Trattoria Timone Ristorante — Restaurant in Oakville

I reserved a table for 15 people at this restaurant on Saturday for my husband’s birthday. The restaurant is beautiful. Nice decor and vibe. However, a few things were not to our liking as a group:

Customer Service: I’d rate this a 0 star if possible. Our server was mean, did not want to help and appeared to be mad/angry that she was serving us, although there was a mandatory 20% service charge (which I was not made aware of). I asked for something as simple as an extra set of cutlery and she kept telling me that there was enough for everyone when clearly there wasn’t. I don’t understand why she didn’t just grab another fork and knife?

Restaurant Hours: Online it says they close at 9 pm. Our reservation was at 7:30. You would think it would be a good idea to let me know while I was reserving that last call is at 8:30 especially with 15 guests coming in. Again, I was not told and only found out the same day a few hours earlier. By then, I couldn’t make another reservation somewhere else as it was too late. People were still enjoying their dinner till 11 pm! So how exactly does the restaurant close at 9? Just seems like a lack of management to me. As a result I asked everyone to be on time (which they were) and we quickly ordered our food. It took approximately 50 mins to get our food.

Food: I asked for my veal well done, as I’m pregnant and cannot eat undercooked meat. My meat was all pink from the inside but I did not complain or say anything firstly because our server was treating us very poorly, secondly because it took so long to get our orders and I didn’t want to wait any longer. At the end of the night, a couple in our group was charged an extra $6 for no reason. His bill had a value and what was charged to his credit card was an extra $6. Tip was already accounted for as part of the 20% service charge and frankly, the service we received was very poor. I believe 20% is way too much for the level of service we received.

Overall, my recommendation is that you do not visit this restaurant if you are planning a large...

High notes and low notes

This Italian restaurant has managed to hold strong in a difficult location for over 10 years. While other restaurants have not survived this location by the movie theatre, this one has stuck.

I feel that the restaurants level of attention and quality has gone a bit downhill in the alt few years though.

On my most recent visit there were a lot of impressive delights, but a lot of let downs too.

The good: I called ahead for a table and they remembered me as soon as I arrived and I was sat quickly. The atmosphere was lovely and the table settings were classy but you could say a bit out-dated. The SALADS! The Caesar was arguably one of the best I've ever had with perfect proportions of dressing, large, crispy croutons and strong hints of anchovy. I also tried the pear salad and it was nicely complimented with the strong flavour of blue cheese and the crunch of walnuts. Delicious. My water was always refilled before it went empty, something I really appreciate.

The not so good: While I like the idea of an open kitchen, seeing all the cooks wearing matching baseball caps kind of ruined the classy atmosphere. When the server came to take my order, she had failed to let me know that they were out of muscles, and it was quite a let down and I had to quickly decide on something else. The food runner auctioned the food instead of knowing where it was going and did not come prepared with a pepper mill in hand. The gnocchi was one of the worst I've had. It was overcooked and the marinara sauce was not a great proportion to the pasta and was less than satisfactory. My grandma was not too impressed by the seafood linguini either. It lacked flavour and pizzazz.

So overall I'd say they excel in cold options, lack in the pasta department and could use an update on...

After reading numerous reviews, particularly those highlighting complimentary birthday and anniversary surprises, I excitedly booked a restaurant located an hour and a half away for a surprise dinner date with my husband on his birthday. I even made sure to mention his birthday in the reservation notes, hopeful for a special dessert or cake at the end, as others had experienced according to the reviews. However, to our disappointment, we didn't receive any such surprise.

Feeling let down, especially after seeing the table next to us celebrating in a similar manner and being served a complimentary dessert with warm congratulations, we couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. While we were genuinely happy for the couple next to us, witnessing their joy only accentuated our disappointment.

My husband, the birthday celebrant, couldn't hide his disappointment upon seeing the gesture extended to the neighboring table while we were overlooked. It's disheartening to be on the receiving end of such uneven treatment, especially when we were expecting to share in the same celebratory experience.

Furthermore, the noise level in the restaurant was quite high, making it challenging to enjoy our meal and communicate with the servers effectively. Despite requesting extra plates, we were initially served complimentary bread instead. It took multiple requests before we finally received the additional plates we needed, with some confusion along the way, including being served extra cheese initially.

Overall, while we appreciated the effort put into the ambiance and cuisine of the restaurant, the lack of acknowledgment of my husband's birthday and the minor hiccups in service left us feeling somewhat disheartened by...