Piazza Italian Eatery.Mercato — Restaurant in Aurora

Please take a moment to read my whole review as I attempt to paint a picture of how my family fell in love with this restaurant.

When Piazza first opened a couple years ago, we tried them three times. As with many new restaurants, they had some growing pains and there were issues with all of our orders so we figured we would wait to see if they lasted and the kinks were worked out.

My hubby and I decided to give them a try for lunch and we were pleasantly pleased and surprised. I ordered the Fresco sandwich and my hubby ordered an Italian sausage panino we also ordered a pepperoni pizza to take home.

I was blown away by my sandwich! It was the biggest sandwich I have seen in my life. It was made on a beautiful focaccia bread which was light, airy and had flavourful herbs on top. The sandwich was absolutely stuffed with focaccia, basil aioli, baby arugula, fior di latte, artichokes, vine ripe tomatoes, prosciutto, prosciutto cotto, suppressata, basil, lemon parm vinaigrette. This was the best sandwich I have ever had and I could only finish half of it. I brought the rest home to my son who ate it for dinner and he enjoyed it as much as I did.

My husband was thoroughly pleased with his sausage panino too. He said the sausage was tasty, juicy, the sauce had delicious flavour and the bun was fresh, not too doughy and was what he remembered from Italian restaurants when he was younger.

Lunch went over so well that we decided to go again for dinner a few days later. I had the Pollo Pesto which had rigatoni pasta cooked perfectly al dente with a light but flavorful pesto cream sauce, juicy bit-sized pieces of grilled chicken and topped with parmigiana cheese. My husband had the rigatoni bolognese which he thoroughly enjoyed too. The servings were so large that we were able to take half of each home for our kids. We also ordered a pepperoni pizza to take home.

So you may be wondering why I haven’t talked about the pizzas we kept taking home. Well I haven’t mentioned them yet because neither my husband or I had been able to try them. Our kids LOVED the pizza and they ate them both!

A few days after our last visit we decided to go for lunch again and try the pizza for ourselves. We each ordered a slice of pizza and 2 enormous slices were brought to our table, thankfully cut in half so we could comfortably eat them. The pizza crust was crispy, thin and light. The sauce was tasty, the used the perfect amount and most importantly…no heartburn! The pepperoni was very flavourful and added a tiny hint of heat to the pizza. As usual, leftovers were brought home. We also spotted a delicious looking sandwich hiding on the back counter. I enquired about it and the chef told us that they were trying it out for a new menu option. I wished I could have tried it, it looked so good! I also saw beautiful long sheets of home made lasagna pasta being prepared and cooked.

By this time, the staff were remembering us, which isn’t hard because we both wear funky glasses. They are always friendly, efficient and they all do a great job. The restaurant is impeccably clean, has about 6 tables and offers frozen take home options too.

By now, my kids are getting jealous that they haven’t been able to visit themselves so the same day as my hubby and I went for pizza, my daughter and I went for dinner. I ordered lasagna which I had spied at lunch time and my daughter had fettuccine Alfredo. As per usual, both portions were plenty large enough to share or take home leftovers. The lasagna had their tasty sauce, the perfect amount of cheese and was piping hot. The fettuccine Alfredo sauce was creamy, tasty with light fettuccine, cooked to perfection. Yet again, the staff were so kind and generous to send us home with some leftover focaccia. They said they were glad it was going to be enjoyed and would go to waste.

In case it isn’t obvious by now, we LOVE Piazza Italian Eatery and have become regular customers. Hopefully my review has painted a detailed enough picture to entice you to give them a try. See...

Stopped by for lunch yesterday with the family and ordered the Pollo pesto, fettuccine Alfredo and the funghi pizza. Generally good food, better than most italian options in the area (including the nearby Aurora stalwart up the street) for these items. Mercato is aiming high in terms of taste and execution and mostly hits the mark. I found the pastas a touch on the oily side. This is the second time we've had the pastas and we thought that timing on the rigatoni was a little short (again) with much more than an al dente bite and requiring a full chew through. On the other hand, the fettuccine seemed a little on the long side and was much more softer than al dente. Aside from the noodle texture and oiliness of the sauces, the flavour were great. The pizza was good as well, but the dough seemed a little on the tough side instead of nicely chewy. I think all of these are slight variations that can easily be fixed in execution and could just be a consistency issue. Portions were large in our opinion, we (2adults + 2kids) packed 2 slices of pizza, 1/3 of the alfredo and 1/2 of the pollo pesto. Service was good - we would have appreciated some refills on water but they were busy so leaving a pitcher would have been appropriate. Bottom line is that the food is very good but needs slight adjustments to reach...

Overall food was delicious. We are an Italian family and can sniff out the fake ones and those not using fresh ingredients. Not this place …they are good. genuine and everything tasted fresh - as you enter you see the chefs cooking it all fresh in front of you! Our Veal and chicken parm were great and had plenty of an authentic tasting tomato sauce. Eggplant parm had great taste and plenty of sauce. The penne a La vodka was good and had a really nice flavour but unfortunately it lacked sauce. It was dry but I believe the chef finished it well before the pick up time I was given (35 mins) and the penne soaked any sauce that was in the container. That or too much pasta vs sauce as they are generous with the family meal portions. But it still tasted great! . But it did need more sauce on the penne..if it wasn’t for that this meal would have been a perfect 5 star meal. Garlic bread delicious and mixed greens and dressing very tasty. The value is on point and well worth it. We will be back and give them a chance to make it a perfect 5! My sons loved the food and we want to try the pizza and...