Toscana Italian Grill — Restaurant in Calgary

A birthday to remember!!!... for all the wrong reasons.

We recently dined at toscana for dinner during covid, and to say the least, the experience wasnt very good. They have barriers in place and follow protocol which is great, the service is just ok, but the food and ambiance is what brings the rating down.

Upon arriving, we were seated promptly then passed off to our server. We opted for the appetizer platter to start. The calamari was very good, but that's about it. The meatballs were not hot, just slightly warm and the arancini were terrible. We cut into the arancini, and the smell was extremely off putting. In fact, I'm 99% they were spoiled as they had a sour funk smell. We left them on the platter. The server came to remove the platter and didnt even inquire as to how anything tasted, or why the arancini wasnt eaten... not good. In fact throughout the whole meal, not one single time did anyone come to check on how anything was. Had someone asked, we would have mentioned something so they could prevent the kitchen from serving spoiled food, but sadly they did not... if they dont care, why should we?

We then ordered our entrees and patiently waited. After ordering, we noticed a board in the other room across the restaurant with daily features. They had what looked like a super tasty appetizer feature and a surf and turf entree. Why were we not informed about these daily features?! I would have ordered both in a heart beat! My pasta was ok. I wouldnt order it again, nor would I recommend it, it was edible. I had the seafood pasta. The four Mussels in the pasta were over cooked to the point they were shriveled and dry. Only about three shrimp and about 4 pieces of canned clam meat. The salmon in the pasta is a terrible addition and clearly a use for trim from the salmon entree... rough chopped, with grey pieces from where the skin used to be attached. Very unappealing, I didn't eat it... again, the server did not inquire as to how anything was... he just removed the plates.

Though the food was bad, the server was nice, but clearly they put more emphasis on their bar. At points it almost felt like we were at a pub. Random individuals sitting at the bar, loud joking amongst staff, sports on the television. This is NOT the place for a nice evening out. If the owner wants to run a pub, than run a pub, dont try to masquerade it with an italian restaurant. That being said, with emphasis on their bar, their drinks weren't anything to write home about either. My wife asked for a sweet fruity cocktail and got something reminiscent of an 18 year old club drink loaded with blue curacao, and my old fashioned has to be in the category of top 3 worst old fashioneds I've ever had. I took two sips then left it, again, the server did not inquire as to why it wasnt drank.

All that being said, though the staff were very nice, I didnt go out for the people, I went out for a nice dinner and some cocktails. It's a shame, we would have probably ordered dessert and plenty more drinks had any of...

Toscana Italian Grill. Long review, trust me - read it.

I had won a contest online Facebook for a $50 gift card that they said must be redeemed the same night as the Flames Game (which was ok) my boyfriend and I were looking forward to an impromptu last minute date! We’ve driven past this establishment many times and wanted to try it anyways, so we did not mind having a 5 hour notice to claim (before they close at 10pm)

It was fairly empty when we arrived at 8:30, we could not sit in the dining area as the $50 gift card coupon stated “lounge only”. At first it was pleasant, though as soon as I told my server about the gift card I won, I felt we were treated differently. The “bruschetta” was only 4 very thin slices of baguette bread..

The rest of the table’s party beside us joined and they were three extremely loud ladies (come to find out this was they were joining the actual “owner”.

Our food comes - I ordered a spaghetti add the meatballs for extra (there was no spaghetti with meatball option) which was disappointing My boyfriend ordered the Atlantic Salmon on a bed of parmesan risotto. On top of the salmon came some bruschetta looking pico de gallo which made the salmon soggy, Salmon itself was flavourless, and tasting the risotto, it was also flavourless. No parmesan, just tasted like rice that released it’s starches as risotto does. My spaghetti was nothing to write home about, al dente pasta - good, Sauce - lacked seasoning, Meatballs - tasted exactly like Walmart’s Great Value brand. Not homemade. I was also not offered any parmesan for topping my spaghetti off - no salt or pepper on tables either.

Our service was okay, not overly great and got worse as we wanted to pay the bill and leave. I was given the bill with two “$25 gift cards”. Our server stood at the table next to us (owners table) for about ten minutes chatting and talking and looking at photos on this lady’s phone then to the other side of the table to chat with the owner - as I had my card out - ready to pay. I took a photo I was in disbelief. Upon finally swinging by with the monaris, we were informed we were only allowed to use one of the two $25 gift cards (HA!) I knew this would happen. Nothing was mentioned at all about separate gift cards, it was always stated as a $50 gift card that HAD to be redeemed that same night.

Otherwise I never would have come. Honestly, I’m glad I had that gift card because I don’t even think the $28 I paid was worth the food, experience or the audacity of trying to pull the rug out from under us once we tried to pay.

I Expected more Italian feel from an Italian Grill - all we got was stand-offish attitudes, and mediocre Italian eats. East Side Marios is generic but at least they treat you nicely and give you a more authentic italian experience.

Bottom line - was not worth it. I can make both dishes better...

There wasn't one thing about our last experience with Toscana that was acceptable. The food was terrible and overpriced. The Spaghetti Pomodoro barely had any sauce to the point that it was crusty- absolutely bland. I added meatballs for extra $$ which looked like they were picked up from the frozen section of the grocery store. The cream in the Carbonara smelled bad and the cream in the Tiramisu smelled rotten. The extra items we added to the Risotto and paid extra for didn't make it in there. The sad thing about this is that we are a few nurses who ordered while at work on our break in the middle of an extremely busy shift. Forced to eat this disappointing food as we were starved and knew we wouldn't get another break to eat. The kicker was that 3/4 of us got ILL while the 4th had severe cramping.

Now the customer service- We called Toscana right away and spoke to a closing manager who was not very helpful. Regardless, he at least took my contact info down and told me I would be contacted by the Manager. 4 days later, I received no such phone call so I phone again. Then ensued the most frustrating conversation with a manager named Hector. He spoke over me and interrupted me the entire time, refused to provide a refund, and offered a store credit which covered a portion of the bill, which he thought was very generous (crazy - as if we would want to eat there after having to run to the bathroom several times while at work). (of note- he did admit that it was likely the Tiramisu that got us sick but still refused to address this situation appropriately). I can't imagine any restaurant that would fathom to charge this much and treat their customers this badly. He made sure to mention the high rating of this restaurant and boldly claimed that they don't receive complaints, after reviewing the Google reviews on this page, I can see that it is a lie.

Lesson learned, this won't be a place I'll ever visit again and will be spreading the word about the worst Italian food, which got us sick, AND had the worst customer service, ever.

ADDENDUM: In response to Toscana's pathetic replies to mine and other's poor reviews and photos of the vile food- I'd rather eat garbage and get violently ill than put myself...