Grimaldi's Pizzeria UPDATE - El Segundo

A better experience this time around, though I do wish it was easier to get things to go. (Nothing wrong with their take-out - I just live too far away.)

Starting with a Bruschetta Trio, love the fresh, classic tomato & basil - there's something about tomatoes in olive oil... Roasted red pepper brightens a creamy ricotta, and the marinated artichoke has a slightly sour finish, the kind that makes you want a little more of where that came from.

We kept it simple with a White Pizza. Their marinara sauce is fantastic, but wow, nothing beats the stretchy ropes of mozzarella they pack onto this pie. The meatballs are moist, and the Italian sausage is full of spices, and our mushrooms add some texture and juice. 

Keep it simple. They'll nickel and dime you for special orders and pizza modifications, but if you just order whatever is one the menu or put a couple toppings on a base, you can't go wrong. Pricier than many, but you get what you pay for with most. Pay a little extra at Grimald's. IMHO, it's the best pizza in the South Bay so far.

Grimaldi’s Pizzeria - El Segundo

The pizza is fantastic. The service is polite, and the Tuesday Tastings will inevitably pull you in for at least one bottle of wine half off. They would get an enthusiastic four stars for sure, but their pricing is so whack they whacked at least one star off my rating. I almost never take issue with pricing. A business is a business, but when they try to gouge you, we have a problem.

Maybe they just don't like vegetarians? We had one at our table (for health reasons) so we ordered our pizza half n’ half: Half Margherita, half Don.

Both halves are perfect. The crust is impressively thin, a supple sheet as a backdrop for greatness. The Margherita half is a beautiful basil finish on dreamy mozzarella discs, and sweet n' tangy tomato sauce is a far-reaching flavor that lingers. The other side is The Don, loaded with soft and savory sausage, fragrant meatballs, gently spicy pepperoni. 

There's a lot of awesomeness on the one pizza, but their up-charging leaves a terrible taste. To start, they charged us the full price for the Don, which is several dollars more. No problem, we're actually fine paying full price for only half the toppings as we appreciate them being accommodating - most places won't make two halves that are so drastically different. Then they tried to charge us MORE for the “extra famous sauce” AND the basil on the Margherita half. Yes, you heard that correctly. We removed all the expensive ingredients (pepperoni, sausage, meatballs) from half the pizza and they’re charging us for sauce (which comes with the pizza!) and a few little leaves. The Margherita tastes great with the not-so-special sauce, btw.

Forget you Grimaldi’s, you’re just greedy. I was thrilled to finally try a pie a this Brooklyn legend, and I get why they've outlasted so many others. Their pizza sets the bar high, and every bite of that pizza reminds me of why there is nothing like the New York slice. And despite the shakedown pricing, I would still go back. Maybe it's the price to pay for getting the wine half off. I’ll just bring my own basil next time.