Hosteria "Il Grottino"

Finding a restaurant like this in a place like Gualdo Cattaneo always strengthen us: "Umbria is the best part of Italy". Perfect location, perfect food, and the STAFF, yes written in caps. Relatively a new place, you can feel they want to entertain you, they want to do their best. Well done! This place has a bright future.

We live in Italya for more than 2,5 years and for sure this was one of the best dinners in a small town. We were expecting a standard melanzane (aubergine) as starter but it was much beyond our expectations. Pasta was far one of the best ones even considering we tried several good ones also in Bologna - the fat city. Picanha was good but not as good as you can have in Portugal when you go to Brazilian rests but sauces were balancing its taste very good. Desserts were also above standart. Overall with this ambiance, kind & attentive staff, delicious foods with high quality ingeridents, it is not a surprise that they are in Michelin list

High end, creative cuisine with a local flair. Google thinks it is hotel and it might be but we ate here. Lunched here with five others. Great outdoor seating for lunch with nice indoor space as well. Starters and pastas were creative, tasty, and perfectly prepared. Wine list was broad though not deep with many regions of Italy represented and had a good sampling of Umbria wine. Server was prompt, friendly, and continously checked on us. Prices are on higher end, but food and service and venue justified it. Overall recommend unconditionally.

This is fine dining at half the price of other locations and much more beautiful. The atmosphere, views, and staff were lovely and I really appreciated the chef making special accommodations for my dietary restrictions (and making a fast simple veggie plate for the starving 4 year olds with us). I have been eating all over Umbria and Tuscany the last 10 days and even the local olive oil and wine was better than the rest. The chef is a true culinary artist coming from a family of chefs. The pork, filet, canestrino porcini, and mouse and fruttini were among the favorites from my party of 10.

Wow! What a difference a year makes. I came here a year ago and wasn't impressed - service wasn't great, food was ok but not great VFM; what really irritated me though was the missed opportunity because the young restaurateur obviously had so much more potential than to serve the local Umbrian food with a twist. Now, however, this is a bona-fide fine dining experience with a chef let loose on Italian food to create a very special experience. Sadly, I see many reviewers have completely missed the point: this is not an expensive local restaurant, it is the full high end dining experience at half the price! There are numerous fine dining places within 30 minutes drive of here. Think 100 euro a head think reeeaaallly long wine list with half of the wines over 100 a bottle. At Il Grottino you get the same level of food at around 50 euro per head and a very carefully thought out wine list - mercifully short and cleverly varied. The service issue has been completely resolved too by the incredibly brave decision to reduce the maximum number of covers per evening from 75 to 45 - sadly the miniscule size of the kitchen meant that they had to compromise on covers or quality - I am so happy they didn't lower the quality, in fact it is improved! I can't write a long review without mentioning the magical, somehow impossibly beautiful setting - breathtaking! We went for 3 courses as is the norm these days, rather than 4 and those that chose a meat 'main' were absolutely delighted, those that chose a pasta as a main went hungry. The quality of the pasta was amazing but the quantity was only suitable for a 4 course meal and as pasta dishes topped out at 18 euro each this wasn't really appropriate given the shape of the rest of the menu. Those that had a pasta dish as a first/starter course were delighted though. Finally the deserts, and there is still a bit of work to do here. I perfectly understand why non - standard tiramisù is not liked by enough locals so has to be served unamended but that just makes it the same as everywhere (and I mean everywhere) but a bit expensive, and why would you order it here anyway, but that just leaves a choice of 2 and neither was as outstanding as the rest of the menu. I hope next time that I will be wowed by the deserts too. My advice is to go for a meat dish that isn't done on their 'grill' because, whilst no doubt lovely, many others locally serve meat this way and the extra Il Grotino can add is limited, whilst their other mains are genuinly outstanding. Enjoy! Ps could we please have a seafood course. Thanks.

We had dinner here on Aug 15th: nice atmosphere, very professional staff and lovely welcome glasses of Prosecco. I loved my duck-pistachio pyramids, very tasty and a surprising mix of flavors. My partner was disappointed with his almond breaded lamb chops which he found a bit tough and dry. And the grilled veggies we shared were quite tasteless (I added olive oil and some of the lamb chop breading and I appreciated them more…). We enjoyed some Nebbiolo red (quite a hearty wine though). Then we had a surprisingly long wait until dessert…but the tiramisu was excellent. (Total: 64€).

Waiting 40 min for appetiser Ravioli with ricotta vanilla and raspberries wasn’t tasty and an attempt of the chef to be creative with poor results. When asked by the owner for my opinion about food I expressed my disappointment of the very slow service and the fact that the ravioli wasn’t tasty, she got angry which was surprising after her very smiley face Bottom line, very disappointed and paid too much money for nothing

It might look like your average little town restaurant but Il Grottino is anything but! I was immediately greeted by the friendly staff, Raffaele and his wife, Marco the talented chef and the sweetest waitress ever, and from the incredible aroma coming from the small kitchen. I was traveling for work and I stayed in their cozy, clean room upstairs for two nights. Both nights, Marco greeted me with traditional dishes from the region Umbria but with that special touch that only creative chef can have. You must try "Piramide al carbone attivo di anatra e pistacchio and Strangozzo al Tartufo " I am planning already my next visit!