Blue Grotto

I did the honors last month, and the pressure was on. My last pick in July 2014 was pretty bad. But that's in the past.

I wanted to redeem myself by treating the Gassies to a nice dinner, so I chose Blue Grotto in Brookside. I ate there when Justin and I first moved back to Kansas City (with Becky and Beth, perhaps a foreshadow for the dinner club to come).

Blue Grotto is in lovely Brookside, and the space is hip and dramatic. We were seated at a large table on a catwalk, with a view of the bar to one side and the open kitchen/pizza ovens to the other.

I owed the group an appetizer, so I picked the smoked salmon. It was great. The cheese sampler was too, and the other (spinach artichoke dip, maybe?). I had a tasty reisling.

My sausage pizza was very good. I enjoyed sampling the other pizzas, and I think Josh's bacon/pepper one was one of the best.

On to service--it left a lot to be desired. Our server was friendly at first, if a little slow. She seemed busy with a private party. As the evening wore on, she was nowhere in sight. It took 30 minutes from the time I finished my pizza for us to pay the check. I try to be sympathetic with a busy waitstaff, and it's possible it was just bad timing.

A few pluses: The leftover pizza was better than the first night. Hazel got hungry so I nursed her on a comfy couch, underneath a skylight with a view of some nice art. It was like they put that couch there for me! That gets a few extra points in my book.

Blue Grotto got a 4 stars from me, though the service issues brings it down to a 3.25. I would go back, though maybe it would be instead for a few glasses of wine and some delicious appetizers.

I will say that despite a few disappointments, I had a wonderful time with the family. We ate, drank and were very merry, so what more could you want?