By Sara Kay, Features Editor

The warm and inviting atmosphere inside Grimaldi’s could make anyone feel like they’re at home. No matter how cold it may be outside, inside the doors at Grimaldi’s is a cozy environment where any kind of request would be met by the smiling servers, without even a fraction of a thought.

It’s a shame that the food served at Grimaldi’s is in no way a reflection of the restaurant’s atmosphere.

The Brooklyn-style pizzeria, in the heart of Garden City, has the air of being a truly great place to bring your family for an authentic pizza dinner.  With a fairly small menu the idea that the chefs aren’t focusing all their attention on the main dish coming out of that coal oven is unthinkable. The truth of the matter is, what goes on in that kitchen is nothing worth taking note of.  Almost everything that could have gone wrong on my pizza did go wrong. 

I decided to get half with ricotta cheese and basil, which was my friend’s suggestion, and the other half with sausage and mushrooms, some of my personal favorite pizza toppings.  What smelled like and looked like a delicious pizza tasted nothing like a delicious pizza. 

A pizza from Grimaldi’s is like being given a bowl of delicious looking fruit, only to bite into an apple and realize its wax. The crust, though it had the signature burn marks on the underside, was flimsy and not even close to crispy.  The sauce, though light and tasty, was overpowered by the toppings ended up being the pizza’s downfall.  The ricotta was bland and the basil was so burnt that there was only a faint taste of its sweetness.  On the other side of my pizza, the mushrooms were sparse, and the only shining part of these three pieces was the sausage, which was flavorful and in great supply.

To get another taste of what Grimaldi’s had to offer, the Antipasti was ordered as well, consisting of mozzarella cheese, roasted red peppers, olives, salami and a few pieces of sliced bread.  The bread, which probably came from the same oven as the pizza crust, was covered in black pepper and lacking in that robust crunch of fresh, crusty bread.  The mozzarella had an oily and sour flavor, and the red peppers were so overly marinated that the consistency made them almost impossible to eat. 

While the service was impeccable and the interior gave the feeling of coziness and general comfort, once the food went from the table into my mouth, I was completely turned off. 

Grimaldi’s (Photo Courtesy of Grimaldi’s)