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| - The Italian Grotto isn't exactly for the faint of heart. The waitstaff is mostly a bunch of older guys from new york and they are a little gruff and direct. Personally, I like it. They once chastisted my sister for moving her bread plate :) The guy said "Your bread plate goes to the LEFT of your dinner plate!" and we didn't really know what to say to that, LOL! I am sure that a lot of people are offended by this, but what can I say? I like smartasses!
I've been here twice now. Giving this place 4 stars might be a touch of a stretch because I absolutely noticed some problems. Here we go:
Appetizers: I've had the fried zucchini and the fried calamari. Both obviously homemade and fantastic. Calamari was very tender and not at all chewy. Zucchini needed a little salt, but after that it was perfect.
Salad: I love a salad that doesn't look like it came out of a bag. I've had the blue cheese twice now and I doubt I'll try anything else soon because I like those big ol chunks of blue cheese in there!
Entrees: On my first trip, I tried the Chilean sea bass pomodoro on top of ravioli. The sea bass was great, and the pomodoro sauce was just incredible, but the ravioli tasted gummy and bland, and I actually feared it might have been frozen... God, I hope not. Incidentally, I wanted to ask the server if it was the endangered chilean sea bass or if it was farmed... since it's being overfished and all... but I was genuinely afraid to ask my server about this since I was pretty sure he would call me a name that ends with "ussy" and starts with a P, and roll his eyes at my yuppie self. On this same visit, a friend of mine had a chicken dish which was SADLY overcooked and dry was could be, and another friend had the fruits del mer (?), a fettucine alfredo with calamari, salmon, shrimp, scallops and mussels, and it was great, all the fish was cooked to perfection.
My next trip I had the sea bass florentine (I KNOW, I should have tried something else, but I just love me some sea bass) and it was incredibly good, seabass topped with spinach and ricotta. However, they forgot to season either the fish or the spinach, but after I salted the dish I thought it was fantastic. My friend had the ravioli pomodoro and she thought it was great, so maybe she didn't think they were gummy, maybe I just caught the raviolis on a bad night!
My recurring issue is that I don't think the chef(s) are properly seasoning the food, if they WERE, I would probably give them 5 stars right now.
However, given that MINOR issue, there is so little good old-fashioned Italian food in this town that the Italian Grotto still has almost no competition, and they WERE mostly fantastic! So, I will be back, no doubt at all. I'll just remember to leave my bread plate on the left and not ask any wussy questions about sustainable fish :)
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