Ferraro Truly Italian — Restaurant in Airdrie

I googled this restaurants new location and was so excited to go. The pictures looked outstanding, and we had eaten in their first location and thought the owners were amazing. However, we went into the restaurant this evening and I saw right away that there was at least 1 table for 4 already cleaned and available. We were approached by a young man and I assumed we would be seated at the open table. He didn't ask if we had a reservation. He told us that he was going to seat us in another room. He explained that they had just had an event in that room. He took us through the side of the restaurant, a vacant/storge space that had an empty display counter, and further back down a hallway that looked like a storage area and into a very unimpressive room. Honestly, it looked horrible. We passed by tables in the hallway that had containers of some kind of food stacked in them. This did not look like an area that customers should go through to get to a dinning area. The event area was a square room that had large tables pushed against the wall. The middle of the room was empty. It did not look anything like the other side of the restaurant...there are no pictures of this room in the goggle pictures.There was nothing beautiful or welcoming about this room. It was actually VERY off putting. We sat at the only small table that was there and the table was dirty. He went to get a cloth to clean the table, and when he came back and cleaned the table it was still dirty. It was probably difficult for him to tell because the table was in poor condition. He didn't give us menus or ask if we wanted drinks. We just sat there and I just couldn't understand why any customer would be taken to that area. We would have waited for a table happily in the main dinning area. It was so uncomfortable and dissappointing that we got up and left. When we made our way back to the front of the restaurant we could see that the fellow was seating people in the nice part of the restaurant and that the table for 4 was still empty. Where is the logic in having a beautiful and cozy restaurant on one side and a miserable looking area, in the back, on the other side. If you have no seating available in the main restaurant ask customers to wait. Make that room presentable...move the tables back into place so that it's laid out nicely. Clean the tables and put on tablecloths.....make it welcoming. I actually left upset. I know that the husband and wife that own the restaurant are beautiful people, but this was a terrible, and unforgivable, first impression of the new location. When we left my 12 year old daughter told me the waiters expression wasn't very nice when he seated us and cleaned our table. I was so shocked by the surroundings I didn't notice but how terrible is it that a child saw that. The experience was unbelievably bad and I'm so...

We were invited to Ferraro by our in-laws after hearing them rave about it for weeks.

We arrived for our reservation shortly before 6 and were greeted immediately with warmth and recognition. We were sat immediately at one of the few tables inside and had water & wine before we had our coats off.

The space is stunning; intimate & cozy with an upscale casual feel. Decor is simple & classy; very reminiscent of a classic “Italian Family Kitchen.” We felt comfortable immediately, especially with the kitchen being entirely open. As service-industry vets (and restaurant owners ourselves), being able to see our food being prepared is such a special experience, & the chefs at Ferraro did not disappoint. The owner himself was on line the entire night, ensuring quality & presentation with an obvious passion for his craft.

Service was incredible- Melissa took amazing care of us, recommending wine pairings, coffees, and romancing the hell out of the food. Watching the other staff throughout the evening, it’s obvious that the team is comprised of a few truly passionate people that love what they do and take immense pride in giving the best experience possible; led by a husband & wife duo working just as hard alongside them. Anyone who’s worked service before will know how rare this is, and how valuable it can be.

The food. Oh my god the food. Hands down, the best calamari I have ever eaten. Unbreaded; not rubbery at all and served on a risotto that almost brought tears to my eyes. The cheese selection on the Antipasti platter was to die for, and I will probably never eat focaccia from anywhere else again. Two of us had steaks (skirt & ribeye) and didn’t even need knives, they were so beautifully tender. My partner had the most incredible lamb chops, served with (always) handmade in-house pasta we’d be lucky to find in actual Italy. Every single dish was presented beautifully, without fuss; letting the freshness & simplicity of the food shine.

Dessert was tiramisu, crème brûlée, & cannoli (sans fork)- washed down with a creamy specialty espresso and of course, more amazing wine.

We will be making the trip from South Calgary again very VERY soon to visit Ferraro again. We are so grateful to the staff and owners for making our night one of the most magical dinners we’ve experienced in ages- thank you Mohammed, Melissa, Nella (?) & Manny for giving Airdrie (and quite possibly Alberta) the best family Italian cuisine & experience we’ve ever had....

We booked a table for a large family event, a birthday. We can’t always gather together, so this was a special time. At the suggestion of some friends not to book this restaurant mainly to the owners wife who can be bossy and rude, however,we carried on with the booking, regrettably.

After being arriving to a frosty unwelcoming greet from the female owner of the restaurant, she seated us to our table. We waited another 30 minutes to receive our menus to order and a further hour and half for our meals

Having children in our party and one with type 1 diabetes, We ordered our meals and drinks as soon as we could, one drink being a Diet Coke for the T1D.

Our drinks arrived and the Diet Coke was given to the wrong person, resulting in a medical ‘high’ for the child and insulin needing to be administered immediately.

One meal didn’t arrive. We highlighted this and it took another 10 minutes to receive.

3 hours later after arriving at the restaurant and after paying for our bill of almost $600 plus the mandatory 18% tip of almost $100 ( with the late meal and Diet Coke removed) At the time of leaving the male owner took us to one side and he acknowledged the evenings issues along with apologizing, stating “he had noticed on numerous occasions there were issues with our event and how could he make the experience better”

We expressed we weren’t happy with the medical emergency and the importance of delivering the correct drinks to the right person and mentioned we were unhappy with having to pay the entire $100 tip and would have liked to had the choice to reduce due to the poor service provided.

The male owner agreed, he then began the process of reimbursing us, at which time the female owner came over, took the receipt, she was extremely rude, argued the fact that the child did have the Diet Coke and she had already removed her meal and the late meal, on top of which she said she also removed a desert which they gave complimentary for the birthday person (which was not ordered by our party in advance) and she wasn’t going to do anything more for us.

The customer service and argumentative attitude we received by this female owner was unprofessional and disappointing, it’s no wonder we were recommended not to go to this restaurant in the beginning.

We left the premises having paid in full, as were unwilling to participate in an argument with the female owner, who seemed incapable of being friendly or polite.

We will not...