Del's Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Kitchener

Just OK--everything was either spectacularly good, or spectacularly bad. I could have titled this review, "Tablecheese: Waited On by Teenagers!!!"

So get this: A young kid offered me parmesean cheese for my ravioli pasta. Innocent enough, right? The gorgeous specimen of cheese he wielded was large and in charge!!! I excitedly said "yes please!" but instead of making it rain delicate shreds of white well-aged parmeseani perfection onto my plate, this kid PROCEEDED TO PLACE the ENTIRE wedge of cheese 🧀 naked-side down (!!!) onto the table. Not onto a plate, ladies and gentleman. Not even onto the napkin with which he held the cheese. A good 2 inches of naked tip of wedge was touching our narsty tabletop. Without another word, the lad walked off. My colleague and I raised an eyebrow at eachother in confusion. I have never felt so spectacularly stunned in a restaurant before in all my days. In a wishful moment I wondered "could this all be for us!?" I never imagined having a glorious 6 inch triangle wedge of well-aged, dry, hard parmesean all to myself. It looked like it weighed at least a pound.

I was about to rescue the glorious 6 inches off the table when my more worldy colleague hissed at me, "dont touch!!" So, I let it be. It was so gross--but at the same time, it was like "the holy grail of parmesean" sitting naught 9 centimeters from my trembling hypoglycemic hands. The inner conflict was nigh-on unbearable. Those 60 seconds waiting for him to return and explain what in 7th heaven was going on felt an eternity. The lad did in fact return, cheese grater in hand. As soon as it started making sense, it started to not make sense just as fast, because he wrapped his prepubescent-looking hands around the napkin surrounding the cheese, and proceeded to grate tablecheese onto my ravioli. Table-cheese. The part of cheese that was only moments ago stroking the table, was now stroking the cheese grater, which means I now have table-cooties my pasta. I was so shocked and horrified I couldn't say a word. I tried to get the young man to grate the table cheese onto my colleague's plate (anywhere but mine) however my colleague grinned evilly and said "you first." My colleagues are always pranking me because Im an easy target-- naive. The kid seemed to think it was normal, though, to grate table-cheese into one's pasta, which was by now cooled to lukewarm after awaiting his return with the grater. And this being my first time at a "fancy" a la carte Italian restaurant, I figured "maybe this is normal?!" Plus, I was so hungry, I decided to make it a "when in Rome!" moment and devoured the pasta with said tablecheese. 2 hours post-meal, my stomach was doing summersaults and I was in incredible pain. There is no way to know for sure if the table cheese caused my intense digestive upset.

I ordered the seasonal squash ravioli with chamomile tea; my colleague had pizza, brushetta and a Sprite. A delightful breadroll baked in a teracotta flowerpot came complimentary with a dual assortment of herbed butters: cinnamon and herby garlic. Also complimentary was ice water which clinked melodically in fine glass cups. Before Tip, the bill was ~$85. As is customary for Canadians, we tipped (but I really, really, REALLY, didn't want to. They never offered to top up my tea with hot water, for example. Plus the Parmesean-da-table was traumatizing). The waitstaff's final fumble came after I asked for a small container to takeaway the remainder of the herbed butter, but instead, the lady took away my herbed butter and threw me a container of pizza dipping sauce--100% not what I asked for. 😑 I'm sorry to not have much nice things to say... at least the decor and atmosphere was stellar. Hats off to the interior designer and to the chef that crafted the Brushetta. Top notch! The paltry sum of squash ravioli, on the other hand, tasted like it came out of a microwave dinner box. Nada good. My colleague's luck was much better than mine!!! His meat lover's pizza, brushetta and herbed butters were this meal's only...

Went here for an upscale casual meal for my Birthday with my wife. Host staff were friendly and quick so great start. I thought the decor was dated 2004 esq. The furniture was in good shape it just did not provide the ambiance that I expected. We had a very friendly server who had not received enough training. She was not knowledgeable about the menu and couldnt make recommendations. This is not a reflection on the server as she was keen to make a good experience. This was more a reflection of the training. We started with a small pizza (the Ricardo) as an appetizer it was probably the most successful part of the meal hot and tasty and came out quick. My wife ordered the Cannelloni Bolognese I ordered the Boar Gnocchi. My meal came out hot and flavourful the gnocchi was a little over cooked for my liking and still a good meal, enogh to have leftovers as well. My wife's meal came out and she said can you taste this it tates funny. So I gave it a try from her side of the plate it was warm at best. I couldn't quite place the flavour at first but it was a little too much for my pallete. So I took a bite from my side of the plate and that bite was cold. It had just reached the table so it was not sitting in front of us long. It was very disappointing. I figured out the spice though it was nutmeg which is not uncommon in Bolognese but usually more subtle. We flagged down a different server to have my wife's dish heated up. When it came back for the second time the temperature issue was sorted. The disappointing thing was other then your run of the mill table check no manager came by to see how they could make it right for us.

The meal was about $65 total in food and $50 in beverages. So not super expensive however the price paid did not meet my expectations for food and service.

I would love to hear back from the Dels kitchen team on this one. I really like the Charcoal group I frequent beertown and have enjoyed meals at all of their establishments. This time the experience was...

Family of four. My sons 28th Birthday. They offer a cake service where you can bring it in and it's presented. We'll...at the end if the meal, she brought it over, taped in the box, with the candles inside that shouod have been lit after the cake was removes from the box. The cake was literally brought to the table with a tag on it. Then we were asked if we wanted plates seriously?? I had to tske it out, light the candles and wait for 2 plates?? Didn't even bring forks after clearing table. The meals? I ordered Risotto which was so undercooked, it was crunchy. I returned it. Want really validated on it. They did replace with gnocchi with boar. The gnocchi was actually burnt. The boar was shredded into it and it was literally cold. Like they mixed it in, like an after thought. Mt mothers creamy gnocchi was OK. My son ordered the tetrazzini with penne. He said that was good. Ordered some fontana cheese balls that were burned to a crisp all leaking and served as a giant clump with all the cheese leaking out. Really gross. Any server could see this was just a giant clump of garbage. Talked to the service manager who apologized for the nightmare birthday. She did remove my meal off bill and the apps. This was a train wreck meal and we will never go back. They brought ONE flower pit of bread for 4. I'm assuming we were all supposed to stick out hands in it and tear it apart trying to make it equal?? The quality and service here was extremely disappointing. This restaurant has gone way downhill. Where is the kitchen manager for quality check and training for servers to realize you don't bring something sealed in a box. How rude. I've been a patron to the Charcoal group of restaurants since Charcoal was a one entity behind the old highway market. Giving this food and service anything over 1 star, makes me question what the standards are for patrons. Do better Charcoal group. Our celebration was knocked down...