The Grille by Jacob and Anthony's — Restaurant in Town of Clifton Park

The lemon sock was pretty nifty.

Been watching the development of this location for quite some time now, since the old 99 closed down, during all the renovations, and now after they're opened their doors. Needless to say, I was excited to finally get to try out a new spot.

Ordered over the phone, super easy, going with the Fried Calamari and the Wild Mushroom Sacchetti. Luckily I was in no rush as I was told it would take anywhere from 25 to 30 minutes, but hey, they're still going through their opening pains. Total came to $47, which is pretty darn pricy, but this is a pretty fancy establishment so the curtains match the drapes I guess.

Pickup was also pretty easy, my order already waiting with the hostess when I walked in about 45 minutes later.

Back home I sampled everything I got while it was still as fresh as could be, and boy was I excited for the sit down. The calamari was massive, so much in that pretty big container, and it wasn't just rings but tons of tentacles too. Lightly crispy, a lovely chew to the octopus, and the lemon chunk they included which is inside a kind of mesh sock, added a nice citric bite to the fried dish. Really thought that mesh thing was cool, such a neat way to keep the seeds from spilling out. I also tried the bread loaf and marinara sauce, which was included in the meal. Bread is pretty simple, nothing to write home about, but the marinara really brings the party. A very nice consistency, good manageable chunks, and very powerful tomato flavor.

Of course that leaves the sacchetti, and that one was no pushover. The sauce was almost as thick as mushroom soup, and with the same flavor too. Very rustic. The beggar man's purses were stuffed with those roasted mushrooms, cheese, and each one just exploded with savory flavor. Had it been a bit fresher, warmer, I'd imagine this would have blown my socks off. But unfortunately my trip takes too long, and it cooled down a bit more than I would have liked. That said, I was still quite impressed and polished off the entire dish with ease.

Overall I'm very pleased with my selections, the dishes were fantastic, the price is a fair bit higher than my usual Friday dinners, but I can't say it did not meet my expectations. Scrolling through the more recent reviews I do see a lot of nay sayers about the prices, and I think that's because of the location, a lot of "common folk" to the area are going to get the wrong impression. It's right next to a Chick-fil-A for goodness sake, bargain bin chicken, so the idea a "fancy" restaurant is right across the parking lot might confuse them. This isn't your dad's Olive Garden guys, if you are coming here, you'd better be ready to shell out. Keep in mind, I don't work for this place, no affiliation to them, just, take the reviews with a single or few reviews to their account with a...

Great food - wait times for food could be shorter. We went for lunch and the place wasn’t packed. The atmosphere is great and the place is really beautiful. We were a table of 3 and ordered 2 apps, a salad with seared tuna, and a burger. It took a little over 45 minutes to get our meal which feels excessive for what we ordered. The wings are perfectly crispy but could use a little more heat for being Thai chili. The eggplant stacker is INDCREDIBLE and we loved it so much we ordered another one to go. Best menu item I’ve had. For wings, a burger, a salad, and fried eggplant I definitely don’t think it should have taken that long but I imagine they’re still working on staffing. We will definitely be back and hopefully things will be a little faster by then :) We all loved our meal and the waitress was super friendly and helpful. Excited to have a nice spot like this in...

What a great addition to Clifton Park! All four of us had amazing cocktails and mains… Highly recommend the wild mushroom sacchetti pasta… and don’t miss out on the truffle fries…you will need to ask for another side of aioli…trust me! I think that the prices are beyond reasonable… and will definitely be back sooner than later. Our server Natalie...