Caffe Mio — Restaurant in Ottawa

Overall the experience was alright, but certainly did not live up to the expectations given the number of positive reviews I had seen online. My dish (Oceana) was done well and I enjoyed it, the wine was delicious, and the bruschetta was also good. Seeing that it was a Saturday night and it was busy, the atmosphere seemed a bit cramped and was subsequently loud, but that’s not something that can necessarily be controlled. As for the service, our initial server (Katie I think) was fabulous. She was patient and very polite, especially with our 2 children. Where the wheels started to come off so to speak was when a 2nd server started to assist our table. The 2nd server was curt and impatient. It was my wife’s birthday and my wife had asked for a desert menu, to which the 2nd server snapped at her stating “we don’t have a menu, besides I just told you what they are” and then stared my wife down. I don’t know if this was intentionally meant to intimidate my wife, but it made her uncomfortable to the point of almost crying at the table. To add to this, the same server returned 5 minutes later with the bill and stated that there was a mandatory gratuity of 20% for each of the 2 bills (2 groups of 4 people), which I can understand but I would have liked to know ahead of time as a curtesy. When it came time to pay however, the 2nd server stated that she would fill in the tip at 20% and took the POS away from my mother in law and completed the transaction . My mother in law inquired why it was set at 20%, and the server seemingly very annoyed stated that because we were a groups or 8 or more, “you guys are a lot more work and harder to take care of, so we require an automatic 20%”. The whole thing seemed a bit surreal, especially since we were 6 adults and 2 kids 10 and under (who were entertaining themselves by talking to each other, until one of them fell asleep and didn’t even touch their food). Unfortunately the experience seemed rushed and uncomfortable when trying to celebrate a special occasion. The attitude given by the 2nd server to then be forced to tip 20% and have the server physically take the POS from the payee and enter the tip for them, seemed...

My sister and her friends brought me to a restaurant I have been wanting to try for some time. Caffe Mio is a beautiful family owned and operated Italian bistro, open for over 20 years. They are located on West Wellington. The ambiance is very romantic for the perfect date night and intimate for a dinner/drinks with friends. The staff were amazing, attentive and made recommendations to help us navigate the wine menu. The food we ordered looked amazing and tasted delicious, we got some bruschetta to share, I got their beet salad and shared some with my sister (because I love her) and each of us got a different main, I got the Gnocchi and added chicken, and the ladies got Gnocchi, Linguine Con Funghi and the Chicken Parmigiana with cream sauce. I am in love with the soft fluffy gnocchi! It was one of the best I have ever tasted, and my beet salad was delicious, I never thought I would find another beet salad to replace the one we lost at Nordik Spa, and that crispy pancetta was to die for, I would have ordered another! We loved our experience and can't wait to go back! This is a must try!! #supportlocal...

My husband chose this place to celebrate my birthday with friends and family (we were 8). At the end of our meal we were told that their policy was to add mandatory 20% gratuity, for tables of 8 or more - without any notice or warning. This came after the waitress was incredibly hostile and rude with our table. Slamming things down on our table, when asked for a physical desert menu, she snapped and said “I already told you what there was”. The general consensus from our party after leaving, was that it was about 9:30 (they close at 9) - and she wanted us to leave. There are so many other ways this could have been managed, but to force a 20% gratuity after treating people like that is unacceptable. You can’t just be aggressive and rude bc you know you’re getting a tip regardless. Over all the food was bland, the atmosphere was incredibly loud and cramped, and the service from Jess was horrific. The ONLY redeeming quality this place has is a server named Katie, who was with us most of the night. An absolute pleasure and pure joy. If we had had her till the end - this review might have...