Borgo Antico Cucina Bar — Restaurant in Oakville

Before I begin, I know 2 stars seems harsh, but I think I explain it well, so please hear me out.

Meh... this place is fine. But to sum it up in a word, overpriced. Appetizers average out around $20, mains average out around $30. All in all, decently pricey. Not expensive, but pricey, yeah? It definitely isn't cheap. And for the experience you get - the service, the food, the ambiance - I was a bit uninspired.

We were in a big group, and I think it was the manager or owner who was taking care of us? He was really friendly, but otherwise, service wasn't great. We had to ask for more water like 4 times, and one of the mains came out around 5 minutes after every other main had come out. These things are not the end of the world, but for above average prices, you should expect above average service.

As for food: it was solid, but I really felt like only a few dishes were reasonably priced. The octopus appetizer for example, definitely seemed well worth the $20. For that price, I think It tasted good, and it looked good. But then you have the Arancini. $16 for only three typical arancini balls, plopped in a bowl with some sauce on the side. Absolutely nothing special about these fried balls of rice, or the way they're presented. And yet they're over $5 per. I would be happy with the dish if it was half the price.

As for the mains, I got the truffle pasta. $26. It was good, great if you like truffle flavour... but $26 for pasta noodles, mushrooms, and sauce? The portion wasn't huge, and it wasn't photo-worthy... it had no garnish or anything. For how much money you're paying, it's just a bit underwhelming. Again, it tasted quite good, but... $26. You could get a delicious meal for half the price at plenty of other places. For all that extra cash, there needs to be some critical factor that elevates the dish. There isn't one.

Finally, the ambiance. Meh. It's just a big rectangular room, with a bar on one side, and tables scattered all around, none of the pieces seeming particularly nice. The place didn't scream "expensive", you know? I mean, it wasn't junky, it was nice enough, but... I couldn't attribute any vibe to the place - it was more or less just functional. Some restaurants, you walk in, and you can immediately tell that you're getting rinsed for your cash. And that's a good thing! You want to feel classy when you're dining classy! That's the whole appeal of going to restaurants that aren't cheap. Borgo Antico isn't cheap. It's described as an "Upscale Setting" on Google... I wouldn't say that's accurate. It's nice. But it doesn't feel nice enough for the numbers on the menu.

Oh, and as a side note, the bathrooms were not very nice at all. In the men's washroom, the urinal is literally right next to the sink. Like a foot away. On the same wall. No divider or anything. You do not want to be washing your hands when somebody is peeing a foot to your left. It's gross.

Certainly, Borgo Antico isn't the most expensive place out there, far from it, but the prices are definitely above average. Yet hardly anything makes the place feel expensive besides the numbers on the menu. Not the food, not the service, not the ambiance. That's an issue for me, and ultimately makes me not really want to recommend this place. Businesses ought to be cohesive. If $5 were shaved off most of the items on the menu, my review would be a lot more positive. But as of now, I don't have much good to say.

On one hand, two stars feels harsh, because the staff was friendly and the food actually tasted quite good, and it's not like any part of the experience particularly sucked... but the prices relative to everything else seriously hurt this restaurant. You can find nicer, tastier places, for cheaper.

For me, two stars means don't go here, unless you have some special interest in it. I think that works for...

Novu by Borgo Antico: The location is great and the menu items seem perfect. We went on Friday evening for a romantic dinner and although the prices were a bit high, it was a special occasion.

Upon entering, we noticed that while they were going for, in part, a romantic atmosphere, they had tv up in the bar with sports game playing and the music was loud.

They did sit us in a slightly more secluded area to adjust for that. The service was as friendly as they can be given they seemed a little short staffed. It was for this reason things seemed a little slow, but they worked very hard and deserve some credit.

We ordered the grilled octopus priced at $65 and lobster raviolo priced at $34. We expected that for $65 we would get signficantly larger portion.

The octopus dish came with only 3 medium sized tentacles, and plenty of filler like zucchini and watercress. The crispy rice was a great addition but the sauce being used as a base was very overpowering and vinegary in flavor and while it was good in the first few bites, as one ate more it became excessive. Overall, while the plate size as a meal was good, they definitely should not be charging $65 (this is a rip-off I'm sorry to say)

The lobster raviolo has a bisque sauce which was nice, but the pasta itself did not seem fresh made, and was possibly frozen. Additionally, there were pieces of lobster on top which were dried out and seemed overcooked. This could possibly be due to spending time under a heat lamp and/or not being served right away.

Also, we did order a fritto misto as an appetizer, priced $30. There were 2 shrimp, and very few calamari (which seemed overcooked). And the rest of the dish was just larger pieces of fried unknown fish. A fritto misto at this level is a very specific dish, requiring specific types of seafood and perhaps small fishes (such as fried anchovies). This did not meet those standards, and as such is overpriced for what was provided.

Finally, when the kitchen door was opened you caught glimpses of a freezer and home depot buckets. This is not something you want to make visible to diners.

Overall, this was disappointing for the price paid and the expectations, being somewhat familiar with the borgo antico name. Unfortunately, I would pass on Novu unless they make...

I booked a table in advance as it was our wedding anniversary and I wanted to ensure we would have a nice setting to enjoy our time together. We wanted to try someplace new and the star rating suggested a good experience would be had. I had called to reconfirm the reservation and then Borgo Antico called us to reconfirm the booking the after oon before our reservation to confirm that we were still coming for 6:30 and I confirmed and reminded them it was our anniversary and wanted to ensure we would have searing outside in the front. They confirmed. We arrived on time and they told us they didn't have our table as requested… instead it seemed you had pushed tables together and were holding iut for a larger reservation. There were three different sets of tables pushed outside pushed together combined and being held out for someone else’s reservation? And apparently no spots were available in the back patio that I had been told about either. I pointed out that I had booked days in advance and had specifically asked for a nice environment for our wedding anniversary. With a shrug of the shoulders , we were told we could eat inside… - An unappealing largely empty interior. My wife talked me into accepting the seat inside but once we were seated, we found the music was too loud for us to converse, and the menu was unbelievably limited with overpriced items. All things combined, my wife ended up agreeing we would walk out as everything together would even further worsen the evening and we didn't want to give our money to a place that treated us so poorly. We agreed it would be better to get take out pizza than to stay. By the way, EVERY other restaurant we tried along the strip had to turn us down as they apologized since the seating outside had been booked in advance. The other restaurants clearly respect their customers bookings. Thanks for souring our special night Borgo Antico. You really made the night memorable , tainting our anniversary evening. I had spoken with your restaurant THREE times with YOU called the last time to reconfirm the last time and you ruined our. night. Will specifically recommend against anyone considering...