Di Mario’s Trattoria — Restaurant in Burlington

On Saturday September 2nd 2023 around dinner time (say between 6-8pm) My husband, 3 year old child and myself were travelling back to Toronto after spending the day at Niagara Falls. Just a few minutes before we got to the bridge while on the highway home my little one says "I have go to"! Traffic was bad but it was moving so it took a little while before we got off the highway. We ended up on Lakeshore which was packed with traffic. On the GPS my husband had marked a nearby tim hortons for us to stop at in order to let my little one use the bathroom. Little did we know the GPS took us to a Tims that was stationed at the Petro canada on Lakeshore. We went in and their bathroom was locked. I asked the guy behind the register if we could please use the bathroom for my child and he he said no. Then we ran out, took a quick scan of the area and jumped across the street and saw a Gelato place so my husband said "let's go there". We walk in, I spoke to the woman behind the register and asked nicely with a hint of desperation, "can I please take my child to your bathroom he really needs to go, he's only 3" the young woman behind the register quite literally said "we don't have bathrooms here" (impossible btw) not wanting to argue my husband and I ran out and took another quick scan of the area and he saw Di Mario's Restaurant and my husband said, let's try here. By this point my little one was quivering and shaking and about to cry. We walked into this very fine establishment and spoke to the gentleman standing at the host desk and nicely asked if we could use the bathroom for my child. At first he said no and to try the gas station but I said we were just there and they said no and I pleaded and said "please, it's not for me, it's for my son and he's only 3 PLEASE!" He then said that the use of their bathroom was for paying customers only to which I responded "okay not a problem at all - what can I buy?" I guess this gentleman saw the look of sheer desperation on the face of a heavily pregnant lady (me) with a 3 year old child in tow and he said to us - you know what it's ok, just go - it's over there" he pointed us in the direction of the bathroom and I took my little guy who MADE IT! Upon leaving I looked at that man and gave him my heartfelt gratitude and offered to purchase something. He said it wasn't a problem and that there was no need. To that gentleman - I never got your name and I'm sorry I didn't. I want to THANK YOU sincerely for your humanity and compassion towards a 3 year old child. As soon as my husband and I are able to have a kid free evening, we will be making the trip from Toronto to have dinner at your lovely restaurant and I'm sure we will truly enjoy the food as everything on your menu looks delicious! In the meantime, we have a couple of friends who live in the Burlington area and we have asked them to please dine at your restaurant in the next couple of weeks as this is the only way I can show my gratitude for the time being....

We’d been planning to visit this restaurant for a while, especially after hearing they regained their liquor license, allowing us to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. We finally made reservations and chose to sit outside on the patio. Initially, the wait staff was attentive, but after the main course arrived, their presence seemed to vanish. It would have been nice if someone had checked in to see how our meal was after the first few bites.

My partner, who is Italian, ordered the lasagna with high hopes. Unfortunately, she found it to be just fine, but rather mediocre—there wasn’t enough sauce to balance the dish. I ordered the carbonara, which looked appealing but tasted bland and underseasoned. The texture and portion size were great, but the flavor was severely lacking. Even the pancetta failed to add the expected punch. I was hoping to ask for some salt to compensate, but no staff appeared.

Our starter, the arancini, was nice but nothing extraordinary. When the server finally returned, I politely mentioned that the carbonara was bland. She explained that some customers had previously complained the dish was too salty, and I suggested they might have gone too far in the opposite direction. She thanked me for the feedback, and I reiterated that while the texture and portion were good, the lack of flavor was disappointing.

However, when she returned with the bill, her demeanor had noticeably cooled. I adjusted the tip to 13% due to her absence during the main course and the attitude she displayed afterward. I paid the full bill, but there was no mention or adjustment regarding the carbonara.

I do not recommend this restaurant, as it seems they have a significant quality control issue. It appears that the new ownership is more focused on profit than on maintaining their reputation or encouraging repeat business. It’s a real shame because we were hoping for something special, but they failed to deliver.

• UPDATE * Sep 1, 2024

Thank you for the prompt public apology. We appreciate it. You could save a lot of hassle by empowering your wait staff to make judgment calls on things like this. If they'd offered a free dessert or even waived the one dish, you wouldn't need to spend your valuable time responding to negative reviews (because there would not have been one), and you wouldn't have to offer two full meals -- my receipt from last night with tip and taxes was a few pennies shy of $160. If you'd like to make good on your offer, we'd prefer you to donate the equivalent value to the https://www.burlingtonfoodbank.ca/. This way, they benefit, and you'll get a tax receipt, too. All the best,...

My wife and I arrived on time for our Saturday night reservation. Hostess seated us in a dingy, dimly -it back room next to the toilets.. which I suppose qualifies as "rustic" but the baby stroller parking and high chair storage is a bit of a stretch for "old-world decor" So not off to a great start. Hostess asked if we were celebrating anything, we replied we were not. When our waiter arrived he asked the same question again, and we repeated that there was no special occasion. We are 40-something professionals that look young and are well dressed, I'm not sure if this is just part of their training or what was going on.

We had to ask about the specials so we could plan our wine pairing. I don't expect the waiter to have encyclopedic knowledge of an extensive wine list, but he had trouble finding the bottle even after giving him the name, region etc.. There did appear to be a sommelier (or at least beverage focused staff member) but her services were not offered to us. The food varied from reassuringly authentic to a disaster. The delay between courses was excessive and not well paced with no contact from any staff. Perhaps this improves on a less busy evening. After the mains were cleared our waiter arrives mentioning that our "special dessert" will just be a few moments. We hadn't ordered or even considered the dessert menu.. and we had said (twice) that we were not celebrating anything. At this point we just wanted to leave. While waiting for the bill another table was seated in the dungeon, but the hostess came back shortly tell them that since she thought they were familiar faces she had moved some things around and would reseat them. What's most amusing about this is my wife and fellow partners at her firm often entertain clients at this restaurant. It sounds like that might change.

In short, if you are led into a back room, turn around and leave. For $300 for two you can do much better in...