Costa Sorrento — Restaurant in Markham

Ok, I think the reviews are exaggerating a bit on how excellent this restaurant is so I'm just going to tell it straight - Pizza is great, service is mediocre or worse (they've been open for ~1 month now), and overall the small apps price is a bit high for the quality and portion.

Service: Overall, I felt they lacked a bit of finesse when it came to dealing with customers. Here are some examples throughout the night of how the experience was dampened.

1. We requested to sit in an area with a banquette instead of individual chairs so we were led by the host to an area with these types of seating - we sat down and the manager said something along these lines "you can't sit here, it's reserved for someone else"; the tone of it all almost seemed as if we chose to sit in the wrong place and that we did something wrong. Later he talked to the hostess to inform her that the seating chart shows that table was reserved - so this is an example of how the staff SHOULD be properly trained to find alternative tables for guests. The manager could have worded in a more pleasant way though e.g. "excuse me, but our server made a mistake and this table was reserved for another party. If you could please take a seat right next to you, it's also a larger table" - that would've been more pleasant - we felt like we were an inconvenience just because we sat at that specific table.

2. that night I decided to have only 3oz of wine since we were with our child and we're not really there to chat the night away and enjoy wine - just wanted something to sip on - the manager seemed to question my choice of portion... he could've worded a different way to make it not seem like I've made a wrong choice of wine portions - Having dined at multiple restaurants in Toronto e.g. Gusto101, Fabbrica, Il Covo, Bar Isabel, etc., I've never been questioned upon what size volume I chose for my wine...

3. You'll see a lot of staff hanging around at a time - maybe even 5 at a time - we were there ~6pm and the restaurant was more than half filled and our plates were piling up on the table - no one came by to take away the plates until after we were done; I don't know if it's just an uptown thing, but I find servers in Toronto area a bit more attentive; the ones in Markham "fine-dining" restaurants are very nonchalant and not very professional

Food: Pizza was great - really enjoyed the margharita pizza and the Bologna (mortadella ham+pistachio) - They do give more fior di latte/mozza on their pizza compared to other establishments

My husband's bolognese pappardelle came out a bit overcooked and was not al dente. I believe they make their pasta in-house but overcooked pasta seems a bit amateur.

The food did came out quickly though.

I felt the "Assaggini" apps was nothing special other than taking normal Italian appetizers and just making them smaller in portion. They try to "elevate" these bite sized apps and make it more fancier, it lacked follow through (e.g. calamari tempura $8- came as 2 skewers of a shrimp wrapped with 1 calamari ring, fried with tempura batter, with a side of dip) it just came across as just small in portion - which doesn't translate to high-end food.

I gave a 2 stars not because I didn't like the food but because the tone and dining experience. Overall, I probably would just order takeout for pizza if they offer this and likely would not...

*NEW REVIEW dated September 18, 2019 changing my star rating to 2 out of 5:

I came here last night with 4 other people for dinner at 7 p.m. I ordered the fettuccine porcini e gamberi in salsa rosa & was disappointed. I've had this pasta dish two other times & it was amazing in the past. Tonight, the sauce was quite bland & the umami taste was missing in the sauce from the porcini mushrooms. The porcini mushrooms was extremely slimy & wet. Also, one of my friend's has a gluten intolerance so the waiter said that they could make her a pasta using gluten free noodles with chicken & mushrooms in a tomato sauce. When it came, it was a plain pasta with no chicken or mushrooms. She said it was so bad that she could not eat it so it was returned. I did ask our waiter if the chef has changed which he did say that this did happen approximately 2 months ago. This makes sense as the first time I went was 8 months ago & the second time was over 2 months ago. So disappointing! I don't think I will be back again.

OLD REVIEW:

Our party of 12 dined at Costa Sorrento for dinner to celebrate a 40th birthday. We were seated in their private party room which was a pleasant surprise. The only downfall of being seated in these rooms is that it is often difficult to get the attention of your server unless they continually come in to check on the table. Our server did a decent job with this. He was great, attentive & met our needs. The only thing I will mention is that he kept on calling freshly grated Parmesan cheese, cheese powder! It's misleading & a turn off at a finer scale dining.

The food was delicious overall. I shared the Capricciosa pizza & two dozens of oysters (lucky lime & raspberry point) with others at the table. The pizza had a generous amount of toppings & is thin crust baked in an Italian oven which I love! The oysters were fresh, however, it was not cold but close to room temperature. They don't served it on ice but instead had it on a bed of rock pebbles. A nice touch & very classy looking but could be the reason why it was not cold. When I mentioned to our server (there were two oysters left at that point), he listened to my concerns & relayed it back to the kitchen. He let me know that they are not sure why it's not cold as it just came out from the fridge. Regardless, they replaced the two with new ones & when it came, these were cold and delicious.

For my main course, I had their pappardelle alla bolognese (meat sauce with beef, pork & veal). The meat sauce was pretty good but the cook on the homemade fresh pasta was to the point, al dente which made the dish really enjoyable. My friend who was sitting next to me had the fettuccine porcini e gamberi in salsa rosa. The cherry tomato rose sauce was spectacular though she mentioned that there were only 3 shrimps in the entire dish.

Lastly, just as an FYI for anyone wanting to bring a celebration cake, that they charge $25 for their cake cutting service.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this place & it is nice to have a good Italian restaurant downtown Markham. Will be back again... in fact, I'm...

We ordered a Margherita Pizza with extra fior di latte from Uber Eats at 20:21 on April 3rd, 2021. The order arrived at around 20:55. We live right across the street from the restaurant. The attached photo was taken shortly after our order arrived.

The pizza looked weird right from the moment we opened the box. The cheese was lumpy and separated from the pizza. The pizza was not hot – lukewarm only. The crust was soggy and salty. There was hardly only sauce on the pizza. The taste was just bland.

Needless to say, it was a huge disappointment. If the pizza was freshly made, there is no reason why it would be in this condition. For it to be so soggy, it must have been sitting around for a while – much longer than 30 minutes. We were actually wondering if it was someone else’s order that was rejected!!

• EDIT in response to the Owner’s comment:

Owner’s response:

“Response from the owner 2 hours ago Hi sunny I believe you order the piZa through one of our deliver partners. If u check on the status update between the product ready and driver arrived there’s a big time gap. I invite you to contact them to discuss it. Also if u live so close to us ,,try next time also to pickup in person and get an additional 15% off .”

With all due respect, there was no time gap. I have noted the times in my original review.

Time of Order = 20:21. Time that we’ve received the order = 20:55, which is only 34 minutes – a very reasonable timeframe.

We’ve ordered from other pizza places such as Little Caesars. It often takes longer than 34 minutes to receive our order. Yet, the pizza is always burning hot, crispy, and tasty.

The pizza we received last night was far from fresh. It is worse than pizza that’s been left overnight. We’ve had pizza from many restaurants before – this was the worst. We would’ve ordered from a regular pizza joint like Little Caesars, but thought we would try something better from a proper Italian restaurant, which is why we ordered from yours.

Additionally, while the Owner’s explanation may explain the sogginess, but it doesn’t explain the lack of sauce and bland taste.

If you read negative reviews from others, we’re not the first ones to complain about the quality of the food. If you charge a premium price for your food, then it’s expected that the quality is to be consistently at a high level.

We do want your business to succeed since you are so close to home. But clearly, there have been quality control issues at your restaurant for a while. It’s time that you address...