Ritorno — Restaurant in Oakville

BAD EXPERIENCE!

This was our first time here. The restaurant atmosphere seemed nice. We were there with friends, 6 of us.

Our waiter, who happened to be the manager, seemed nice enough, took our drink and dinner orders. It states it clear on the menu, but there are NO substitutions whatsoever from the set menu. What is on the menu is on the menu. You can't even order a pasta dish and let's say, order a piece of veal on its own. Weird rules for a restaurant, but that's their policy I guess. you are limiting your customers to what I found was a very restricted menu in the first place. Not much variety of sauces or styles of pasta.

Focaccia was brought to our table, minimal pieces for 6 people, with oil and balsamic. Fresh and decent, but when we asked for more, our waiter told us that we would have to pay for it. Now we were eating and drinking here, so for a restaurant to cheap out and charge for bread, when a table is spending 5-600$ is kind of sad.

We ordered some appetizers..Calamari was decent, a tad undercooked, and we ordered a plate of Quattro Formaggio Penne Pasta, which was a rose sauce with various cheeses. It was "ok", sauce was a bit bland, and was served lukewarm, not hot at all. I'm thinking that they threw in the cream and cheeses too late and cold and it cooled it down significantly.

My friend and I ordered the Veal Parm with spaghetti bolognese originally, but we weren't told about the night specials by our waiters so when we found out while ordering from someone else at our table, we both changed our orders to CHICKEN PARM.

Our orders arrived. Another waiter dropped off our dishes. I got my Chicken Parm, and brought another dish and handed it to my friend saying Chicken Parm as well. My friend actually received a Veal Parm instead, and would have ate it anyways, but when he cut it and took the first bite the veal was r really tough. He took a closer look, and the meat was blood red inside... raw. He called the original waiter back and showed him and advised him that he had ordered the chicken parm, instead of veal parm. The waiter argued with him in front of us at the table, showing him that he wrote down veal parm and that's what he ordered. Then we showed him that the veal was still raw, he argued and said that's how it's cooked. The waiter was extremely defensive, and argumentative, and wouldn't hear a word. He literally embarrassed my friend in front of all of us at the table and then took the plate away. My friend approached him away from the table and asked for the manager, he told him that he WAS the manager and continued to argue that it was a veal ordered and not chicken parm, and defended that the veal was not raw. My friend told him to not replace the veal or chicken and just forget his order, because he was turned off by the food and the attitude of the manager.

We completed our meal. The Chicken parm was average, kind of bland, and the spaghetti bolognese, was the same. Nothing special but not horrible. Everyone else's dishes were decent. This is not justified for the pricing. Same quality as you would get at East Side Mario's to be realistic.

The manager then disappeared for the evening, wouldn't show his face around our table. The way he handled this situation was extremely disappointing and unprofessional. You do NOT argue with a customer, especially in front of others at the table. This was extremely disrespectful and a sign of bad business. Fix the problem and move on, make the customer happy. It was a miscommunication and he never owned up to his mistake. Even if it was the customers fault, fix it and make them happy. You don't treat customers like this in today's economy, because restaurants have it tough already for having high costs and high priced menus, so treatment like this will destroy your business. Service was terrible.

I highly DO NOT Recommend this restaurant. For the price point and quality of customer service I recommend going elsewhere. They advertise that they treat you like family here... is this how you...

We were looking into Italian places to eat in the Oakville/Milton area and came across this place. Very nice staff and pleasant conversation. Was told this is a very authentic Italian eatery and many food traditions.

Went in for a 6pm dinner. Menu has a few options all around. not the biggest deal. Here is how our dinner went:

Calamari - super small portion for what they charge. And it was not a crispy coating. Could have been very nice if it was hot, and maybe a few more pieces for $18

**We also asked to try the "homemade" pasta sauce to see what it was like. We were not feeling pasta on this night, but typically, an Italian place has to be able to nail a sauce in order to be authentic.

Mains. I ordered Chicken Piccata, and I will say that it was very nice, and this was a well made dish.

My wife ordered the sweet potato crusted salmon. First off, there is no "crust". It was a sweet potato mash that was spread onto the salmon. But more importantly, it was brought to the table and the middle was raw. When we asked the server (who was very nice) he informed that the kitchen attempts to cook the salmon to "medium" But he took it back and they cooked another one that was actually cooked. Once they brought it back it was edible, but not much flavour in anything that was there. Side potatoes were really good, but thats troubling when the sides are better than the main.

Lastly, the red pasta sauce. This may have been the worst attempt at a red sauce that I have ever tasted in my life. Maybe the kitchen was off, maybe the sauce has been simmering and reducing all day, but Im sorry, it was extremely poor. It was sour, acidic to no end, thick and chunky. I dont see this as a good representation of any sauce I have had either here or in Italy.

Hopefully they can make some changes and get someone in to look at this because if an Italian restaurant cant master a red sauce, I dont think much else can be trusted. We felt annoyed that the quality of food was this poor and we left paying $100 for the meal.

I liken this experience to a Canadian-ized version of Italian food. Not a great taste in the mouth if you are aware of the tastes and flavours of the...

First, walking in, the restaurant gives the vibe of family since every "Nonna" (meaning grandma in Italian) is remembered or admired on their wall of collected pictures into a collage.

Next, being seated at a table that accommodated our big party, including my 1 year old child, was the perfect space. Which shows they recognize the needs of their customers individually. Just a side note- they didn't have high chairs. However, this atmosphere is more geared towards an older family crowd, but like I said, they were very accommodating to our situation.

Next, the food came and let me tell you, the breaded calamari was the best! The crispyness and seasoning gave it the right texture to calamari. Most places struggle with getting that crispy coating and overly cooking calamari, making it rubbery or wet. The chefs absolutely nailed this app! I'm highly recommending it. Then supper came, and the first thing I noticed was the potion size, they defintely feed you well. I thought "well possibly the quality isn't there because of the hearty portions," but no... the quality is there, alongside the portions. The price wasn't cheap, but it wasn't over the top expensive either. There was a bit of a wait, but it was well worth it because of the trifecta of quality, portion, and price being nysnc with expectations.

Overall, it was a great experience, and the staff are so warm, kind, and helpful throughout the whole experience. Haven't had a nice meal at an Italian restaurant in a while, and they definitely delivered a great experience! We were able to make some nice birthday memories for my mother and enjoy some...