Terroni Restaurant (Queen)

Good things are worth waiting for!!
It was my first visit.... by nature I am a very impatient person but if anything the food arrived incredibly fast and it was awesome. In all honesty I was there for lunch so I don't know how busy Terroni's gets at night but I'd wait an hr for any of their dishes. The servers were extremely helpful and friendly without going over the top...reminded me of the restaurant in the movie Dinner Rush.
I am a total food snob, some of my closest friends are well known food critics and i would recommend this eatery to any one of them in a flash!
GO! there! enjoy yourself ! and leave your bloody watch with your cardiologist!!!

So I went to Terroni on Queen Street with 6 of my girlfriends to celebrate my 31st birthday. One of my friends went 45 minutes early to secure a table as they don't take reservations. We arrived at 7:30 and everything seemed great. The restaurant was very busy.

When we sat down my friend who had been waiting said "the waitress is rude". I didn't think much of it, but wow was that an understatement.

When she took our drink order I asked for a red wine, a suggested a cab. She said "we don't serve Cab's, and the wine that comes by the glass is very "new world". I said to her, what is "new world"? Basically she was saying that we wouldn't like any of the wines that were served by the glass. She then suggested on half liter for $40. I said no thanks. We ended up getting the house red, which she said was terrible. It wasn't too bad at all.

Anyways, we had lots of questions, which is common amongst a group of girls. I asked her what came in the appetizer platter and she said she didn't know, it was different every day.

My friend asked for no parmesan on her Gnocchi, she said that wasn't possible. No modifications, the kitchen is too busy.

We got our food in a timely fashion, there were no problems there. However when my pizza came I asked if I could get a small bowl of pizza/tomato sauce on the side and her response was "that’s not going to happen". I said, we’ll try to make it happen. She went to the kitchen, claimed to have asked and said they would not do it. I asked if it was a matter of paying, as I would pay for a side of sauce. She said "they won’t do it for $20 dollars". Whenever I go to a restaurant and order pizza, I always ask for a side of tomato sauce and I have never had any issues, I have never even been charged for it, I told her this and she just shrugged.

Lastly, my friends had asked before I arrived if after the meal she would bring a piece of cake out for my birthday. They did that so we wouldn't have that awkward in front of the birthday girl moment. So instead of just using her judgment she came over to the table after dinner and asked my friend if we still wanted the birthday cake. Since I was sitting right beside her, I overheard and I said "No thank you". At this point I didn’t want the cake or any of her rudeness anymore.

I have never been to a restaurant where a left with such a bad feeling. I didn't even bother speaking to a manager as I could tell that the rudeness was not just coming from my waitress, but it almost felt as though she was suppose to act that way to give the restaurant an elite feeling.

I have never written a restaurant review as I have never felt so strongly about the issue, but I could not let this one go. I will never recommend Terroni to anyone, in fact I will do my best to spread the word verbally and through social media about the service I received and how I would NEVER recommend this restaurant.

Yes I agree with the others, you do get attitude if you ask for cheese, geez some people ask for it on their seafood?! Yikes. If you love southern Italian food this is a place for you. I have been here tonnes of times, with family,ex's, my husband, girlfriends and everybody loves Terroni. The pasta is actually cooked perfectly, so rare for this city. My sister who moved to the Maritimes dreams about the pizza, the classic Margerita. I love the carpaccio and the pastas. Great service, with olive oil this good who needs vinegar? Taste the food as oppossed to the extra fat (the cheese) that you have been trained to like. Go to east side marios if you want to drown your food with subpar, plastic cheese. The flavours are wonderful but it isn't cheap. Go during the late afternoon for a true Italian meal and avoid the line ups. Patio is lovely.

I don't really see the rave about this restaurant. Everyime I drive by Terroni's, the restaurant always seems to be packed with people lining up to get a table. I think this restaurant is sooo over-rated. The food isn't even good for people to actually be eating here!! I've been here twice since my first experience with their pasta was horrid I was hoping maybe a second try at their pizza would change my mind. Oh boy was i ever wrong! Their pizza sucked as much as their pasta! First of all when i tried the pasta, the noodles were definetly not properly cooked! it was still hard, cold and chewy when i got it! it was disgusting! The sauce from the seafood pasta was soo bland and tastless! The ravaoli I tried from my mother's was so dry!! The serving sizes were also VERY tiny for a $20 meal which was totally not worth it! Compared to their pizza, it was just as bad! There were hardly any toppings on it! I was basically served tomato sauce on a bread crust with crumbs of vegetables and meat! This was NOT pizza at all! The crust was so soggy and not crispy cause it was flooded by the tomato sauce! Only good thing i could say about them is their desserts (tiramisu, creme caramel) DO NOT COME HERE IF YOU WANT PASTA/PIZZA! I GURANTEE YOU IT'S A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!
If you want good authentic Italian pasta/pizza, try John's Italian Cafe in the Baldwin Area! Incredible food thats actually worth your money!!

My wife and I live in Toronto, and have dined at Terroni a number of times over the years. Today is the last time we will visit any of their restaurants. While the food is good, fresh, and genuine, Terroni has, on multiple occasions, worked really hard at trying our patience.

The first time, as our waitress had poured the obligatory olive oil to dip our bread, my wife politely asked if she could have a drop of balsamic vinegar. The waitress staunchly refused, and when asked the reason, began lecturing us on the purity of the Terroni brand, and how mixing balsamic vinegar with oil didn’t represent the true expression of Italian culinary tradition – not only was she forbidden from serving us vinegar, but how plebeian of us to ask.

Stunned by the reaction, my wife decided to bypass the neurotic waitress and ask the kitchen for a little balsamic. As she approached the counter, she was deftly intercepted by said vigilant waitress who, nearly in tears, sternly reminded us that vinegar was “verboten”. First evening ruined.

The second time, we visited a Terroni restaurant that had just opened on Adelaide Street. Once seated, we were asked for our drinks order. Our friend ordered a diet Coke, to which the waitress replied that “our owners does not believe in diet colas”. Stunned by such direct, scolding reply, she chose a regular Coke, which thankfully appeared to be an acceptable choice. Second evening ruined.

Finally today, for the third and last time, we visited Terroni’s Queen Street restaurant with friends from the United States. I was sensitized by our past experiences, but was willing to give the place one last try, even though it was not my first choice. I did warn my wife to kindly avoid questioning in the slightest any and all food modifications – no matter how slight – fearing reprisal.

Unfortunately, as the waitress was taking our orders, one of our blissfully unaware friends fell into the diabolic trap and dared “I’d love your Nizzarda salad, but would it be possible to please hold the anchovies?”…. well, that was simply too much of an affront to the legendary purity of the Terroni tradition: the waitress, on cue, began lecturing us on the impeccable quality of their food and ingredients, and the historic tradition behind them that made it so very unthinkable to substitute or modify any and all dishes – all of Italy and civilization itself had been insulted by a request to hold an anchovy. She concluded the sermon by admonishing that Terroni “was all about being true to their food”.

The tone was sanctimonious, arrogant, and unbelievably presumptuous. Toronto is still a little childishly full of itself, as in New York’s poorer cousin trying hard not to be ignored. Some of its restaurants reflect that, with Terroni at the head of the pack. I informed the waitress that perhaps they should think of staying true to their customers form time to time. It so happens that I was born and raised in Italy, but never found a restaurant there or anywhere that took itself quite so seriously, and made a point of lecturing its customers quite so sanctimoniously. You can remain true to your tradition and still be kind to your customers – we did not ask for ketchup on our spaghetti. Dogmas do not belong in the kitchen.

If you value Italian food and customer service, and would rather avoid a sermon delivered by a clueless 25-year-old on the fine culinary traditions of their founders, go to Trio Ristorante and Pizzeria: you’ll spend less, get better service, and taste the best authentic pizza this side of the Atlantic.

Wow...where to start?!
Can't really see how anyone with any sort of reasonable palate can think Terroni is serving up anything special.

The 4 choice chef special appetizer platter was a big disappointment, The mozzarella balls were dry like sandpaper and really could have used some marinara at least to save them (out of the question here), in fact We questioned each other and were wondering if a frozen President's choice mozzarella ball may have been far more tasty!
Overall the other offerings on the appetizer platter tasted VERY bland and crusty again like sandpaper. Even some garlic would have made what was offered on the platter somewhat tasty. VERY BLAND, not worth even close to the $15 for this.

The main dishes we ordered were Spaghetti with seafood (clams, shrimp scallops, calamari & mussels) & Spaghetti Bolognese:
The seafood dish was a little light on the following: Seafood :) Pasta, Sauce, Flavor IE: again bland. The clams were not at all properly cleaned, sandy and gritty and overall the dish was very sub mediocre.

The Bolognese dish was again very un-inspiring (tasteless sauce) overall but a step above the seafood pasta.

Don't see what the hype that still surrounds Terroni, perhaps it appeals to teenagers or the early 20's crowd who don't know authentic cuisine.
For the same money you can certainly find a tastier Italian meal in the downtown core for the same or even less money.

Will definitely not be returning to any Terroni location (Queen West Location referred to in this review) Don't waste your time and certainly don't ever EVER stand in line for this place!!!

What happened to "The customer is always right"? This is not in Terroni's language, that's for sure!! In fact, I don't think they know what a CUSTOMER is. We tried and tried to get parmesan cheese on our pasta, but in vain.... Could not for the life of us get any. Yes, I agree, parmesan cheese can alter the taste...and may ruin the true flavour of what the chef is trying to achieve. Just a "I don't recommend parmesan cheese on this pasta" would have been appreciated... but if I still want that cheese after trying my dish.... GIVE ME SOME!!! please!!! I am the customer after all.... oh but wait..that's right...they don't know what customer means.

OK, no big deal, it's just parmesan cheese!! I can deal with not having some... But, having said that, at one point, during my dinner it was about principal and not about the cheese. My experience at Terroni's was just ruined by this denied SIMPLE request. Just felt frustrated and insulted!!!!! The waiter was just not nice about this!!! What??? you want cheese on your pasta??? We don't do that here!! Type of expression!! We know better than you, we ARE better than you!!!

Having said all that, I will never set foot in that restaurant ever again. I will never recommend that restaurant to anyone (and I am in the tourism industry). But, they probably hear that everyday and probably don't care!!

What I love about terroni is how true they stay to the traditional style of Italian food. They serve the food as if you are a guest in someone's home in a small countryside in Italy. Imagine asking for more balsamic or parmesan when you are a guest at someone's home! But also needless to say, each dish is a family recipe and is specially formulated to apply to each pallette. The problem with substitutions and modifications is sometimes those substitutions will ruin the flavours that are meant for the dish, and when this occurs, the customer automatically claims that the restaurant is not good. A customer would NEVER blame their own decision to modify the food. Having said that, I wasn't always on Terroni's side. In fact, I was just as angry at first, but having thought it through i think if that is how they want to run their business then so be it! All their ingredients are of the highest grade available. From the Vita Eggs that they use all the way down to the meats that are butchered themselves or bought from local butchers. Their cheeses are of highest quality and they make the pasta fresh straight from their basement daily. The seafood they serve is always fresh, not frozen.
Don't you want that kind of quality in all the food you eat?

The chef apparently does not allow balsamic vinegar, although several different bottles are for sale at the court house location. The claim is that the chef knows better how you should eat your food and if you don’t like it then go somewhere else. I invite you to reduce your tip by the appropriate amount. Same thing for parmesan cheese, not allowed according to the Nazi that runs this place. Anyway the food was adequate and service somewhat adequate.

I just tried Terroni's for the first time, after hearing great things about the food. We asked 3 waiters for fresh grated parmesan cheese for our pizza (which was supposed to have parmesan on it already, however we could not see any), and each time, were told that we could not have cheese for our pizza, as the dishes are all served in a very particular way. We eventually complained to the manager, who agreed with us that they are losing customers over this "policy", however did not wish to resolve the situation. He mentioned that Terroni's stopped leaving the cheese graters on the table 2-3 months ago, because people were using it on their pizza! We explained to him that denying a customer parmesan cheese is like denying them salt and pepper, and he stated that "no fine dining establishment provides salt and pepper". His comment is certainly lacking validity, as I have yet to be refused salt and pepper in any kind of restaurant! And after today's experience, I can't understand why he thinks Terroni is a "fine dining restaurant". His only attempt at rectifying the situation was offering us a "seafood dish" instead. At this point, I am still unsure what that would have solved, as we went to Terroni specifically for pizza!

I should have left the pizza and walked out, however I ate it anyway, and paid for it, however for the first time ever, I left exact change with absolutely NO tip!

There are many other wonderful restaurants in Toronto that actually try to please their paying customers - Terroni is NOT one of them! Do yourself a favour and spend your time and money elsewhere!