GRUB has both a simple menu interface for choosing preset entries from a
configuration file, and a highly flexible command-line for performing
any desired combination of boot commands.
GRUB looks for its configuration file as soon as it is loaded. If one
is found, then the full menu interface is activated using whatever
entries were found in the file. If you choose the command-line menu
option, or if the configuration file was not found, then GRUB drops to
the command-line interface.
