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Grazie is definitely one of our favorite standby restaurants to go to. We have been going fo several years and have yet to have a bad experience or meal. It has a comfortable, yet nice atmosphere. Eric has always been one of our favorite servers and it's great that he remembers us even though we don't frequent Grazie as much as we used to.
The garlic soup will always be my favorite! If you love garlic, then definitely try it! It's fantastic!
It's hard to find outstanding Italian food in the Pacific Northwest and this restaurant just perpetuates that fact.
There is nothing wrong with the food here - unfortunately it's just average at best. I'd expect a little more of a high-end experience at entree prices ranging from $15-$25 (not including salad).
It's obvious that the location started out as a family type restaurant and an attempt was made to convert it over to a fine dining establishment by dressing up the seats with better upholstery and implementing an uber-trendy open kitchen. The attempt falls flat as the seating arrangement keeps all diners highly visible to each other, the kitchen is not visible from the booths and no intimacy is possible.
The service was adequate yet certainly not high-end. I'll give kudos to the manager as he seemed to be doing his best to keep the service on track.
Starting off, the bread was nothing special nor was the house (Grazie) salad.
I've tried the Pollo Prosciutto dish at several restaurants, and this version ranked among the most uninspired and bland. The Linguini Marco was an odd mix of flavors with on overwhelming taste of feta. The highlight was the Lasagna with three sauces (garnished in the fashion of the Italian flag of course) featuring hearty and robust flavor.
Another review said that they send their chefs to Italy to get trained, but I don't believe it for a second. If that really is the case, they should ask for their money back and send their chefs to school in the Napa Valley instead.
I'm just not sure what they are trying to achieve here as the menu seemingly represents fine-dining, but the ambiance, service and food are not.
My husband & I are moving to the Bothell area and decided to try out some of the local restaurants beforehand. We picked Grazie b/c of it's Yelp reviews and were not disappointed!
As others mentioned the decor is nothing special. But it's also not bad and they seem to have lots of oversized booths and large-party seating.
The service was efficient but not overly-friendly. And I tested the service! I'm 7 months pregnant which limits the things I can eat so I had to ask the server about raw eggs & anchovies in the salad dressing (their Caesar has both so skip this if you're also preggo) and if their cheeses are pasteurized. He didn't hem & haw but immediately went to check with the chefs in the kitchen.
Hubby and I both had the signature Grazie dinner salad to start. It was very good but not outstanding: crisp romaine lettuce tossed in their house Italian dressing with croutons and a few slices of very nice looking cold tomatoes.
I had the gorgonzola tortellini which comes in a pesto cream sauce with pine nuts (all dairy pasteurized, of course). It was also very good.
Hubby had their salmon special which had raspberry butter on it and a side of cheese risotto. He also gave it a solid "very good". I snuck a taste of his risotto and thought it was awesome.
And as others mentioned, the complimentary bread basket with the garlic olive oil was also very good. The bread wasn't warm (which would have been nice) but was a good quality. If you don't like garlic then you won't like the garlic olive oil as it's VERY garlicy. We loved it!
So, overall a very solid dining experience. Our dinner with tax was about $55 for 2 salads, a special entree, a pasta entree, and a glass of wine. We were happy to have such a nice experience and will DEFINITELY be going back for more after we move into the area later this month. :-)
Menu is a little uneven.
After my first visit, I would have given this 2 stars. But since, I've been there several times, and I've found some gems on the menu.
The olive oil / pesto dipping sauce for the (unfortunately mediocre) bread is really great.
Their spaghittini salsiccia has a great meat sauce with a real depth of flavor you don't often get from restaurant italian.
The real find is the rosé sauce which isn't actually on the menu -- it's served with the side pasta that comes with the chicken parmesan. But skip the chicken, it's nothing out of the ordinary. Instead order off-menu for a full serving of penne rosé with pine nuts and romano. Super rich and really great.
I was thinking this was an Olive Garden place and didn't want to go here but my husband talked me into it. I was pleasantly suprised! Since coming to the area from CA we have been very dissapointed in the Italian Faire that Seattle has to offer especially when we walk away totally dissatisfied after spending 80+ dollars.
Italian born husband and I thought this was very, very fresh ingredients. Service was finally acceptable and not trashy like other restaurants and portion to very reasonable price. We had pizza and a ravioli dish and it was fantastic. We will go back for sure.
Mediocre at best. If you know true Italian food stay away. Service sucks too. I have been there several times although I don't know why.
Grazie is awesome!
My favorites are the Seafood Bisque, the Lemon Drop to drink, the garlic dipping oil they serve with the bread, and the Marsala Strawberries for dessert.
They have free live music most weekends in the lounge. I also went once for a Mother's Day brunch and it was very good. Love it for a date night or girl's night out.
Grazie is your typical nice Italian food restaurant that you can always count on for a good Italian meal. Its nothing crazy or over the top, but you wont be disappointed. The food is delicious and the service is fast!! Try the pesto tortellini, I finished the entire thing and wish I could go back for more! Its a nice place to go for a special birthday, meeting with a friend, hot date, etc! You can never go wrong with Italian food! It has a nice atmosphere, gives your mood a little lift, and sends you on your way with a full stomach and a mint in your mouth!
I love this restaurant! The place is beautiful, colorful.. very italian..
The service is prompt, friendly, not too pushy.
The cooks are authentic Italian chefs or they visit Italy annually. I had heard the owner sends many of the staff yearly for extra training.
The food is savory. When ever I request extra garlic in my oil for dipping?
I get it and them some... it is to die for...
I alway recc this place!
Not sure what to say about Grazie, except, Eh. Didn't hate it, but didn't love it. My meal was fine, except they were awfully heavy handed on the oil back in that kitchen! Don't get me wrong... I love me some EVOO, but too much can be too much. I probably wouldn't return since there are so many other better choices. The cheesecake dessert was tasty, though, I must say!
After seeing so many positive reviews on Yelp for Grazie, my girlfriend and I met up here for Happy Hour (until 6:00 PM) in their bar. The atmosphere was very chill and relaxed. We ordered a few special mixed drinks (half-price at Happy Hour) and a few well drinks ($2 each). (And boy, did we get our money's worth! Those are some stiff drinks.) We shared two half-price appetizers (the fried ravioli - so tasty - and the crab and artichoke dip at about $4.50 each). Finally we shared a 12" four cheese pizza. It was okay--I liked the thin crust--but tasted a bit on the bland side. I'm happy they put fresh minced garlic on the top though!
At around 7:30 PM local jazz guitarist Michael Powers showed up with his trio! I was pleasantly surprised--I'm familiar with his music from the radio but haven't seen him live! It was quite a treat, in such an intimate atmosphere. He's so talented. It was a bit on the loud side for the small bar area, but I didn't complain because Michael and his band were so good! I'll definitely come back with my husband for a relaxing Friday dinner and live music.
The best part of the evening was our waiter--he was fantastic! Attentive without being pushy or rushing us out of the busy bar. He'd show up about every 20 minutes to pour more martini into my glass from the strainer on the table. He was very friendly and knew how to provide good customer service!
I'll definitely be returning to Grazie again in the future.
This is one of my favorite restaurants that I've ever been to. It's a really nice atmosphere with an open kitchen as you enter. The waiters are always really cool.
Favorite perks about this place is primarily the food, though. It is not too expensive, but it is easily some of the best food I've had. The Gorgonzola Salad and Lasagna there are INCREDIBLE!
Not to mention, bottomless Italian Sodas for about $2. That alone is beautiful..
My wife and I celebrated Valentine's Day late at Grazie's. It was really good, but had a few things that held it back from being great.
First with the good. We started the meal with the fried ravioli. It was super tasty, and the creamy tomato sauce for dipping was great with the bread as well. For our main course I ordered the fileto gorgonzola and my wife had the pollo con formaggio. The fileto gorgonzola was delicious. It was cooked perfectly, and was full of flavor. For dessert we had the chocolate cake and it was so good. We loved it.
Now for the bad. This is going to sound weird, but my wife's stuffed chicken was actually too stuffed! Seems impossible, I know, but it had a lot of stuff in it but was somehow bland still. My garlic mashed potatoes were also super bland. Other downsides were service and the atmosphere. It was super empty and eerily quiet.
Perhaps I should have reversed the order and put bad things first. Overall, we had a good time, and I think we will return in the future.
This is probably a classic example of a restaurant that's over-reaching with nice decor and attentive staff, while the the kitchen isn't being minded adequately.
We've been several times -- neither wowed nor totally turned off -- but not in the last six months. So last Saturday night we dropped in early (5:30 P). The place was about 50% full.l -- so I don't think what I describe is due to an overwhelmed kitchen staff.
The brushetta wasn't awful, but it was completely dominated by a large glop of partially melted cheese which distracted from the fresh flavors of tomato, garlic, and basil. The garlic soup wasn't bad, but also wasn't anything special: a few garlicky croutons and a very creamy base.
The entrees, from the specials menu for the evening, were really off base.
The seafood pasta was arguably ok with no major missteps in preparation, but overall very flat in terms of both the native flavors of the ingredients and the sauce. Just ok isn't wasn't we were expecting in $20+ entree.
The king salmon entree, with fennel and dill sauce and grilled asparagus, was utterly dreadful. The fish was extremely overcooked, literally leathery. The sauce on the fish was at best odd. The grilled asparagus was charred (not in a good way) and limp. I don't every recall being served fish this overcooked in any restaurant, period.
The surroundings here are fine, the service is good, but the food doesn't match up.
They do serve wood-fired pizzas, which I haven't tried. It could be that these are decent and would make the cost-benefit ratio here a bit more reasonable. But I doubt I'll ever find out after the last meal we got...
Definitely next time we head to Stella Mia, just down the road in Country Village.
Someone said it in an earlier review and I totally agree. The exterior of this building looks like an Olive Garden and that simple fact probably deters most people from dining here. The plain and simple fact is that this restaurant is located in somewhat of a strip mall in (from what I can tell not living here) a suburban area.
That said, this place traded in a fancy exterior for an awesome dining experience.
The first thing you notice when walking in is that they apparently have nothing to hide. The kitchen is totally open behind a half room height wall. Secondly, to the right is a bulletin board of a biannual staff trip to Italy. Let me just say, what a brilliant idea. Staff members can elect to have a bimonthly payroll deduction for two years in exchange for a free spot on the staff trip. While in Italy they spend two weeks soaking up the language, culture and of course, cooking tips.
Whatever they learn over there shows up on your dinner plate. I had the Piccata special which is "Chicken or veal sauteed with capers, artichokes, lemon wine and butter served with garlic mashed potatoes". (I opted for chicken and traded the mashed potatoes for risotto since tomorrow is Thanksgiving).
The food arrived looking good and in a good sized portion. I'm going out on a limb here to say that it was quite possibly the best risotto I've ever had. The rest of the meal was awesome too and I cleaned that plate like it was the last thing I'd eat for days.
My friends girlfriend manned up for the strawberries and cream. I was too full to look too long at the desert platter. In the quick glance I took however, it looked promising.
The bummer here (for Portlanders like me) is that the only three locations are in the Seattle Metropolitan Area. Specifically; Canyon Park, Factoria and Southcenter.
If you're in one of the somewhat outlying burbs of Seattle, you owe it to yourself to try this place out.
This is by far the best Italian restaurant I've been to since moving back to the northwest. Everything on the menu is good and the atmosphere is very welcoming, while maintaining an upscale style.
Don't be fooled by the olive garden-esk exterior, make your way into Grazies and you'll fall instantly under the spell of the comfortable booths, delightful aromas, and best of all, exquisite food.
I try to go at least 3 times a month. You should too : )
I love this place! Seriously, it's one of the better Italian restaurants in the area and I adore the waiters and waitresses. They always go out of their way to make sure my husband and I have what we need to have a great night. I guess it pays off to become a regular at a restaurant!
The food is really good. Just try the marsala and risotto and you'll be in heaven. Their specials are usually really yummy--they once served a pasta with seafood and an orange-cream sauce that sounds bizarre but tasted amazing. The garlic and oil they give you with the bread is addictive and a little dangerous. If you're on a date or out with your significant other, make sure you both eat it or else they'll be no loving later! And speaking of loving, save room for dessert. The strawberries and cream may not sound exciting, but OMG--its sooooo good!
The food at Grazie's is consistently good and the service is always attentive. What more could you want?
Grazie is one of my new favorites...even though its been around awhile, its not very well known!
They have great Italian food! Their new "pronto lunch" menu is great because you can choose an entree and a salad and they promise to have you in and out within 45 minutes which is perfect for a lunch break!
They start you off with bread and garlic infused olive oil that is to-die-for with some balsamic vinegar! So if the vinegar isn't already on your table, ask for some!
Last time I went I had a calzone, it was the best one i've ever laid my lips upon! A perfect golden brown crust with a flavorful sauce, stuffed with cheese and italian sausage and green peppers!
The service can be hit or miss as mentioned below, sometimes they could be a little more attentive - but I still keep coming back, and I recommend that you try it out as well!
My favorite watering hole during happy hour. The live jazz music during the weekend and sipping wine is just the answer to unwind from a hectic weekend. The pasta is fabulous and the waiters serve up a mean Lemon Drop. Love ya guys!
good italian food- good location. we sat in the bar and the music was nice- loud but nice.
They have a sister location in Factoria- also good.
They have great cesar salad!!
3 stars because it's good but not somewhere I go very often.
I was a little skeptical based on the outer appearance: think Olive Garden circa 1982. However, we were pleasantly suprised by the experience. The atmosphere is family-friendly, the staff was courteous and it looked like folks in the bar were having a good time (live music on the weekends?). The bread with garlic/olive-oil is fantastic, and entrees were great - I had the penne pasta with pesto sauce and the wife had a seafood pasta. Yum!
It's a little overpriced and they took the Puttanesca off the menu. They have been kind enough to make it for me if I ask, but without a standard, it can be sketchy at times. Do make sure that you order the fried artichokes for an appetizer. It's good for an Italian fix with friends, but drive an extra two minutes up the street to Stella Mia in the Country Village for something really spectacular.
A vegetarian friend of mine had said this place was overpriced and lackluster so I had avoided it for a long time. But finally with so few options in the Bothell area we decided to give it a try. It was actually pretty good, and they seemed to have a bunch of things on the menu that looked like they'd be worth trying. I had the lasagna which doesn't sound all that exciting, but they did it with three different sauces and for lasagna it turned out about as unique as I think lasagna could ever turn out. I would have given it a rare five stars but our waiter was really bad in terms of personality (he had a habit of just walking up and staring at you). I would definitely go back again, but I can see why our non-meat eater wasn't too into it as most everything was meaty.
The Italian Experience (NOT)
OK decided to have some Italian the other night but did not want to go to far. So decided to try Grazie Ristorante.
The exterior is new and similar to Macaroni's Grill or an up scale Olive Garden. OK Once inside the place was like a cave and not cozy at all. So we were seated in the back away from the main crowd which was I guess a plus. The decor was out of the past and not what I expected based on the exterior. I felt I was an Italian version of Sharis. Ok enough of the bad decor. The menu had was filled with enough selections to make you think but no so many that your head spinned. After placing the order the service was fair but not impressive although the waiter tried his best so I give him credit for the effort. I ordered some wine that was recommend by him along with the pasta dish. Once we received our food the real fun began. The fettuccine had pesto that looked like sludge from the waste management plant and the cream sauce on my dish was a little cream with my salt if you get my drift. Anyway the wine was fair and for the price I thought I was going to have something that was silky smooth with a full body and mouth watering burst of berry flavors. Instead it think they swapped it out with some box wine (nothing against box but not what I want when I go out to get a good meal). OK so by now I think you probably can guess what I think of my first experience at this place. Can't say that I not going back but with so many restaurants to try it is not on my top 10 to back any time soon. Just wish I could find a great Italian near by. Oh Good luck if you go there based on the other reviews on this site and others seems like most people like so maybe I got them on a bad night
went over for dinner earlier this week & will probably go back sometime before the end of the month.
They gave us a super-sized booth, service was prompt and attentive without being intrusive ... food & drink went down well, the portions aren't as big as i'd like them to be but we have to put quality over quantity sometimes.
Funny how the parking lot was close to full on a weekday but then so was the dining hall when we entered ... recession my azz !
I'm a huge fan. All the food here has been outstanding, the staff has been friendly and attempts to make you feel right at home. I love taking folks there to enjoy the dishes, and very reasonably priced.
I like this place. As far as atmosphere it has a nice feel, but it's certainly fine to come casually dressed. The food is very tasty and I feel fairly priced. I especially like the Shrimp & Crab Cannelloni...oh, and the tiramisu, though I've only had it once it was divine. The one thing I don't care for is the dipping sauce they bring out with the complimentary bread, it's far too garlicky for my taste. However, upon request they will happily bring you balsamic vinegar & olive oil. Enjoy!
I've eaten lunch here more times then I can remember, so I hope that tells you what I think about the place. The food is good and not to pricy. The service is random, I've had great service and I've had poor service, just depends on who the waiter or waitress is that day. On the weekend evenings they have been known to have a love jazz band playing and a full bar.
have you ever had a food brain fart where you are so hungry you can't think of where to go, nothing to chat about, and what you want?.so speechless whatever is near you,... you just go grab and eat???. well that is what I had today when I was meeting up with one of my coworkers for dinner, and she had mentioned that if I didn't mind eating in bothell that there was her favorite italian restaurant there.. hmm.... I was having such a food brain fart.. I didn't care if she had said to go to mcdonald's.. I was soooooooooooo hungry!!!.. so I said yes... we get there.. and it was PACKED!!! so knowing my impatient self I said let's go into the bar and sit down.. Good news..the bar was so vacant that you might have thought that there was a bug infestation in the bar.. but nope.. no bug problem, just nobody in there!! and it was awesome.. the bartender mad us some amazing martini's and got us some house bread.. ( my weakness is carbs.. ) so it was heaven!!! so we got our menu and I found exactly what I wanted.. ordered before we got our waters and got our food in no time... :) oh happiness......
appetizers :
fried calamari ... it was amazing.. yummy..
minestrone soup- soup is soup... it wasn't my order hahha
dinner :
I ordered fruti di mari... omg a big huge plate of pasta with an array of seafood.. and they didn't skimp on the seafood either... oh heaven!!!!!!
she ordered the chicken and broccoli alfredo.. since she was raving about it .. I had to taste it!!!!!... it had kind of a smokey taste to it.. maybe it was the grilling of the chicken.. and the broccoli was perfectly added!!! loved it!!!
I was really pleased... surprising in bothell.. but you can't knock a city until you try it... I learned it the hard way..... but I will be venturing more into bothell..... :)
it really made my food brain fart disappear!!!
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