UPDATE (September 2026) -- 1 Star (Worse than last year):…read more
After leaving my original review, the owner left a sarcastic response telling me that "Osteria Grappolo will benefit from all your wisdom." Well, I gave his establishment the benefit of the doubt and returned a year later--and it was even worse.
My girlfriend ordered the exact same dish (spaghetti with clams) hoping for improvement. Instead, my girlfriend got a pile of dry, tasteless pasta with almost no sauce and dried-out clams--even fewer than last year. My girlfriend barely touched her pasta either. So much pasta was ridiculous and tasteless.
The service was as bad as last year but instead of a girl, this year was a guy and was completely indifferent. When we asked about the specials since we remembered that last year the waitress Claudia never told us about it, we asked, but instead of telling us, the waiter lazily pointed to a board far across the room, forcing my girlfriend to twist around just to read it, why couldn't he simply tell us, who knows, I guess he didn't want to talk. He never checked on us throughout the meal. When he came to take the plates away, he had so have noticed that my girlfriend barely had any pasta, yet, he asked her nothing and simply took the plate away.
We ordered the $11 tiramisu hoping to salvage the night--huge mistake. It tasted terrible, clearly mass-pre-made, and was barely worth $1. We took one single bite and couldn't eat any more.
When clearing our table, the waiter took away two practically full plates of pasta and an untouched tiramisu without saying a word. He never asked if anything was wrong, never offered to replace the dish, and never asked if we wanted a different dessert. Instead, he just dropped off the bill charging full price for everything we barely touched--and like idiots, we even tipped. $90 dollars literally thrown in the trash. Even if I paid $10 dollars, if the food is bad, I would have been upset.
To top it off, the owner was doing the exact same routine as last year--ignoring smaller tables, making awkward jokes with larger groups, and pacing around the patio moving things around, closing the umbrellas around the tables. And interesting enough, mostly my girlfriend noticed it, not kidding either, he was wearing the same identical shirt and jeans as the year before, can't forget that shirt, what are the chances, must be his uniform, does it matter? Of course not, the bad experience, food and service is what mattered, and all failed, but funny to us nevertheless, felt like a repeat of one of the Twilight Zone episodes.
His arrogant response to my first review claimed he cared about feedback, but the total lack of quality and hospitality proves otherwise. Save your time and money--go anywhere else in Solvang. To the owner, no worries, I will never come back to your restaurant, and this time trust me, I mean it, my money is as good as you and your staff need it to enjoy and survive I as well work hard for my money.
