Casa Verde Ristorante — Restaurant in Ajax

What a shame....

We had started to really like Casa Verde over the past couple of years, and we had made it our special place to go as a small family group for good food and service. Unfortunately our recent visit will likely be our last.

Food

The food is ok, not great. Here's a review of what we tried:

The Good

-The homemade lasagna was delicious and flavorful. We all had a bite and enjoyed this.

-The tiramisu was good, my wife really enjoyed it.

The Bad

-The cannelloni was undersalted and bland.

-Rack of lamb was requested to be medium rare and came out well done.

-Veal parmigiana was the thinnest piece we have ever seen, between 1/8" and 1/16" and was tough as jerky and the mozzarella on top was way too much and the sauce surprisingly bland.

-Calamari was not dried thoroughly before frying and/or they over crowded the deep fryer so it wasn't cooked at a hot enough temperature, as it arrived at our table soaking in grease with the batter falling off and slightly rubbery.

Atmosphere

The restaurant is LOUD and small with hard wooden seats, so if you want to have a conversation and relax comfortably, forget it. We all breathed a sigh of relief when we went outside...

Service

One of the things we liked about this place in the past was the service from the young ladies who are attentive, polite and friendly.

However on our last visit we were unlucky enough to get an older lady who was abrupt, hostile and uncaring with our service. When we mentioned that the calamari was not right (see above) she immediately shot back over her shoulder to us that it is the most popular item, and implied we didn't know what we were talking about.... She could've made it right and brought us another plate of it, instead she disappeared into the kitchen and a replacement never came.

While the server wasn't friendly to begin with, after mentioning the calamari issue our table was black listed and no one came back to our table to ask us how the entrees were or top up our drinks... The server is WAY TOO SENSITIVE and rude to be working in the customer service industry. We understand that Casa Verde is family run which is great, but in this case the old adage comes to mind "you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family" lol, so I guess they are stuck with her.

As for the price, it is very expensive and the quality is not there anymore.... Expect to pay close to $100 per person if you are getting an appetizer, entree, dessert and a drink.

After reading the other responses from Casa Verde about negative customer reviews here, I am pretty sure they will deny everything and blame us for being "fussy" or "stupid" customers, which seems to be their typical response, deflecting responsibility to keep up appearances and their reputation.

Anyways this is just our honest review. We are pretty easygoing people who just wanted a nice meal and friendly service, but after our last disappointing visit we won't be going back, which is a total shame as we used to genuinely enjoy this...

I just Love this restaurant I have been coming here for many years with my family , and as well as that whenever that I get there and when the reservations are made and when Joanne hears that I am coming she would ho above and beyond she would let the Chef AKA her husband that Nicole is coming. He always makes sure that he has Gorganzola Sauce available. just for me. And Lo and Behold as soon as I placed my order last night after I hinted around about it I was dismayed when one have the daughters admitted that they made sure that they had my FAV the Gorganzola sauce on hand and available, just because I was coming. I just wanted to personally say Thank You from the bottom of my heart for always keeping me in mind . But more importantly I am so so Lucky and so Grateful for your generosity and also for your the kind of people that you are , The Most Loving people. And I thank you emensely for your FRIENDSHIP for over the many Happy years and for MANY MORE YEARS TO COME , AND IN OUR FUTURSES. AND THIS IS ALL IN GREAT THANKS TO JOANNE AND ROBERT and if I made any mistakes with your name I do apologize for the mix up. AND MANY...

We haven't dined in a restaurant like this in recent memory even though we go to restaurants very often. The whole experience was on a different level. The servers were extremely attentive, the food was great and the ambience was welcoming. We had requested a window table but it wasn't available when we reached. While we were trying our appetizers, the server said the window table was ready and moved us to that table. She went out of her way to make our dining experience great. They had a mix up with our order and profusely apologized and offered to take other dishes back as well so that they could redo it and bring everything out together. We didn't want the food on our table to be wasted so we refused and said we will wait. They brought the right dish soon after and we had a great dining experience. Thank you for making our evening a memorable one. Will definitely be back. It's a gem in Pickering and it's a very nice place for a family to dine or to bring your date. Ty Casa Verde. Whole...