The Grotto

After a long trip which started earlier in the day in Baltimore and which took me through the entirety of Pennsylvania on a north-​south axis, darkness had descended without a place to stay for the night. After an excursion off I-​84 failed to produce a resting place, some concern was beginning to set in. Finally, Milford produced sleeping quarters.
By this time it was getting on in to the evening and I came very close to just hopping from my room to the motel’s dining room, which I knew would be predictable Indian cuisine. But, refreshed by a shower, I decided to drive down a pretty lengthy hill and see what Milford had to offer.
I had never heard of Milford, Pa., until the outset of the trip, which took me from Sullivan County, N.Y. to York, Pa. I wanted the ambling, scenic route and hoped to get glimpses of the Delaware River from a perspective other than my only other previous experiences on I-​80 heading to Chicago to see relatives as a lad. I took note of Milford on the way down as exuding a lively vibe.
So, I did have an awareness that Milford might boast a good restaurant or two as I scrambled into town, famished from a long day on the road without a single rest stop.
When I saw the signs out front for the Mediterranean Grotto, I almost stopped right there. But as it was the first restaurant I’d come across — and the town up ahead looked lively — I figured I’d head for the heart of the village. But at the end of the block on which The Grotto resides, I spied an irresistible parking space. Just one left!
So, heeding my good fortune I slammed on the brakes and steered myself into the spot and headed up on foot to the front door. Well, the entrance is actually on the side of the building, but from the moment I stepped in I knew my spontaneous decision was likely to be a rewarding one.
The menu was fascinating. Usually when you hear «Mediterranean» cuisine, you expect either Italian or maybe middle eastern. But this menu was all over the map. Literally! If a country has coastline on the Mediterranean Sea, there was a very good chance a selection reflecting that particular region would show on the menu.
And I could see from the descriptions of the individual dishes that this was no mere «nod» to the cooking of the region — you know, a collection of cliché dishes that could show up during international week on the schoolroom lunch menu.
No, not at all. From Morocco to France and Italy, these dishes appeared to leave no spice unturned in the quest for authenticity.
So I ended up with a really wonderful salad of many diverse elements, both fruity and ruffagey and was elated with the serendipity that brought me there. The entrée was also outstanding, a chicken cacciatore dish with the bone-​in, as it must be. The only disappointment was the meat was not from the breast, but rather the thigh and leg, which I later learned was due to the chef’s supplier being low on the former that day. And indeed, that’s the only thing preventing me from awarding that cherished final star. But otherwise, I don’t hesitate to call this a destination restaurant.
I further learned, after a very edifying conversation with the server who gave freely of his time, that the chef /​owner is extremely particular about his food sourcing and will creatively work his way through a recipe rather than use something tried and true if the quality of the ingredient is not up to the standards he seeks to maintain.
In closing, I went back to the motel and looked up the reviews here and on other dining sites on the web and was fairly flabbergasted at the range of opinions. Maybe I just hit it on a good night, but I suspect that there might be a fair amount of mercenary attacking going on here. I had learned the restaurant had been open for only about 18 months. The fact that the chef is not a native of the area combined with hearing of an incident involving sandwich boards on the sidewalk that didn’t go over well with the local populace, has me wondering whether the ratings have been unfairly affected by local prejudices.
Mind you, this is all my conjecture. I haven’t been back since my fortuitous meal in late October. But next time I come, I’m coming with friends. And I’m going out of my way to get there. It’s that good.

God help you if you eat there, food is absolutely inedible. They’re doing Milford a huge disservice by continuing. Salad came in a burrito, it’s just the worst.

Been living here a year and decided to give The Grotto a go despite of the bad reviews here. A friend was surprised when I mentioned it was good and responded that there must be a new chef, well if so, then keep it up. I give this p, ace 4.5 stars.
Went the other night and had a few qualms as the hostess was a tad off putting, particularly her choice of attire. That being said we were led to our table on the other side of the building. The layout of the restaurant, which is in a restored 111 year old house, is of adjoining rooms with the kitchen in the center. It was 6:45 on a rainy night and there was a small group at one table enjoying what I saw to be large portions. Thank goodness because the hostess needs some polish. Our waitress was a bit quiet but efficient. The staff apologized for the loud, large party in the adjoining room, but thankfully the doors between the dining rooms can be shut, otherwise the cackle of one guest would have given us cause to imbibe some serious alcohol, which this place does have. After ordering, the hostess brought us fluffy focaccia which was herbed, but not salty, olive oil on the table plus some salt and fresh pepper on the bread plate made for a lovely start to the meal. The large party did not impact our order or pacing. The calamari were a slight bit chewy, but batter was crisp and marinara solid. The dish needed salt and pepper, so I guess this chef has heeded the prior reviews. All entrees we ordered were large and we then took the remainders home. Eggplant parm delivered as did the chicken parm and the prices are right; in addition to the pasta you also get a generous side of braised vegetables. I did detect one or two pieces that could have been frozen but the acorn squash, carrots, squash and Brussels sprouts were properly cooked. One of us tried a Mediterranean dish of a meat mixture in phyllo which was tasty and terrific as well, served with nice mashed potatoes. Beer was served in chilled glasses, each subsequent beer was served in a newly chilled glass. Nice! Too full for dessert, but all sounded great. Will return.

Not a bad meal, but not quite up to the price. The Apple bacon chowder was great.
It is a very nice place, but service needs a lot of work, tonight They brought the completely wrong meal.

The food is great, but the service is terrible. The told is they could seat us but not take an order because the kitchen was backed up
There were 3 tables of people other than us. Silly. Food was not worth the poor service

Mediocre food, some entrees small portion.
Overpriced. Go somewhere else!
Nicely decorated. Short on outdoor
Scenery. Good wait staff

I am extremely disappointed in our visit. From the start there were issues. From thinking we had 4 guests when we said 5. Trying to sit 5 ppl at a 2 person table.
All orders where put in at same time. My entrée finally came when everyone was done and boxed up their food. It was the second worst chicken franchise I have had in my life, and I order it anywhere it is offered. The rice it was served with was not 100% cooked and flavorless. The vegetable melody it was served with was tasteless and limp, like it sat in hot water all day long. Sent the whole plate back and got refunded after asking for one.
My onion soup was fantastic and my husband decided to order it as well. His was different tasting and extremely salty.
He got duck crepes which he liked and the hummus mix. They could have given him more pita bread for the hummus because he had a lot leftover and nothing to put it on.
Their kids Mac and cheese is Alfredo, which my daughter hated. She would have never ordered Alfredo to begin with.
Their kids grilled cheese is on a nontraditional bread and has 2 different cheese, it was good.
My other child ordered the kids chicken fingers which she ordered with ranch. It was served to her with ketchup. 10 minutes later I find a food runner to get some ranch. Another 10 minutes later and she comes out to say they don’t have any. Well, she wouldn’t have ordered it then if you had no ranch.
This place has massive potential. They don’t seem to have a good leader and the staff was very quiet and anxious too. Made us uncomfortable.

I love this place. GREAT food. The vegetarian selection is the best. You can get $ 30.00 worth of food for $ 15.00 from
. I’ve used the coupon twice with different friends and they both really enjoyed it. Looking forward to my next visit.

I was impressed! I am new to the area, and wanted to bring some out of town guests to a nice place to show off my new hometown. Because the farmer’s market is held at the Grotto, I was somewhat familiar with them, but had not been there to eat. This was a good choice for us.
The food was excellent: we shared one of the appetizer plates (Spain), then I had the salmon, and my companions had the chicken piccata and the Egyptian beef. We were all quite pleased with our dinners. The prices were not cheap, but reasonable for the quality of the food we had, no doubt about it. Our server was attentive and friendly without being intrusive or fakey – the perfect blend of helpful but not «in your face.»
My only complaint was the seating. We were there on a warm weekday evening. The hostess asked if we wanted to sit inside or outside. We chose outside, and she brought us to the sunniest spot on the porch. Given that this was our first time there, we did not know there might be tables on the shadier front of the building, and she did not offer that option. Next time, I will know better, and there will be a next time. I really like this place!

One of the worst restaurants.
I ordered linguini with red clam sauce. The clams were from a can. What the f—

I was very impressed with this restaurant. The quality of the food was extremely high class and I remember remarking that they could charge a lot more than what they do. We ate there for lunch on a beautiful spring day. Great place to eat after a day visitng Grey Towers.

Pasta. We were looking for a place to get pasta other then a pizzeria. Grotto fulfilled our search. All three of our pasta dishes were good. Only problem was our youngest who chose chicken fingers. Hey Grotto, don’t over cook/​char the fingers. Dish should not have been platted and served.

I have been wanting to try this place since it opened. Finally got there for lunch. The restaurant was empty, but, WHAT a BEAUTIFUL place! The menu was different and interesting. Not cheap, but not really overpriced either. My daughter ordered the French Dip which came with homemade sweet potato fries. It was delicious! I ordered the puff pastry appetizer which came with a beautiful salad… it was arranged as a work of art… gorgeous! the waitress warned me that it was an appetizer and not an entrée, but I ended up bringing alot of it home… it was definitely large enough for an entrée. The service was good, and I got a regular paper check (not the Ipad bill that other Unilocalers mentioned.). I was very happy with my experience here, and will happily return!

Attemped to go here at 6:30pm on a Wednesday — closed! We called and no answer. The answering machine clearly stated the hours they were, supposedly, open. Not worth driving to see if they are actually open, chose Apple Valley instead… see my review for that!

This a good restaurant. The chicken or veal parmigiano is old school and delicious. Pasta in vodka sauce is good. The giant ravioli is a little weird too much pasta in proportion to the filling for my taste. The salad with all the fruit and nuts is fabulous. When you get tired of Peter ‘s and The Fork this restaurant is fun and delicious. We have had good service most of the time. There was one grouchy inattentive woman but I haven’t seen her there the last few times. Beautiful restoration of Zaloom House. Better than Tre Alberi which is okay.

Okay people of Unilocal,not sure what I’m missing here. Maybe because we went to The Grotto at lunch? I can see how complaints about slow service might come up, but really the service wasn’t THAT slow for us. Our meals (lamb sliders and turkey on naan) were very good. My only request would have been water with our meals. Drinks were good, service was friendly. And the iPad bill is the way of the future. It’s popping up everywhere. If you don’t want to give 20% (which c’mon, is pretty standard), then you don’t have to. You can always give cash too. Anyway, just my 2 cents.

Do not go here.
The Mac and cheese was very good but it ended there.
We had spaghetti and meatballs which were more like golf balls. Golf balls may have been softer.
We also had a 12 oz rib eye that looked like it was 5oz and cost $ 42. TGI Fridays has better steaks.
The worst part was the server handed me a tablet to sign my check. While standing behind me I had to hit a button that automatically added a 20% tip so fast that I had no other option. A rip off and that check experience was horrendous.

MORE than a grain of salt.
The food at The Grotto was inedible. This was the first time the four of us visited this restaurant. From the street the restaurant, in a restored Victorian house looked very inviting.
We were seated promptly at 7:30, which was fine, and the hostess took our bottles of wine for uncorking. 15 minutes went by and we finally got our wine.
The slow service foreshadowed the disaster that WAS dinner.
The unimpressive bread came long after we ordered appetizers and entrees. Every dish we ordered, when it DID arrive, we had wished it never came. (calamari (with TONS of salt), house special ravioli stuffed with cheese and spinach (with TONS of salt in the sauce), overdone eggplant parm (served with same sauce) cooked and served as hard as hockey pucks and Mac «n» Cheese, that was threatened to be removed from the «comfort food» category.
The collection of check was no better, as it had the inevitable inclusion of all that was sent back. Which, after a loud retort from one of my fellow diners, was quietly removed. We will never go back. Do not dine here.

love this restaurant! Every time I have been there the food is EXCELLENT! The pan fried ravioli is terrific. One large ravioli was surprising and not heavy! Their signature salad is so yummy! The mix between sweet and savory was so good. Salad with fresh fruit, olives and grape tomatoes and all surrounded by long strips of cucumber! The presentation was very cool. My sister had their pork loin and said it was the best she had ever had. My husband and I are foodies and this place is terrific!!! Please try this place! It is BYOB, which is fine

I was there with another couple in the early part of the summer. It was a HOT & MUGGY day. Upon arriving, I asked if the A/​C was on. I was told it was, and they were lowering the temperature. My advice is fire your HVAC contractor! It was so hot and uncomfortable in there we considered leaving after less than stellar apps were served.
In hindsight, that would have been the best decision. The entrees were terrible and nowhere near restaurant quality.
I was excited to try a Mediterranian restaurant so close to home, but I was highly disappointed.