terroni

bad corporate policy ruins dinner. i had dinner there last saturday with five other people.
none of us will ever go back. ever! their
bizarre corporate policies ruined our experience. it started with our vegetarian friend, who wanted the 'speck' (ham) left off of a pizza. she was willing to pay for it, just not eat it. the server refused. she said that they had 'lots of good vegetarian options', then walked away without further comment. no changes to dishes...period! they are so smart and so 'italian' that they know better than you what should be on a pizza and what you should eat on a pizza! nevermind your personal preferences!!!! and they refuse to budge, even for dietary restrictions! ridiculous! then, when the food came, the server came with parmesan cheese and offered it to the
one person who hadorderedpasta. i hadordereda pizza and politely asked for some parmesan on it... and was refused because...they "don't serve parmesan on pizza!" it doesn't 'go'! the server was standing there with the cheese, and refused to serve it because the management has decided that it doesn't 'go' on that pizza? we were astounded! i then asked for a little parmesan on my side plate, figuring i could put it on the pizza myself, and was refused again! these teronni people are clueless about customer service! they don't have anything that is inconvenient for them! no cranberry juice for cocktails (its not italian?), no tonic for your gin and tonic (again, not italian?) , no salt and pepper on the table...gasp you might want to season your own food! talk with your wallet and eat somewhere else!

our grouporderedsome appetizers--a selection of italian and local cured meats (tagliere del salumiere). how can anyone go wrong with prosciutto?



we also got some italian cheeses with super delicious homemade jam. the jam was so delectable we asked if they sold it! 

a few of us, on our end of the table, also shared some carpaccio di manzo. the raw beef tenderloin was cut so thinly and drizzled with lemon juice, evoo and topped with parmigiano reggiano shavings, and arugula. delish!  

we also shared a salad (ricchia) of pretty much the same basic ingredients minus the beef plus some mushrooms. 

it was hard to decide since we wanted to try everything! so three of us shared three dishes—pizza, pasta and meats. we got the santo stefano pizza. super thin crust layered with delicious tomato sauce, mozzarella di bufala, fresh arugola, and prosciutto di parma. the flavours were delicate and the toppings blended perfectly together. divine. one of the best pizzas i have had. 

we had to have some meat so we shared tris de carne—a trio of lamb chops, aaa steak and sausage. it was served with polenta and asparagus. nothing great really. the meats were actually on the salty side and i’ve had better steak before. well, what did we expect, right? stick to the pasta and pizza. 

so here comes the fancy (as if the abundance of italicized italian goodies has not been enough)—we got some tonnarelli alla norcina. the fresh tonnarelli (like thick spaghetti) was topped with italian black truffle shavings, homemade spicy sausage, pecorino cheese, and garlic. too delicious! we heard this was one of their specialties. i fully agree. 

 for dessert, we all shared some tiramisu (good enough but nothing to call home about)  and espresso gelato. the gelato was served in a bowl then our server poured espresso on it. heavenly.

where parmesan on a pizza gets employees fired!

the way they treated me today and wasted their time was embarrassing!

when giving parm to everyone at my table whoorderedpasta, they refused to give me parm because they don’t believe it should be on pizza because of some bs italian tradition and it isn’t the chef’s vision.

but they have two pizzas on the menu with parm, so it’s okay on only those two! oh and they will bring chillies to the table which last time i checked change the dish from the chef’s original vision too!

i can get over their no substitutions ridiculousness because it slows a busy kitchen down, but when the waiter is giving an entire table parm and refuses to give me some, because word on the street he will lose his job, you should be ashamed of the way you run a business!

i then asked to speak to a manager who also refused to be any help and just wasted my time offering to help, but refused to do the one thing that would solve the problem, you guessed it, give me some parm for my pizza! he said owner policy.

naturally i asked to speak to the owner, because if you want to be ridiculous, i’ll play your sick game right back. owner wasn’t in, so the manager claims he called the owner to ask if he could give me parm. the owner said no. now i’m sorry if you really need to call the owner over something like this, you have serious management issues! the manager also offered to bring me one of the pizzas with parm, which is so illogical and not cost effective at all!

you need to check your pretentious attitude at the door. you make good pizza, there is better pizza in the city at places who will let you put all the parm on your pizza that you want!

and for the sanity of your employees, who probably have to deal with the parm on pizza fight five times a day or risk being fired, this is no way to treat people!

to the manager who had no issue with me blasting them on social media, here’s just one of the many places.

if you need me i’ll be at libretto!

it’s good food, but way too overpriced. although the venue is charming (it used to be a courthouse), they miscalculated how many people could sit at a table. our reservation of 10 had 8 seats and we had to find extra chairs and squeeze. not a great welcome.

we also were asked to leave before we were ready (still finishing end-of-meal drinks) because there was another group waiting. this isn’t the first time someone in my group was asked to leave before finishing their meal at this restaurant. at the prices they charge, we should not be rushed and forced to chug our drinks! the manager bought the five of us left a round of drinks at the bar to make up for it, but it wasn’t an ideal place to continue our experience as it was awkward to chat and hear everyone when lined up across the bar. (plus, bar stools are not comfortable!)

i also found the service to be lacking: reminding staff about missed items; servers walking away as we were mid-sentence. i asked for one order of an app for the table to share, and they brought two. i thought maybe someone else had the same idea and didn’t think much of it until it showed up on my bill and i confirmed with my group that nobody elseorderedit. yes, we ate it and i paid for it, but i only asked for one order.

terrible is the word.orderedtwo main dishes - one pasta and a pizza (not an easy menu to decipher and order). both dishes wereorderedafter a consultation with the waiting staff, both were meat dishes on purpose. end result = collectively about 20 grams ( one ounce) of meat sprinkled in between questionable pasta that was half-baked on the inside. and uncut pizza. never going back again.

such a beautiful interior, that's the biggest standout of this place.my friend and i bothorderedpasta dishes and they were yummy, service was good.

had a dozen people descend on toronto for birthday celebration and they picked this gem in the st. lawrence district. used to be the old courthouse and is huge spanning 3 floors. it even has the jail cells in the basement!
this place has a genuine italian slant as evidenced by the menu. most of the grouporderedspecialty white pizzas and none were disappointed. iorderedthe salad which was combined with baked salami, grapes and kale with a vinaigrette dressing which was very good. my partnerorderedthe invernale salad which included radicchio, roasted butternut squash, green onion and dressed with a blueberry vinaigrette. top points for both salads.
my main course was the ravioli porchetta which was stuffed with pork, roasted butternut squash , oyster, button mushrooms and. parmigiana cheese. it was tasty but could have used a sprinkling of parmesan and pepper. for dessert i had the biscotti with a delightful white and chocolate cream sauce. my partner had the tiramisu. both desserts were excellent.
a great place to eat. would have no problems returning.

we were here for our team dinner. weordered6-8 dishes for main course following few starters and i can happily say that we enjoyed each and every one of it. i tried duck ravioli and it was definitely delicious. i am still in awe of it and would again try it.

went here with a group of 4 on a saturday night. the service was great! our server was very tentative and offered lots of suggestions. i forgot to take pictures but we had started with the tagliere mezzo email mezzo which is an assortment of italian cured meats, cheeses and jams. it's funny but we allorderedthe same entree which was the spaghetti in cana a mare which is spaghetti with an assortment of seafood. it was delicious and they were very generous on the seafood. for dessert we had espressos and cappuccino all were served with a mini biscotti. only draw back was that the restaurant was really noisy and the music was too loud so it felt like we had to yell over the noise so we could hear each other. besides that it was a great place and would definitely return or even try their other locations.

had a send off lunch with our office group and the decision makers made terroni as the choice partly because very able to accommodate our large group of almost 20 - especially during the upcoming holiday season.

if i had to rate the restaurant only on atmosphere, terroni would get a 5/5. however we go to eat in a restaurant. the checkin was super quick even though it was during lunch time. we got to seat at the upper level and although good, but not as good as the main floor. the bar section is super good and classy.

the orders were taken quickly and were served bread, olive oil and oil with red chillies. the bread was ok, but the chillies and were super good. not very spicy, but very flavourful.

ordered a marinara pizza, has no cheese. comes with tomato sauce, herbs, basil and garlic. the crust was good, the sauce lacked flavour. my palate isn't strong so could hardly taste garlic. the pizza was just plain. regardless of how one orders a pizza (a vegan option) and as it was on the menu and i didn't omit cheese, the pizza should pass the taste test. it didn't. the experience of fine dinning regardless of the dishorderedneeded to be there and it wasn't. i have vegan dishes at many places and they all passed with flying colours (o&b, drake, liberetto to name a few)

service was very good. they got an extra star for the atmosphere and service.

weordereda white pizza and a saucy tomato pizza for flavour. the al salmone was a white pizza with in-house smoked salmon, italian cream, mozzarella, capers, red onions, and fresh tomatoes. the smendozzata had tomato, mozzarella, homemade spicy sausage, gorgonzola, and red onions on it.

both pizzas had a very thin crust and were largely portioned! i was so excited to try it.😀

the smoked salmon on the al salmone wasn’t evenly distributed so sometimes when cutting up the pizza, you might get a slice that didn’t have any smoked salmon on it. otherwise, i liked the freshness of the smoked salmon and thought it was really high quality. if i were to ever eat another smoked salmon pizza that was this good, i think i would be fine with it, haha.

pros: building is beautiful, history of the building is fascinating, ambience is nice although extremely noisy. food came quickly on a weekday lunch.
cons: if you like bland italian food this place is for you - not my preference.orderedthe smoked salmon panini - good flavours but extremely dry. snarky waitstaff, waited over 15 min for menus and water and didn't serve us napkins, salt and pepper until we requested them. forgot our sparkling water order. menu specifies that you can't ask for substitutions. overall service not great "do you want anything else now because i'm leaving for a bit". asked that auto gratuity was removed so i could add my own tip (to reflect the service) and given a hard time by both the waiter and the manager although they finally acquiesced. restaurant is not handicap accessible - washrooms are in the basement (as are most in toronto) with no options on the ground floor. all tables are accessed via stairs so not suitable for anyone with mobility issues.

great ambiance and quick service, but very crowded (there wasn't a lot of space between tables). the pastas weorderedwere all quite salty, but the tris di carne was good (but on the expensive side).

absolutely divine!. we had come here on a saturday evening at around 6:30 pm for dinner. we had made reservations therefore, when we walked into the restaurant, we were seated immediately after approaching the front desk. upon first walking-in, we were surprised to see how unique the set-up of the restaurant was. near the door, there was an espresso bar on the left side, with seats available on both the left and right side of the front foyer. once you entered the second room on the main level, there was a large stairwell going up, with a few steps going down into the main dining room. we were told that this building used to be a court house a while back therefore, we were instantly smitten with the décor. on the wall, there were signs in italian, as well as music playing in the background as we ate. there was quite a bit of space for us to walk in-between each of the chairs and tables, which made it a more comfortable feel.

after we were brought to our seats, which were right in front of the fireplace, we were approached by juanita, our server for the evening. juanita was kind and attentive, bringing over our menus with careful attention to detail in regards to the specials of the evening. after browsing the menu for about five minutes, we settled on the tagliere di formaggi to start. after about five minutes of havingorderedour appetizer, a large basket of fresh bread was given to us by juanita. she also gave us two dishes of dipping oil, along with a small dish of red peppers. it was wonderful that juanita warned us about how hot the red peppers were as they were definitely hot! the bread was soft and crispy, tasting excellent in the dipping oil which wasn’t too strong, just right.

after we had finished eating our bread, our appetizer arrived. it was situated on a small cutting board, complete with four slices of bread, a pear cut into small diagonal shapes, a small dish of honey, a small dish of jam, and the various cheese slices. each of the cheese slices were shaped into diamonds, and each were quite delicious! they were soft and creamy, tasting perfect with the honey and bread combination that was available. we were pleasantly surprised with how wonderful the presentation and the taste of this appetizer was. as we were eating our appetizer, juanita came in to check on us, asking us if we wanted a refill on our bread basket, and pouring the water into our glasses.

after about fifteen minutes of us having had completed our appetizer, our main dishes arrived. i hadorderedone of the specials of the day, which was the mushroom risotto, while my husbandorderedanother special which was the beef and potatoes. my mother alsoorderedone of the nightly specials, which was the lamb, my father hadorderedthe spaghetti in canna a mare, and my brother hadorderedthe peppino pizza. each of the dishes were brought to us by a few of the wait staff from the back, with juanita coming by immediately afterwards to make sure that we were well-served and if we needed anything at that time. in terms of the food quality, we were all beyond impressed with how delicious everything had tasted, it was as if the food were cooked perfectly just for us, it was that good! the mushroom risotto had small pieces of mushrooms littered throughout the dish, with a hint of parmesan cheese, just perfect for the size of the dish. although the portion size was a tad small, it tasted authentic nonetheless. my husband’s beef was quite moist, tasting as if it had just been taken off of the grill. the potatoes, which were a part of his meal, were soft however, not too soft, cooked just right, with the perfect amount of salt. his meal also included asparagus, which were placed neatly on the side of the dish. they too were fresh, with just the perfect texture.

my father’s spaghetti in canna a mare was cooked to perfection, with the flavourings from the fish mixing well with the pasta itself. also, juanita had brought him a plate for the shells from his mussels, which we thought was the perfect added touch to great service. it was also quite a large portion size, which filled him up right away. my mother’s lamb was exquisite, with each piece of lamb tasting fresh, moist, and filled with flavour. they were also easy to chew, and complemented with soft potatoes and rapini. the potatoes were the same that were a part of my husband’s beef meal, with just the perfect amount of softness given to each potato. the rapini was quite abundant, which was a surprise as most restaurants don’t include a large amount of vegetables on an individual’s dish. my brother’s peppino pizza was cooked well, with the vegetables and cheese staying on the pizza once it was bitten into. also, the pizza was thin, which made it taste truly authentic. our main dishes definitely surpassed all of our expectations, which were highly met.

we had wanted to try some dessert as we were quite impressed with the main dishes therefore, we settled on a type of cake which consisted of ricotta cheese. after about five minutes of having hadorderedthe cake, it was brought over by juanita, with a dollop of whip cream, and a sliced strawberry on the side of the dish. the cake was a large slice, which was cut in half, with one half placed one way, and the other half placed another way. we were impressed with the presentation of the dish, which we found to be consistent with each of the dishes throughout the evening. the taste of the cake was fresh, with the fluffy cake batter filling our mouths with each bite, along with the ricotta cheese, which was interspersed throughout the batter.

we were beyond stuffed at this point therefore, we had asked for the bill, which came out to about $164 (we didn’t order any beverages therefore, our bill was lower than we had thought). our bill came to us quickly by juanita, who asked us how our experience was. we had told her that it was everything that we had wanted, and more! we were definitely impressed with the entire experience at terroni, from the food, to the service, to the atmosphere. it was all top-notch, and certainly made it an unforgettable evening! i would highly recommend that you all give this place a try, you won’t regret it!

good food terrible service will come back will not tip of course. great italian food, the pasta and pizza were crisp flavourful and the best
price is also moderate
inside it is like an italian american eatery
waitress was not pretty and decided she will not grant our wish or bring us what weorderedthe way we wanted so did not tip. honey tip is for service not for automatic lol