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La Griglia

MY REVIEW: Mediocre business lunch. Of course breads and cappucino were great. Salad and roast chicken with fig sauce not so great. Service was excellent. Ambience beyond excellent.

NAME: ft
SUBMITTED: 12/13/2012   LAST VISIT WAS: 12-12-12
FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times

MY REVIEW: Have always had good food & service, even before Landry's bought it, but the last visit was a definite disappointment. A very obvious downgrade in terms of ingredient quality in 2 of the 3 dishes. No complaint about the taste of the dishes, but what happened to the main focus of the dishes? A shrimp pasta in lemon basil was very flavorful, but have NEVER had such small shrimp in any dish, at any restuarant in Houston. Never. They were the size you would expect to come out of a can. Where do they even buy shrimp this small in Houston? And the beef short rib dish was an embarrassment in terms of quantity. For $28 you need to bring it on. Once again the flavor was great, but there were no more than 5 "bites" of short rib, served with "perhaps" 1 1/2 cups of risotto. Really? For $28? Read other reviews that mentioned business was slow, so perhaps that accounts for the dramatic cut back in terms of quality/quantity. Our last visit is certainly not indicative of our prior visits, & certainly would not have brought us back for all these years. Perhaps we were just there on an "off day", but restaurants of this quality should not have off days, in terms of quality dishes. Service was very good as always, just disappointed in what the kitchen sent out on this visit.

NAME: eatoutjoe
SUBMITTED: 9/29/2011   LAST VISIT WAS: August 2011
FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times

MY REVIEW: This is a large restaurant and seems always to be busy but the food and service is consistently good. My wife and I have been several times lately and were impressed everytime. The service the last few times has been incredibly attentive. Which surprises me for a large place like this. It is going on our favorite list. Especially good if you have been or are going to the river oaks theater because it is just across the way.

NAME: WM
SUBMITTED: 5/4/2011   LAST VISIT WAS: 4/2011
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: Dined there early Saturday evening with grandkids in tow. Salad was good, pizza and appetizer bread delicious. Orderd hallibut which was beautifully presented and delicious as a whole but the fish did not really taste like hallibut -- somewhat oily and undergrade. Everything else was excllent and I love this place.

NAME: ft
SUBMITTED: 5/16/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 5-8-2010
FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times

MY REVIEW: Well, we used to go quite often since they stay open late and have great Italian! Yet, we tried to go again yesterday about an hour before they are supposed to close, and were turned away. They said they just were too slow lately so they were shutting their kitchen down early. Now, that is so tacky!! Especially since I saw other people eating and drinking and the host was so rude about it!! Change your website and hours then...don't waste my time when I could have driven elsewhere to eat!

NAME: latenighteater
SUBMITTED: 3/4/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: march 2010
FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times

MY REVIEW: I ate here for the first time this past Saturday and went without a reservation. The wait wasn't too bad - maybe 15 minutes. Right as we sat down, water and bread were brought to the table along with a wine menu. Once we ordered our wine, we were given the food menus.

Our meal started with a bang and ended with a bang, but unfortunately our entrees were not that impressive. To start, we had the shrimp and crab "cheesecake" (much like a quiche) that was simply amazing. We also had a caprese salad, which was equally delicious... not to mention the pizza bread that comes in the bread basket is also quite tasty. I do not recall the names of both our entrees, but I had the linguine marinara with shrimp and crab. I was disappointed with their marinara sauce, but it was still ok. We then ended the meal with their creme brulee, which could be one of the best I have ever had. (No.1 on my list for creme brulee is O*uisie's Table, hands down). The best part of the creme brulee is that it is served in an almond brittle bowl. Yum!

Overall I give the food a 6 or 7. Ambience was ok, a little loud. There was a party of what looked to be 20 people or so celebrating a birthday. I did not valet park, I just parked in the new garage behind the restaurant instead.

NAME: Tina
SUBMITTED: 7/22/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: July 2009
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: Wish I'd read the other reviews about service prior to my visit. We had a party of 15, admittedly a large group. Reservations for 7:30, we were seated about 8:15. Water was immediately brought to the table and several bottles of wine were ordered. Bread was not brought to the table until 9:15, even though at least 6 more bottles of wine appeared and then only after multiple people requested bread. The menus were brought along with the bread and the waiter made several starts at taking orders. This went on until about 9:30 which was my time to leave. So, have no idea when the food arrived, but it was certainly more than 1:15 minutes after we sat, as that was when everyone ordered. Houston has so many wonderful places to eat, where the service is wonderful, so in the future will patronize those places. X Off my List!

NAME: MBZBOY
SUBMITTED: 6/10/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: June 2009
FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times

MY REVIEW: My husband and I went to La Griglia for a relatively early dinner on a Saturday night. I accidentally knocked my glass of red wine over. Immediately, less than 2 seconds, four or five waiters were hovering over the table mopping up the mess with napkins. They were kind and funny and brought me a brand new glass of wine. I had spilled some on my husband's jacket. They took the jacket somewhere and got rid of every last bit of wine. You couldn't tell anything had been spilled on it. This excellent service continued for the entire meal. The waiters were all attentive and very nice and friendly. When Splenda got on the table, they immediately wiped it off. The service was incredible; the food was delicious and the price was reasonable. We will definitely return to La Griglia.

NAME: Joann
SUBMITTED: 4/5/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: April 4, 2009
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: The first time we went to this restaurant was in July and it was amazing. We loved the appetizer bread, especially the pizza bread. The staff refilled our bread basket regularly too, without us asking. The service was wonderful. They seem to have a team approach, but every person was really friendly and helpful with suggestions. We had a younger blonde waitress and a younger waiter, I think with brown hair and they were great. We split the autumn salad, which was amazing. I ordered the linguine pescatore and my husband ordered the salmon. Both were cooked perfectly and we ate every bit. I got the creme-brulee-like dessert and my husband ordered the cake with the strawberries on top. Both were great. I couldn't WAIT to go back.

We went back this weekend and the experience was completely different. The food was good, but not great and the service was non-existant. After at least twenty minutes, I had to request menus. Tables around us recieved service that was much more prompt than ours. The food was slow coming out. I'm not sure if it was their intent to allow a leisurely dining experience or not, but in general it was not the same level of service we received previously. Also, when the waiter was serving the table behind us, he repeatedly hit my head with his rear and never offered an apology. I ended up sitting leaning forward in my chair for much of the meal because of this and then had to sit that way for the rest of the meal because our tables were so close that when I did try to sit normally in my chair again, my head was touching the person seated behind me who had moved at some point in the meal. I couldn't wait to go back after the first visit, but after this one, I'm good for a while.

NAME: pinkie
SUBMITTED: 10/27/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/2008
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: Our group of 8 people made a reservation for 7:30PM tonight(Saturday night) and arrived on time. We were told by the hostess that our table would be ready in 10 minutes. THIRTY minutes later, we were still not seated. It took us 3 times of going up to the desk to get seated. Then, it just got worse. We didn't get our menus until 10-20 minutes after we were seated. The WATERBOY brought us our bread basket. We waited 45 minutes just for an appetizer and one soup to come out, and we got our food 90 minutes after we sat down - only because we complained as a table several times and asked for the manager twice. Our waiter never came by to even ask how we were doing. Two tables around us ate an ENTIRE meal after being seated before us before we even got our food. The only waitstaff that checked on us all night was the waterboy - he kept our glasses full all night. To top it off, it only took the waiter TEN minutes to get us our check and clear our table after keeping us waiting all night. He never came to apologize. The only concession the manager made was giving us 4 slices of dessert(for EIGHT PEOPLE) to make up for our NINETY minute wait. This was our first visit to La Griglia, and definitely our last. Save yourself the trouble of spending time and money for bad service and average food.

NAME: xfangel
SUBMITTED: 10/11/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/2008
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: Visited second time with an out of town guest, having been taken to La Griglia once before some months ago by a knowledgeable local. We both found this visit to be most enjoyable. Despite other reviewer's comments I had no issues with the valet parking-maybe having a rag-top helps?

We had no reservation but only waited for about 5 minutes for a table at peak time on a Friday. The restaurant was buzzing, great atmosphere with eclectic clientele from elderly couples through to families with young children. Somehow they seemed to work out a seating plan such that we were not disturbed and had a nice quiet meal! I think the ambience is La Griglia's strong point-it serves as a place to go casual or for a more formal business dinner.

Food was great, I had veal main course while my guest had 2 fish starters, all tasty and well presented. House Pinot Grigio bought by the glass was very pleasant and good measure for the price.

Strongly recommend this place and will visit again.

NAME: Britdiner
SUBMITTED: 9/17/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: September 14th 2007
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: Super strong point...open Labor Day lunch, few places were; although I do not think some of the staff was pleased. The valet parking is always an irritant, but today he wasnt around when we left to expect the four dollar tip for the ten foot walk to my car, yipee. The service was excellent at just the right pace. Now for the food, unusual but tasty carpaccio, raw meat wrapped around a warm homemade "tater tot"....terrific nutty salad and excellent trout shelby and they made an off the menu pistachio crusted snapper. Large and appealing dessert cart selection; dont recall what I had but it was good. The drinks were good and hefty, as was the tab, closing in on $150 for lunch, but I was able to stiff the valet, he was probably hiding out since it was raining.

NAME: faceofdowntown
SUBMITTED: 9/4/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: 9/3/07
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: Our group had a wonderful experience at La Griglia last Saturday night. Despite our 8 p.m. arrival we were seated almost immediately. The decor really is beautiful, with all the colorful tiling, and we noticed they had added some amazing light fixtures by a famous glass artist above the main dining area.

During our very brief table wait we enjoyed a glass of the house merlot which was very reasonable ($7.95) but also very good. But the food was the star. I started with the shrimp bisque which was incredibly rich, with a hint of sherry. My friend had the "Nutty Salad" which he said was delicious. Another in our party had - get this - the salad that accompanies the chicken tenders, just without the chicken. Now that's what I call service, and it was only a hint of the truly wonderful service we had all night. Best in Houston at the price point by far.

For entrees, a couple of us had the rotisserie chicken, which was very well seasoned, but the white meat part of the half-chicken was a bit dry. (That's easy to do with white meat.) The other two at our table had the Romano Crusted Veal, and I got a bite, and it was superb. Another very rich dish with a butter and wine sauce, but none of us were complaining!

Finally, we shared some tiramisu. It was out of this world with both semisweeet chocolate and coffee flavors. We all left thinking it had been a wonderful evening and we're all eager to return to La Griglia soon. I have to admit I've been on an unlucky streak lately trying different restaurants around Houston, but I was overjoyed to rediscover how good La Griglia can be.

NAME: Jim A.
SUBMITTED: 3/5/2007   LAST VISIT WAS: March 2007
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: Great Decor, location, ambiance. Very Smoky environment, which should be cured when City Ordinance goes into force. Food preparation is very good. A wide choice of Americanized Itaalian Favorites. Extenssive wine list, but very pricey. Beware wines by the glass, as they have very high markups on wine, how can a glass cost almost fifty percent more than the cost of athe same wine by the bottle at Specs. Appetizers are good, but small and very expenssive for he portion size. Good service, attentive and breads/pizza slices are good.

Not sure I'll return, just not good value since the sell-off.

NAME: globalguy
SUBMITTED: 11/22/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/03/06
FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times

MY REVIEW: Lovely restaurant, superb staff, good food. Started with autumn salad, then roast chicken with potatoes and vegetables and enjoyed every bite. The bread bowl contained thin slices of pizza which were good. Deserts a bit disappointing but the coffee and biscotti were all excellent. I love this place and can't wait to return.

NAME: Old and Picky
SUBMITTED: 10/27/2006   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/21/06
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

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