Once a month I have dinner with the same group of girls (there are five of us) and we always try to check out a place that none of us have been before. Two of the girls had been wanting to try a place in Watertown called Grappa, so we made a reservation.
Grappa is across the street from the Watertown Mall, steps from Target. In fact, if you've shopped at the Watertown Target you've probably passed it many times and just never noticed. Grappa's black and purple exterior is very unassuming.
Though the night we arrived it was raining, we could still tell that Grappa's outdoor patio would be an absolute delight in the nice weather.
I could easily picture the vines and flowers in full bloom around the trellis. I loved the grape shaped lights!
When you open the door and enter Grappa's dining room, you immediately feel at home. The square shaped dining room is warm and cozy and most of the diners are regulars.
The blue and taupe striped walls serve as a backdrop for dramatic paintings, flower arrangements and shelves adorned with wine bottles.
I became completely obsessed with the light fixtures in the center of the dining room, which hang above the star table. I must have taken at least 30 pictures of them, desperately trying to capture their beauty to share with you. Sadly, the camera couldn't replicate what you see with the naked eye. Trust me, they are stunning.
We'd all been seated for quite some and were waiting to be delivered the menus. Grappa only had one waitress working that evening and she was clearly stretched thin.
When the menus did arrive we went straight to the wine list. We'd all had hard days and were ready to really unwind and indulge.
We eventually decided on a bottle of Prosecco. Call me cheap, but I like Prosecco better than most champagnes. The bubbly gave the dinner that special occasion feeling.
Our waitress was gone for an inexcusable amount of time. She was running around the restaurant from table to table, but never back to us. We were starting to get annoyed and that dangerous kind of hungry that makes you want to hurt people.
Eventually she returned to the table and brought us a full loaf of garlic bread, hot out of the oven. It was amazing! There is no food smell that can compare to fresh garlic.
Over the course of the night we had three loaves of this bread. Some restaurants give free rounds of drinks when the service is bad, Grappa gives garlic bread.
Somewhere between the first and second loaf of garlic bread we placed our order which included appetizers and entrees. From the time we sat down to the time our appetizers arrived an hour had passed. Yes, an hour. We were ravenous!
One of the girls started with the pasta fagoli soup. She said it actually tasted more like tomato sauce than soup broth. She felt it was way too thick and said she definitely would not order it again.
Next to her a friend ordered the warm spinach salad which came topped with portabello mushrooms and goat cheese. From my seat it looked like there was a very generous crumbling of goat cheese. She said the dish was mostly spinach and a let down.
I decided to share the bruschetta was a friend and it was fantastic! It was a very generous portion, the bread was baked to the perfect level of crispiness and the diced tomatoes were coated in parmesan cheese. Every single piece of tomato had a sprinkling of parmesan. The bruschetta itself was sitting on top of a bed of mixed greens which was a nice touch. I couldn't get enough of this dish!
For dinner, one of the friends decided to order an appetizer, the goat cheese fritters. They came over a bed of mixed greens dressed with a lemon aioli. She said when you cut into the fritter it fell apart, making it more like a fancy salad topping than say, a mozzarella stick. The fritters were coated in almonds instead of breading, which she said made them light. She also applauded the dish for being the ideal portion size.
The friend sitting at the head of the table order the veal francese which came with a side of linguini. She said the sauce was amazing and she was thrilled with the dish.
Next to me, a friend was eating the chicken florentino which she described as "sinfully delicious." The chicken was breaded and topped with spinach, a heavy cream sauce and cheese tortellini. I feel full just typing that! She loved the dish so much she completely cleaned the plate.
Across from me a friend was having the rolled eggplant. The dish was a mixture of eggplant, beef and mozzarella cheese, topped with more cheese and baked. Look at that crispy, brown, bubbling top! I have to admit, I had entree envy.
I ordered the butternut squash ravioli which came in a brown butter sauce and topped with sage. The dish was so rich I tapped out half way through and pushed it to the center of the table, offering the girls the chance to nosh on it as well. One of the girls shouted, "Wow! This tastes like pumpkin pie." That it did.
By the end of the entree course we were super stuffed. I think we all felt like we needed to be air lifted out of there and rolled home.
At the very end of the night, as she was clearing our plates, the one waitress confessed, "Thank you girls for your patience tonight. Our sous chef did not show up for work tonight and everything is made to order so the chef is back there by himself and I am up here by myself. It's not normally like this." While we were definitely irritated by how long we waited for every single element of this meal, we couldn't deny that the place was adorable and the food was exceptional.
If you live or work in Watertown, Grappa is absolutely worth a visit. Before you sit down, you may want to ask if the sous chef has decided to join for the evening.
