La Grotta On Main Italian Restaurant

Would NOT recommend! Baffling how they have been in business for so long! $85 for 2 people. Mediocre TV-dinner... at best! We ordered: 1 Sangria: watered-down $10-bottle red wine with some apple slivers --> $8 1 Bruschetta: 4 small garlic bread slices with canned tomatoes on top --> $5 1 Veal entree: paper-thin veal that's best described as freezer-burnt TV-dinner. Menu made it sound like entree comes with seasonal vegetables or roasted potatoes and pasta. Ended up being pasta only --> $24 1 Seafood risotto: mushy rice with 6 mussels, 1 piece of toonie-sized fish & 1 shrimp --> $27 Subtotal + tax + AUTOMATIC 20% gratuity! = $85!!! Our male server didn't seem knowledgeable about menu options, the female server literally took 5 minutes from putting down our entrees to coming back with cheese and pepper. My husband and I were NOT IMPRESSED with our experience! We would be happy with a pricier place if there's good quality food, service and ambiance, but this resto had NONE of that. He was almost still hungry after that sheet of veal, but we were too afraid to order desserts. It would've easily been $100 for a very dissatisfying "meal". We ended up going to the DQ across the street right after to try to forget about this experience.

Great for company functions

Last night I took my staff to Lagrotta. The restaurant was fully booked because we had one room and they had another function in the other room. A lot of walkings were turned away. I tried the restaurant before I booked the function to make sure that everything would go fine for my function. We ordered off their regular menu because i wanted my staff to be free of ordering anything they wanted. The meats were cooked to perfection. You can tell that all the food is made in house. Their homemade focacia is to die for. They are truly italian.The owner even spoke italian to a couple of my staff. The serving staff were working hard and well together. They even took care of my wife who is celiac and made special dishes for her. Thank you for a great evening.

Number 1 On My Top 10

From the moment me, my husband and two kids walk into La Grotta restaurant we felt like were in Italy. The waiters were so friendly; they go out of their way to ensure you enjoy your meal. The atmosphere was very inviting. The food I couldn't say I've ever had better veal parmigiana. They we also had amazing Caesar salad and tiramisu! I promise if you go to La Grotta restaurant you won't be disappointed.

Left A Bad Taste In My Mouth - Not the Food...

My girlfriend and I set out to have a nice dinner together. We ordered our food, and it came out in a reasonable time. I cut into my steak and what I ordered as medium rare was CLEARLY medium well>well done. It was completely brown inside. I told the waitress, she apologized and went to ask for a new one. We were disappointed with this mistake, but this kind of thing can happen from time to time at any restaurant. Regardless, there we sat, my girlfriend eating her meal so that it wouldn't go cold by the time I got mine, and me sitting there watching her eat. I'd like to note that all of the other tables had older people at them, and my g/f and I are in our mid-twenties. The waitress offered us dessert for later, but we did not want that. The meal went on. My girlfriends plate was empty, and I ate my new, pink steak. When we got the bill we asked the waitress if there was anything they could do for the inconvenience they caused us. She came back and said the manager said no. It was at this point that I asked for the manager to FINALLY grace us with his presence. When Frank came over, he began spewing excuses and nonsense about our situation. Almost everything he said was irrelevant to our issue, rude, argumentative and completely unprofessional. It was clear he was treating us this way because of our age. All we asked him was if he could do anything for us as we pretty much ate separately and were not completely satisfied with the experience. He asked us if the food was good, we said yes. He asked if I got the second steak, I said yes. He proceeded to then tell us that the food and service was thus, good as we ate the meals, and that there was nothing he could do. I told him that the service wasn't good, as they made a mistake and the result was my girlfriend and I respectfully watching each other eat. I pointed out how he went to each table in the restaurant multiple times but failed to come to ours once. He told us one of the tables always come there and that we don't. He said he only went to the other tables 2-3 times to help with the wine. He also said we had two great waitresses handling our table, so a third person wasn't necessary. On top of all this, he pathetically tried to excuse the steak incident by saying that their steaks are marinated and therefore sometimes look overcooked, but once they are cut into, they are as ordered. This was an awful excuse. As a steak eater, it was clear that steak 1 was well done, with 0 pink or red inside and that steak 2 was medium rare, pink, and delicious...Point is he shouldn't have been arguing with us in the first place. We were infuriated and in shock at this treatment and still had to pay for the bill. We begrudgingly went up to the debit machine to pay. At this point there was another lady who was raving about the food and service. I told her I was happy that she had a good experience there. Frank then continued on us and told the waitress that we weren't going to come back. He shrugged it off and told us that they host huge corporate parties, and holiday functions. Meanwhile, on a Saturday night the place was 1/4 full. He then told us that he didn't appreciate the way we approached him, in which case i replied, "You mean sitting at our table and asking our waitress to send you over?". In order to extract some form of justice from the situation we agreed that leaving no tip would be the only way we could try to prove a point. We felt terrible about it, as I had NEVER done that in my entire life. I apologized to the waitress who was nothing but professional and unfortunate to witness Frank's complete disregard for hospitality and respect. It was ultimately his disgusting treatment that led to her $0.00. I have told everyone I know about this experience and hope that others will read this and avoid La Grotta at all costs. You can find good food at reasonable prices at many other restaurants, but you can't find Frank!

Terrible Experience - Completely Appalled

I had the most terrible experience at La Grotta on Main. My boyfriend's dish did not come out as he had ordered it and asked for it to be redone. In order for me to enjoy my meal hot, we ended up eating separately as his meal came out once I was mostly finished. To compensate for this, I was offered more food to eat while my boyfriend was eating but I wasn't hungry anymore. The manager visited all tables around us to check how the guests were enjoying their meals and to open wine bottles but didn't come by our table to apologize for the situation. When the bill came, we expected a small gesture as an acknowledgment of the situation since we were spending quite a bit of money on dinner but this didn't happen. When we asked if there was anything that they could do to compensate, the waitress told us the manager said no, at which point we asked to speak to the manager. When he finally made it to our table, he basically told us that we were not as important as the regulars or the large christmas parties who came to the restaurant and that he knew we were unhappy and we're not going to come back to the restaurant again anyway so he really didnt care. I have never been so mistreated at a restaurant in my life. His behaviour was appalling and completely unprofessional. I would not recommend La Grotta to anybody who is hoping to have a pleasant dining experience.