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| - Been here a couple of times, I'd call it slightly upscale but not too snobby Italian. Prices are on the high side (probably the priciest resto in the Shoppes at Don Mills, but not extremely expensive.
Food on its own would definitely rate a 4.5, maybe even a 5. Pizzas are quite good, they're made in the oven in the back of the restaurant. Most dishes are solid in terms of flavor and quantity. We ordered the following for dinner, everything was very good.
Pappardelle with beef short ribs -- best pasta dish they have, very rich, flavourful;
Gnocchi -- another good dish, super fluffy and soft gnocchi
Caesar salad -- using crispy thin Pancetta instead of bacon was a very nice touch
Waiter was friendly quick and attentive, couldn't ask for better service.
Here's the one reason they did not score a five. We called for a reservation -- and arrived on time, to a mostly empty restaurant. We were given a booth off to the side of the bar area. I wasn't thrilled about that table and asked for one in the dining room instead (away from the bar and TVs showing the baseball game) but we were told that all those tables were taken. Since there were only 2 or 3 occupied tables in the dining room when I looked I assumed that they were taken by other reservations. Fair enough. But towards the end of our dinner, I took another look. Now, there were ZERO occupied tables in the dining room -- the 3 tables had since cleared out, and NOBODY else came in! So who were they saving the dining room tables for? Why did they lie to me? I can only guess. Not a huge thing, but enough to make me question their motives, and also question whether I want to go there again, even though the food is good.
I was going to call them out on their bald-faced lie on my way out, but I couldn't be bothered. Had I been in a fouler mood, I would have made a big stink about it. Instead, I decided to just take away a star.
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