| Overall |  | ||
| Food | | Service |  |
| Ambience | | Prices | |
It is often said that the worst place to open a restaurant is at the site where a restaurant failed. It’s the inverse of the “Location, Location, Location” rule. We had a Hops down in Lone Tree that we used to go to before Hops imploded. The building sat vacant a while, until a Japanese teppan grill opened there — with some not-inexpensive TI involved. They went out of business within a few months, leaving the property vacant. So when signs went up for Grazio Italian Grill & Bar, we assumed much the same fate would befall.
If tonight was any sign, Grazio will be there for a while. And that’s a good thing.
Food: Grazio is essentially an Italian restaurant, thought there is a large bar in the front half of the place (an artifact of both previous incarnations). They have a minor specialty in sea food, but a wide array of pastas and various meat dishes.
Portion size was generous, and the food was generally quite tasty. Rather than the standard bread basket, there’s someone constantly circulating the floor offering fresh-baked cheese biscuits (which are extremely filling). Margie ordered a carpaccio appetizer that was larger than expected. The side Caesar salads had a good garlic and lemon flavor to them.
I had a veal chop that was very good, along with tasty side potatoes and someone over-cooked asparagus. Margie had some gnocchi which were well made, though the sauce wasn’t all that special. The kids’ menu was lengthy and full of different things; Katherine had a grilled cheese sandwich, which was disappointing until they brought it out, as it was made with mozzarella and romano cheeses and was very tasty and distinctive.
Of the six things on the dessert menu I was enthused about five of them, and they had an extensive gellato and sherbet selection.
The wine list was fairly lengthy, and ranged in price from the 20s to the 90s per bottle. We had a solidly good Super-Tuscan.
Service: They had a lot of folks on the floor. Our waiter was very good, very friendly and attentive (and, when need be, patient). The other help — bus boys, biscuit boys, gellato ladies — were all friendly. One minor order mishap which was speedily and generously corrected.
Ambience: The decor has been completely made over from the previous two tenants. It’s nothing special, and in places a bit in inconsistent, but overall pleasant.
Prices: The gnocchi was $13; the veal chop was $27. Prices — for the quality and quantity — seemed quite reasonable.
Overall: If I had to compare, I’d say it’s a distinct tick up from Macaroni Grill (in service and food quality), but not as good as Pesce Fresco (which they compare to, price-wise). But, yeah, we’ll go back. While their domain, graziorestaurants.com, implies more than one, so far there is just the single restaurant in Lone Tree. Based on the quite decent crowd coming in the whole time we were there, I would expect that won’t be true for long. I look forward to returning.
Grazio Italian Grill & Bar – 9271 East Park Meadows Dr, Lone Tree, CO 80124 – 303-227-0076
Regrettably, Grazio has closed doors. We went there a few times after the above visit, always enjoyed the food and staff, and the place always seemed to be doing well crowd-wise, so not sure what happened. Ah, well — a pity.
Regarding your opening comment:
When I was working in Claremont, CA, the Muffin Garden opened next to us. It didn’t last too long, and when we saw it getting ready to reopen, we wondered what would be there. We were amazed to see… the Muffin Garden. You can guess how well it did.
I just have to say as a former employee I am very happy Grazio closed. I do feel sorry for the incredibly talented chef who never really got to show what he could do because the idiot owners wouldn’t let him create the menu. I know he will go on and have great successes in other Denver restaurants. But, I believe the owners don’t deserve anything and am happy to see their restaurant close.
Well, I can’t speak for the behind-the-scenes stuff, but I did always find the food good and the staff very friendly.
My kid worked at Grazio, and said pretty much the same thing as Sammi did above. Loved the chef, but found the owner to be overbearing and onerous. I ate there a few times, and found that while the food was good, it wasn’t great, and when the economy tanked in the fall, it was only a matter of time before what few patrons the place had would eventually flee to less expensive options. It is always sad to see an independent restaurant fail, but I always thought Grazio’s prices were about 20% too high for the quality they were putting out, especially in a troublesome economy.