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Business & Tech

Try Grappa Grill Next Time You're Contemplating a Chain Restaurant

If you need to seat eight picky people with no reservation at an affordable restaurant, try Grappa Grill.

It’s hard not to compare Grappa Grill to chain restaurants. The owners know their competition and therefore did a very good job making the interior comfortable and familiar to people who enjoy while the long and diverse menu is reflective of T.G.I. Friday’s.

The large restaurant with its multiple dining rooms and outdoor patio section offers the same seating convenience as a national chain--you can walk in with a party of eight and probably won’t have to wait more than 20 minutes.

The diverse menu includes everything: a good selection of pastas, steaks and sandwiches, as well as speciality items such as a gluten-free menu, which means you can easily feed a large, picky crowd without worrying about that one person who refuses to try anything new.

The sandwiches are all around $9, pastas around $13 and entrées around $20, which also means a group of people with varied budgets can still eat out together.

In my case, seven of us walked in without a reservation and only had to wait five minutes to be seated. Our waitress never once complained about hopping back to the kitchen to ask about individual food ingredients for one of us with a gluten allergy or substitutions.

The menu has a lot to offer. I seriously thought about the blackened chicken pasta or lemon pepper mahi mahi, but Grappa Grill was pretty proud of its steak selection. Plus, if I got the steak, my friends offered to trade me bites.

The mahi mahi was absolutely perfect. The tall rectangle of fish was firm, yet still flaked easily under a fork. The mild lemon pepper seasoning gave it some flavor without overwhelming the fish. It was hands down my favorite thing I tried all night. It came with some unremarkable rice pilaf.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the rich, creamy blackened chicken pasta had a heavy Alfredo sauce that felt like it it could fuel you for a couple days. The blackening spices plus some cracked black pepper livened up the cream sauce and gave a nice bit of texture to keep the noodles interesting.

My New York Strip steak came with a baked potato and some of the fattest, least edible asparagus I’ve ever tried. I know asparagus is actually a small bush, but these stalks were so wide I could build a house with them. However, my steak itself came out a very nice medium with nice, slightly irregular black grill marks across the surface. As I doled out bites to the people  who shared their food with me, everyone who offered to swap said they got the better end of the deal. The moist steak was nicely charred and topped with a slightly sweet Cabernet sauce that tasted good on everything.

The service was good, although there was confusion over one man's salad and the waitress also spilled one woman’s glass of water on her plate while refilling it, though luckily after she’d finished eating. The table had a good sense of humor and the poor waitress was mortified and apologetic.

Our dietary needs included one person who couldn’t eat gluten, one who couldn’t eat pork, and another who didn’t like anything spicy, yet we were all able to find well prepared entrées we enjoyed. If everyone in your party wants pasta or you’re all craving a steak, there are better speciality restaurants, but Grappa Grill is a good general restaurant for groups with diverse food interests. I’m pleased to give it a solid B.

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