Rick and I were granted a date night, our newest tradition where Babsha (grandma) and Mr. John take all the kids for the night and let us have a few hours of uninterrupted time. Many parents understand the need to maximize their few precious intimate hours they have together. Rick suggested Grant Street Pizza, which he loves because it has a limited menu, but full of standard pasta and pizza dishes. The atmosphere is contradictory because I feel cool and hip because it is an independent restaurant, but it also housed in a converted Kentucky Fried Chicken Establishment. There are even signs to remind customers, that although this was formerly a fast food joint, they don’t serve at fast food speeds. This warning should be taken literally, because both times I have been there the food has been very slow to come out. This wouldn’t be a problem if it was the kind of little Italian place where you could sip wine in dimmed romantic lights instead of bright fluorescent lights, sticky table clothes and loud noises issuing from the busy kitchen. We decided to split a pizza and garlic cheese bread. I have to say that the grease did rival KFC, but it was still delicious and the crust was crispy underneath all the garlic, cheesy deliciousness. It came with a modest amount of dipping marinara which didn’t taste fresh, but by this time I had given up expectations of extraordinary. The pizza probably would have been great if it didn’t sit for ten minutes waiting to be served. Upon confronting the waitress about our pizza sitting out, there was much denial and defensive attitude, which as a teacher a sure sign of not-so-covert-cover-up-of-poor-service. I spent the first few bites of the pizza trying to calm my husband down in regards to the service. We were soon immersed in the actual eating of the pizza, which was delicious. Again, not gourmet, but the pizza had the right balance of sauce, cheese and topping, which is surprisingly difficult for cooks to get right. I hate spending more time discussing the service than the food, but it is similar to teaching, you can’t actually teach until the classroom management is under control. Our meal was plagued by some service issues, but my husband, pickiest of the pickiest male eaters, said, “I still like this place even though the service sucked.” I would recommend this restaurant for the food and be prepared to not expect fast service.
I know I've been here, but can't remember when, is this the place by crossroads mall??
OOhh, I want to go there now!!
LOVING your review!
Posted by: marty gentry | February 01, 2008 at 02:21 PM
I used to work with the owner's wife. I remember when they opened the place. I wonder if they still own it? Great reveiw!
Posted by: Kristin | February 03, 2008 at 08:04 PM