I'm so torn on how to rate Terroni. The ambiance is killer from the moment you set eyes on the exterior of the restaurant as it's located in the old Toronto Courthouse. This continues as you step in the doors past glass displays of curing meat along a deli-bar section, past a red carpeted stair case and DJ booth into the seating area...and that's just the first floor. Upstairs is a huge hall with it's very own bar and kitchen. There are a lot of interesting art pieces that make it more than just an antique including the very macabre hanging humans and also a huge modern light centerpiece. With it's loud music, it's the spot to go out for drinks or a fun date.
That all sounds fantastic but the food is really meh. I shared a polentona pizza as an appetizer which was just bad. It was actually a dry pizza. It was essentially crust with proscuitto and soggy pine nuts (despite lacking sauce and cheese) between that and the crust. Looking at the other pizzas on the menu a lot of them were not in contention to be ordered because they seemed too disjointed and out there. I'm all for being new and adventurous but throwing the kitchen sink at something doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be good. I had the tortellini as my main. This was decent. Good portion size, stuffed full of ricotta and had a good amount of sauce. I took a bite of my friend's pappardelle which was again, really dry. I'm not looking for chicken noodle soup level of sauce but that dish was a big bowl of pasta and I'm not sure how you choke down that amount of dry pasta. One saving grace for the taste buds was the chocolate lava cake. That thing is insane. Again this restaurant is a little weird with its execution of things as there was just untreated fruit thrown on the side of the plate (blueberries with the stems still on them). It just didn't seem to jive with the fullness and richness of the cake.
Anyways the ambiance is 100 but the quality of the food we experienced was hugely hit or miss and ranged from bad to amazing and I do have to echo the sentiments regarding the service (or lack thereof).