A couple weeks ago during this same theme, my friend @slobberchops posted about a place that you would actually want to avoid if you were going on a blind date.

Gratzi, depending on your view point, might be another one of those places. It's hard because although my wife and I didn't totally enjoy our visit, I could see where this might be the perfect place for someone with different tastes than us to go on a first date.

Let me give you some background first. There is a family company in Ann Arbor, MI that owns two restaurants. One is called The Real Seafood Company and the other is called Gratzi. Gratzi is an Italian inspired eatery and the other one is pretty obvious what they specialize in based on their name.

A short time ago, The Real Seafood Company opened in Bay City, MI. I have never been there, but we have heard great things about the food. My wife doesn't eat seafood and I prefer mine on the fried spectrum so it has never been on our agenda to visit.

When the company decided to open a Gratzi in Midland though, we knew it was something that we were going to want to try out. Being Midland though (home of Dow Chemical and more business people than you can shake a stick at), I knew we were probably going to have to dress up a little to visit. We decided to go for our ten year anniversary after work one day since we were relatively "dressed up" in our work clothes.

Coming straight from work, we were able to get to Gratzi at about 4:30 and they were pretty dead. The matitre d' (host) immediately asked us if we had a reservation. Since it was just the two of us, I hadn't felt it was necessary to call in ahead. We told him no and he led us towards the back of the establishment.

This was our view from the back of the restaurant towards the front. You can see the light coming in the front windows. There is another small seating area to the left and then the bar area is towards the front to the right. Additionally, there are booths along the side to the right.

The host then asked if we had ever been here before and wanted to know if we were familiar with their tablet menus.

Feigning tech ignorance, I said no, and allowed him to show me how to use the tablet. The tablet is cool, but like many things in Gratzi it seemed over the top pricey to us. It also made it hard for me to get a picture of the menu for this post!

Their menu is actually a bit limited compared to what I was expecting. The one cool thing about the tablet is you can tap on the menu item and it will show you a picture of it, that way you kind of know what you are getting vs. some other menus where they only picture featured items throughout.

Eventually, our waitress came to take our order and we gave her our drink orders. I think she could tell we were a little uncomfortable and did her best to put us at ease. My wife ordered a Captain and Diet and I wasn't going to get anyting, but since it was our anniversary I decided to splurge a little and got what they called The Todd Father.

It was an interesting mixture of Scotch and Amaretto with some other things mixed in. I actually really enjoyed it, but at $12 USD a pop, I stopped with just the one. Plus one of us had to drive home! My wife was not all that impressed with her $8.50 USD Captain and Diet commenting that I mix them much better at home. Apparently, this place has never heard of happy hour!

The waitress came back and we soon ordered our food. I chose the Cinque Tortelloni al Formaggio with chicken added. My wife selected the Margherita Flatbread as well as a Ceasar Salad. As we waited for our food, we began to disucss how this place really wasn't our type of venue. We are pretty simple people and much prefer a small town bar to an upscale place like this.

@mrsbozz's salad soon arrived along with some bread. You could tell that the salad dressing was not something they had poured out of a bottle. It was quite unlike any ceasar dressing I had ever had and that led me to beleive it was probably home made right there in the kitchen.

As amazing as the bread looked, it left us a little dissappointed. The texture and flavor was not what we were expecting. It had a definite tart taste I think in part to the cheese that they used to top it.

This is where my reveiw might throw you for a loop. Our entree's were absolutely fantastic. I can't remember the last time I had something from an Itialian resturant that carried so much flavor and savory goodness in one plate.

The prosciutto was fantastic and married with the mushrooms, spinach, chicken and tortellini was a basic party in my mouth. They have a pizza oven in the bar area and my wifes flatbread was just as flavorful as my dish.

I finished every last morsel of my entree and @mrsbozz ate what she wanted of her flatbread leaving a couple of pieces for me to take to work as lunch the next day.

As we were finishing up, our waitress inquired if we wanted to try a dessert. We declined and she soon showed up with our bill and two small glasses of Limoncello to drink as a digestif. Never having experieced this before, my wife and I were a little embarrassed when we had to ask the waitress if you sip it or shoot it like a shot.

In all, it was definitely a memorable anniversary dinner. If we were invited to Gratzi to meet with friends or family, we would probably go again in a heartbeat (due to the fantastic food). If it were just up to the two of us trying to decide where to go for dinner, we would probably pass.

At about $63 USD before tip, it isn't the type of place that you would probably find yourself at even once a week. If you are looking to make a big first impression on a first date, this might be just the spot for you. Word of advice though, make sure you make a reservation. Even if they aren't that busy, it will still look impressive :)

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Restaurant Information

Gratzi - Midland, MI

120 E Main St, Midland, MI 48640, USA

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Gratzi - Midland, MI
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Where to eat for my blind date?

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