The Grotto Organic Gluten Free

I had the Mediterranean pizza and it was so good. Very high quality and so delicious. I am from the city and had honestly low expectations of vegan food in Billings, but I was impressed. Her grilled cheese sandwich special was also so good, but the part was small. I would definitely recommend Grotto

Overpriced for the portion size. Service was very friendly, told us they didn’t have avocados that were ripe enough to serve (so we were unable to order the Osaka bowl, which sounded yummy). We ordered the Mediterranean pizza, Vietnamese Pho, and a glass of Açaí kombucha. Five stars for the Mediterranean pizza— it was delicious! Loved the pumpkin seed crust. Adding $2 for a couple of cherry tomatoes and pine nuts seemed a little steep. I wouldn’t order the Pho again. It was okay. They forgot to bring bean sprouts and jalapeños, and when we asked for it, they returned with alternative sprouts. They explained that the mung bean sprouts weren’t fresh enough to serve. The alternative sprouts were great, just wish we didn’t have to ask for them. Kombucha on tap is a nice touch. However, $8 for a glass was double the price I would have expected to pay for kombucha. The ambience is more like a lounge. There is plenty of bar seating, and a big couch (which you can’t order food from). We sat at the few tables in the front of the restaurant. It seemed like we were the only ones dining on a Tuesday evening at 7:15. I really wanted to give this place more stars, since it’s hard to find good vegetarian/vegan options.

The Grotto is not for me. I tend to cook vegetarian, and I have quite a few friends who don’t eat meat, so I was really excited that a vegan eatery was finally opening, but I expected more options. We got the “KA’ANAPALI” (smoothie bowl), which was a good portion and had fresh presentation, but did not seem worth $14. I tried 8 different flavors of kombucha, which ranged from vinegar-y to sweeter, but none that piqued my interest enough to try again. I felt perfectly content with my turmeric latte made with macadamia nut milk, but I’m looking forward to menu expansion with more entrees instead of appetizers. Our server was great, and was happy to answer questions! Food aside, you can expect a Hawaii cocktail bar vibe, bar seating/limited lounge seats, street parking, and handicap access only on the back of the building.

The decor is beautiful and the menu ambitious. I got the Hanoi and a golden milk latte which came out to about $33 with tip, which was a bit pricey imo. I love vegan food, when done right, and feel like this place could be really awesome with a few heartier offerings. The food is more raw food than strictly vegan, which is fine, but not what I was expecting. I like that they have a wide variety of kombucha flavors on tap as well. My main complaint was the service, which was slow. I hope they can improve this because I really want this place to succeed! I love having more plant based food options in Billings.

We were super excited to find vegan food in the middle of Montana. And, while the food tasted very good it couldn’t make up for the other areas that the Grotto is lacking. We found their prices to be very high even for high quality vegan ingredients. We live in a big city and these prices are nearly double what we would pay at home for similar food. We ordered a smoothie bowl and checked what fruit was in it because of an intolerance to pineapple and citrus. The waitress checked with the kitchen and they said the fruit was strawberries, blackberries,blueberries and coconut. So we went ahead and ordered it. We also ordered a pizza, a blue majik smoothie and the pad Thai. The food took nearly an hour. When the smoothie bowl came we tried it before my daughter did and tasted pineapple. When we told the waitress she checked with kitchen and they confirmed pineapple. She immediately offered to remake the smoothie bowl and took the original away. We had to ask for it to go as we were running late. We saw on our bill that they charged us for two bowls. When we asked about this the waitress said she could only refund 1/2 of the original bowl because the chef wouldn’t refund the whole thing. We asked to speak to the chef and the chef questioned whether we had told the server of an allergy. We explained the exchange we had had with the waitress the chef finally agreed to refund us for the bowl we didn’t eat. She, however, was not apologetic and was very confrontational. She seemed new to the restaurant business and not customer focused at all. Additionally our water was never refilled, and we had to ask for napkins and silverware halfway through the meal. They claimed a “lunch rush” (1:30 3 on a Sunday) but there were only 1 2 other tables the entire time. The refund was going to be adjusted on our check after we left. Still hasn't happened. We will update this post if it does. It’s really too bad to ruin yummy food with such a poor customer experience.