La Grotta

SLIDESHOW: More photos of La Grotta

When a restaurant's menu quotes critics from more than a decade ago, I wonder if the place is trying to ride the heck out of its laurels or if it still really is that good.

When I'm scanning a lengthy list of high-end wines and pricey entrées, the last thing I want to see is advertising. I'm already sitting at the table, so let the food allow me to form my opinion, not what someone else had to say long before some of us were old enough to drink.

La Grotta, the iconic Italian eatery cozily burrowed beneath the cobblestones of historic Shockoe Slip, lets you know on the wall, on the Web site and on the menu that, yes indeed, critics have liked what they do.

So is all this necessary?

No, because the food, the service and the atmosphere speak for themselves. La Grotta still really is that good.

Once I got down the stairs, past the framed reviews and into the fresh bread dipped in sun-dried black olive-walnut olive oil, what stuck me as ironic was how una (Full review)