Ronnie Grisanti & Sons Rstrnt

08/01/09

We're done with the Grisantis

by boatsfighter at Citysearch

My wife and I had a good experience here over a year ago and wanted to try it again. It was a stark contrast this time. It was Friday night around 8pm and the place was only half full. We were seated by a waiter who progressively became more absent as the night went on. The food quality has definitely deteriorated in the past year. The calamari looked and tasted like it was fried from frozen and stuck together - not fresh and it was $10! Both of our dishes (sea bass and veal saltambocca) were completely substandard. The veal looked like it was premade and hidden under way too much sauce (I guess you can try to cover up bad food with a lot of sauce). The pasta was overdone as well. To say that the service was unattentive is an understatement. We decided against dessert after we hadn't seen the waiter for 30 minutes. The bill was $95 and I felt like a could have done much better at the Olive Garden.

One of the previous posts put it perfectly. Why do some people in Memphis try to act rich by going to these places, paying way too much for bad food and thinking it's the best? Maybe it's the economy and Ronny is trying to save money - I give this place about a year unless the Memphis posers prop it up because they don't know any better.

• Pros: Nice bar.
• Cons: Service, price, quality

02/13/09

Special Date ruined

by C1256 at Citysearch

We were celebrating our Valentines Day a night early. We had a babysitter (rare). I called early afternoon to see if we needed reservations. I was told that if I only had two in my party, it would be NO PROBLEM getting right in. I am pretty sure I talked with the owner.

So, we drove 30 minutes away from our home (keep in mind we had a babysitter) to eat at this restaurant. When we arrived, the hostess asked if we had a reservation. I told her NO and told her about my conversation earlier. She told me that the wait would be at least 1 hour and a half and I really needed reservations to eat there. I again told her that I had tried to make a reservation, but was told it wasn't necessary. You know what she said to me? "That's NOT MY PROBLEM!" I have NEVER been treated like that at a restaurant. I should have talked to the manager/owner, but my husband and I were so upset, mad, angry, that we just stormed out. I really was in shock at the way we was treated and the FACT that I really had tried to make a reservation for us to make our Valentines Day special.

The main thing that stinks about this. Night before Valentines. So, I called many of our other "fave" restaurants and they were all booked or had a couple hours wait. So, we paid a babysitter and didn't even get to go anywhere that was "adult friendly!"

We ended up heading to Old Venice Pizza Company and it was wonderful. Everyone was very friendly and the staff treated us so well.

It's a shame that this happened, because my husband and I really wanted to give Grisanti's a try.

11/12/08

Great Italian Food

by obewoods at Citysearch

I have eaten at this restaurant several times over the last couple of years and have always found the food to be excellent (Chicken Parm is a Fav) and the service to be consistantly top notch.

It is a little pricey but well worth an occasional splurge.

• Pros: Great food, pleasant dining experience
• Cons: A little pricey