Casa Rugantino — Restaurant in Kitchener

Several years ago, my wife and I celebrated a wedding anniversary at Casa Rugantino. This year (2016) we decided to go back. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be visiting again.

A lot has changed since our last visit. Once a quiet, intimate little restaurant, it has grown in size and opened up the space, allowing for more seating, and more noise. It now boasts a long bar area, with a television showing sporting events. Definitely a different feel to the place we remembered. We did enjoy sitting by the large open windows that looked out over the patio, but as the night wore on and the temperatures dropped, the windows were not closed.

I ordered a caesar salad and spaghetti a la carbonara, my wife ordered bocconcini (veal medallions stuffed with prosciutto and mozzarella cheese), which also came with a caesar salad and a pasta course.

The salads were lovely, and once those were done, we were brought my carbonara and my wife's bocconcini – without the pasta. Our waitress noticed the mistake, took away the bocconcini, and brought out the small course of pasta for my wife, which was quickly finished. Tasty, she felt, but a little bland. I nursed my meal, waiting for her dirty pasta dish to be taken away, and the bocconcini to be brought back.

After about fifteen minutes of being ignored (granted, the restaurant was busy), I finally went to the kitchen to see what was going on. We were told her meal was "just about ready and would be right out".

Sure enough, about a minute later the bocconcini arrived. I had been waiting to eat my own meal so we could continue to eat together, and being next to the open windows, the pasta was now quite cool. The bocconcini was a mess – it had clearly been kept under hot lights for the last twenty minutes, and was absolutely swimming in the marsala wine sauce. The veal medallions were now tough from being overcooked, and the entire presentation was disappointing.

We finished our meals and decided to go elsewhere for a dessert. We did mention our disappointment to our waitress, who seemed not to be surprised and offered a half-hearted apology.

We will not be returning. There are many other better options in KW.

EDIT: We have since decided to give them another try, and our follow-up visit was much better. Food was delivered hot, meals were brought out at the same time. Service was friendly...

We looked forward to going to Casa Rugantino for our anniversary dinner last night but it will not be a restaurant we will repeat again. I am quite flabbergasted by the previous reviews as it certainly was not good authentic Italian food at all. At the very start we were taken to a table which had not been cleaned and a floor which had not been swept and given that we were a 5:00 sitting which was when the restaurant opened for the evening. This would have been overlooked if the food was as good as advertised. The complimentary bread rolls were as hard as rock and dry as a stone. It was impossible to cut with a knife and pulling it apart left a “dry crumbly mess”. Ok, so let’s ignore the bread and carry on. I had ordered the veal parmigiana with penne pasta with blush sauce and it was horrible…I initially thought there was a mistake from the kitchen because I clearly did not receive “penne”, it was definitely “macaroni”. I told our waitress that there was a mistake as I didn’t get the correct pasta and she said “this is ‘our’ penne” The veal was so chewy and soaking in sauce that I took two bites and couldn’t eat another piece. One doesn’t need to travel to Italy (although I have many times to visit family) to realize this masquerading of authenticity is certainly not being honest. Our waitress brought over our bill (there were four of us) and we promptly started paying when we were told that they had the table reserved for 630 so we had to rush out of there. It was exactly 6:26 when she informed us so that we had four minutes to “wrap things up” and leave! Our coffees and tea weren’t finished as there just was no time. Worst experience and food bar none and this was only my meal. I can speak for the others in saying we won’t go back and would not recommend this restaurant! $200...

I stumbled upon this restaurant with a friend and we noticed that it had a nice atmosphere. I booked a reservation well in advance and upon arrival they seat us right next to the bathroom and the in and out path to the kitchen so we had people constantly walk by us. We told the waitress we don't want to sit there and asked to be moved. She looked at us like we insulted her for not wanting to sit by the bathroom. She justified it by saying that there's only really 3 waitresses working so it won't be that bad! When literally few minutes later we have a gentlemen standing right beside us waiting to go into the bathroom. First, let's remember we are in the midst of a global pandemic. Second, forgive me if I don't want to eat pasta while I smell people insides coming out of the bathroom. Also, I spoke to the owner she said that with covid we have to limit our tables. Sure I understand that however! Don't seat your customers next to the bathroom. The whole night the serve continued to treat us disrespectfully. She wouldn't look at us the whole night. I mean if we yelled at you for sure throw us out, but excuse me if you were insulted by the fact that I don't want to smell what comes out of the bathroom while I eat next to it. Now let's talk food, your bruchetta reeks of garlic. You'll send someone home smelling like garlic for days. I literally started to cough. However, your pasta was delicious. Overall, for someone coming in to your restaurant and who has booked a reservation well in advance, try not to seat them near the bathroom and find it insulting and continue to treat them like they are...