Menu review: La Grotta Del Formaggio

La Grotta Del Formaggio (1791 Commercial Drive) is known for making some of the best sandwiches in Vancouver, so I had high expectations when I tried my first one today.

Unfortunately, I was kind of let down.

Letdown #1: The size. Sandwiches come in small ($5), medium ($6), and large ($7.25) buns, or in half ($6.50) or whole ($11.50?) focaccia buns. The small is small -- slightly larger than a dinner bun, the medium is a six-inch, and I have no idea how big a large is, since they were sold out by the time we got there (2pmish). I assume it's the best deal.


JW2 (I just realized I have a LOT of friends with the same initials) and I split half a focaccia sandwich, since she was still full from a big breakfast and I was still feeling the after-effects of an excellent potluck I attended the night before.

Since neither of us were hungry to begin with, our sandwich left us stuffed. I have no idea how filling it would have been otherwise, since our sandwich-maker was neither skimpy nor super-generous with the fillings. My half of the sandwich looked pretty much like the one below, only with different meat:


Letdown #2: The enthusiasm of the staff (or lack thereof). "What's your favourite sandwich? I asked the two girls behind the counter.
Girl #1: It changes all the time!
Girl #2: I'm sick of these sandwiches!

Since most food people I've talked to tend to be super-enthusiastic about the stuff they sell (most usually reply, "EVERYTHING!"), Girl #2's comment kind of put a damper on my own enthusiasm.

Letdown #3: The taste. Don't get me wrong. It was a good sandwich -- but it wasn't a spectacular one. The main draw to La Grotta sandwiches, in my opinion, is the veggies you can add to them. Clockwise from below, starting from the right, you'll see that you can choose to put in tomatoes, roasted red peppers, marinated artichokes, chopped green olives, hot peppers, eggplant, red onions, and lettuce -- a step above your standard sandwich fillers.


I was super-excited about those toppings, but I think they're what let me down the most. The flavours did not each individually pop out, and they suffocated the flavours of the condiments that JW2 and I chose (pesto mayonnaise, honey mustard, and olive oil) for our sandwich . I couldn't taste any of the condiments at all, so they felt like wasted calories. I don't know if I tasted the eggplant at all, which was weird, since I had asked for extra eggplant. JW2 discovered she didn't particularly like marinated artichokes. If you have a more refined tongue than me, the veggies and condiments are actually probably very tasty.

On top of unlimited veggies, you can get two meats and one cheese, if you go with a meat (as opposed to a cheaper vegetarian) sandwich. I liked the fact that the meats aren't pre-sliced, and you can watch the counter people use a meat shaver to slice your meat selections for you. It would have been nice to have more exotic meats to choose from though.

We settled for a Montreal smoked meat and ham sandwich with provolone cheese. From what I remember, other meat choices included turkey, prosciutto (add $1) or roast beef (add $1), and other cheeses included cheddar, edam, emmental, and havarti.

The meat didn't impress me, and the portions were not particularly large. What we were served didn't look anywhere near the amount this guy apparently got:


Maybe the guy ordered extra meat, paid an extra dollar for the more expensive stuff, or opted to go without cheese. The guy in line ahead of us ordered a roast beef sandwich with no cheese, and seemed to have a whole lot more meat in his sandwich than we did.

I'm a meat-a-tarian (not a carnivore, but just about) so I like my sandwiches with a lot of tasty meat. Too bad for me.

We had the option of toasting our sandwich, so of course we did. Nothing beats melted cheese on grilled/toasted bread.

Overall, it was a good sandwich -- and a very good-looking one at that -- but does it deserve the title of Vancouver's best sandwich? I don't think so, but a lot of people out there do (re. The Georgia Straight readers, Yelp reviewers, and more).

Try one yourself, and if you already have, comment and let us know how you liked it.

Or, recommend another Vancouver sandwich shop/vendor/deli/restaurant for us to try. There are soooooo many options out there!