Grato — Restaurant in West Palm Beach

After seeing a wonderful matinee play at Kravis, Book of Mormon, we had dinner reservations at Grato’s. We arrive a bit early, and we were able to be seated. Our over zealous waitress took our bar order and didn’t return with our drinks for 20 minutes. We asked for bread since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. After fifteen minutes, I reminded her for the bread. She said the kitchen “ was slicing it now.”. (She probably forgot). We ordered two appetizers which was placed on our table 20 minutes later. Cauliflower dish was delicious. The pork belly ($15.00) dish’s flavor was delicious as well, BUT the whole pork belly was all fat and not edible. When asked by waitress, “How were the appetizers?” We stated the cauliflower dish was delicious BUT the pork belly was inedible due to the fat and no meat. The waitress said “I am sorry”and walked away. We ordered a pasta dish, Bucatini Carbonara, which was the best dish of the evening. Our waitress came by for our dinner dish and pushed their Saturday Night Special Grilled Veal Chop with rapini, mushrooms, and creamer potatoes. She returned 20 minutes later to inform us that they were out of the veal chops. (How can you be out of a “special” by 7:00 pm?) She then returned back to say they found two more pieces. It was served, and it was not only salty, BUT 60% of the veal chop was fat. We deducted that these last two pieces were the end cuts that’s usually not served. We ordered coffee. We’re now being pushed out. The bill was placed on table and she walked away. As soon as credit card was placed in pocket, she came by and swept it up without asking if she can take it. The glasses, utensils, and coffee cup was cleared off table without being asked if we were done or wanted additional coffee. The waitress went to take away my bar drink, but I stated I was not done with it. The bus boy had place settings by the table next to ours To be placed when we were to leave. Note: it was 8:00 and many tables were opened. To say the least, we will not be returning. Service was way below satisfaction. Food was inedible except cauliflower appetizer and pasta dish. We were rushed for no reason. Waitress was extremely slow and gave poor service. The surrounding tables were waiting a long time for their food, as well. We had two drinks each, two appetizers, and shared one veal chop meal. It took two hours to be served from beginning to end. She only asked how the food was once after the appetizers. We were charged for the inedible pork belly. The bill was $165.00. The experience paled compared to The Book of Mormons. We will not return to Grato’s when there are superior restaurants for a much better...

So being an offshoot of Buccan, Palm Beach, I set my expectations high….and Grato delivered. This place has a great vibe and energy that hits you immediately upon entering the cavernous warehouse style room. The bright red central pizza oven attracts your attention like the brass section of a show band, belting out an EW&F tune. Upon seating we were immediately offered water and cocktail options by one of the floor managers (a good sign when the place is this busy, they pitch in). Three of our foursome imbibe ‘d and ordered The Fig Old Fashioned, The Spicy Margarita and The Peartini, all were excellent selections. We also ordered a really nice bottle of Tempranillo (especially since it’s Monday and like Buccan, they offer a Monday night 50% off any wine bottle….thats how you move products!) That wine was the perfect pairing for everything we ordered, which was: 3 pizza’s: A Vegan Margherita, The Spicy Soppressata and The Dak. All three were excellent (our non conivore said it was the best vegan pie she’s had) The other two pizzas were just as amazing. As an aside; at home, I make a 48 hour cold bulk fermented dough for my Neopolitan pizza oven and this dough hit on every mark, excellent crust, chew, stretch and taste! We then ordered two entrees to split: The chicken parm, which was good, albeit somewhat salty, but hot and cheesy with a side of fresh pasta (thick spaghetti). The other was the Pork Ragu Cavatelli, cavatelli fresh pasta, adorned with a luxurious pork ragu, was simply love on a plate. If you are a fan of great Neopolitan wood burning oven pizza(most restaurants use gas….in full disclosure, one side of the oven had gas running, but mostly to maintain ambient heat), great Italian food in a festive high energy atmosphere, run don’t...

My family and I had reservations to eat here, but after reading some less than desirable reviews about the very high prices and very small portions, we canceled the reservation. Instead we decided to still give them a try but to stick to pizza. If we felt the pizza was good, we would return for in dinning. The Detroit style pizza caught my eye because of the name. I was born and raised in Detroit. Buddy’s pizza (the original Detroit style pizza) is something I know and love. This pizza that grato calls Detroit style pizza is shameful. Greasy, heavy, no taste, no fermentation flavor in the dough that makes Detroit pizza “Detroit pizza”.. I would say Jets pizza which is a local fast food pizza chain, makes a much better square pizza and for half the price... As for the “butternut” pizza.. why would you call it butternut? You shave raw carrots on it. You also must of doused a cup of onion pickle juice on this pizza because it was so wet and soggy and the only thing we could taste was the pickled onions. On the menu it doesn’t mention anything about carrots or onion on this pizza. It states “gruyere, fontina, baby kale, Aleppo pepper”. Why would you add a bunch of random stuff? It was the worst tasting pizza I ever had. I truly deserve my 21 bucks back for that because we took one bite and threw it out. I’m really glad I didn’t order any of the pasta. I honestly think buccan should be ashamed to be affiliated with this establishment based on what we were served tonight. The photos speak for themselves. It’s ok to be expensive and I don’t mind paying as long as I feel like I’m getting value for my money. What you get when you dine here is a loud, overpriced restaurant with very bad pizza and “children sized” portions of...