Vaticano Italian Restaurant Fort Erie — Restaurant in Fort Erie

I don't understand how this restaurant maintains a 4.2 star google rating. If I could have given it a negative star number, I would have. A group of 8 of us went for dinner Dec. 21 at 630pm. This is prime time 4 days before Christmas...you'd think the place would be packed but there were only 3 occupied tables...and now I know why.

We had reservations for weeks but when we arrived they did not have a table set up for us. They sat us in a small private room, which was nice.

The service was slow, very slow. The service staff was pleasant, but slow. It took a long time to get our drinks, one person ordered a Caesar and got it, but another person at the table also ordered a vodka drink and was informed, after everyone else's drinks had been brought to the table, that they were now out of vodka. Four days before Christmas on a Saturday night at 6:30pm and they had one shot of vodka in stock...laughable!

As previously stated, the service was slow, it took another long wait for our food to arrive. 4 people ordered veal, 1 spaghetti, 1 lasagna, 1 gnocchi, and 1 fettuccini in a gorgonzola cream sauce with beef tenderloin (special of the night). The veal on all 4 dishes was cold. Not room temperature cold but cold, cold. 3 people ate it because they were starving at this point and felt they didn't have time to send it back and get it replaced at the pace with which the first attempt came out and the other was sent back and asked not to be replaced. The 1 spaghetti was hot but the pasta was overcooked, the dish had no flavor, required salt and pepper just to give it some sort of flavor and the shrimp were over cooked. This guy says he makes his pasta from scratch, I don't know if he does or doesn't but if he does, he should make the effort to cook it properly. Who wants scratch made pasta cooked till mushy? The 1 lasagna was the hit of the night but still, nothing over the top or to right home about and certainly not worth the price he is charging. the 1 gnocchi was over cooked and served in a tasteless thick cream sauce, ate about 1/4 of it and left the rest. 1 fettuccine in gorgonzola cream sauce with beef tenderloin, any flavor the beef did have was off putting, confirmed by the chef beside me, there was not even a hint of gorgonzola flavor in the dish, just over cooked fettucine noodles in a bland white cream sauce, I ate 2 bites and sent it back not to be replaced.

There was absolutely no presentation on any of the plated dishes and when you are paying the prices this guy is asking for pasta, it should at least be presented in a nice manner (and edible would be a bonus). There was no garnish added, no colour, no care taken what so ever in the preparation, plating or service of the food.

Based on our experience of the evening and how awful everything was we requested the presence of the chef/owner at our table so we could explain/share our experience with him. Unfortunately he was a coward and refused to come to our table and let all of the heat fall on his server. We all shared the same belief that any conversation with a man of this arrogance level would simply fall on deaf ears.

I would not recommend this place to anyone, ever and it is so sad because the location is beautiful. But truly, the owner and his arrogance are the biggest detriment to this place. You can't serve people absolute crap and then just dismiss them, that just screams UNPROFESSIONAL!

We did go next door to Southsides bar afterwards for wings and they were delicious and...

This was actually our worst ever resturant experience. We have been told by people that Vaticano was a great restaurant! We had been given a $200 giftcard! We had a date night and arrived there around 610. We got a table outside (one other table was occupied outside there and a party up top and nobody else at any other table) We waited a while and were given water. Waited another 5-10 minutes and asked for some bread and that we wanted to order. She said “we have a party of 25 inside so I want to get your order in first” We thanked her and sat waiting for our bread for over 30 minutes. It never came. At this time she didn’t come out once to fill up waters or anything. Food came out, my pasta was cold and the portion was the smallest I’ve ever seen. We mentioned the bread and she said sorry and came out with two dry pieces of bread.l after our meal was done (in her defense it was so small we ate it in under 5 minutes) she came out I asked to pay and said wifi was bad then asked me how much was on my giftcard. I told her $200. She had me sit inside and said she would be a minute. 7-8 minutes later the other waitress noticed we were still there and asked if she could help us? She gave us two little cookies as she noticed we were there a long time. Then the owner and waitress come out with the bill $73.42 with 2 $50 giftcards and telling us we have to tip on top. I explained you need to give me a giftcard for the balance which was $126.58. They kept trying to reason with us about why they did it that way?!?? They were assuming I was going to tip 35%! Finally i said this experience has been awful please return the balance and I will not be tipping. (I have never in my life not tipped even with the worse service so this goes to show you how bad this really was). The owner kept trying to show me his machine and that he didn’t know how much my giftcard was for and that he just trusted me. He kept deflecting and never apologized and I pulled $200 receipt out and showed him. They both went silent and he kept trying to shake my hand as if that would smooth the whole night over. Pathetic service, tiny portion and excuse after excuse from them instead of owning up to it and making things right. I don’t even want to give away the 2 $50 giftcards I have left. That’s if they even have $50 on them. Truthfully I would be surprised if there was anything on them as we never got receipts and neither the owner or waitress knew how to create a giftcard.

Ps I have to say the hostess was SO nice! So was the waitress with the dirty blonde hair that came over to give us cookies while we waited forever but I could tell this wasn’t the first time this...

Quite literally the WORST meal I have ever been served.

We had a reservation for 4:00pm today, which we had made a week ago. There were three of us, not a large party.

We walk in, there's a table of employees eating and having a drink. Okay, no problem! Between meal times, right? So we sit down at our - apparently - pre-reserved table. The restaurant is otherwise entirely empty.

The chair's seat covers looked stained in unmentionable ways. Our olive oil was nearly empty, aside from a fruit fly - in February. The balsamic vinegar was the cheapest I've ever tasted; too watery in texture and awful in flavour.

FORTY MINUTES go by without so much as a glass of water. Finally, an older gentleman comes to take our drink order. We ordered three sangrias, two white, one red.

He comes back TWENTY MINUTES LATER with two red sangrias and one white one. We laugh it off. They are terrible; no booze, and the fruit was somehow dry & chewy while also sitting in the drink? How do you even manage that?

Then he takes our entire order at once, appetizers and entrees. No notepad, repeats it back wrong - twice - and then shuffles off.

The restaurant is still empty. It is now nearly 5:00.

He comes back with water, finally. We drink it to wash away the memory of the terrible sangrias, long ago finished. We are starving.

5:15, the appetizers come out. He forgot the bread we ordered - advertised as homemade, not complimentary. He says "yeah I'll get your homemade bread" and proceeds to come back with four stale slices of what is clearly Sobey's bread. It is awful.

He got my wife's salad wrong; she had ordered a Mediterranean, he brought a soggy garden salad that tasted and felt like it had been prepped a day earlier. Wilted beyond recognition.

My calamari was okay. The restaurant is STILL empty.

It's now 5:30. Our mains arrive. Mine, a "Veal Scallopini", was cold and wayyyyyy oversalted. The side vegetables had been steamed, and were completely void of salt and all other flavour. It was embarrassing. My wife's fettuccine alfredo was also waaaaayyyyyyyy oversalted, and my wife's sister's ravioli were also WAYYYYYYYY oversalted.

So, they don't taste the food as it leaves the kitchen either. Great.

I ask for the cheque. I refuse to eat the meal. I pay for the whole thing without a word. $270.

This place is a crime against Italy. You should be embarrassed to call this the Vaticano. I truly cannot understand how your chef looks himself in the...