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Il Grissino
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
Marie D. said: "My experience was awesome! From the moment my fiance and I arrived we felt more welcome then we ever did going to Anthony's. Our server recommended the new menu items and suggested the new mussels with white wine sauce and the garlic…" read more »
16 reviews for Il Grissino
16 reviews in English
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Review from Milica P.
Miami, FL
11/17/2010
The first time I came here was for dinner. I ordered the seafood salad, and it was literally the first time a restaurant got it right - very flavorful and satisfying.
The 2nd time was even better because I went for lunch with some coworkers. You cannot beat this deal $12 lunch that includes app or soup, followed by main course (choose from 3 options - pasta, beef or fish) and even DESSERT! And all you can drink ice tea. The amazing part is that the food was superb. I had the swordfish over grilled tomatoes - exceptional, caprese salad (so yum.) My companions had the pumpkin soup and pasta, and everyone left astounded at how delicious the food is.
If there is one thing they could improve, it is service - during my first visit we did have to wait a long time for the check, as thought they forgot about us, but the food made up for it. -
Review from Andrew G.
Miami, FL
4/3/2011 1 photo
I'd rather have an auditing session at the Church of Scientology across the street than eat here again.
A number of us had a business lunch here this past week. I know times are hard and all restaurants are suffering, but as you can see from the attached photo, the Lunch "special" is a joke.
For scale, note that the lemon in the photo isn't even a whole wedge.
The "vegetables" are mostly slices of onion, some carrot slivers and some zucchini slivers. The salmon was overcooked and tiny.
One of the other diners, who NEVER complains, had to send his spaghetti and meatballs back as he could only describe them as "funky". -
Review from Sergio F.
8/31/2010
This being one my shorter reviews, is the equivalent of a "save the date", since I just had appetizers. However, it was enough to pique my interest to come back for a full email.
I stopped Il Grissino for a University of Miami Alumni Happy Hour this afternoon. The networking was good, and the appetizers were delicious. I munched on very fresh tomato piecesserved on crisp bruschetta, perfectly shaped mozzarela caprese skewers and roasted red pepper slices that perfectly balanced tart and sweet.
The restaurant itself had clean architectural lines and lots of natural lighting with large picture windows onto Giralda. That earns a lot of points in my book. The kitchen door is also a frnech door (door with glass in the middle), which gives it a cool touch.
I plan to be back soon for lunch or dinner, and am sending it good vibes towards an equally pleasant experience! -
Review from Kristen S.
Miami, FL
2/28/2011
Annoyed.
My office in the Gables orders out on a daily basis. I have the daunting task of ordering for everyone and one of our picks today was Il Grissino. A coworker picked up a menu on Friday since she realized they deliver.
So, I called this afternoon and started ordering the Tuna Carpaccio. To my surprise, the guy on the phone informed me they no longer have Tuna Carpaccio, which was on the menu we picked up on Friday. Okay, no tuna. So, he tells me they have Salmon and Beef Carpaccio. As, I'm not ordering all of these lunches for myself, I ask if I can place him on a brief hold so I can find out if my coworker would like an alternative. By the time I get back to the phone, the line is dead. Thanks for your patience, sir!
Second time I called, a lady answers, puts me on hold twice, then finally takes my order. I order the Salmon Carpaccio and the Filetto di Cernia with asparagus. Now, I'm not sure if this lady knows Italian at all or is just hard of hearing because an hour later my order arrives and it's a Filet Mignon with asparagus. For those of you who didn't take Italian 101, Cernia is Grouper.
Not only did they completely screw up the order, they took over an hour to get it here when I was promised "15-30 minutes" over the phone. Not to mention, the filet mignon we didn't order was stale.
Never again. -
Review from Claudia J.
Miami, FL
4/13/2010
Went there for lunch, we were a party of four. We arrived around 1.30pm, just 2 tables eating lunch plus us.... the place looks very nice, decoration, there's plenty of natural light which is nice and very colorful decoration all around, lots of wood.
We ordered the chicken with arrugula and tomatoes, risotto with porcini mushrooms ($15.95), a pasta with tomato and a pizza.
The chicken was tasteless, although I did like that the arrugula was a young arrugula... but the chicken was tasteless.... The risotto was the best dish of all!!! The pasta smelled like it had canned tomato paste... ok you are paying $13-$14 for pasta... but the ingredients might not be the best!... big disappointment!
Service was good, no auctioning of food, so BIG points for that! Not many restaurants in Miami do that anymore!! Where has the service gone??
I might have had nicer italian meals somewhere else... -
Review from Charles W.
Long Island City, NY
6/29/2011
Not sure if this place is hit or miss, but my wife and I had a great first experience. The grilled octopus appetizer was amazing and the branzino fish special was well worth the price. I'm heading back!
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Review from Jordan N.
5/21/2010
A laid-back fine-dining Italian restaurant with casual prices
PROS:
+ Pasta dishes are superb (had the tortelloni)
+ Waiter was on top of everything and friendly
+ Good prices, especially for lunch - $13 for two course meal
CONS:
- Brie & Pear salad had a little too much honey dressing
- Beef straccetti was just okay - cooked more than what I ordered
- Dessert (chocolate cake) was kind of disappointingly dry -
Review from Lorely B.
5/14/2010 1 Check-in Here
Sad to say that the best thing about this restaurant is the obvious new hire that brings water to the table. Other than that - no more than just meh. Okay, it's a good looking place. But service is below average and food is the same.
We asked for table when we got there and they sat us at bar to wait (even though tables were available). Tables came and went and guy finally came over to say "do you want a table?" seriously??!??? what do u think we were waiting for? Anyway, moving on...
We get a table (with no napkins on it), and a waiter who's more preoccupied with what ladies were present. Finally gives us napkins and menus (after 15 mins or so)... and takes FOREVER to finally take our order.... We order the riso nero (risotto with squid ink) and a pizza with spicy salami. The pizza wasn't bad - a margherita with some spicy cantimpalo on top (a little too meaty for me but my hubby liked it). The riso nero was SALTY - pure SALT!!!!! it was distracting.... They brought out my food before my husbands so by th etime his pizza came my food was very cool... Weird that they didn't bring them both together.
Bill came - not an expensive meal, granted. Services was odd and food was less than average. Don't waste your $$$! -
Review from Chris D.
Evanston, IL
8/8/2010
This was a very odd experience for us. Imagine August in Coral Gables and 5:30PM in the evening. Coral Gables is dead anyway. Nary a soul in sight. Of course we are going to dinner at 5:30 and we're not even 60 yet. Hey, we were hungry! Anyway, we wanted Italian and I had checked out the little place across the street (Casteluccio) and this place. Il Grissino looked nicer because of the comfortable lime cream green and larger rooms with big storefront windows. Needless to say, we were the first ones there for dinner. Nonetheless, the waitstaff was strange. Imagine Zydrunas Ilguaskas (now of the Miami Heat) as a bad guy. Big, indifferent and, even though no one else was there, seemed to be hurrying us through dinner like he needed to turn the table quickly.
To be fair, the food and wine weren't bad, I have to say. And I will admit that at that point we were very tired of Coral Gables after coming down here from Chicago and finding it to be deathly quiet. It think the real problem was the strange service. Bottom line, you'd be better off, and spend less on Italian Food by going to Archie's down the street. -
Review from Erika S.
7/1/2011
I don't like giving places one star reviews but this place was horrible. My boyfriend and I went last night for the first time and well.. First we start off by looking at the menu outside, the waiter and hostess basically attacked us to come in. I felt a little overwhelmed so I told my boyfriend we should try it out. They seemed really eager for our business so I figured the service would be excellent. There were only 2 tables seated when we walked in. The waiter did not give us a chance to breathe much less look at the menu before he asked what we wanted to eat. I'm going to make this short because there isn't much to it. As an appetizer we had the burrata. As an entree my boyfriend had the Buccatini and I had the Tortelloni with spinach and ricotta in a white sauce. All of it was just bad, the appetizer was mushy and didn't have enough prosciutto, the burrata was bland and I swear that my entree was spiked with mango or pineapple sauce that made it unbearable. I left most of my food, we were in and out of there in less than an hour. We didn't even finish our wine, I left hungry. The End.
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Review from Jason O.
Miami, FL
12/15/2009 1 Check-in Here
When's the last time you visited an Italian restaurant without fried calamari on the menu? If you did, and you're in the Gables, you just found the best Italian in the area.
The owner behind the restaurant built his reputation as the hardworking entrepreneur behind the largest restaurant restaurant in Venezuela. While hardworking in the restaurant business is a must, I typically find that South Americans spearheading Italian kitchens only elevate the cuisine so much. Here, that is different. In fact, everything is different. Disposing with the charming trattoria/enoteca on a side road of Rome feel left by former tenants La Gastronomia, this place is sleek, modern and sexy without being slutty. White, geometric chairs, white walls and dark wood predominates, accented with underlit green marble on the bar area and the brass eye-catching pizza oven and fixtures. Techno music plays in the background, but only in the background. You don't need to worry about it giving you a migraine or even messing with your tastebuds. Despite the pizzaz of the place, the tables are very well spaced out, preventing you like feeling like you're enjoying the lux life in a sardine can. And those chairs? every bit as comfortable as they are modern.
The food was a surprise, especially since pastas and pizzas are in the low teens, fish in the $20s and meat $20s-$30s. Pasta was fresh made and the fish, flavorful and even fresher. Our table of three enjoyed the following:
Tuna Carpaccio - so thin it melted in your mouth, drizzled with olive oil, lemon, flecks of spices and sliced baby tomatoes
Scallops - beautifully cooked, full of flavor
Il Grissino Pizza - a mountain of arugula and young parmigian. It must have been good, I never tasted it.
Yellowtail - deboned tableside, it was not a meek fish, but rather quite flavorful and enjoyable. It came with a good sized side of oven roasted potatoes that echoed the fish's simplicity and depth of flavor
Seafood linguini Special- The culinary equivalent of putting a conch shell to your ear. The broth sang with the flavors of the ocean and came with fresh meaty mussels and tasty clams.
We finished off the meal with a thick and actually good rendition of tiramesu as well as a mascarpone cream covered with blueberry coulis.
Go soon and go often. Although the service is still ironing out the kinks (two waiters, bones in the fish even after deboning it), I cannot imagine this place not roaring alive on a regular basis. It's SoBe style with DD substance and prices, all in the convenience of Coral Gables. I cannot tell you how glad I am to finally get something like this there. -
Review from jen r.
1/31/2010
first off lol @ corkpile. my coworker actually asked if they had fried calamari and was disappointed when the waiter said no.
i have been here twice now and both times have been a hit!!
the blanca nieve pizza is simply perfection. a white pizza with mushrooms, ham, and truffle oil.
the chicken parmesan special was soooo good had a hint of sweet flavor.
the pear and brie salad with honey mustard vinaigrette was good enough to be my main meal.
the asparagus risotto was the surprise, never wouldve imagined it to be so good.
the bread basket offers regular bread or breadsticks which are both awesome.
the tiramesu was really good. and the chocolate cake just needed an accompanying scoop of vanilla ice cream to be the perfect dessert.
the service is right on target and the decor is beautiful. the prices are very fair for coral gables.
actually right now they are offering a 2 course lunch special for $13, great deal!!Listed in: Downtown Coral Gables
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Review from Yeleny S.
Miami, FL
1/21/2010
Love this new Italian addition to Coral Gables' Giralda strip. It's modern chic. Big glass windows make it effortless to peek inside whether you are driving or walking by. Love the copper wood burning oven. I first sat at the bar as I waited for my girlfriend and witnessed the couple next to me struggle to decide on which of the more than 10 pizzas on the menu they should try. I did sit there long enough to see it come out of the oven and it looked and smelled good. Judging by the crumbs left, it must have tasted good as well.
But enough of that, lets talk about the food. We started with the Carpaccio ($10.50) thinly sliced filet mignon served with arugula, shaved parmesan in a cipriani sauce that was delish. For dinner I tried the meaty wood over roasted grouper ($19) served with artichokes, sliced potatoes in a white wine sauce that aside from healthy was perfectly cooked and plentiful. My friend had the filet mignon ($22) which I tried and was also very delicious. We accompanied it with a bottle of white and even had desert all under $100. Can't beat it! Great food and great ambiance, a big plus! I'll be back. -
Review from Paul R.
Miami, FL
5/5/2011
Despite some of the reviews here, I decided to check out Il Grissino for the first time about a month ago. I have enjoyed dinner on a couple of occasions, and believe the kitchen is superior. Try the Milanese Veal Chop with greens- better than I have had in Milan! The wine list is short, but the selections are excellent and guys- priced at retail prices as an acommodation to the excellent food! So, after my first experience, I have checked this restaurant out a couple of times, each time expecting a failure. Excellent each time! I took the plunge today- I held a very important business lunch at Il Grissino. I and my client were exteremely pleased! Excellent food, service and ambiance, every time! Successful business lunch meet, client was very pleased with the Chef's filet mignon strips and risotto special and the service. Me also with my whole broiled fish, filleted at the table. Very nice!!
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Review from Iliana R.
Miami, FL
4/8/2011
First time and last time I'll be coming to this Restaurant. Walked in on a late Saturday night and I have to admit they did tell me kitchen would close soon. But they were in no mood to wait on us. From the person who sat us down to the waitstaff, they were annoyed we dared to ask questions and place an order. They insisted the Risotto was great, and when my girlfriend ordered pasta, they said "it was bad" and dissuaded her from ordering what she wanted. Who has ever heard of a "bad" pasta in an Italian restaurant?? We got as far as attempting to eat our salads. I canceled the rest of the order, paid the bill, and left. They did not make any attempts for amends, etc. I don't think they've taken a walk around their neighborhood, plenty of restaurants who would want our business. Ciao!
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Review from Miyamoto R.
Miami, FL
1/15/2010
Il Grissino tries, but not hard enough.
Yesterday my wife and I walked by Il Grissino and we were wowed by the decour: modern looking furniture and decour without being South Beach tacky, relatively packed, with a bricken oven to boot. We were game and decided to go in.
The service was a little slow because they had two waiters working probably 30 tables. We were patient so we waited for the waiter to come, offer us the menus and we looked over the wine list. They have an excellent Chianti Classico Rocca de la Manche that you can order by the glass or the bottle - we ordered the bottle at $35. This was an excellent, excellent wine. If you do go, I highly recommend this wine. Again, you can order this wine by the glass if a bottle is too much for you and your companion.
We wanted to save room for desert so we went straight to the meal. I ordered a grilled grouper, glazed with a buttery sauce, topped with potatoes with artichokes on the side. My wife went for filet mignon with potatoes and cheese. We didn't wait particularly long for the food to arrive. Much to my disappointment, I found the grouper to be slightly cold in the middle. The fish wasn't particularly fresh, which I understood given that grouper is out of season right now in Florida and it probably came from Panama. However, the fish definitely didn't taste fresh and, more so, there wasn't any zing to the fish. What I mean is that there didn't seem to be much in the way of spices or seasoning. It really tasted like a warmed up fish with a premade sauce poured on top. My wife thought that her filet mignon was somewhat bland, again, as if it needed some sort of seasoning to bring the meat to life.
We got two deserts. The first one was a crusted apple pie and the second was a creme-mousse with blueberries. Both my wife and I enjoyed the apple pie which had a particularly crispy crust, with the apples moist, tasty, and crisp. We split though on the creme-mousse. I thought it was sweet, smooth with the blueberries melted in making the whole desert taste somewhat, but obviously not, like dulce de leche. My wife thought it was slightly bland and felt that the mousse overpowered the taste of the blueberries.
Excluding tip, the two meals, two deserts, and the bottle of wine came in at $97, which I think makes it one of the more
Again, echoing a lot of the other reviews, I think the restaurant is trying to find its footing. We didn't try the pastas nor the pizzas, so I can not speak to that part of the menu. Would I go back? Perhaps, but there are so many other restaurants that we have yet to go to in the Gables that I think it will be some time before we go back.
