| rev:text
| - This place tries way too hard to be "authentically" Italian and misses the mark in spectacular fashion
While seated at the bar enjoying a glass of wine - that by the way I had to wait a good 20-30 mins for since the bartender was completely ignoring us - was asked to leave my seat for a couple that had just come in and wanted to eat at the bar. If this place took bar reservations that would be one thing but they do not and so I was asked to rudely vacate my seat because this couple were clearly the bartender's friends.
I have never in my entire life seen a restaurant have such disregard for their customers. From the time you try to book a reservation and having them tell you in no uncertain terms that unless your whole party shows up at the same time you will not get a table, to the just plain rudeness of the staff, I was literally flabbergasted. Specific examples of their poor service from last night alone:
1/ My friend ordered a glass of rosé wine but referred to it as blush wine. Rather than the waiter simply clarifying what he was requesting, he rudely asked my friend what he was talking about, that he did not know what that was and ultimately in a very condescending way said "you mean rosé?"
2/ I sat at the table for a good 20 minutes without even so much as an acknowledgment or someone offering to take my drink order - I had to call the waiter over.
3/ This same waiter actually rolled his eyes when I changed my mind about the bottle of wine I wanted - clearly going back down to the cellar was extremely inconvenient for him even though that is his job!
4/ When the bread came to the table we asked if we could have some balsamic vinegar for dipping. We were told that they do not have any and that they simply do not offer that, no exceptions. Side note: they really seems to have an issue with balsamic vinegar going so far as to highlight the items on their menu that would traditionally have this ingredient but do not at Terroni
5/ My friend also asked for some butter for his bread preferring it to olive oil - again when we asked we were told they do not serve that. At this point we called the manager over who, rather than try to satisfy her customers, repeatedly kept saying that it is their policy not to serve butter. Policy??? What if my friend had been allergic to olive oil? When we suggested they bring some out on the plate from the kitchen she once again referred to their "policy".
6/ The one thing the manager did do right was assign a new server to our table as we expressed our displeasure with the service we had been receiving. Wanita came in and somewhat salvages the evening - she was very nice.
I get that Terroni are trying to offer an "authentic" Italian experience and that they have a brand image they want to uphold but guess what Terroni, they eat butter and balsamic vinegar in Italy! The customer should ALWAYS come first. There is no place for this level of pretentious attitude in a city like Toronto where there are a plethora of restaurants to choose from.
Enough about the service. The food was not memorable. I found the menu lacked creativity and variety especially with respect to the wine list. The pricing for what are in essence simple Italian dishes is ridiculously high for the average quality of food served.
- No dipping sauce for calamari - the batter also smelled and tasted like KFC
- Friend's seabream was overcooked - on a positive note they did take it back and made him a plate of pasta. However they did not give him a spoon to help him twirl his spaghetti
- The wine list is ridiculously small and only features one wine from Puglia in southern Italy! For a restaurant that touts itself as an "authentic" southern Italian experience, it would have been nice to feature other southern regions such as Sicily, Campagna, Calabria or Salento.
- The gnocchi was completely lacking in flavor and required the addition of a substantial amount of salt to bring out any flavor.
- The agnelotti were good but again under seasoned and did require the addition of salt at the table
There are much better places in Toronto for authentic Italian food, where the CUSTOMER IS KING.
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