Blue Grotto

Perfect Happy Hour Friday night spot. We were seated up top could look down and watch them prepare your food. The waitress was nice and pleasant. Wonderful place.

One of my favorite places in the city! It is quiet, relaxed, the staff is great, and the food is delicious!

I’ve been to Blue Grotto a few times and have had mixed experiences. The speciality pizzas here are good, and I recommend the goat cheese and fig pizza if you are going to try one. The wine selection is ok, but I would expect a bit more variety from a place with a full bar inside of it. The ambiance is decent, especially in the summer when they open the window in the bar area. The service I have received here has been a mixed bag, with more bad service than good. This is a great place to go for happy hour or a small bite to eat.

Wow. This place has really gone down hill. Service was lousy… no interest in accomodating a dairy allergy for one guest. Chipped water glass. Torn/​dirty menus. Server would just disappear. Even the truffle oil frites w/​burger were still raw — no intention of drizzling w/​oil. Pizza crust was only thing that earned the single star. The place has lost its charm.

I really don’t know why we haven’t been to this place before, but it truly is a hidden gem. The staff was extremely friendly and accommodating from the bartender to our waiter. We only ordered pizzas but they excellent. We will be going back and trying something else. May be our new favorite place to go!

I’ve had this place on my list of outside patio places for awhile and finally was able to check it out. It has comfy couches and a nice space outside. I’m guessing they are planning on some remodeling because they had a pile of lumber on the patio, so hopefully that project will progress quickly and get the wheelbarrow and lumber off the patio.
We made it to happy hour with 15 minutes to spare. We ordered the charcuterie plate based on the suggestion of our server. It was decent, but I wouldn’t have been happy paying full price at $ 19.
Our server didn’t get our happy hour drink prices on our receipt, but he did correct it when we mentioned it. I had a salad and hubby had the burger and fries for dinner. My salad was good and hubby’s fries were good too! He liked his burger and our only complaint about dinner was how long it took to arrive at the table.

Had a great experience here yesterday. Went in for brunch and sat at the bar. The bartender was kind and attentive.
We had the fig and prosciutto and the croque-​madame — both dishes were great.
The atmosphere is really nice — upscale and classy. I’ve recently moved to KC from Phoenix and have been looking for something like this in the Prairie Village/​Brookside area that has a wine bar feel. The bar area could use a bit of an update… the liquor bottles are exposed in a weird way and it just looks kind of messy.
Overall a really great experience — I’ll be back.

Food was good. We had the fughi pizza and an arugula/​goat cheese salad. The pizza was really great– excellent crust! I wasn’t a huge fan of the dressing on the salad.
We sat outside because the weather was phenomenal! They have a really cute patio, however the seat cushions were stained and dirty! I highly recommend getting new ones!

Blue Grotto is a must when we come in town to visit. We have been at least four times over the last few years and have always enjoyed the food and the experience. The pizza is fantastic.

Pizza is outstanding. The oven is the key. Fresh ingredients and amazing balance on all the pizzas. Cool atmosphere includes a long bar and the beer selection is always different and exciting. Love the brookside location with ample parking in front and back.

Rustic-​Style Pizza was amazing. Service was mediocre (not awful, just ok).
It was easy to get a table
This place is kind of like your favorite black dress— easy to go casual (take out) or easy to dress up with the right accessories (simple date night).
The salads are enough to be shared by two people (seeing that they are $ 8/​plate).
We tried the scallops with risotto and the funghi pizza. While the salad and the risotto were both good, I would not get either of them again (only 2 scallops per entrée)… I will definitely be back for more pizza though if I in a wood-​fired pizza mood.

Fancy pizza. That really is about the only thing I can say. Don’t get me wrong, it is really good pizza, but nothing that really sets it apart. I will say that you need to go during happy hour when all the pizzas are cheaper (maybe $ 5 off? I can’t remember).

I waited for at least 30 mins for just a salad ! 15 mins for a cock ! We were completed ignored and they delivered the food after we complained. The food is okay. Still the service were need to be improved.

Pizza dough was amazing! Pizza Benedict was just the right balance of sweet and salty and a poached egg with asparagus just made this the best breakfast in KC. Not to busy, coffee was strong and service was great.

I’m not a pizza connoisseur by any means but if you want a bougey pie paired with a lovely glass of wine, this is a terrific place to go.
We sat at the bar and the bartender was super attentive.
No complaints here!

Wow I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed BG. I think it’s arguably my favorite place in Brookside.
The patio is one of my favorite aspects of this place — and even during the Winter it can be a welcoming place. They fire up the fireplaces and you can just cozy up and chat with friends.
Good food and good drinks. If you want a casual joint that also serves really great food — stop by here.

I am torn on the rating for this restaurant. I would normally say it is a solid «3», but last night pushed it lower on my scale.
It’s a great set-​up. We’ve been here to eat on the patio with the fires (fun!), we’ve been for brunch a few times, dinner with friends, and last night we went for a late dinner. We sat at the bar as we usually do. We wanted a pizza which they do well. They are on the salty side. Well, actually, everything here is REALLY salty. We ordered the salted cod for an app. Yes, I know the name implies it will be salty (and I have had it many times before), but this was inedible. We had to send it back. The bartender was nice about it and didn’t make us feel bad for doing so. The menu is limited and doesn’t change much. We come every couple of months so it is fine for us.
The set-​up inside is nice, but it is starting to get run down. Everything in the bar area is dusty. I went to use the mens room which is across from the dishwasher. I waited for the bathroom and watched them mix pizza sauce and meatballs on the dish washers counter while dishes were being washed, water and soap were flying, dirty dishes were being piled around the food prep and… they don’t even try and close this off for the restaurant. The bathroom… that was a different experience all in it’s self. Most McDonald’s bathrooms are cleaner. While it wasn’t «dirty», it was a mess. Paper towels and shredded toilet paper were all over the floor, vanity, even the toilet! Sink was clogged with paper, there was no soap, and the trash can was overflowing.
I hope they clean this place up a bit before spring. It’ s a great place to grab a drink at the bar when the front garage door/​window is raised. Every time we go here there are numerous regulars, which is a good sign. It’s just time for them to pay attention to detail.

I had heard of Blue Grotto for years and finally got the chance to stop in one unusually warm winter day. We were able to sit on the patio and enjoy the weather. We visited just to get drinks and apps.
I couldn’t have been happier with our choice of Blue Grotto. Our server, who I think was also the bartender, was top notch. He was attentive and just the right amount of chatty. He kept our beers cold.
The server recommended the bruschetta, which is the dish I was considering after watching Check, Please! We also ordered a pizza and very much enjoyed it.
The only thing I did notice was that the cushions on the patio were a bit worn, other than that I have only good things to say about Blue Grotto and will definitely go back. I know my not-​so-​adventerous friends will be able to find something they like and I will be able to find something to satisfy my tastes as well.
I will definitely go back.

When I see 3.5 stars on Unilocal,it worries me. I always think 3.5 stars is a bad restaurant, or at least a sub-​par one. So when I found myself going to Blue Grotto, I was a bit hesitant of what I might find. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised.
We had reservations for 6:30 on a Saturday night… and they clearly weren’t needed. On a nice evening when every other place in Brookside was seemingly packed, Blue Grotto was not. OK… maybe my concerns on quality and service (as per Unilocal) were justified?
Our waiter was with us immediately when we sat down, and he was good all night. Maybe one instance where he took a bit too long to come back and take our order, and one of my beers took slightly too long to come, but other than that, he was efficient and friendly.
So the food… we started with an order of bruschetta, and an order of the pork belly. Both of them were awesome… really, really awesome. The bruschetta was tasty, with delicious cheeses and flavorful, crunchy bread. The pork belly was a heavenly mix of meat and fat with just the right flavor and cooked just the right way. I scarfed that bad boy down… but really, is there ever a pig that does not taste heavenly?
The pizzas were… huge. Really, a lot bigger than I expected. I had the Merguez (lamb sausage, tomato, peppers, olive, pecorino), and m’lady had the Margherita. The Merguez was very good, but not extraordinary. The sausage came in high quantity, but quality seemed to lack a bit as a result. The Margherita, however, was phenomenal… very, very close to Margherita I have had in Rome and Naples. The pizzas were cooked perfectly, with crust having a great interplay between chewy and crunchy.
So, my fears were not justified, thankfully. I do wish it were closer to home so I could get some carryout pizza, because it’s delicious. However, I will make the trip back to Brookside for Blue Grotto… after trying some other places in the neighborhood too (i.e. Julian).

This update reflects happy hour awesomeness, patio awesomeness and seasonal offering awesomeness. And that’s a whole lot of awesome, so Blue Grotto gets the precious fifth star!
A group of five of us enjoyed the HHH (Heavenly Happy Hour) on Wednesday out on that sweet patio (if you’re a shade lover like me, they’ve got you covered!) Note to self: come back in the fall to benefit from the fire pits.
HHH includes: $ 5 off pizzas and select apps, $ 3 wells and beers– don’t quote me on exacts there because all I cared about was the wine. And you will get a superb $ 5 glass of it.
It’s tomato time and BG features an heirloom pizza. I asked for extra tomatoes on mine and it was so good, I couldn’t stop myself from eating the entire thing, which is something I only do when helpless in the presence of pizza greatness (I always save half for later!) This pizza is regularly $ 14 but at HH it’s $ 9. Nice, right?
As always, service exceeds mere competence at Blue Grotto. Our waitress was incredibly nice, attentive, and was cool about letting us double up on HH specials to make it in time before 6 (end of HHH)
I can’t think of a better place to be between 5:30 (so you get to benefit from that last 30 min of HHH) and 8, no, make that closing. I’d gladly stick around until late into the night here, and could see myself losing track of time quite easily.