La Grotta

I was just there last night for dinner. All these 5 star reviiew are silly and shallow. It is a tiny uncomfortably furnished space. They have a very small menu of 4 or 5 apps, 4 or 5 salads, pasta meat, chick w fish combined and meat section. The prob is the variety in the detail sucked. Everything was topped with same toppings, crabmeat, shrimp. No vegetarian dishes. Even the pasta not vetarian. No soup. Codfish on special that night was $ 30. Very good but very overpriced for diner scrod. There is one salmon entrée and one tilapia entrée. Sold out on a saturday at 9pm. Our order took over one hour to arrive AFTER salad. Waitress came by to announce it will be only 20 more min till we get our food. 2 stars because everything is prepared with quality. But they give terrible service.

Awesome place with great food. Nothing fancy about the décor but they make it up with great food. The pork shank was without a doubt the best I have eaten. The meat was plentiful and so tender with an excellent sauce. We dined with 8 people and we all were satisfied. My dish was a hit with everyone. We will go back.

We dined last night at La Grotta. The place has minimal if any ambience at all. We ordered the Caesar’s salad which was fresh but lacked dressing and of course anchovies. The two pasta dishes that we ordered were truly exceptional. The kitchen was most accommodating. My wife requested a dish of pasta not on the menu (pasta with vegetables), and it was perfect. I had the pasta with crab meat and shrimps and it was delicious.
Unfortunately the place had only one waiter that can use some additional training since he really is not ready for prime time and does not belong to a fine dining place like La Grotta.
We highly recommend the place .We will certainly be back to further explore the menu.

We just got back from our new favorite restaurant, LA Grotto, located in Ventnor, Nj. It’s a BYOB with fantastic food and service. Cash only. Our appatizer, salads, entrees, dessert with cappuccinos were delicious! All the food is fresh, crisp, and homemade. The service was excellent with a nice not so rushed pace as everthing is cooked to order in a very cozy dining room that has ample room for intamasy. We highly recommend La Grotto. …Jim and Debbie.

Charming BYOB restaurant with warm and friendly service (ask for Ricardo). But it’s the «home-​cooked» Italian food that separates this place from the rest of the Ventnor eateries. Don’t let the small menu fool you. The food is fresh and delicious and if you don’t see something on the menu you are looking for you can always ask Ricardo for any other Italian dish and the kitchen will accommodate you.
My wife and I shared the fried calamari and the strawberry/​Apple salad special of the evening. Although rings and no tentacles, the calamari was extremely tender and the fra diavlo sauce had just enough kick but not too spicy/​overpowering. Salad was plated nicely, crisp and fresh. As entrees we enjoyed the chicken balsamico special and the zuppa Di pesce. Chicken cutlets pounded thin w/​a tasty balsamic glaze. The zuppa (most expensive entrée on the menu) was one of the best I have had out and was full of clams, scallops, lobster, talapia and mussels in a crushed whole tomato broth. With a side of linguine w/​roasted garlic and EVOO how could you go wrong? We enjoyed our meal and our conversation with Ricardo who was extremely friendly. After our meal, Ricardo let us try some of their homemade dessert… which I can only describe as vanilla cream/​pudding goodness with cookie crumbs.
Dinning at La Grotta is like eating at grandmas on Sunday night, but even better!

The food is phenomenal here. Luckily I had made a reservation about an hour before otherwise we would not have got in the door. So reservations are a must have cause the place is very small & intimate. We were 2 so sat next to another 2. Our table mates were wonderful company & we love to make new friends. I had the grilled Salmon & it was perfect. Hubby had the special pork chop with risotto which we both recommend. BYOB. Ricardo was a great server & took good care of us. We will be back.

Amazing dinner! There were three of us and each one of us loved our dinner and can’t wait to go again! Their sauces are to die for!

This is a great addition to ventnor margate byo scene. First visit last night. Won’t be our last except totally blew or diet. Great attentive service and well organized well run which is impressive for new restaurant. Started with simple hpuse salad except it tasted so great. Very fresh greens and loved the delicious light dressing. Hubby had excellent antipasto that was huge but perhaps a bit meat heavy.
Most delicious and wonderful imho, was” to die for” house made papardelle and superb bolognese. Cannot believe I ate the whole thing. Yeah, I know
.;-). Hubby had the seafood pot thing in light marinara sauce. Forget what they call it. Said sauce was very spicy. This is cash only. We also love Stella two doors away. They used to have a second restaurant in this space called Salt Ayre but could not maintain both locations due to family tragedy… so it was a bit bittersweet dining at La Grotta last night.

On a recent summer night we spotted an empty sidewalk table at LaGrotta. We parked the car and took our chances. Although the empty tables were mostly reserved, the staff made it work and we were seated. We were with guests from out of town who proclaimed their meal «the best Italian they have ever had». I had the risotto with scallops and lobster-​heavenly. One of our guests had a veal dish that he talked about for the rest of the weekend.
The staff is beyond hospitable, the food is fabulous and the experience, for us, divine.
PS. Don’t forget to bring cash-​no credit cards accepted.

My wife and I are in town from Florida. We headed into town walking the neighborhoods looking for acquaint restaurant to have dinner. We were magnetically drawn to this charming restaurant without sidewalk seating and a small interior. We luckily got a table outside and were immediately greeted by several members of the family owned restaurant. The nephew grandfather and daughter seated us and made us feel comfortable immediately. We didn’t know that this was a BYOB and the grandfather heard and brought us each a glass of red wine.
We split the calamari, Ceasar salad and for our main course pesto shrimp lump crab pasta dish all were made to perfection.
We were then introduced to the daughter and son in law who runs the restaurant and is the chef. This is a special place with the warmth of home and the quality of family with many years of restaurant experience who know great value and made our dining a wonderful experience. We’ll be back!!!

Great fresh food. I had excellent branzino and my husband had a perfect pork chop. Wonderful favors. We frequented another restaurant owned by this family and we miss the very basic and delicious spaghetti and meatballs!

Again I had another meal here awesome food…
This time we had a party of 6 everyone lived their meal …
This place is a great addition to the shore

Hands down the best Italian food around !!! We were so happy when La Grotta opened up in Ventnor. There is a reason they are always busy its not just the amazing food. The Presta family that owns it they are the nicest people you would ever meet! You feel right at home when you walk thru the door. The service is first class, everything is cooked to order very fresh. Chef Giencarlo even will cook your favorite dish even if its not on the menu ! Must ask for the veal Parmesan yummmmmyyyyyy.

Absolutely amazing Italian food cooked by chef Giancarlo and served by his wonderful family! Everything is cooked to order, steaming hot and presented beautifully. The service is also out of this world! We used to go to their old location in Brigantine and were so excited the Presta family opened in Ventnor:-) I highly recommend the Zuppa Di Pesce… if I had to choose my last meal ever, this would be it!

Had a great meal and amazing service! Everyone got something different and every dish was fantastic. Our server, Ricardo, was very attentive and pleasant. Can’t wait to come back!

Friendly service, great food a real European experience. Ricardo was charming and helpful in directing use to the nearest wine store since this is a BYOB. The three of us enjoyed are meal greatly.

Yum! So happy to have a new restaurant of this caliber close to home. Food and service were great. Ricardo was attentive to our needs. Excellent server. Caesar salad very good but needed more garlic and option for anchovies. Salmon carpaccio excellent. Orange was nice addition. Veal Parma was tender with a delicious cream sauce. Seafood stew was hot and flavorful, with special emphasis on the tender calamari
Try it, you’ll like it!

Delicious! Our group tried a variety of menu items and the consensus was unanimous: we will be back!
Personal favorite was the lobster ravioli. 4 giant ravioli topped with shrimp and in a flavorful (not heavy!) cream sauce that left me satisfied not uncomfortably stuffed.
Room for improvement: the wait time between ordering and receiving our meals. This place is small and charming. All the food is freshly made to order (yay!) They had 10 tables/​groups that all arrived for their reservations between 7:30 — 8:30 and the tiny kitchen couldn’t serve 40 – 50 meals in an hour. They’ve only been open only 2 weeks, and like their previous location had not planned on taking reservations. But for a restaurant in this area that is a must — so they do take them now. They just haven’t quite figured out yet how to stagger reservations to accommodate multiple seatings and manage their kitchen flow.
My recommendation– give them a couple weeks to adjust their scheduling and then make La Grotta your go-​to spot starting this August. The food is exceptional and the service from the family owned business will make your meal a pleasurable one.

My family and I tried this new restaurant tonight and found everything to be excellent. The food and the service was superb. A great new addition !

New entry in the ever changing Ventnor restaurant scene. La Grotta, formerly of Brigentine moved home to Ventnor. The food is fabulous and the service very attentive. Will shortly take the honors for a must stop for all the Italian food lovers at the shore