All I heard about since arriving in New York was how amazing Grimaldi's pizza is. Its main location just under the Brooklyn Bridge is a gorgeous setting and definitely adds to the ambience of this century-old pizzeria. From what I had heard, the up to two-hour wait time for a pie at this cash-only establishment is well worth it.
To begin with, Grimaldi's is fine pizza. Their coal-fired pizza has been a staple since 1905, so it's definitely old enough to be someone's pizza godfather, just not mine.
Honestly, I don't think Grimaldi's lived up to the hype. It's like reading all the reviews of a movie you really want to see; sometimes too much exposure shoots your expectations to unattainable levels and can leave you disappointed.
For priding itself on being a New York institution, my friend M--who was visiting from Los Angeles--was bummed to find out that he could have driven twenty minutes away from his home to the Grimaldi's outpost on the west coast.
The view is beautiful on the walk to the restaurant, but it's not situated it a spot where the seats show you any view except the hallway to the bathroom and kitchen, at least ours did. If I hadn't heard a ton of rave reviews before I visited, I'm sure it would have been totally acceptable, but not earth-shattering pizza.
There were three of us for dinner and we ordered an antipasto plate and two pies.
The best part of this adventure was that we were over prepared to wait between one and two hours at 7pm on a Monday evening, but there was no line and we sat right down. The pizza was hot and thin with a crispy crust and a little burnt; the best part of any crust is the burnt bubble, I'll give Grimaldi's points for that...but by far the best part of my evening was the view of the moon over the Brooklyn Bridge as we walked back to the subway.
Menu Items:
Antipasto plate
White pie
Sausage and sun dried tomato pie
