If you've been reading my restaurant posts, then you know that we like to visit locally-owned restaurants that aren't part of a chain. However, we do make exceptions for chains that aren't near where we live. Grimaldi's has about 50 locations in the US, but the closest one to our home is about an hour and a half away.
A little bit about Grimaldi's: They opened their first location under the Brooklyn Bridge in 1990. Their pizzas are New York style (obviously), and baked in coal-fired brick ovens to give them a crisp crust. My favorite.
The restaurant we visited is located in the Grand Boulevard Town Center in Miramar Beach, right next to Sandestin. As a matter of fact, if you're staying in Sandestin and have a golf cart, you can drive it right over to Grand Boulevard without going out on the main road. Well, you can do that with your car, too, but you get what I'm saying, right?
Can we talk about the inside of the restaurant? Sooo charming! Red and white check (cloth) tablecloths, brick walls, tile floor, tin on the ceiling, cool photos...very rustic Italiana.
And the chandeliers. They're made from wine bottles!!
I may have mentioned that pizza is Gus' favorite food. He would eat it everyday if possible. I like pizza, but since I do the low carb thing, I don't eat it very often (and when I do, I usually avoid the crust or eat thin crust only). Also, I am much more particular about my pizza than Gus.
We ate here for the first time in August 2017 - and we both loved it. So much so that we ate there again on our October 2017 vacation. Buddy was with us for that trip and he couldn't get enough of it. (He likes pizza as much as Gus.)
They serve three sizes of pizza (12", 16", 18") and you can create your own or choose one of the Chef's Selections. They offer their Famous Sauce (red), pesto, or white garlic (which isn't a sauce - it's mozzarella cheese, garlic, and an olive oil drizzle). They also have calzones, appetizers, salads, and desserts. And let's not forget the bar.
You can order your pizza with two different halves, and that's what Gus and I did. He got the white garlic with pepperoni and I had the Famous Sauce with pepperoni and mushrooms. Delicious!! The crust is perfect (although I only ate two pieces with the crust to keep my carbs down) - just the way I like it - thin, slightly crispy on the bottom, but soft on top.
Of course we ordered the dessert trio - which included mini pieces of tiramisu and cheesecake, and a cannoli. I. Love. Cannoli. They all were delicious.
We also ordered take-out one night. I got the buffalo chicken pizza (I believe it was one of the seasonal specials). Buffalo chicken pizza is my favorite pizza, and I liked the flavor of this one, but I didn't care for the way the hot sauce was sort of pooled in the center of the pizza. I would have also preferred the chicken to be in bite-size pieces. It would've made it easier to pick a piece up and eat it. I ended up using a fork because I had to cut up the chicken, spread the hot sauce around, and remove the celery pieces (I hate celery and didn't realize it came on the pizza).
Grimaldi's Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria
780 Grand Boulevard, Ste. 100
Miramar Beach, FL 32550
Hours:
Sunday - Thursday 11:00am - 10:00pm
Friday & Saturday 11:00am - 11:00pm
Phone: 850-837-3095
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Have you been to Grimaldi's? Planning your trip? I'd love to hear from you - leave a comment, or talk to me on Instagram or Snapchat!
This all looks so yummy!! I don't think i've ever had pizza with celery on it.
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It's majorly delicious! However, celery is not something I enjoy eating, whether it's on pizza or by itself! Since seeing it on the buffalo pizza here, I've also seen it at a couple of other places, so maybe it's not as uncommon as I thought. But I still don't like it, LOL!
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