La Grotta On Main Italian Restaurant

Service was non existent. Food made me ill. Not fresh and tasted out of a can.

The restaurant has changed ownership and it has gone down drastically. The food is very bad and waiters are high school kids who dont know what they are doing. The place smells like burnt mouldy. The wines we ordered were not available. The washrooms were filthy and in the dining room we could see cobwebs. Totally disgusted.

Me and my girlfri...

Me and my girlfriend ordered off the prefix menu, we started with the portobello mushroom was rich in goat cheese and ricotta. My girlfriend ordered veal pizzaiola looked great she enjoyed it, I ordered spaghetti bolognese was rich in flavor and very filling with large portions. I would definitely come back here again the owner was very respectful and made sure we enjoyed our meal. I am definitely dining here again!

Beautiful place

Last Friday lunch took my staff to celebrate an achievement for a department manager(ibm). We were set up in a private room. Frank and Elisabeth who were both serving us,made us feel right at home. Apparently some of my staff had been there already. We ordered off a fixed 3 course menu which offered lots of different choices. I had the soup,veal parmician and their mango sorbet. Everyone was raving about how good the food was. Service was impeccable. Frank also spoke Italian to one of my staff. I will book here again if the opportunity arises.

cozy and beautiful

I happened to have had to be there during the jazz festival this past weekend. The restaurant was extremely busy. We walked in with no reservation and we were turned away,but the host told us that he would have a table after 9:30 pm. We accepted and returned after enjoying more jazz on the street. Our table was being cleared and we didn't mind waiting because we wanted to sit on their beautiful patio were there were torches burning and bocelli's music playing in the background. The service was friendly and fun. We chose the portobello mushroom salad and a roasted red pepper soup. They were well presented and delicious. For mains we had a pizza and a seafood risoto. Both were very tasty and super yummy!!! Their wine selection is wide and well balanced. We picked a bottle of ripasso wine. To end our evening we asked if it was possible to have sabaioni for dessert. The waiter said that if the chef didn't want to make it,that he would make it for us. What an exemplary show of costumer service!!! Honestly, it was better than the ones we had in Sorrento,Italy!!! My wife and I were impressed with everything. Thank you for a wonderful evening.

Great food, Better atmosphere

We were on main-street unionville all day and we had worked up quite an appetite, it was around 10:30 and we saw that most of the other restaurants had closed their doors or had refused us service because their kitchens were closed. We were fortunate for this to happen to us because we stumbled upon a quaint little restaurant that transported us back to Italy as soon as we walked down the stairs. The owner, Frank, greeted us with a smile and we felt at home as soon as we were sitting down. We all opted for the price fix menu and we were pleasantly surprised when our appetizers came around. As I recall there were 2 Cesars and some mussels as well as a caprece salad, all of which looked and smelled fantastic. The Cesar had to be one of the best I have ever had. I was so excited to eat my next course I'm not even sure what the others had, as the food was so good it nearly killed the conversation in our group. As soon as I looked up to see how the others were doing with their food it was all done, and we began cleaning our plates with the delicious home made bread. I had an espresso with the fantastic tiramisu which was the perfect ending to a fantastic dining experience.

Pizza Haven

My family ordered two party size pizzas - one was the Fiorentina and the other was the Pizza Polo...they were absolutely delicious and as I write this review, my mouth is watering thinking about the scrumptious experience we had! The bubbly waitress was friendly and cute. She catered to our every wish lighting up the restaurant with her beautiful smile! My family will definitely come back to this rustic restaurant - the food is delicious, the price is right and the service is friendly! Two thumbs up for La Grotta on Main!

cozy place

Its being so many years, we remembered this cozy place. We were impressed, great customer service. We really loved our dinner and the atmosphere, my husband and i decided to book our daughters first communion this april. We really recommend it!

Corporate party

Last Friday at lunch I took my IBM collegues to this beautiful restaurant. I have passed bythis restaurant so many times not knowing about it. We were sat in a private room by a wine cellar and the fireplace. The food was very delicious and the service was professional and knowledgeble. We tried a variety of freshly cooked dishes which were delectable. The pasta and fresh seafood dishes were very flavourful. we will definetely reccomend this place to a lot of people.

Best family night out!

Me, my wife and two kids went to La grotta last night and we had the best time ever, the food was amazing and the waiters were five star

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.

Great Restaurant

Last week I took my staff under the raccomendation of one of my collegues. As soon as we arrived the place reminded me of a trip to the amalfi coast of Italy. It brought back a lot of pleasant memories. The food was exquisite and tre serving staff was friendly and professional. Thanks for the great evening.

La Grotta - Overpriced

We bought a Groupon for this restaurant prior to reviewing the reviews. We went anyway giving the restaurant the benefit of doubt. Arrived earlier than reservation. They seated us willingly, but a bit haphazardly, The patio was busy and noisy. The restaurant inside had no airconditioning on the hotest day of the year - we opted for heat rather than noise. Service was inattentive, menu was limited. The prices were through the roof - very comparable to prices at a downtown TO 5-star restaurant. We're still giving the restaurant the benefit of doubt. My husband had the caesar salad and rack of lamb, I had the grilled calamari (which actually came deep-fried) and the gnocchi. The lamb was very tasty, but portions were small and the side of pasta in red sauce very bland. At $34.95 the plate was very overpriced. The Caesar salad, simply romaine, croutons and a heavy handed oily/heavily garliced dressing (no bacon, no parmesan of any kind, etc.), while somewhat tasty, at $8.95 was not worth the price. The calamari were tasty, but again not grilled as the menu indicated. The gnocchi was a sufficient portion but gummy and contained very little portabello or any other item - the gorgonzola/rose sauce was definitely not that. We also had a ginger ale at $3.00 (after trying to get a diet cola 2x that wasn't flat - they indicated it was 'our taste-buds' and the cola did have a few bubbles - IT WAS FLAT - two tries later, it was still FLAT). We also had a draft each of their Bavaria draft beer - small pints at $7.50 each - again overpriced. We did not stay for dessert or coffee - we were melting from the heat/non-ac at this point and decided to stop into the Marble Slab in Aurora on the way home to have our dessert there. Overall, the groupon was a waste of $25.00 - they have jacked their prices to incorporate this cost into the meals. Pity anyone who doesn't have the Groupon to cut their final bill. Would we try this restaurant again and give them another chance? Not in your life - wish we had taken the reviews seriously. Hope you do this with ours.

Food definitely overpriced

We had a Groupon for La Grotta and we were excited to have dinner there. Even with $25 off, the food was still overpriced. The gnocci tasted stale, my veal marsala was not tasty. I did not mind the small servings, but I do expect a better meal. The ambiance is outdated with fake fruit and fake flowers gracing every wall. I will say that the service is outstanding. The owner and our server were excellent. They were funny, likeable and endearing. If they reduce their entrees by 50% (like how it was 8 years ago), we'll go back there. If they're going to hike up the prices of food, the food actually has to be better!

Good Times

Last night after work me and my colleagues went to La grotta restaurant to celebrate my birthday. As soon as we got there we were greated very friendly and sat promptly. The restaurant was busy and had a good vibe. The servers were very professional. It was a pleasure to see them working in harmony all together. We ordered a bottle of amaroni wine and also ordered a mixture of dishes so that we could share. We also had a couple of modifications which they gladly accommodated. We were there for over 2 hours and the place got really busy.Some people were being turned away. The restaurant was very cozy and I am thinking of booking a family function there. The food was very fresh and tasty and their portion sizes were good. My friend took some of the fettuccine home because she couldn't finish it. At the end they sang a birthday song for me and the whole restaurant sang along. Really enjoyable evening.

Very small portions

Found the portions to be very small for the price. Food tasted OK but we were wondering all along if they served smaller portions because we had a coupon that was purchased online. The Veal Marsala was small and probably the worst I have ever tasted. The Surf and Turf consisted of a very, very small portion of steak and one shrimp, along with a couple of veggies. Wine was good at 7.50 a glass ( not a bad price for Valpolicella )