First time and last time will eat here. Food is very overpriced for the quality. Looking at the menu, we asked if could do half-orders, and the waitress said yes and would be half the menu price. Ordered half order of lasagna and half order chicken marsala.Drinks took long time in coming. Only one waitress for whole restaurant. Mix up at first in delivering food. Given someone at the bar's food first. My girlfriend received her order but waited 10 more minutes for mine.Her chicken marsala was good not great. The lasagna roll was not the usual layers of meat, cheese and pasta. It was one lasagna noodle wrapped around some ground meat with an over-spiced tomato sauce. When received check, the half order of lasagna was $24 and the chicken marsala was $63. Pointed out to waitress and she said she would correct it. Brought back receipt and lasagna was same price; chicken marsala now $35. Talked to chef/manager who said he had changed menu and set prices and no longer offered half orders. The waitress had said they did. If this is true why did I receive a 1/2 order for my meal?He took $4 off the receipt. Food was just okay. Next time we'll go to Italian Kitchen or Cafe Italia for better food and prices.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 2
Shaun Polk
Everything took for-ev-er 35 minutes for entrees, 25 minutes on to go deserts. Refills took around 15 minutes and the place was practically empty. The food itself was god awful. Pre-meal bread was cold and dry, I got the poblano, Alfredo pasta, it was drenched in oil and barely warm. My wife got the Citrus glazed salmon. She said the fish was fine but her side veg were raw. For the price…../for the price it should be miles better both food quality and service wise. As an Italian this resturaunt hurts my soul. I will never return.. 2 people cost was 145 dollars! stay away. It is beyond awful and overpriced
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Andrew Gomez
I want this restaurant to succeed as should all of us. The owners are super cool. Have eaten here a couple of times. The muscles are excellent. A few times we have had good meals. Ribeye is delicious. Unfortunately a couple of times the vegetables have come out cold. The bar is awesome but the pours are a bit skimpy. Owners need to get on their cooks and weight staff pronto! I will definitely go back. In fact, my wife was there last night having some drinks.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Jacob
A terrific piece of Italy, service was astounding and sweet!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Homemade Soup and Dinner Salad with Fresh Toasted Garlic Bread
Sam Duarte
Not going to lie, this place isn't what it used to be.Years ago when this was at another location, the food was much better. The past few times we've gone recently, every dish I had needed salt, or at least some type of seasoning.And unfortunately, someone in our party was served a raw and undercooked chicken.The service is great however, as is the ambiance, but the food could definitely be better.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
Craig Conrad
I read the “bad” reviews before checking out any new restaurant. This one was riddled with reviews of bad service and some angry old guy with attitude. My wife and I ate here and both the food and service was outstanding. (And we had an elderly gentleman serving us, not sure if it was the same guy in reviews).Food tasted like there was little to nothing premade. Had soup, apitizer, and entree, sadly no room for dessert. Place is a bit more expensive than we can afford on a regular basis but as I always say, it’s always better to pay well for good food than to pay well for bad food.The restaurant has done a great job of making this strip mall location into a dining destination.Great place for “date night” - we will be back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Homemade Soup and Dinner Salad with Fresh Toasted Garlic Bread
Andrea Enriquez
Dinner for three and looking forward to trying out this Italian restaurant on our side of town. Walking in, the restaurant looked very promising and inviting. No tables were occupied at the time so we had the restaurant to ourselves. We started off with the bruschetta which left a lot to be desired. The bread was soggy and the mozzarella was low quality. Their prices made me think it would match the quality but I was sadly dissapointed. Next, we got the Greek salad and clam chowder. The Greek salad was missing onion and didn’t have feta cheese. The dressing honestly tasted like it was store bought and not even homemade. Plus the lettuce mix included in the salad was like those premade bags from the grocery store. You’re better off saving some bucks and going to Zinos a couple of blocks down for a delicious Greek salad. The clam chowder was not bad but it also wasn’t good. We were waiting for our main entrees at this point and were kind of nervous. I ordered the frutta di mare, and it was probably the best from everything we tried. Although I wish for the price point of $65 that the pasta had been homemade. The chicken was overcooked, bland, and again the pasta was not home made. I don’t mind paying for high quality food, I’m a foodie and want to have a delicious meal. Overall, a dinner that left a lot to be desired. Next time, I would rather go to ardovino’s desert crossing for a dinner at this price point.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
S L
Upon entering The Grape, we were not greeted for several minutes. Guests would walk-ins but there was no one to greet them or seat us. The dry erase board was empty and should have said, "please seat yourself"... I noticed two lightbulbs were burnt out in the restaurant and knew from the start we were going to have issues. Trust the reviews on this restaurant. The waitress was very kind but took about 15 minutes in an empty restaurant to get over to us. She did not introduce herself and upon opening conversation asked if we would like any appetizers. I responded, no but we would like some drinks. We received our drinks and I noticed my glass was dirty, she apologized and we ordered bottled beers which were cold and good. We eventually received bread, which was good. We both opted for the Chicken Parmesan. The chicken had been cooked earlier in the day and the breading was soggy. There was absolutely no flavor to the food. The spaghetti noodles were topped with what seemed like canned tomato sauce. There was no salt or pepper in the tables, no Parmesan cheese or crushed pepper. One of our bread plates was also dirty. This place has potential but things need to be cooked to order and seasoned... unfortunately we will not return.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: House Bread, Chicken Parmesan
lainez joseph
It was very recommended by a friend when they were on Escondido. We went to the new location, and, it was a very disappointing experience. Food wasn’t fresh, they didn’t have all the items on the menu. The meat balls were inedible as they were supper old and reheated several times. It was expensive for what we ate. We had a hard time to read tge menu because it was extremely dark, it was the same for other costumers around us that needed to use their cell phone to read it.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
DoubleDsmusic777
Nice atmosphere. A little on the pricey side. The marsella had no marsella flavor. The lasagna roll came out cold. When I finally got it, the flavor was can tomato. Great idea for a restaurant. Poor execution.
This place seemed like it was going to be great but what a disappointment. We got seated really quickly in private booth. The booth was uncomfortable and it took over twenty minutes for anyone to even greet us for drinks. Our appetizer was burnt and cheap products for what it cost. We ordered the sampler appetizer that came with mozzarella sticks, meatballs, and mushrooms. They provided a scant amount of sauce which was nowhere near enough for the food on the plate. The meatballs were bland and burnt, the mozzarella sticks were cheap and burnt. Like the kind you buy at Costco or Walmart. I would have expected they make them there for what we paid. Our dinner items were not very good either. They didn’t have what we wanted. Sold out of main menu items on a Friday night. My boyfriend got the fillet minion. It was undercooked and so were the vegetables on his plate. My dish was the chicken piccata. It was flavorless. If I’m spending between $150-$200 for my meal it should be perfect. I would not recommend eating here, it’s a waste of money for what you get. The service was also pretty bad. They offered us a free dessert but I didn’t want anything else there after that experience.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Gabriela & Alfonso Duran
Personally, we were very happy to know that this place would return, we were customers since they were in La Escondida. We really loved it! But oh total desertion, the bread was served frozen in the middle, the service was fatal. They didn't have lemons. All the food seemed like typical frozen food. How sad ? and the atmosphere is very different from the relaxing place I knew. I will comment that the bar turned out beautiful. But I wouldn't go back, because of the food. I don't know if it's the same owner, but the quality is totally different.
Food: 1
Service: 1
Pat VB
The Grape is now open for lunch so we stopped by and had a wonderful time. The service was great. The drinks were great and the food was sooooo good. We will definitely return.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
James Munoz
Very nice atmosphere and decor. Staff was very nice and professional, but the food was the issue. In my opinion, Olive Garden tastes better, and is more than half the price.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Cindy Sizemore
We went for a special birthday dinner that we planned weeks in advance. The first clue that it would be less than stellar was the inability to make a reservation as they did not answer the phone during business hours and the voicemail had not been set up. The day of our dinner we stopped by in the afternoon and walked in to make a reservation. They commented that they needed to get a new phone number.For dinner we ordered an appetizer of mussels, rolled lasagne and ribeye. My dinner companion told the server that it was my birthday and her response was, we aren't allowed to do anything, the owner is very strict.The mussels came out first, well presented in a garlicy broth. As we took our first mussel our main courses came out. The server's comment was only that the kitchen got stuff out fast. The mussels were tasty. The lasagne was pretty, well plated, but lacked in flavor and would have benefitted from more sauce. The ribeye was too salty to eat. Thinking my tastebuds were off I had my companion try it as well, way over salted. When the server came to check we let her know it was too salty to eat and she responded that the chef had a heavy hand with salt and had a new steak prepared. It came out slightly overcooked, but not over salted. There was no other seasoning. I was also disappointed that it was a thin, 1/4 inch ribeye like is found in a family value pack. It was accomanied by sauteed vegetables, also unseasoned, and mashed potatoes with lots of black pepper.We had high expectations for The Grape and were very much looking forward to a culinary experience. Instead we got an average, unremarkable meal that showed a lack of culinary experience and knowledge of the tastes of the Italian kitchen.
First time and last time will eat here. Food is very overpriced for the quality. Looking at the menu, we asked if could do half-orders, and the waitress said yes and would be half the menu price. Ordered half order of lasagna and half order chicken marsala.Drinks took long time in coming. Only one waitress for whole restaurant. Mix up at first in delivering food. Given someone at the bar's food first. My girlfriend received her order but waited 10 more minutes for mine.Her chicken marsala was good not great. The lasagna roll was not the usual layers of meat, cheese and pasta. It was one lasagna noodle wrapped around some ground meat with an over-spiced tomato sauce. When received check, the half order of lasagna was $24 and the chicken marsala was $63. Pointed out to waitress and she said she would correct it. Brought back receipt and lasagna was same price; chicken marsala now $35. Talked to chef/manager who said he had changed menu and set prices and no longer offered half orders. The waitress had said they did. If this is true why did I receive a 1/2 order for my meal?He took $4 off the receipt. Food was just okay. Next time we'll go to Italian Kitchen or Cafe Italia for better food and prices.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 2
Everything took for-ev-er 35 minutes for entrees, 25 minutes on to go deserts. Refills took around 15 minutes and the place was practically empty. The food itself was god awful. Pre-meal bread was cold and dry, I got the poblano, Alfredo pasta, it was drenched in oil and barely warm. My wife got the Citrus glazed salmon. She said the fish was fine but her side veg were raw. For the price…../for the price it should be miles better both food quality and service wise. As an Italian this resturaunt hurts my soul. I will never return.. 2 people cost was 145 dollars! stay away. It is beyond awful and overpriced
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
I want this restaurant to succeed as should all of us. The owners are super cool. Have eaten here a couple of times. The muscles are excellent. A few times we have had good meals. Ribeye is delicious. Unfortunately a couple of times the vegetables have come out cold. The bar is awesome but the pours are a bit skimpy. Owners need to get on their cooks and weight staff pronto! I will definitely go back. In fact, my wife was there last night having some drinks.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
A terrific piece of Italy, service was astounding and sweet!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Homemade Soup and Dinner Salad with Fresh Toasted Garlic Bread
Not going to lie, this place isn't what it used to be.Years ago when this was at another location, the food was much better. The past few times we've gone recently, every dish I had needed salt, or at least some type of seasoning.And unfortunately, someone in our party was served a raw and undercooked chicken.The service is great however, as is the ambiance, but the food could definitely be better.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
I read the “bad” reviews before checking out any new restaurant. This one was riddled with reviews of bad service and some angry old guy with attitude. My wife and I ate here and both the food and service was outstanding. (And we had an elderly gentleman serving us, not sure if it was the same guy in reviews).Food tasted like there was little to nothing premade. Had soup, apitizer, and entree, sadly no room for dessert. Place is a bit more expensive than we can afford on a regular basis but as I always say, it’s always better to pay well for good food than to pay well for bad food.The restaurant has done a great job of making this strip mall location into a dining destination.Great place for “date night” - we will be back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Homemade Soup and Dinner Salad with Fresh Toasted Garlic Bread
Dinner for three and looking forward to trying out this Italian restaurant on our side of town. Walking in, the restaurant looked very promising and inviting. No tables were occupied at the time so we had the restaurant to ourselves. We started off with the bruschetta which left a lot to be desired. The bread was soggy and the mozzarella was low quality. Their prices made me think it would match the quality but I was sadly dissapointed. Next, we got the Greek salad and clam chowder. The Greek salad was missing onion and didn’t have feta cheese. The dressing honestly tasted like it was store bought and not even homemade. Plus the lettuce mix included in the salad was like those premade bags from the grocery store. You’re better off saving some bucks and going to Zinos a couple of blocks down for a delicious Greek salad. The clam chowder was not bad but it also wasn’t good. We were waiting for our main entrees at this point and were kind of nervous. I ordered the frutta di mare, and it was probably the best from everything we tried. Although I wish for the price point of $65 that the pasta had been homemade. The chicken was overcooked, bland, and again the pasta was not home made. I don’t mind paying for high quality food, I’m a foodie and want to have a delicious meal. Overall, a dinner that left a lot to be desired. Next time, I would rather go to ardovino’s desert crossing for a dinner at this price point.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Upon entering The Grape, we were not greeted for several minutes. Guests would walk-ins but there was no one to greet them or seat us. The dry erase board was empty and should have said, "please seat yourself"... I noticed two lightbulbs were burnt out in the restaurant and knew from the start we were going to have issues. Trust the reviews on this restaurant. The waitress was very kind but took about 15 minutes in an empty restaurant to get over to us. She did not introduce herself and upon opening conversation asked if we would like any appetizers. I responded, no but we would like some drinks. We received our drinks and I noticed my glass was dirty, she apologized and we ordered bottled beers which were cold and good. We eventually received bread, which was good. We both opted for the Chicken Parmesan. The chicken had been cooked earlier in the day and the breading was soggy. There was absolutely no flavor to the food. The spaghetti noodles were topped with what seemed like canned tomato sauce. There was no salt or pepper in the tables, no Parmesan cheese or crushed pepper. One of our bread plates was also dirty. This place has potential but things need to be cooked to order and seasoned... unfortunately we will not return.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: House Bread, Chicken Parmesan
It was very recommended by a friend when they were on Escondido. We went to the new location, and, it was a very disappointing experience. Food wasn’t fresh, they didn’t have all the items on the menu. The meat balls were inedible as they were supper old and reheated several times. It was expensive for what we ate. We had a hard time to read tge menu because it was extremely dark, it was the same for other costumers around us that needed to use their cell phone to read it.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Nice atmosphere. A little on the pricey side. The marsella had no marsella flavor. The lasagna roll came out cold. When I finally got it, the flavor was can tomato. Great idea for a restaurant. Poor execution.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
This place seemed like it was going to be great but what a disappointment. We got seated really quickly in private booth. The booth was uncomfortable and it took over twenty minutes for anyone to even greet us for drinks. Our appetizer was burnt and cheap products for what it cost. We ordered the sampler appetizer that came with mozzarella sticks, meatballs, and mushrooms. They provided a scant amount of sauce which was nowhere near enough for the food on the plate. The meatballs were bland and burnt, the mozzarella sticks were cheap and burnt. Like the kind you buy at Costco or Walmart. I would have expected they make them there for what we paid. Our dinner items were not very good either. They didn’t have what we wanted. Sold out of main menu items on a Friday night. My boyfriend got the fillet minion. It was undercooked and so were the vegetables on his plate. My dish was the chicken piccata. It was flavorless. If I’m spending between $150-$200 for my meal it should be perfect. I would not recommend eating here, it’s a waste of money for what you get. The service was also pretty bad. They offered us a free dessert but I didn’t want anything else there after that experience.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Personally, we were very happy to know that this place would return, we were customers since they were in La Escondida. We really loved it! But oh total desertion, the bread was served frozen in the middle, the service was fatal. They didn't have lemons. All the food seemed like typical frozen food. How sad ? and the atmosphere is very different from the relaxing place I knew. I will comment that the bar turned out beautiful. But I wouldn't go back, because of the food. I don't know if it's the same owner, but the quality is totally different.
Food: 1
Service: 1
The Grape is now open for lunch so we stopped by and had a wonderful time. The service was great. The drinks were great and the food was sooooo good. We will definitely return.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Very nice atmosphere and decor. Staff was very nice and professional, but the food was the issue. In my opinion, Olive Garden tastes better, and is more than half the price.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
We went for a special birthday dinner that we planned weeks in advance. The first clue that it would be less than stellar was the inability to make a reservation as they did not answer the phone during business hours and the voicemail had not been set up. The day of our dinner we stopped by in the afternoon and walked in to make a reservation. They commented that they needed to get a new phone number.For dinner we ordered an appetizer of mussels, rolled lasagne and ribeye. My dinner companion told the server that it was my birthday and her response was, we aren't allowed to do anything, the owner is very strict.The mussels came out first, well presented in a garlicy broth. As we took our first mussel our main courses came out. The server's comment was only that the kitchen got stuff out fast. The mussels were tasty. The lasagne was pretty, well plated, but lacked in flavor and would have benefitted from more sauce. The ribeye was too salty to eat. Thinking my tastebuds were off I had my companion try it as well, way over salted. When the server came to check we let her know it was too salty to eat and she responded that the chef had a heavy hand with salt and had a new steak prepared. It came out slightly overcooked, but not over salted. There was no other seasoning. I was also disappointed that it was a thin, 1/4 inch ribeye like is found in a family value pack. It was accomanied by sauteed vegetables, also unseasoned, and mashed potatoes with lots of black pepper.We had high expectations for The Grape and were very much looking forward to a culinary experience. Instead we got an average, unremarkable meal that showed a lack of culinary experience and knowledge of the tastes of the Italian kitchen.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 3