Devin B.
Yelp
We have wanted to eat at Grimaldi's for a while so stopped in for lunch while we were at The Venetian. They allegedly have "the best pizza" in Las Vegas, so we had to try it!
Upon walking up, we were greeted by the hostess. She was nice and took us to a table.
The restaurant has a cozy feeling, feels like a New York pizzeria or something. Dark backs cover the walls, there are neat light fixtures made from bottles, and tables have the classic red and white checkered table cloths. Pretty nice place!
Almost as soon as we were seated, we met our server and that's where the experience went downhill. We were greeted by Damon, who asked if we had been here before. We said no, it was our first time. He grabbed a menu and introduced us a bit to the place. This was fine, and I asked what pizza he recommends. He started hyping up "The Don", the meat lovers type pizza, and suggested ordering a salad. He said the salads are large enough to feed 2 people, and we could pair it with a 16" pizza for a nice meal. He also showed us the beer and wine menu, but we weren't ordering alcohol. We both ordered water and said we needed a moment to decide on our food order. He whisked away and almost seemed upset that we weren't ready to order immediately.
When he returned, he quickly placed the water glasses on the table and tossed down a couple straws. We decided to order a 12" Margherita, after seeing pictures on Yelp showing this would absolutely be enough food for both of us and we didn't want to have leftovers to carry around. Oddly, Damon seemed almost personally offended that we ordered a 12" pizza, and asked "are you sure you don't want a salad?" And we confirmed again that no, we were only ordering the pizza. His reaction was kind of an annoyed "alright' and he scooped up the menus and left.
While we waited for our pizza, we heard him giving the same spiel to the table behind us. He was aggressively trying to upsell like he's paid a commission on pizza and salad or something. He convinced someone else at another table to order a salad, and we saw him checking on his other tables around us.
Soon we received our pizza from another staff member from the kitchen. The pizza looked and smelled delicious! After letting it cool for a couple minutes we dug in. It *was* delicious. Definitely lives up to the hype! Meanwhile, as we ate, Damon never once checked in on us. He didn't come back until we were finished eating and we asked for the check. It was an electronic handheld device to pay, so we did that and he told us "just sign here and I'll take care of the rest" but I'm not sure what "the rest" was. I did make sure to ask for a copy of the receipt so we could get his name and make sure he wasn't messing with a tip amount or anything. After the pushy and frankly rude service we received and never being checked on, we opted out of leaving a tip.
The food was great. The restaurant is cozy and nice. But the service we experienced docked a star off an otherwise 5 star review and has us questioning if we even want to return and face the same experience. If Damon is there, I don't want to be. I have no issues with a server recommending a food item, but the way it was pushed continuously and then the attitude we received after opting for something else was unusual and not cool.