La Grotta — Restaurant in Ventimiglia

Lousy food—plus they messed up the order. And they didn’t offer us the gelato that was supposed to be included in the kids’ meal, but the overall quality was poor enough that my kids didn’t even bother to ask for it. This would have been perfectly fine for dinner on the side of a U.S highway. But for a place on the sea in Italy, it was embarrassingly bad. [One of my kids added “Anyone have an airplane meal? Please?” In other words; he’d prefer airplane food, and I agree with his assessment.]

The server took our order and was friendly. But once the food landed, we were totally ignored. We would have ordered more drinks but she never reappeared. Also, even when the (different) servers brought the wrong order, and even when we explained that someone had messed things up, no one brought the right dish until I went to the kitchen to see where Kid 2’s order had gone. They then brought a large bowl of overcooked spaghetti with bland sauce.

After the meal, my kids and I went back to our room and ate snacks to fill up—-and I had to argue with my children about whether to give it one star or two stars.

The restaurant was open late. And the location is good. There is little else to praise...

Went here with a party of seven on holiday. One of us is gluten-intolerant but we had read this was a good place. Bit disappointed when we arrived as the terrace is a covered pavement-Italian style - but we had a view of the sea. They were very good about the guest who needed to eat gluten free. Gluten free dishes come on a different coloured plate so we knew they took this seriously. When the food arrived it was seriously good, especially for the reasonable prices. Gluten-free pasta was best she'd ever tasted,said our GF lady. My wife had a massive Parma ham starter. Everyone's salads were superb. Sea bream was excellent and carved at the table. Can't tell you about desserts because we were so full up we couldn't try them. I marked the atmosphere down a point because of the bag sellers who keep coming into the terrace pavement. I suppose they can't stop them, and I found it added to the local charm. You could always sit inside to avoid them but then you'd...

We dined at La Grotta on August 21st, my husband and I. The food was perfect, well-cooked, and the prices were reasonable, which we appreciated. However, our experience was marred by the attitude of a waitress (who also handles the cashier and seats the guests). Unfortunately, she was unkind and spoke to us rudely. When I asked her if there was a table available, she curtly replied that there wasn't, even though there were clearly empty tables. She then seated other guests who arrived after us, who hadn't made a reservation, so it was clear she did it on purpose. Throughout the evening, she kept giving us strange looks, which made us feel very uncomfortable and unwelcome. Fortunately, another waitress, who was much kinder and more efficient, quickly found us a table. It's a shame that such a good meal was spoiled by this...