Le Grimaldi

The food is overpriced. The chef is not consistent. Once he completely overcooked a steak and refused to cook another medium rare the way I had ordered it
. The next time I came he came out of the kitchen and berated me for asking for a rare steak and refused to cook me a steak. There won’t be a next time.

Let’s just say that the evening was completely heading down the crapper, and fast! I had made — in person — reservations the night before for this evening at another local restaurant for six o’clock for our family of four — mom, dad, boy & baby. There were other absolutely raving reviews for this place, but when we showed up right on time at six, I was told curtly and with absolutely no apology to come back at seven. There was no attempt towards offering any explaination, and the tone was quite abrupt and rude. There was no way on god’s green earth that I was going to go back to that place an hour later and give them even one euro of my money. Plan A, which I believed to be a rock solid plan, was off the table.
I had been really looking forward to a nice dinner out. To say that I was frustrated and disappointed would be a huge understatement. So, what next? We walked over to another restaurant that I had heard some good things about, but it wasn’t open on Sunday. Grrrr. We decided to head back up to the plaza around the château in Haut de Cagnes where we had eaten lunch earlier in the day.
After a brief stroll checking out the menus, we settled on Le Grimaldi. We were warmly greeted by Valerie, our hostess and our server. She got William started off immediately with the kid’s menu offerings — salmon, steak, or risotto. William opted for the risotto with vegetables. His meal arrived promptly while dad and I were still looking over the menu. It was a generous serving, which I nibbled on, gave some to the baby, and there was still a reasonable portion to take home with us. It was creamy and delicious! Fresh from the oven crusly rolls were brought to the table while we waited for our orders. I ordered an appetizer of fried zucchini blossoms and gespacho. There were plenty of the blossoms to share, but only a small serving of the gespacho. It was very tasty; when I lamented to Valerie the small portion she brought me another!
My true love ordered the entrecôte; he asked for it medium (to defer to my preference for how meat is cooked) but it arrived more well done, which completely suited his taste. It did steal a couple of bites and it was quite good. I ordered the sea bass; it arrived as many fish dishes do as the entire fish. It had been prepared with lemon and basil cooked inside with a generous swab of chopped garlic arcoss the top. It was cooked to perfection; light, flaky and moist. (I couldn’t help but share a few tender morsels with one of the many cats who haunt the area who was parked out under our table.)
As for prices, my sea bass was 18 euro, the steak was 17 euro, the bottle of wine was 23, and the kids meal was 10. Totally fair prices as far as I’m concerned.
After getting the big brush off, we had a wonderful meal with friendly service. I would whole heartedly recommend Le Girmaldi if your adventures lead you to Haut de Cagnes in the future. Bön appetit!