Grimaldi's Privileged Reservation Policy
I was in NYC last week and a friend wanted to go to DUMBO so a great opportunity to go to Grimaldi’s. They open at noon on Saturday so when we got there at 11:50 there were already 30+ people in line. Don’t worry I tell her, when they start letting people in at 12 we’ll easily get a seat. The old guy starts letting people in at 12 and after about 25 or so go in here comes a “bus load” of people that were nowhere to be seen pass everyone up in line and go right in to be seated. No more can now be seated and we are looking at a 45 min wait. I ask the old guy what’s going on, we’ve been waiting. I thought there were no reservations? He says there’s the reservation line (the one I was standing in). I ask him again and he isn’t paying any attention to me. There were a LOT of ticked off people but he didn’t care. Was this one of those pizza tours? At that point just on general principals and his attitude toward customers that had been waiting for quite some time we bailed. Grimaldi’s is OFF my list for good! We went to CO and had GREAT pizza and service with no attitude! Anyone have a similar experience with Grimaldi’s?
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7 Comments:
go to lucali's next time - call ahead for a table and they tell you how long your wait will be. go to the area for a drink and they call when you're table is ready.
nithya at hungrydesi at 3:43PM on 06/25/09
You did yourself a favor, Grimaldi's is weak. Do yourself a favor and go to Keste or Motorino next time.
djwackfriz at 5:21PM on 06/25/09
Or even better, go to Roberta's!
producestories at 7:41PM on 06/25/09
i'm not familiar with their no reservation policy, but if they have one and honor a pizza tour bus on a regular basis, they should probably simply disclose that on the website so people can be prepared.
that said, any time i want to get in on the first seating at a place that is infamous for long waits (e.g. clinton street baking for brunch) it's best to err on the side of arriving at least 1/2 hour before open - if not earlier. it's crazy, but that's what has worked for me in the past.
j at 5:42PM on 07/01/09
There isn't a meal in the city that's worth waiting 1/2 hour for. There are over 13,000 restaurants, the fact that anyone waits at all is just feeding into the restaurant's ego.
burgerlover at 10:36AM on 07/02/09
omg same thing happen to us... they kept seating tables of 2's before everyone else even tho they could have just put the tables of 2's together to make a table of 4!!!! grrrr
chnguyen at 12:25PM on 07/02/09
No wait or attitude at Grimaldi's in Hoboken.
femmebot at 3:28AM on 07/03/09