GrottoVery noisy if that is a problemVery noisy if that is a problem for you. But otherwise great!5/16/2013 12:00:00 AMSmall but MightyThe last time I tried to eat here, the line was out the door. Now I know why. It's small. Very few tables. But with reservations, it was a snap to get in. Off the beaten path and not as "high profile" as many North End restaurants, but every bit as good if not better. Nicely priced and fabulous food. Will definitely be back.5/13/2013 12:00:00 AMIntimate Dining ExperienceGrotto was a great for date night. Set pricing was affordable $33 a person. Awesome wine selection. Very romantic little corner nock where we sat was fantastic. Not for large groups.5/13/2013 12:00:00 AMMothers Day BrunchSmall and tucked away on Bowdoin st. in the basement of a brick building, this is a small, intimate restaurant with a very attentive staff, great food selection and nice atmosphere.5/12/2013 12:00:00 AMYounger CrowdMy husband and i are in our late 50's and although we had a very nice dinner with very good service and good food, the tables are extremely small. It seems like the perfect place for date night for a younger crowd5/11/2013 12:00:00 AMI have dined at Grotto manyI have dined at Grotto many times and am never disappointed. Highly recommend.5/7/2013 12:00:00 AMOutstanding FoodOur friends were heading to Boston for a few days and my son recommended Grotto. It is a quaint restaurant with very tasty food and an incredible wine list. Would recommend it to everyone.5/5/2013 12:00:00 AMalways a pleasure to dinealways a pleasure to dine at this restaurant...the staff is soooo friendly and helpful......food is awesome!!5/4/2013 12:00:00 AMDelicious foodEverything we ordered was fantastic. I definitely plan on going back.5/3/2013 12:00:00 AMWonderful ExperienceGrotto was amazing. We went for my son's graduation from college. My daughter recommended it and has been there several times. The food was outstanding. We tried several of the appetizers and our main courses were all excellent. They also have a price fix menu which is extremely reasonable for the quality of food that they served. I will be back again.5/3/2013 12:00:00 AMBest Italian Restaurant in BostonI normally don't write reviews, but I cannot say more wonderful things about this place! Every entree is absolutely delicious. My husband and I come here rather regularly and have tried most things on the menu. There has not been a single entree that we did not love. Nothing is average. Favorite entrees include: scallops, gnocchi. Just had the steak last week which was cooked to perfection and delicious. I'm usually hesitant about ordering steak outside steak houses, but I thought I'd take a shot. It was perfect! Food and service are much better than the surrounding competitors. The service is superb. They always recognize us and make us feel special even though we only come every couple of months.5/1/2013 12:00:00 AMFood at its bestA real Italian feel not at all like a chain restaurant but a real feeling of Italy The food was the best Italian I have had in the states I felt like I was in another restaurant in italy4/28/2013 12:00:00 AMGrotto is my FAVORITE restaurantGrotto is my FAVORITE restaurant in Boston. The food is delicious (you must try the bolognese, but everything is great), the service is wonderful(love you guys Dustin and Marisol!), and the they do everything to make you feel at home. I can't think of another restaurant I'd rather eat at! Thank you to everyone at Grotto for making it the wonderful restaurant that it is!4/27/2013 12:00:00 AMFabulous food spectacularFabulous food spectacular wine neat setting. It's small and cramped but very fitting. Service was great and we got right in. Food was perfect for a pre race meal.4/14/2013 12:00:00 AMCouldn't have been betterIncredible food, great ambiance, and very attentive wait staff make this the best little Italian restaurant in Boston...and that's saying something! I took my fiancée here right after our proposal and it was perfect: small setting, delicious food, great wine, and a romantic feel that really made the night special for both of us. Next time I am in Boston I will absolutely be coming back!
If you're in Boston and don't eat at Grotto you've done yourself a disservice. 'Nuff said.4/13/2013 12:00:00 AMDeliciously cozySmall, but cozy with a romantic ambiance. Delicious food and reasonable prices. Make a reservation though...it can get busy!4/6/2013 12:00:00 AMFound this place on Open TableFound this place on Open Table and it was close to where we were staying. Great little cozy place. The food was great. I tried the house Parm and it every bit as good as advertised. My wife had the Spagetti and it was very unlike the norm. Very spicy, very good. A good find.4/5/2013 12:00:00 AMA real grotto, the real deal...Fabulous food, artsy, bohemian vibe (red ceiling features crystal chandeliers backgrounded against unfinished ceiling, complete with exposed heating pipes). Open 7 days for lunch and dinner. Been here quite a few times and it never disappoints.
At our latest brunch we ordered the duck hash and "Eggs in Purgatory"--unbelievably good! Nice wine list, too. And did I mention reasonably priced?3/30/2013 12:00:00 AMexcellent service, especiallyexcellent service, especially during the stress of restaurant week.3/29/2013 12:00:00 AMYou've got to try this place.What a wonderful little place. The food was incredible and the friendliness of the staff made our experience perfect. It was restaurant week so the value we received for our meal was incredible and obviously others agreed as the place was completely full until well in to the afternoon for lunch.3/29/2013 12:00:00 AMOverall, the food and serviceOverall, the food and service was great! For starters, we had Zuppa (soup), Cavatelle (pasta), and Picata (mussels). The Picata was extremely tender and delicious (the wine sauce was also superb); overall, it was fantastic and definitely our top choice for appetizers.
For entrées, we had Zafferano (crab ravioli), Spaghetti, and Carne (grilled beef). The presentation of each dish was impeccable and the portions for each were definitely filling. The Carne was very tender, but lacked some flavor (extra salt/ a separate sauce would have made it perfect). Nonetheless, the risotto that came with the Carne was very rich and delicious. Budino (banana bread pudding) was amazing!
Definitely a hidden gem in the Beacon Hill area. Would come ag3/27/2013 12:00:00 AMExcellent, excellent service!!Excellent, excellent service!! (Especially it being resturant week)3/26/2013 12:00:00 AMThis place was fantastic!This place was fantastic! Service was amazing and the food was delicious! I loved the ambiance, a great date place! I have already recommended it to my friends!3/26/2013 12:00:00 AMVery GoodOverall Grotto was very good. The space is super small and tight, which can be a little uncomfortable. But the service was excellent. Very friendly and attentive. It was restaurant week, so although the food was delicious the portions were somewhat small. The molten chocolate cake was absolutely divine!3/25/2013 12:00:00 AMSmall, quaint restaurant withSmall, quaint restaurant with an almost-romantic feel. It was very noisy but that was because of how crowded it was and the noise just bounces off the walls of the small space. The service was excellent - staff was attentive and we were seated almost immediately. Most of the food was delicious: garlic soup and caprese salad were amazing, the beef tenderloin was excellent, desserts were fantastic, my bolognese was good but over spiced. I would definitely come back and recommend it to others - with a warning about the red sauce.3/25/2013 12:00:00 AMGo Grotto!We went for restaurant week; the food was incredible and the menu was more extensive than any other restaurant week menu I've seen. The worst part of the meal was trying to decide among all the delicious options! (that is--there was no worst part. Grotto is awesome.)3/24/2013 12:00:00 AMFondue wAs delicious as wasFondue wAs delicious as was bolognese. Took a few mins to be acknowledged upon entry but once we were everything was awesome. Very romantic spot.3/22/2013 12:00:00 AMThis is a wonderful, veryThis is a wonderful, very small, dark restaurant with great ambiance, good art, small crystal chandeliers, walls of wine, excellent food, with a sweet assistant to an unenthusiastic wait staff.3/21/2013 12:00:00 AMRomantic FlingI loved the ambiance of the place, so cute and romantic, but I was not a huge fan of the food. The grilled calamari barely had any taste, the 'insanely fabulous sauce' tasted smokey (which I warned about by waiter), and the dessert was a bit hard and not too warm. I hate to write this review on the food because the waiter and the decor were so great. I also did not enjoy that we were essentially kicked out (or offered to move tables) because there were reservations waiting. (1 couple waiting at the door...). Every other restaurant I visited on restaurant week accomodated my coffee and dessert savory. Though there was an unfortuante time expiration on my lunch experience, the waiter was gracious and apologetic.3/21/2013 12:00:00 AMWhen you first walk down theWhen you first walk down the stairs it feels like you are entering someone's cellar. The exposed brick and red paint give it a romantic feel. The food is amazing and the portions are big. The staff are very friendly and paid attention to their costumers. However, some of the tables are really close together to the point that I felt like I was in other people's conversations, and it felt crowded. Overall it was a good restaurant and I do plan on coming back.3/21/2013 12:00:00 AMFood was fabulous, especiallyFood was fabulous, especially the dessert. Brownie Sundae to die for. They really need more waitstaff but manager was fabulous and made up for the lack of staff. I'll go back and soon3/20/2013 12:00:00 AMI had been here before andI had been here before and enjoyed the restaurant. Brought a friend and we both had a wonderful meal. The waitstaff was most attentive and the food was great. We will be back again.3/19/2013 12:00:00 AMFantastic date night. WeFantastic date night. We walked in for our 6:30 reservation and promptly got a table. After making the difficult decision on our prix fixe choices, we were off. I started with the Cavatelle followed by the Antra. The cavatelle was perfect mix of spicy sausage and sweat cream. I could almost make a meal of it alone; it was so rich. The duck was just as fantastic. The crispy leg wasn't anything fantastic for me, but the Apple stuffed breast was a delight. And just in case I wasn't full, the potatoes were there to finish me off.My girlfriend had caprese salad of sorts for a starter. As I generally like caprese, it was very solid. She followed it up with the Zafferano crab ravioli. Maybe I don't know what makes good ravioli,3/17/2013 12:00:00 AMSmall below-street level roomSmall below-street level room with close table spacing. Both noisy and intimate. A lively, young crowd the night we were there. Very high food quality, particularly given the reasonable prices. Some moderately unusual dishes, e.g. a grilled calamari salad and scallops "ravioli," which sandwiches nicely-cooked scallops between 2 thin sheets of fresh pasta. Young, friendly staff. One of the more interesting options within a few minutes walking distance of the Park St. end of the Common. A fun time after a some minutes of wait for a table in the very cramped entry area.3/17/2013 12:00:00 AMGreat experienceWent here during Restaurant Week - for a small place and being pretty busy on a Saturday night, this place runs really smoothly. Seems like all servers help out with seating and waiting all tables. They were very attentive without hovering. All servers we apogee to also seemed to have a good degree of knowledge about the wine list. Food was delicious - came out hot and pretty quickly. Have had experiences at other restaurants during Restaurant Week if feeling rushed out - did not feel rushed here at all. Ambience was romantic with dim lights but good buzz within the small close knit tables. Great experience - would definitely go back!3/16/2013 12:00:00 AMBetter than the North End!The food was absolutely delicious. As good as the North End with better ambiance.3/16/2013 12:00:00 AMA Hidden GemWe always try to find the hidden gem's of restaurants. Small, underground, brick walls, red velvet and candles with a great menu and Grotto fit what we wanted perfectly.3/16/2013 12:00:00 AMFab Second VisitThis was our second visit to Grotto and it was as exceptional as it was the first time. Intimate atmosphere, attentive service and a simple fixed-price menu with delish dishes for every course.3/16/2013 12:00:00 AMthe best lobster fra diavolo ever. Two blocks from the Commons, this little gem is nestled underground. The dinners are beyond reasonable, as a 3-course dinner is $36, and the lunch is a steal, with a large lunch pasta portion running at $14 max (check out the menu here). Head down the steps, through the red velvet curtain, to an intimate dining area with mood lighting and a wall of wine bottles amidst walls of brick.
For dinner I go here for one reason, and one reason only...the lobster fra diavolo. With homemade linguine, this tasty dish is what dinner-dreams are made of. Buttery lobster tucked into spicy twists of heavenly-light pasta with a bit of a kick. Absolute perfection. I finish my portion without a doubt every single time.3/15/2013 12:00:00 AMHad a great meal at Grotto.Had a great meal at Grotto. We were there for Boston Restaurant week, what a deal for lunch! Food was excellent, and service attentive. I liked that everyone helped each other, so service was seamless. The place is small and tight. The only negative was that we had a table in the corner, it wasn't the easiest table to eat at and enjoy lunch. With that said, we would go back.1/1/0001 4:00:00 PMvery good smaal restaurant-greatvery good smaal restaurant-great ambiance-great options for all of the price fix menu1/1/0001 4:00:00 PM