La Grotta Ristorante — Restaurant in Richmond

EDIT: Continue to stand by my statement that the ownership is quite bad. To respond to a customer review with such aggression speaks for itself.

Yes, we did show the PDF image of the gift card that came from an email FROM the owner. I have at least 3 emails on my phone from the owner with the gift card. You refused immediately to help us resolve the issue when the gift card number wouldn’t work and all I had was an ‘image’.

Clearly no one buys digital gift cards or your record keeping is not accurate. It wasn’t until I forwarded the email she sent me that she started to pay attention and agree to send a refund.

And yes, we only came back because my sister who does not live here or know about Richmond got the gift card for us for Christmas. We are moving to San Francisco and trying to use the gift cards we have in our final month here.

Again, it is offensive to say that we were not being honest. I’m really disappointed by the response and treatment when we were just trying to use a gift.

—————————————

The owner here is horrible. We tried to use a gift card from Christmas and on the night we came into use it she said it had no value.

I have 3 emails from her on the same day with the gift card. I called today and she was very combative and didn’t understand why I was frustrated. She refused to spend the 10 minutes it would take to look at her email to validate the email I sent back to her (that came from her) that the gift card was valid.

It is offensive to say that we were not being honest. It is offensive that she just refused the use of the gift card and turned us away. It is offensive to yell at a customer because you are busy. This restaurant has never been full the two times we have been here. It is the job of the owner/ manager to handle these issues.

If it is not handled I will be contacting Hilton directly because it is within their property.

We only went back because we were gifted this card from family out of town. The first time we went here the food was sub par and not fresh. Neither of us finished our meals as it wasn’t fresh. The same can be said for last night when we went.

Based on this incident and our previous visit, I can safely safe the staff and management doesn’t care about service or quality. I think it took about 15 minutes for us to be recognized by our server to be asked for drinks.

This is so extremely disappointing from a restaurant to be treated this way. We had no intentions on coming back after our first visit, but after this last one I can definitely say I will never come back again.

You...

Came here for a celebratory dinner. Made our reservation via the website; called to fix the amount of people from 5 to six with no issues. The manager answered the phone and was very nice.

We came here via recommendation from an employee. She was not wrong, the prices are very high, but the quality of the food matched so we can’t complain. Special occasions call for opening your wallet with closed eyes!

We would vote this the second best pasta in town; sauces and meats were divinely tasty/well done. Try the quail, it was incredible.

Plating however was a bit silly for fine dining. As someone who has gone to fine restaurants around the globe, I find putting an orchid on my plate of pasta cliché and offensive (orchid production is highly problematic, feel free to research if you are unaware). Honestly unless the garnish works with the dish/tastes good with my food, it’s a waste of money. To top our pasta, why not use fancy parsley or oregano flowers or nasturtium? These are all edible and wouldn’t go to waste. We all agreed the orchids made us sad; they’re not even edible! I grow my herbs and love using their flowers as garnish/decoration of my dishes. Hope the chef sees and considers my hot tip! Orchids are so expensive; to be wasted like this.

Their desserts were excellent, especially the pannacotta and the grand marnier cake (incredibly floral, to die for creamy highly recommend). The waiter talked up the tiramisu so much, it was corny. As a family that has visited Italy many times we found his fake accent and counting incorrectly in Italian endearing, but a bit over the top. Also highly doubt a true Italian would ever claim the Grotta tiramisu is better than an Italian one.😂

Will definitely come back, but unfortunately have to agree with some of the other reviews in regards to sexism. Our waiter was a bit focused on my oldest daughter, kept reaching over her to serve wine and water, calling her pet names, which made her uncomfortable. Maybe just walk around the table to serve instead of reaching over guests.

Also, when we received our bill, they charged us for a $65 bottle of wine rather than the $30 one we ordered. They fixed it once we pointed it out, but it was still a bit awkward. Make sure you check your bill before you pay!

PS: My daughter would love to help you with your social media presence. Your instagram is very bland and does not represent your business accurately. This could help elevate your business; highly recommend hiring someone better to work on your...

After a month or two of deliberation on where to eat for my birthday dinner, we finally decided on La Grotta to celebrate Saturday evening.

Richmond has an extensive Italian food scene that includes handmade pasta and traditional fare at many of the local restaurants. In that regard, it is tough to stand out.

La Grotta Ristorante, in our opinion, is the best Italian restaurant and one of the best overall restaurants in RVA.

To start, we ordered dirty martinis which came out perfectly. Briny from the olive juice, 3 blue cheese stuff olives skewered, and well mixed to create a perfect balance. We also had old fashioned’s which were perfectly crafted by the bartender. Reasonably priced for an upscale restaurant.

Bread baskets came out regularly and flowing with homemade focaccia, Italian bread, and it also included breadsticks. The showstopper here was that Calabrian chili pepper oil that was served with the bread. You could drink it by the bucket full.

For appetizers we ordered the snails and the frog legs over polenta. The snails were served out of their shells on top of button mushrooms in a garlic, herb, and oil sauce. The frog legs were served in a light tomato and Chardonnay red sauce over top of polenta. These were the best frog legs I’ve ever had. Light, tender, and flavorful. The sauce reminded me of a well flavored cacciatore.

For our entrees, we got the Quail, Spinach and Ricotta ravioli, and the special of the night; pheasant ravioli.

The quail is a must try, as I think this is the best meal I’ve tasted in Richmond. It is juicy and packed with herbaceous flavor. A google review can’t clearly articulate how tasty this was. Just order it… now.

The spinach and ricotta ravioli was well balanced and light even though it was based in a cream sauce. The pasta shells have a great chew since they are made in house, and the portions were plentiful.

The special of the night; the pheasant, was perfect. It was not gamey, and you could taste the care that was put into creating a delicate bite. This should be a continuously rotating item if it isn’t already. I will have to order this again.

Overall, the experience was perfect from top to bottom. If you live in RVA, or are just visiting, make an effort...