Pasqualino — Restaurant in Milton

This restaurant is insta-worthy and has great food. However, if you are a person of colour. It ends there. I highly recommend you rethink making reservations. The representative at this establishment refused to acknowledge the issues. There were a number of issues we voiced regarding the service we received. We were seated in the back of the restaurant towards the corner while the others were located in the central location of the restaurant. We had no introduction to the server or a server. No orientation to the restaurant. We asked to use the washroom and they stated it was downstairs but, told another party they could use the one they had on the main floor. They charged us $7.50 for a bottle of water without disclosing this information. We waited 45+ minutes for a server to return just to order a bottle of wine which we had to flag down. The server poured wine for 4/10 persons at the table. We waited 45+ minutes for two martinis. The server who took our order was rude and obnoxious. We were served tagliolini instead of Pappardelle with a response that were the same (no matter how similar they are not the same), no server checked on us to see if we were enjoying the meal, no server asked if we wanted coffee with our desserts, they lit a candle and sang happy birthday to everyone else celebrating a birthday except for our table (they knew this well in advance time of booking and day of). We had a polite conversation about what the issues at hand were and they did not acknowledge or rectify any of the feedback that they received in person about their customer service. The manager told us we were disrespectful group. It’s unfortunate because we witnessed no other group receiving this type of customer service. Some people (in this case the manager) found it so hard to apologize. No matter how blatantly disrespectful, avoidant and inappropriate the staff were. The owner still did not address any concerns. This has everything to do with its pride for this restaurant. We received a call threatening to remove any reviews that stated they were discriminatory towards us because of the colour of our skin. Which evidently no other table experienced this service besides our group. She also threatened take a course of legal action for defamation of business however, this is how we were treated and we have a right to freedom of speech. We did not falsify any details. Too many witnesses to say otherwise. No apologies for the experience from staff or the manager. This just proves the level of power and privilege they think they can exert against us.

Anyways, the owner wants to spend money for a lawyer to take legal action for defamation of a business … she should reconsider and invest in training and education. Train yourself and staff to go above and beyond for ALL customers and while you’re at look into courses for managing culture diversity, anti-racism and...

I gave this restaurant 2 stars but it's quite generous. Went for a birthday dinner and opted for a fixed menu for ease of service. The birthday girl was excited to try a new place and support a local, family owned business. There were far too many things that really bothered me at this restaurant. I'll start with the good. The food was ok. Drinks were good. Atmosphere and vibe overall was nice. Now for the bad : They didn't take our orders because 2/10 people from the group hadn't arrived although everything was going on one bill. In the meantime, we were never offered a wine/drink menu or bread, only after 30+ mins we had to ask for it. Although they had no problem bringing 7.50$ water out to us. When entrees were received, significant changes in the pasta dishes were made without telling us, which is fine but at least say something so I can't have the option to choose something else. When I brought it to the servers attention she said it's "basically the same" and that they had run out of the pasta. She sent the manager Maria over who told a different story and never even offered an apology or replacement. No one came to check to see if we liked our food or offered more bread or drinks We were there to celebrate a birthday, which they knew. Sang and brought candles out for other parties celebrating birthdays but not ours. We had to ask, they brought out a candle but no singing or anything. 2 people waited 45mins for drinks that they ordered that were brought to other tables, again no apologies. Maria actually made a comment that "another table was enjoying their drinks" They attempted to overcharge us for our fixed menu items (10$ per person) and we had to chase them to pay our bill . Servers were wearing mingle masks which are not approved by Health Canada, so basically not following COVID protocols. No screening was done nor did they collect contact information for tracing purposes

If you've gotten to the end of this review, I'm going to be blunt and say that as a person of colour avoid this restaurant at all costs. We were a table.of 10 black and brown people and we were treated like 2nd class citizens. I would not recommend this place to anyone!

UPDATE!!! received a call from the restaurant and was threatened with legal action if we didn't amend our reviews or take it down completely due to "defamation of character" because do implied that they were racist. But they didn't acknowledge anything else in the review. PLEASE AVOID THIS PLACE...

I chose Pasqualino to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday because of all the hype surrounding the restaurant and I truly wanted it to be a special evening. Unfortunately, the experience was very disappointing from the start.

When we arrived, we stood waiting at the door for someone to greet us. The server who finally came had no smile, no warmth, and no welcoming attitude at all. She looked frustrated and gave us no sense of hospitality, which already set a negative tone for the evening.

We ordered the calamari to start, and it was actually very good, tender and flavorful, easily one of the highlights of the night. I also ordered the pineapple daiquiri, which was extremely disappointing. It tasted like plain pineapple juice with no trace of alcohol and was overpriced for the quality.

For our mains, we both ordered the 12 oz Angus steak at about $80 each, and asked for them to be cooked medium. When the steaks arrived, they were cold and clearly overcooked. My boyfriend struggled to even cut through his, and when I mentioned mine seemed overcooked on the outside, the server offered to take them back. She said the kitchen would redo them, but when the steaks returned they were completely rare. As shown in the photo, the meat was raw in the center and nowhere near medium. At this point, we were both so tired and disappointed that we barely touched our plates.

The server noticed we had not eaten and offered dessert on the house. While I appreciated the gesture, her attitude was strange and off-putting. She told me, “If you don’t want a dessert, that’s on you, but we are offering it for free,” which felt dismissive rather than genuine. I chose the tiramisu, which was good and light.

In the end, the bill came to over $200 for a meal where only the calamari and dessert met expectations. The lack of hospitality, the poor execution of the steaks, the disappointing cocktail, and the unwelcoming energy of the service staff made this an experience I cannot recommend. For a restaurant with this kind of reputation and pricing, I expected far better.

The picture is me cooking the leftovers of my...