis.

Okay, I see people calling it NY style pizza.

That would not be quite right

They are closer to Napoli style (think New Jersey Brick Oven Napoli pizza).

The coal fired goodness of their pizzas and Calzones are, so far for me, the absolute BEST you can get if that is what you are looking for!

The size of the slices is about the only thing I’d call NY Style.

The Calzones are freaking HUGE!

We ordered one that was way too big, added Sausage to it for a little variety. Oh man, the ooey gooey goodness of all that cheese and ricotta can not be beat!

They also do not water down the inside with pizza sauce like other places might do. They gave us PLENTY of sauce on the side to dip or spread however we wanted to our hearts content!

We also had a Margherita style pizza. Now we LOVE our basil on that so we ordered an extra topping of it.

This is not that little shredded and shriveled basil one gets from many other pizza joints, no… it was full size and mature basil being used.

That pizza was almost covered end to end! PERFECT! Just the way we LOVE IT!

The pizza sauce is some of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying. Only two other pizza shops can top this. One in Portland, Oregon (WEIRD! Isn’t that?!) and one in Hoboken, NJ.

Pizza is different and many consider their favorites based on the regional style.

Chicago (Deep PIE), Detroit (square deep crust), NY style (huge slices that you fold up and eat), Napoli (AKA New Jersey style, with a Napoli crust and either wood or coal fired in a BRICK oven), and then there’s all the other crap.

Napoli style pizza with NY style size slices.

Some would say it’s the best of BOTH those worlds!

The Bruschetta was also pretty good, we ordered the pepper one, but, oh boy! It was waaaay too much food!

We took our Tiramusu and Cannoli home to eat!

The Cannoli was excellent and the Tiramisu was the way it is SUPPOSED to be made and super yummy for this big fan of the desert!

The wait staff was...

Great Food, Lackluster Service

Monday, February 18, me and my girlfriend decided to head to Grimaldi's Pizza around 5 PM after finishing a movie at Cinetopia in Prairie Fire. We have been to Grimaldi's a couple of times in the past and enjoy the food. However the service has never been up to standards and the last visit was the worst one yet.

To start with, we waited nearly several minutes to be seated with no hostess or anyone at the counter to greet us. Some of the staff in the restaurant saw us but none of them ever acknowledged us, or informed us that we were about to be seated. We were just a hair away from leaving and going somewhere else until someone stepped up and finally seated us. The person did not have a badge and only wore a North Face like jacket and never would I have guessed that person was an employee.

Once we were seated we ordered our meal, along with a bottle of wine. Once we got the bottle, the server struggled to open the bottle. She was new and in training, which while understandable, was awkward to have to witness her struggle with opening the wine, while the manager merely gave her pointers before finally stepping in and opening the bottle for us. Something like that should be practiced outside of serving real people, and not the other way around.

Our food was delicious as ever, though our server checked on us somewhat infrequently. I often saw staff socializing near the kitchen doors rather than checking on other patrons including us, which confused me. This is a pity as I love the food here but recently the poor service has been a turn off. As a result I most likely will not be dining back at this location until the staff is retrained or replaced. I hope the owner reads this review and understands my grievance, along with others who have had a similar...