Grotto Restaurant

The foodies just kicked off Restaurant Week with dinner at Grotto Restaurant in Beacon Hill -- and we walked all the way home to work off some of the meal. While many other Restaurant Week participants like to serve smaller plates for the occasion, Grotto loads you up with some huge portions, except maybe when it comes to the quartino of wine. As for the quality, it's good, but not overwhelming, and it's claim to "insanely fabulous" tomato sauce is definitely a stretch.

Below are our course-by-course reviews and plenty of pictures.

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Setting: I actually loved the little subterranean, candle-lit "nook" that is Grotto, especially when we arrived early to our 6:00 reservation to snag the corner table facing a collection of wines. If you're a party of two, looking for some privacy, that's the table to get.

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Drinks: We stuck with the wine by the glass and were pleased with the Italian selections. Foodie Guy didn't need to order the quartino of Montelpuciano -- $5 more -- which turned out to be the same amount of wine as the regular glass. I would recommend the Chianti if you like a more subtle, smooth Italian red.

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Bread: It was hard to tell exactly, but we both picked up the flavors of olive oil and butter in the dense bread. It was different, and a good accompaniment to the plate of olives in oil, but I personally prefer a flaky, soft Italian bread.

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Primi: In an effort to avoid my usual Italian appetizer pick -- the Caprese salad --  I chose the Cavatelle, a house-prepared ricotta pasta rich with sausage, pancetta, cream, peas and mushrooms. It was extra creamy, plate-wiping good, and just what I needed after skipping lunch for a long run. Foodie Guy did order the Caprese from Grotto's substantial menu, which we appreciated since most Restaurant Week participants keep their menus slim. Unfortunately, the salad wasn't a great pick after all. You really can't go too wrong with Buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, but Grotto added in a layer of cream that could have been skipped. It had the consistency of mayonnaise, the flavor of heavy cream, and just wasn't needed.

Grotto's Ricotta Cavatelle

Grotto's Tomato Mozarella Salad

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Secondi: The entree is usually a huge deciding factor in my rating of a restaurant. Lucky for Grotto, they have some fabulous desserts! My secondi was the Saltimbocca, parma ham wrapped chicken, stuffed with fontina cheese and served with mushrooms topped with Semolina gnocci. At the base of the dish was a nice Marsala sauce. The dish was flavorful, rich and well-seasoned. My chicken, however, was very dry. It needed that melted fontina and Marsala to moisten it up. This particular dish takes 20 minutes to make, so I wonder if mine went just a minute or two too long. The gnocci was a nice addition and I loved its cheesy crust. I'm just wouldn't order this dish again.

Foodie Guy's dish, on the other hand, was less about the interesting combination of flavors and foods. He went for the classic spaghetti and meatballs. I actually give Grotto a lot of credit for putting this on the menu. You either add this as a dish for the kiddies to enjoy, or you're bringing some serious pasta to the table. I'm talking straight-from-Italy kind of pasta. This is where Grotto lost some credit. They billed this as spaghetti and meatballs with Grotto's "insanely fabulous tomato sauce." I'm not sure who labeled it that, but I knew things weren't looking great when two bites in Foodie Guy said he liked my sauce better. I tasted it and found the sauce good, but neither of us thought it lived up to the hype of  "insanely fabulous." The meatballs were also good, but not like my grandmother makes. Unfortunately, none of it was anything like what we enjoyed in Italy, which is still pretty fresh on our palates.

"Insanely Fabulous" Spaghetti

Chicken Saltimbocca

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Dolce: On to the grand finale! Foodie Guy ordered the Cioccolato, melting chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. I ordered the Budino, banana bread pudding with caramel ice cream and walnuts. These desserts were so good that we took home the few bites of cake we had left in a doggie bag. (We've never taken home dessert leftovers before.) The chocolate cake was the kind you eat in tiny spoonfuls because each taste is so rich and decadent. Even the vanilla ice cream was extra creamy. The banana bread pudding was a flash-forward to fall. The second my plate appeared I smelled nothing but cinnamon and nutmeg. The cinnamon ice cream had a baked sugar flavor to it, the banana bread pudding was more bread than pudding (just as I like it), and even the walnuts were sugar coated. Who'd have thought the best part of our Italian dinner would be dessert?

Banana Bread Pudding

Melting Chocolate Cake

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That's all for our first Boston Restaurant Week dinner. If you haven't made a reservation yet, you'll find lots of options at Grotto, just don't let the "insanely fabulous" claims oversell you... except for maybe when it comes to dessert. For upcoming dinners this week, we'll be making another visit to Rocca Kitchen & Bar in the South End and a first visit to Petit Robert Bistro in Kenmore Square.

Happy Restaurant Week Dining!
FC