Buffo Ristorante — Restaurant in Calgary

Terrible food, subpar service and an overpriced menu for what you get. We were in tonight for my Dad's birthday. I made a reservation and included that it was a special day in the notes. The initial greeting at the door was fine for my Dad (nobody was there when I walked in), and we were seated directly across from the kitchen alley door opening. After about 10 minutes, the waitress Stacia finally came over to take drink orders. I had tea that came in a 1/2 size teapot, and there was never the ask or offer for sugar, milk, lemon, honey- anything!! Ok. I can deal with that.

Then Stacia came back to take our order- an order of olives, two milestone bowls, and spaghetti for my Dad, and Arancini balls for myself. The food was very quick to come out, but obviously Stacia forgot to order the olives and when asked about it, rather than apologize, just acted snooty. A $7 olive bowl comes with 15 olives, just FYI.

Ok- so let's talk about minestrone soup. Now I know it can be made different ways, but this was a weak, oversalted vegetable soup, that had been boiled the heck out of and was both mushy and flavourless (all while managing to be the color of vomit when it is mostly bile with some partially digested veg). Sounds delicious....but it wasn't! It was also $9 for a bowl of soup, sans any side bread or really any reason to charge for that concoction. Pepper was never offered, and had to be asked for just to give the soup an ounce of flavour.

My Dad had the spaghetti which he mentioned was mushy and tasted (literally a quote from my 71 year old father) "disgusting". He'll eat anything usually...and he did still eat his meal, to his credit.

When my food came out, my dad asked me if I had ordered the meatballs. My plate of Arancini came with 3 meatball sized pieces, and there was literally more sauce on the plate than actual food. So between that and the failed soup (which I didn't finish), I am still pretty hungry.

The final piece of the meal was my Dad's birthday dessert. Something we were looking forward to considering the rest of the meal had a flop. With zero personality Stacia asked if Dad wanted anything for dessert- I was never asked and when dessert was ordered only one spoon came out. That again was fine (What a terrible waitress), and led me to believe it would be an item on the house, as is a pretty common practice in the restaurant business. It wasn't a fancy dessert- it was a bit of gelato. Anywho, that was delivered without a smile or anything like a sparkler- and then afterwards we were charged for it. All in all it turned out to be $70 to completely ruin my Dad's birthday dinner. Way to go Buffo. More like Buffoons!!

Don't waste your time, money or energy with this place. It isn't...

Loved dining at this relatively new restaurant. There are so many things going for it.

Firstly, you walk into this restaurant and the colours are soothing and relaxing. It is a perfect blend between rustic yet modern, clean and chique. The ambience is conducive for a chill dining but also apt for a more formal occasion. They've clearly given a lot of attention to details with their decor from their entertaining subtle framed posters to the ambient lighting and plants for an organic touch.

The cool blue tones invite you to indulge in some warm oven fresh pizza. However, don't forget to kick start your palate with some wonderfully constructed bruschetta, some of which incidentally can be converted to vegan if asked. The staff was cognizant of this and very helpful to answer questions to cater to vegans. But good thing I am not vegan because that arancini is simply delightful, definitely a must have alongside some great cocktails.

From taste to nomenclature, these cocktails have it all. With cocktails named things like "The Godfather" or "Horse's Head" you can treat not just your gustatory sense but also your sense of humour. The "Positano Cliffside" appeals more to the visual senses. While gulping this down, perhaps unhealthily fast, you might actually be able to visualize the cliffside overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and the quaint Italian village with a history of being visited so often by Poseidon that the town was actually named after him! Doesn't matter whether you've never visited Positano before, you'll see it when you sip on this cocktail.

My favourite was definitely "Horse's Head", a complimentary cocktail to the classic margherita. If you're looking for some more interesting entres, I recommend the Risotto Nero, made to look black with squid ink. If you want the classics, they got it. If you want something adventurous, oh they definitely got it (referring to the Unicorn ice cream dessert during their Summer Feast). You're looking for refined? They've got it all. In short. do I recommend? Yes, amore, yes I do. Well job to the staff for construing such a lovely dining...

If I could give this restaurant 0 stars that is what I could give it. If you want real Italian food, go elsewhere. I have lived in Italy for 20+ yrs and this restaurant does not capture the Italian feeling, neither in decor or in gastronomie. First and foremost, spelling errors in the menu. Meatballs were hard, dry and flavourless, the pasta(carbonara)notninly overcooked but as equally tasteless. If you have ever been to Sicily, then you have surely tasted an authentic arancini, which is completely and utterly different from what the restaurant sells as an arancini, what they sell is more of a suppli. Dessert was as equally tasteless. Went with my son, arrived at 8. Our waitress was definitely in another frame of mind. Brought out pasta before our starters and then argued with us that that was the way we had ordered. Proceeded to throw, literally, 3 spoons on my son’s side of the table, but no cutlery on my side, whatever are we to do with 3 spoons baffles me. The restaurant looks unto a parking lot so is rather dark in itself but the designer thought it a good idea to put in dark blue and wood so come night time, well it simply feels dark and closed in. On the night we ate, they closed the grate that leads to the mall and shut the windows/shutters...all very dark and most uninviting. All in all, the meal, the service and the atmosphere (lack of) were not good at all and we will never go back nor recommend this restaurant to anybody. The following day I went and spoke to the manager on duty and he seemed equally uninterested in our experience. As I said at the beginning, if I could, I would rate this...