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| - Splendido was a fantastic restaurant - consistently amazing food and service made it a Toronto classic that would surely be missed. I was excited when I heard about its replacement, Piano Piano, and made a reservation soon after it opened. On my first visit (I have now been twice), I was blown away by the changes that were made to the space - it is completely different, almost unrecognizable. Lively and bright, flowers everywhere, banquets line the walls in the dining room, interesting light fixtures - it certainly seems more feminine and fresh.
Piano Piano is vastly different from Splendido. No table cloths, menus are made to look like newspapers, and wine bottles are priced in groups of $40, $60 or $80. That said, the food and service are still amazing. On both of my visits I saw Chef Victor leave the kitchen to talk with diners, and on my most recent visit he even delivered my pasta (we had ordered the special - speghatonni with BC uni - incredible)!
More about the food. The menu is largely pizza and pasta based, and both are excellent. In my two visits, I have tried the mackerel (great), crudo (nothing to write home about), oysters (on the small side for 3/$9), chopped salad (different but good), pizza (specific one unfortunately no longer on the menu but really great), bucatini all'amatriciana (could have been better), and the uni speghatonni (amazing!).
Chef Victor handled the transformation from Splendido into Piano Piano flawlessly. Piano Piano does casual dining right. Beautiful space, great food and drinks, wonderful service.
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