Tratorria Pasta Grotto

I've been going to Trattoria Pasta Grotto for years and the owner recently changed the name to Chalet Ticino. People thought he only served pasta but his Osso Bucco is wonderful, as are other meat and fish entrees and his Swiss dishes are great. Sunday breakfast is also terrific. In the summer, you can sit outside and Alec, the owner, is so nice and helpful. Oh, and be sure and have his desserts! Price is reasonable and service is great.

I had been interested in trying Pasta Grotto since my friend told me they have fondue, and I love fondue. It is a Swiss-Italian restaurant and they have some Swiss specialties as well as pastas and meats. We ended up getting the fondue, which is either a cheese or beef fondue, that comes with soup or salad and "chocolate fondue". The fondue was a standard cheese fondue with bread, and some potato pancakes. It was fine. (You have to have at least 2 people order the fondue and I wasn't sure you could get the chocolate fondue otherwise). The Italian wedding soup was very good.

We ended up getting the option between the "chocolate fondue" and "warm berries", which was berries in a sauce with ice cream. It looked okay, but didn't sound too exciting to me. The "chocolate fondue" was an assortment of fruit pieces and a small dish of chocolate, that tasted like Hershey's chocolate sauce. I didn't end up eating the chocolate at all.

The owner is the waiter, I believe, and we got good service, but as we had a coupon (they have a connection from restaurant.com) I was a bit put off by his telling us to pay the tip based on the original amount.

All in all, it was good food, but I probably wouldn't get the fondue again. I'd try something else.

This is a great little restaurant that seems to be undiscovered. My friends and I went here for a Ladies Night Out and didn't have a reservation and thought for sure we would be shut out or have a long wait, but we were among the only ones there. However, the food is very good. The owner is from Switzerland and serves authentic food and could not be nicer. I had their Chocolate Fondue on Halloween night and it is served with fruit and it is so good. The cheese fondue is very yummy and romantic for sharing. I have had several pasta dishes here and the portions are big and delicious.