On a Friday night, we were quickly seated 15 minutes before our reservation time. The restaurant was noisy and lively on an island Friday evening.
Service was reasonably prompt, given that the tables were full. We have been here a few times over the years,...and I’m sure we’ll return but on this evening, the food ranged from acceptable to not good.
My Snapper Romano was good, cooked and seasoned well with a generous topping of lump crab and buttery burre blanc sauce, but the penne alla amatriciano was bland and fairly tasteless.
The real stumble was the Tuscan Sausage Gnocchi. This was store bought gnocchi. It was tasteless and rubbery, paired with a sauce surprisingly devoid of very much Italian sausage. The sausage was tasty but there was very little of it in evidence. Contrast this with the Gnocchi at Riondo’s just the other side of the island, which was house made and perfect, buttery and soft. If they house make the Gnocchi at Grotto, the don’t know how to make good gnocchi. Frankly, it was BAD.
A disappointing evening at a restaurant that is normally very good.More