Delightful yet affordable
The Italian Market and Grill serves up delicious cuisine at a reasonable price. It's not exactly what you would find in Italy, but it's arguably the most authentic taste available in the Upstate. Servers are courteous, professional, and overall, attentive. Dinner portions are adequate, and the Sunday buffet is nothing short of a diner's paradise. Where else can you start with an omelet made to order and end with tiramisu?    [18 Jul 2000 00:48:30]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Sunday brunch

     ­Anonymous   

Wait a minute this Is Greenville
Okay, maybe the food at the Italian Market & Grill isn't quite 100% authentic but it does capture the mood and essence of true Italian food in a friendly atmosphere that makes you feel right at home. The service was outstanding, with everyone we came in contact with from our waitress to the manager who was circulating making us feel like old friends; and the serving portions were large enough to leave us asking for doggy bags.    [04 Aug 2002 13:38:30]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Emily's duet, bruschetta, portobello caprese

     ­Carl Kurtz   ckurtz at comcast dot net

A Lone voice in a culinary wilderness
Clearly I'm going to be in the minority with this opinion, but someone needs to play devil's advocate and I am ready and willing.

When you first enter the restaurant, the bold and open environment generously welcomes you in with lofty ceilings,a crackling fireplace and a cozy rustic appeal. It's terribly refreshing to find a chain that goes to this much trouble, but don't get bowled over by the looks because, believe me, disappointment will be forthcoming.

For my dining party and I that disappointment first took shape in our seating arrangements. Apparently the management of Italian Market and Grill agrees that the dining area looks good, so they have wholly committed themselves to squeezing as many poor souls in to enjoy it at one time as possible. Not only were we wedged in against the brick facade of a waiters' station, but I myself was singled out to enjoy the added pleasure which ensued when I discovered that my end of the table and my chair were placed such that they extended directly into this high traffic area.

Nonetheless, the random jolts I suffered were not enough to persuade me to leave (clearly that was the only other option, as they were no available tables to which we might move) and though the bucking of my chair was not unsimilar to the motion of a mechanical bull, your famished reader nonetheless managed to make out a delightful sounding entree of chicken coated in Italian herbs and spices and roasted by the open wood-burning fireplace. This dish was to be rounded out with roasted corn (also by the fire), and mashed potatoes. Somewhat soothed by the promise of such a potentially tasty meal, I swallowed my previous disappointment and waited anxiously for my dish to arrive.

And waited... I felt my previous ire rising back into my throat like a raging case of acid reflux as the conclusion suddenly dawned on me; when management sets themselves to vacuum packing their restaurant with half the population of a small metropolis, it could take a while to get your dinner. Sadly, it was not worth the wait. Though the crispy skin and succulent meat of the chicken were tasty, it was also salty enough to make me wonder just how many metric tons of the rocky mineral they went through in a year. Unfortunately, that tongue shrivelling quality extended also to the accompaniments. Furthermore, the acrid taste of the smoked corn was incredibly evocative of the flavor of wood varnish and the tortured texture of the mashed potatoes was so overwhipped that you could plant a flag in them, though this particular culinary explorer does not want to suffer the odoius distinction of having "discovered" them.

Thus, the very thing that is supposed to draw people into an eating establishment, the food, was the very thing to ultimately drive me out, aided by the ignominy of having to pay a not small sum for such misery. Please, learn from my mistakes.    [17 Jan 2003 15:26:35]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­Josh Shenton   savagefrivolity at hotmail dot com

Great tasty food
Everyone has experiences that go badly, even at the very best restaurants. Don't let the previous review you keep away. I've never had any bad experiences at Italian Market Grill, but I'd say, at least to some degree, it's your responsibility to ask to be moved to a different table if you don't like where you're sitting and to send back your food if you dislike it. I've had salty food there and not so salty food there. For example, some foods have capers and those are pretty salty. Olives are salty as well - but that doesn't mean everything is. It's a learning process, and if you order a food that usually isn't salty from this or any other restaurant then either send it back or don't order it again.

It's impossible for a chef to cook for the tastes of everyone and not disappoint someone so if you're disappointed then you're probably in the minority so learn to adjust or have them take the food back and order something else. Basically, don't blame the restaurant if you make no effort to give it a chance to redeem itself.    [25 Mar 2003 16:53:32]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: veal

     ­Josh   jcestep at hotmail dot com

Impressive brunch
First, let me say that I'm extremely picky and lived in Rome for several years. I haven't found many great Italian places in the states, especially Greenville, but wow... This is a remarkable dining experience and clearly above the typical local offerings in this category. The pasta bar absolutely rocked and the dessert bar was in the same category.    [28 Mar 2003 10:34:19]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­chuck   Cnshoot1 at aol dot com

Not again
I was a fan, I even recommended, I even brought my management staff last year and agian this year, but never agian. Service was lacking, everyone in my group all agreed the quality was not the same. The follow up phone call the next day to a manager did not get much interest or even an offer of refund or please come back and try us agian. I know of 20 people and spouses that will not return. Sorry, I really did like the place.    [18 Dec 2003 00:18:22]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­Anonymous   

Ridiculous
I must say, our last attempt to eat at Italian Market and Grill was absolutely ridiculous. My frustration started when we pulled into the parking lot and drove around for almost ten minutes looking for a parking place. While half of my party was looking for a parking place, I decided to give our name and at least get on the list for a table. We were told the wait would be 30-35 minutes, that's livable for a Friday night at 7 so we decided to wait. It was crowded inside so we took up residence on the benches outside. We waited and waited and waited. We could see through the windows that there were at least 5 empty tables and that they had been empty for some time, yet still we waited. After a disappointing 55 minute wait and several trips inside to make sure we were actually on the waiting list, we were seated. Our table was a large round table just outside of the bar next to a smaller empty four person table.

A minute or two later, we had our menus and full glasses of tea and water. We looked over the menu (which seemed a bit more expensive than the previous times I had eaten there) and finally made our selections. We placed our orders and began waiting...again. This is where the excitement begins... We had been waiting for our order for about 5 minutes or so when all of a sudden a wine glass fell off the bar behind us, hit the edge of our table and shattered. Glass went all over the table, the floor and the car seat that our three week old baby was in. We quickly jumped up and began checking him to be sure he was okay. We were furious, and it only added to it that no one bothered to come and find out if we were okay.

One of the wait staff finally came over to see what had happened and the bar tender came out and apologized. He said that they had a new bartender and she had stacked the glasses three deep instead of two deep like they were supposed to be. Okay, fine. My wife was ready to leave at this point (imagine that) but we were hungry, so we moved to the still empty 4 person table next to us. We were still upset and had yet to see a manager. Finally, after my mom asked one of the waiters, they went and got a manager. Can you imagine that? A glass just fell off the bar and shattered all over your customer's table and a manager didn’t even come to see if we were okay until we demanded to see him?? It didn’t do any good however. He was a man in his 40’s I’d say, with a mustache and a black t-shirt (that way you wouldn’t know him from a regular customer!) and all he did was ask if he could get us anything. He didn’t offer anything. He didn’t do anything. He asked our waiter to get us new drinks, apologized and then walked off. He didn’t even offer a free appetizer or glass of tea.

Well, before our waiter could come back with fresh drinks, a couple sat down at an empty table right next to us (not the one we had just moved from, it still had glass all over it) and the lady sitting right behind my wife lit up a cigarette. The problem was that we were supposed to be seated in the NON smoking. We don’t smoke and have a 3 week old son, why in the world would we want to sit even near the smoking section? We asked our waiter and he said that we were right in the middle of the smoking section but he would see if there was a table in non-smoking. Good for him because he was the only person at the restaurant that even considered the fact that we were customers. He looked around, but it was too late. We were out of there. As my parents and my wife went outside, I went to explain what was going on to the wonderful manager that was on staff. I explained to him that we had waited 55 minutes when we were told it would be 30-35, we were then seated in the smoking section when I specifically asked for non-smoking and then we then had a glass shatter on our table and no one even bothered to take much notice. Again, all he did was nod and say that if he had a three week old, he wouldn’t want to sit in the smoking section either! Well that’s good to know. Thank you so much for your help. Oh, but this time he said that if we were to come back and if he remembers the baby then he’ll give us our entire meal for no charge. Whoopie. He won’t have to worry about it though because we will never be back.    [24 Jul 2004 16:07:57]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­Tim   

Never again
What went wrong?
1 Waited 15 mns. even though there were at least 8 empty tables.
2 The barman and a server had an argument right beside us as we waited at the bar.
3 After being seated and waited at least 10 minutes a server finally asked us if someone was looking after us. No.
4 The calzone we ordered was cold on the inside so we asked for it to be reheated, it came back lukewarm and really inedible at that temperature.

This is not the first time we have had a bad experience there but I always think that maybe this time will be better.

It's really a pity because the menu is good, all the ingredients are there to make fabulous meals, but the service, and general customer care and appreciation is sadly lacking.    [20 Jun 2005 09:49:39]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­Anonymous   

don't waste your time here--really
We've been going to IM & G since they opened back in 1996. In the last few years, the quality of food, value and especially customer service has rapidly declined. We had a rather unfortunate experience recently and talked with management who refused to make any amends. I've never encountered a situation in a so-called nice restaurant where they complained to US and refused to meet customer expectations. Shameful. This is public relations nightmare seeing as there are many wonderful restaurants opening downtown. Go downtown instead. You'll get better food for the value and, most importantly, better customer service. Don't waste your time here.    [15 Jun 2007 15:58:42]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­Anonymous, Greenville, SC   

Disappearing Takeout
We had decided to go IM&G after having not gone for several years due to the fact I dislike mushrooms very much and it seemed that every single dish had them in it.

But due to the rampant changes in menus these days, we decided to try it again. Much to my delight there were some dishes without mushrooms, but they are still very prevalent on the menu. We sat our family of four down and I was lucky enough to have the cash register in my ear. And yes, we could of changed tables, but when you have a toddler it's much easier to suffer through the inconvenience of beeps going off in your head than to move a 3-year-old and all his paraphenalia to another table.

Anyway, now to the best part...my husband ordered this chicken dish and when it came we couldn't believe the size of the portion. It could have easily fed all four of us, keeping in mind one of us was a toddler. After eating as much as he could he asked for a To-Go box to put in the remaining mound of pasta and entire breast and a half of chicken. Instead of boxing it up there at our table the waitress took it back to the kitchen.

He was planning on eating it for lunch the next day and much to his dismay when he went to heat it up every bit of chicken was gone!

Did the waitress not eat that day and figured she would have my husband's leftovers? Did she drop it all on the floor and could only pick up the pasta? Maybe they ran out of chicken and they used my husband's to give to somebody else. Whatever the reason, we'll never know but when I called the manager the next day, they apologized and sent us a "Be Our Guest" letter worth $20.

I'm not sure if we'll ever go back, but I can tell you one thing, any leftovers will not leave our sight again.    [15 Aug 2007 11:35:33]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­DMG from Simpsonville