Grano Pasta Bar

It was my boyfriend’s and my first time eating at the pasta bar. When you walk in, there’s very limited seating. We sat at the bar so we could watch all of the cooking.
The menu was very easy to understand and our waitress, Erin, did a great job suggesting what to order and had a very warm personality that made us feel at home
The salads were very fresh and well prepared and both waitresses made sure to refresh the water. The food was delicious!
Highly recommend the tiramisu (it says it’s for two, but you’ll want one to yourself)
We will definitely be back. Excellent date spot

Grano was a nice place to grab a quick bite to eat. My girlfriend and I went shortly after they opened on Sunday and sat right down which was great since they don’t have much seating. We were greeted promptly by the staff and our order was taken a short time later.
After ordering, or food was brought out in about fifteen minutes. Excellent.
The food overall, was okay. Italian food is my favorite cuisine and I’m a stickler about it. I ordered the Puttanesca over linguini. It didn’t have the zing I would expect from a fine tomato based sauce. It was quite bland and didn’t have the spicy flavor as described.
The best meal ordered was my girlfriend’s. She ordered the Gorgonzola E Noci over Farfalle. Creamy texture with added crunch and flavor from the walnuts. If I go back, that will be the dish I order.
BYOB!

One of our favorite places to go. It’s a very cute, small restaurant with homemade pasta and sauce. There is minimal seating, so during peak times it may be hard to get a table. (Outside seating is available in nice weather.) Anything over than a party of 4 would be hard to accommodate. That being said, the food is delicious and it’s BYOB so you can drink whatever you like. Would recommend for a casual date or dinner with friends.

TL;DR: under-​seasoned food.
I live in the neighborhood so I walk by this place a lot. It always smells AMAZING, so when a friend came to visit I couldn’t wait to take her.
I ordered the vodka penne. It smelled good, but was pretty bland. It just tasted like a sweet tomato sauce. It was extremely under-​salted. If it would have been a $ 7 – 8 plate of pasta I would have thought I got what I paid for. But for a place that has such few things on the menu (a few types of pasta + a few types of sauce), you really expect those few things to be great. It was a major disappointment. I recently tried their sister-​restaurant, Grano Emporio and the plates we ordered there were extremely under seasoned. I ordered pasta with lemon sauce, that tasted like it wasn’t salted and didn’t include lemon. Just noodles in broth.
Back to the Pasta Bar… our server seemed to have lost interest in us after bringing our plates out. We never got a refill on drinks and after 20 – 25 minutes of waiting for our check, I had to go find it myself. Lame.
I’ve heard such great things about this place, too, so I was bummed. Maybe it’s under new management?

Sooooo, where is the big meat ball? One person criticized it and now it’s gone? What about the rest of us? We love your small balls but want you to BRING BACK THE BIG MEAT! We LOVE your pasta (the vodka was the best I’ve ever had tonight) and we aren’t size queens ;)

Five out of five! The al dental sensation was very good. In fact, the last time I had such a great Italian authentic pasta was when I was in Rome in 2003. I am certain that I’ll come again. I had the linguine with clam on the white sauce. I brought my daughter there and she loves the tomato pasta.
It’s not too far away from Johns Hopkins university. The parking can be challenging but if you walk from the campus, this may not be an issue.

Fantastic and fresh pasta. Took our own wine and enjoyed the simplicity of these italian dishes. Everything was amazing

This is a fun little place in Hamden. It’s a great place to grab a quick bite to eat, and the portions are very light and a bit small (good for a snack, but not a heavy meal). It is BYOB so it is a great place to relax. Not much seating so it would not be a good place to go with a large group. I have been here about three times and have had good experiences here so far. We «build our own» pastas by choosing a pasta and a type of sauce. The pasta is delicious and freshly made. I would recommend picking a sauce that is more exotic, since some tomato-​based ones taste like something that I can make at home. Portions are small, but prices seem to reflect, running less than $ 15 a dish.

SOOOO disappointed! I love watching «Diners, Drive-​Ins and Dives»…I think because it is entertaining and I get ideas for cooking in my own kitchen. I should leave it at that and not assume Guy Fieri’s recommendations warrant taking the time and money to go and check out his picks. This place is one of his picks and we were SADLY disappointed in our lunch yesterday. Live and learn.
We roll into Baltimore and find this pasta joint. It is 1 p.m. and we walk through the door and NOT ONE OTHER PATRON is in the place. It is us and that should have alerted us to turn around and walk out. We didn’t do it.
The uninterested and slightly perturbed Latina waitress told us we could sit wherever we wanted (that seemed obvious). We sat down and she handed us menus and set down two small water glasses and a bottle of water.
We ordered our food. I asked for the ½ Caesar salad (said «egg-​less» on the menu… should have said TASTELESS too, because it was!) I think the lettuce was from a few days ago and had sat out all morning because it was limp almost room temp lettuce and was sad looking… brown edges on some of the WHITE/​light green lettuce leaves… sorry quality lettuce. The cheese on top was some dried out shredded Parmesan and pretty lousy.
I ordered Gnocchi (3.00 extra) w/​Vodka sauce. The closest thing I can compare the sauce to is SpaghettiO’s. A sweet red sauce. No vodka. No spices/​flavors. Sweet tomato cream sauce. Not one speck of freshly grated cheese, only the shaker of what tasted like Kraft Parm cheese on our table. The Gnocchi was just some wad of dough. Not fluffy, not distinctive what-​so-​ever. Completely disappointing. I ate a few bites and handed it to my partner to finish, just like my salad. SUCKY FOOD!
My partner liked his plate of Penne pasta w/​Puttanesca sauce.
Our waitress was pretty much M.I.A. after she dropped off our pasta plates. We jumped up and asked for the check and left our more than generous 10 percent tip.
I’m wondering if this place has changed hands. It sure doesn’t come close to what we saw on tv. BYPASS THIS PLACE.

Grano is a cute little Italian pasta bar in Hampden. It is located right on the corner of Hickory and 36^th. I had a lot of trouble finding Grano but eventually arrived at the restaurant. There isn’t a lot of seating on the inside, but during the warmer seasons, they do extend their seating area to the outdoors. The inside has a vintage diner bar and a few tables, seating two people, along the walls.
I ordered the calamari sauce with fettucine, and it came out really fast, under 10 minutes. The service is very quick and give you water right when you sit down at the table. The pasta itself, however, was only average. It was a perfect softness, not too soft, but the sauce was very plain and a little fishy from the calamari. The pesto pasta looked much more delicious… maybe I’ll try that next time. For the quality and amount of pasta, I felt the price ($ 13) was a little expensive. I would have preferred if they put a little more flavor into the sauces next time.

The best thing about this place is it’s smallness. If you sit inside you’d probably be sitting in not too comfortable chairs, right next to the stove, elbowing the waitress every other time she passes by you and for me that’s how restaurants should be.
Had gnocchi with bolognese, the pasta was appropriately cooked and the bolognese added to the texture quite well.
I did not know that this was a byob, next time I’ll be better prepared.

Grano has a restaurant down the street, where they have a full menu and superb lasagna. I love BYOB. I also like pasta. And on a cold chilly night, this was a great spot to catch up with a good friend. These guys are not fancy.
«1 + 1 = your Grano meal — choose one sauce style + one pasta style»
We started with their bread. Obvi. The fresh Italian bread is served with olive oil with a roasted garlic clove and herbs. The flavor was most definitely infused in oil, giving it and extra kick.
I went with Aglio-​olio e Peperoncino, a red sauce with a little spice made with roasted garlic, some hot chili peppers for a little kick and my most favorite cheese — Pecorino Romano. The spice wasn’t overwhelming at all, just adding a hint of something extra to a classic tomato sauce. They have 6 or 7 different pasta styles, and gnocchi if you want. I chose fusilli cause I like corkscrew shape and there is a lot less twirling.
My good friend chose the penne and the puttanesca. They have a traditional preparation with olive oil, garlic, capers, anchovies, peeled tomatoes, and spices. She loved it. There wasn’t much left over as evidenced by the tiniest take out container in the world.

The pasta here is delicious! They make everything in front of you so you know exactly what you are getting. The sauces are simple and not too overpowering, which I think is great. The only downside is that it is a little pricey for what you get.

Simone was the chef tonight at grano’s and the food was incredible and reasonably priced. Chef Simone captures the flavors of Italy in each dish he prepares.
This so far is the best Italian food in the Baltimore region and the only food you should consider for Italian cuisine.

A friend who dines here regularly insisted I try this place, so off we went for New Year’s Eve, owing mainly to the fact that Grano does not take reservations and Friend didn’t think to make reservations elsewhere on possibly the second busiest restaurant night of the year (the first being Valentine’s Day). Upon entering, you can see why no reservations are taken or needed: it’s a small space that looks like someone rehabbed a typical long, narrow Baltimore row house to be a restaurant. A counter runs down the middle of the joint, and a few tables surround. They therefore can seat maybe 12 – 14 total. We sat at the counter, which is kind of fun, since you can see them make your food this way.
The way Grano works is kind of modular: you choose the shape of pasta you want from a list of nine options; you choose the sauce from a list of ten options, and they put it together and plate it for you. The pasta choices included packaged gnocchi (the shrink-​wrapped package was in plain sight at the stove). There are vegetarian sauces and gluten-​free pasta, for those who partake of those items. I chose fusilli with the Puttanesca sauce. The sauce was appropriately spicy, with a good amount of the black olives I love. (Interesting side note: «Puttanesca» means «in the style of the prostitute!» Apparently Italian prostitutes ate rustic, low-​cost food at one time. But I digress.) The portion size was more than adequate, neither skimpy nor Cheesecake Factory-​big. Grated Parmesan comes on the side if you want it, in a small cup rather than grated fresh at the table.
Salads and appetizers are also available, but I didn’t have one.
Service is friendly and amiable without being pushy. Both of the folks that took care of us were knowledgeable about the food and, despite having to work on New Year’s Eve, were upbeat and cheery.
Desserts seem to be outsourced here. I ordered the coconut flan, and was presented with two small plugs of flan unmolded from tinfoil cups. However, the flan itself was amazing – creamy, coconutty, with the right proportion of caramel syrup. Flan is easy to mess up, usually by overbaking, which makes the custard grainy or overly eggy and curdled. This flan was on point! The reason I say they must outsource the dessert is that I saw another diner inquire about the tiramisu, and the server explained what it was, whereupon the diner ordered it, and I saw the server unmold a large, like 4″ x 6″ serving, of tiramisu from another tinfoil container. It looked good, I’m just saying it looked like it came from somewhere else.
There is no formal restroom; I had to use the same broom-​closet WC the staff does.
The good news is, this is food you might cook for yourself. The bad news is… this is food you might cook for yourself. If you’re not into cooking, I can see where you would make this place a habit. It’s good, dependable food. If you do love to cook, like I do, this cuisine isn’t much better than what you could do at home. I do want to visit once more, though, and try a pasta with the Gorgonzola e noci sauce.
(Aside to the lovely lady who worked on our food: The cheese in tiramisu is «mascarpone,» not «marscapone» as you pronounced it. I threatened to give zero stars to the next place I ate at that misspelled this ingredient on its menu, and on yours, it’s spelled correctly, but pronouncing it correctly as well would help your street cred a tad. Just sayin’.)

Mmmmm. Delicious.
The fettuccine Bolognese was sublime. You can’t beat the texture of homemade pasta. The pesto with spaghetti was tasty, I liked that they used walnuts instead of pine nuts, it gave it a different flavor that was really appealing. For me though most pesto gets monotonous and unfortunately this was no different. The overall favorite was the penne with vodka sauce. I will definitely get that again. I just wish they had chicken or shrimp or something to add to it. The DBF felt protein deprived since he doesn’t eat beef or pork.
The coconut flan was nice, very delicate and only subtly coconut in flavor. I want to try the chocolate flan next time, I’ve heard it is amazing.
Teeny tiny space, only enough seats for about 16 people and most times when I have walked by the place is overflowing. I was the only one there for the late morning lunch I had during the week. The service was not exactly friendly, so I must have hit them on a bad day since other reviews have remarked about how friendly this place is.
I plan to make a return trip soon, that vodka sauce is calling my name.

I’ve been here a handful of times and every time was delicious! The space is really quaint and if you sit at the counter, you can watch the chef prepare your pasta. So you pretty much just pick your type of pasta and then a sauce that goes on it. Here’s the ones I’ve tried:
Carbonara with fettuccine: really rich, lots of egg, and the smoked meat (is it pancetta?) is all mixed together. It’s so hearty that you can definitely share this one.
Pesto with penne: this one is a little lighter than the carbonara, not creamy, it got a little boring after a while
Aglio with spaghettini: lots of chopped up green peppers and spicy peppers. Fairly spicy and warming. I wish it had some sort of protein on it though.
Linguine with mussels: This was one of their specials. The sauce was white wine and chopped garlic. Very delicious but some of the mussels were a little gritty
Linguine with clam: more emphasis on the garlic and the sauce was a little creamier than the one in the mussels. There were a lot of clams so I had one with every bite.
Caesar salad: not like your traditional Caesar. The dressing is a lot lighter and tasted like the base was vinegar. Really refreshing and different.
Bread with garlic: Get this! Crusty bread and olive oil that has giant heads of roasted garlic that you can smear on.
The service is always really sweet and friendly. One time we rode the scooter there and one of the owners (well I think she’s an owner because she kept referring to little grano as ‘we’) came out and talked to us about scootering!

Grano Pasta Bar is a tiny mom-​and-​pop, where you can find simple and authentic preparations of classic Italian pasta dishes.
On one of her cooking shows when she was cooking up an Italian-​themed dinner, Ina Garten said that Italian food was so easy to prepare, «it’s almost stupid.» Seems rather simplistic and offensive to conclude such. Unsure if Garten sees the similarities between Italian cooking and the style of cooking that she espouses – start with really high-​quality and fresh ingredients and you won’t have to do as much to «dress» the dish up. Anyway, totally not «stupid.» And this family-​owned business is a prime example of how a small ingredient list can be transformed into something comforting and satisfying.
Come here for toothsome bowls of your choice of noodles (fetuccine, penne, and the other usual suspects) combined with sauces like puttenesca, amatriciana, alfredo, and more.
We tried the fetuccine with aglio olio peperoncini sauce and penne with amatriciana. Both dishes were delicious. The aglio olio sauce prepared by Grano differs from others I’ve tried in that they also use finely chopped peppers in the sauce giving it more heat than other renditions. This is the way pasta should be.
I’m not a fan of Cajun Alfredo and Mexican pasta and pretty much anything Cheesecake Factory whips up when it comes to noodles and sauce. If you like loaded pasta plates that are portioned for four (enter Maggianos), this is not the place for you. Grano’s plates are small. The serving sizes are reasonable.
Besides their tasty good, Grano is also a good dining destination because their prices are really affordable, between $ 10 and $ 13 for a pasta plate. And they are a BYOB business.
Heed another Unilocaler’s warning: To get to the bathroom, you have to walk through their itty bitty kitchen. Weird and slightly uncomfortable setup, but not a terrible thing.

So glad I finally got a chance to try this special gem in the neighborhood.
As soon as we walked in our olfactory bulbs were met with a delicious aroma of garlic, olive oil, bacon, and savory sauces or gravy as the Italians say.
We sat on one of the few two top high tables in the intimate space rather than outside on the sidewalk or at the bar.
The bar I should note is more like a bar in a diner, overlooking the chef, not a bar serving liquor as Grano is BYOB for a small $ 3 corkage fee.
My bf got the small Caesar salad to start and I the mozzarella caprese. The Caesar was tasty and the mozzarella was to die for. Olive oil and olives (with pits) flanked the cheese but the main standout was the mozzarella.
For mains we got farfalle with carbonara and fettuccine with alla vodka sauce. Guests are able to choose the type of pasta as well as sauce for their dishes.
Prices are good, the quality is on point, and you feel like you’re at a friend’s house due to the cozy atmosphere.
The alla vodka sauce wasn’t the best I’ve had and the fettuccine could’ve been a bit more al dente but I will be back to try other sauce and noodle combinations soon!
Parking is street or metered. Get there earlier before it fills up.

I was in Hampden to get my hair cut, and the missus was tagging along because I promised lunch. While I was in the chair, she was picking out the eats and suggested Grano Pasta Bar as a possibility.
We grabbed a sidewalk table, ordered up a Mozzarella Caprese salad, some bread, and a plate of farfalle pasta with their aglio-​olio e peperoncino sauce. Drinks and bread came out fast. Our food came very quickly thereafter.
The pasta was nicely al-​dente, the olive-​oil based sauce loaded with plenty of zesty peperoncini, garlic, and quartered sweet cherry tomatoes. There was plenty left for soaking up with bread, mixed with the provided fresh grated parmesan. The salad was loaded with fresh, moist mozzarella, ripe tomatoes, an assortment of cured olives, and tossed with a pesto & olive oil dressing. The bread came with more olive oil and roasted whole garlic cloves for mashing.
We enjoyed a breezy, atypically non-​humid mid-​summer Baltimore afternoon while our server kept a good eye out for us. The food was good, fast, and affordable. BYOB from the Wine Source up the street is another point in Grano’s favor. Four thumbs up from us.