In my quest in trying out some of the new restaurants throughout Northern Colorado, my latest review has taken me to the new Grimaldi's at Foothills in Fort Collins.

My family and I were out on a recent weeknight trying to find something that tasted great but wouldn't hit the wallet tremendously. Our thought was that the new pizza restaurant in town must fit that category perfectly.

Were we correct?

Well let's start when we first walked into the restaurant. When you first step foot into Grimaldi's, the atmosphere and the decor definitely delivers top notch. You get a true comfortable feeling when you walk in and it comes off as a place you could definitely spend a couple hours at eating a slice of pizza and drinking a cold drink.

I was actually surprised that the inside of the restaurant wasn't bigger than what I initially thought it was. Looking at it from the outside, it definitely looks like it encompasses more space than it does. But that didn't affect this review, and will only affect you if you show up with a large party on a busy night.

Grimaldis
Credit: Grimaldi's Facebook Page
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One thing that matters to me is the "first impression". And the first impression we got from Grimaldi's wasn't a good one. When we walked in, the hostess walked away from her post within ten seconds of us walking in and didn't return for another two minutes to acknowledge us. Even the manager on schedule that night walked past us a few times and didn't acknowledge that we were there.

When the hostess came back, she did work hard to seat us but she could've been friendlier in her whole demeanor. We both notched this up to the restaurant still being relatively new and didn't want this to spoil the entire experience.

When we first opened the menu at Grimaldi's, there was one thing that jumped at us from the beginning. That if you are looking for a good piece of pizza that won't hit the wallet hard, this may not be the place for you.

Especially if you walk in with a large family.

Regular cheese pizzas range between $9 for a personal pizza to $16 for an 18" pie. Keep in mind, that is if you don't want any toppings on your pizza.

If you want toppings, that can definitely add up quick for you as those range in price from $2 to $5 depending on the topping you request.

We started out with a large caesar salad, which costs $11. Looking past the cost of this salad, it tasted phenomenally and my wife and I both agree that if we do go to Grimaldi's again, it may make sense just to buy this.

The lettuce had a definite freshness to it that you don't always find in a restaurant salad, and the salad wasn't overpowered by the dressing which is what can sometimes happen. Getting the salad was the perfect start to our family meal at Grimaldi's and I would highly recommend this to anyone eating here.

When it came to our pizza, we ended up getting the large "Don" pizza which includes sausage, meatballs, and pepperoni. Along with this pizza, we got a large Margherita pizza which was perfect for our smaller kids as all they need is cheese and they are perfectly content.

Both pizzas had a great crispness to the crust and a phenomenal taste. One of my favorite aspects of both pizzas was the meatballs that we had on top of the "Don". The ingredients blended in perfectly with each other and had just the right amount of flavor which we all loved.

So when it comes to the pizza and salad at Grimaldi's, they get two thumbs up!

The service that we had at our table was also phenomenal and was a big step up from what we experienced when we first stepped into Grimaldi's. Our server was also training a new employee at the same time, and did a great job in balancing our needs but also making sure that the new employee was picking up the needs of the consumer.

Overall, Grimaldi's Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria does a great job in the product that they deliver and the only glaring mark we had was the service that we got when we first walked in.

Again, it is all about FIRST IMPRESSIONS in the retail/restaurant business and this was lacking on our first visit.

Would I recommend Grimaldi's? If you don't mind paying extra for your pizza than what you would get down the street, go for it. If you are being cost-conscious and don't want to spend a lot of money, I honestly do think there are other choices in Fort Collins that will deliver more for the money you spend.

On a scale of 1-5 slices, Grimaldi's gets 3 slices from me! The food tasted great, our server was good, but the cost of the overall experience is not what we expected and again...the FIRST IMPRESSION matters.

Get ready, because next week we'll be reviewing the brand new Poudre Keg in old town Fort Collins! Their burgers sound phenomenal, but next week we'll be putting them to the test!

 

 

 

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