Il Grotto (La Grotta)
- July 18, 2007
- Rated 1 of 5 by
lovetotravel97 from Winston-Salem, North Carolina
We just came back from our trip to Italy (July 2007). We spent a lot of time in Cortona, but had a series of unfortunate encounters with Il Grotto (some of your writers have written it as La Grotta).
I walked down a short alleyway looking for the restaurant. It was difficult to pinpoint the entrance as there were several doors around. I opened the door and asked if this was Il Grotto. A middle aged woman started talking to me in Italian. She said yes. I then asked if I could make dinner reservations for tomorrow night. She responded in Italian quickly so I couldn't understand her. I spoke, in my broken Italian, that I'd like to make a reservation for tomorrow. She started speaking in Italian, then began raising her voice. She got louder, shooed me out the door, shut it, and locked it in my face. No exaggeration.
Stunned, I spoke to several locals. Apparently this place has somewhat of a reputation at times. They said that perhaps other restaurants would be "more kindly" and recommended Trattoria Toscana up the hill. I made reservations there and the people were so friendly and nice. The food was great, too!
My family, not heeding my warning about the staff at Il Grotto, tried to make a reservation the following day for themselves. One of the staff said yes, we can make a reservation, the other said no, they could not. Then the two staff members got into an argument and said that no, they could not seat them.
I vowed to not go there again, despite what food they have. I spoke to another local about the incidents and they said that they aren't always nice over there because they have so much business. Just thought someone would want this information if traveling in the summer months. There is another "Grotto"-like restaurant next to the Snoopy gelateria near the Teatro Signorelli. It was terrific, and they served wonderful, authentic Tuscan food.
From journal Trip to Italy
Trattoria La Grotta
Cortona's restaurants serve scrumptious Tuscan dishes and this particular place did not disappoint.
The setting is a secluded coutyard with outdoor tables...very romantic...unfortunately I was alone.
I had a tortelli, filled with spinach and ricotta, also a pisareie faso, which is a hearty mix of beans and small balls of dough.
For dessert I had cantuccini di prato, which is almond cookies made with many egg yolks, dipped in vinsanto, a rich dessert wine made from raisins.
Of course, no meal is complete with a good bottle of wine. I had a bottle of ORVIETO CLASSICO,a world-renowned wine.
From journal A Treasure called Cortona