Joia Ristorante — Restaurant in Aurora

My family and I had a terrible experience last weekend at this so called "family restaurant" where we were invited to celebrate my mother's birthday. The owners made us and our children (3 month old daughter and 2.5 year old son) feel extremely unwelcome. They were very inhospitable to our family and even asked us to leave the restaurant as according to them our son was "too disruptive to their staff and other patrons." I'm not going to deny that we have a busy toddler who does not always want to sit still, but he was behaving as a typical toddler often does and we were trying to manage his behaviour in the best way we knew how to minimize inconvenience and disruption to everyone at the restaurant. Instead of being empathetic and understanding, the owners were harsh, aggressive and lashed out at us in a disrespectful manner. They put us in a very uncomfortable and embarrassing situation in front of everyone. The way that they dealt with us was quite appalling and unexpected for a restaurant that prides itself on welcoming families with children. As we were leaving, the junior wait staff had to apologize for their owners’ outrageous shouting at us. They too thought it was not acceptable and highly unnecessary.

Before booking her party, my mom purposefully asked if it would be ok that there is a toddler and a baby in a stroller invited to the restaurant and the owners did not have a problem with that. It turned out to be quite the opposite. Not only were they un-accepting of a toddler in their restaurant, but they also did not accommodate us for the space we required near our table for my daughter’s stroller. Our main waiter made it seem like we were always in his way, when we were truly trying to minimize disturbances to their work and asked about the best placement of the stroller when we first arrived. Even worse, there was not even a baby change table in the washrooms to change an infant. We had to change my daughter on a bench in a cold hallway near the bathrooms.

Please save your sanity and nerves and do not come here if you have a family. Unless your children are well behaved angels 100% of the time, you will not feel comfortable or be...

Note: this was Valentines Day - Unfortunately we left after appetizers due to the low quality of service and food.

Service started off poorly, with no drink menus at the tables. When we asked the server about this he stated “order whatever from the bar, or do you want a wine list?” The server eventually came over with a very ratty binder, throwing it on the table and immediately leaving.

The calamari was overcooked, under seasoned and chewy, and the bruschetta was served with a lake of olive oil, raw jarred garlic and whole slices of wet tomato.

After being so dissatisfied with the appetizers we asked to cancel our entrees and pay and leave - the server abruptly grabbed the plates from in front of us, tried to guilt us into staying by saying “the kitchen is already cooking it”

When the server arrived with the cheque, he rudely commented “sorry for whatever was wrong”, when I did not engage this comment the sever finally asked what the problem was .

When I stated my concern about the food the server shrugged them off not at all addressing our issues with the food.

If this was a sports bar, I would not be leaving this review. But for the price point, I fail to see what Joia has to offer.

At no point did the server ask what could be done to rectify our visit. Unfortunately we did have to pay for the bad...

I was disappointed by the experience overall. Based on the menu online, I was excited to try this restaurant, but it over promised and underdelivered. I asked for a wine list - they don't have one, so I asked what types of white wine they had. Ordered a pinot grigio...got a glass of some kind of red wine. Once corrected, I got a glass of white wine that was likely cheap table wine. Tasted old, like the bottle was opened weeks ago, and not like pinot grigio at all. The food - over priced. We ordered the portobello appetizer- and it was overcooked and did not include all the ingredients advertised. The pizza- the dough was undercooked as were the toppings and the flavour was underwhelming. The calamari - overcooked and cold. The service - we were only asked if we wanted dessert. No check on how we found the food. As my mom answered the waiter, he left mid-sentence...it was rude. My favourite - the table by the bar where the waiters put used glasses, clean glasses, pitchers of water to serve customers, the red wine I gave back to them, plus parmesan to serve the customers, all in one place. It left a bad impression on me. It's really too bad. I won't be back, and instead will save my money and go to State and Main or Locale...