La Favorita — Restaurant in Ottawa

Bad food, worse service, terrible experience. Oh my, where to begin. I usually don't write reviews unless something is very good or very bad. Unfortunately, this dining experience was the latter. This dining experience took place almost a month ago, and as I'm still thinking about how bad it was, I had to write this review. I made a reservation for 2 at a peak time on a Saturday night, as I had heard great things about the food and service at this Italian restaurant. When I arrived with my date, the place was packed but the manager had no problem seating a 3-person walk-in group who arrived at the same time as us. My date and I were seated at a small table in the middle of the dining room, and I could touch the people sitting at the tables next to us if I extended my arms. Not very COVID friendly dining. We received the menus promptly but it took 20 mins for the server to take our order. We had to ask (several times) for water and bread, which arrived after we'd been there for over 30 mins. I ordered a bottle of beer, and the waiter brought it but was so busy/inattentive that he didn't even pop the cap or pour it until I asked him as he was walking away. We waited over 1.5 hours before we received our mains. Neither were any good, noodles clearly not made from scratch and weren't even fully cooked. The sauces had no flavour. There was no consideration for presentation. I could have honestly made a better pasta meal at home using grocery-store noodles and sauce for a fraction of the price. As we were eating our mains, I overheard a table of 4 nearby talking to their server and saying they had been seated for 2 hours and hadn't even received their appetizers (at least one of which was a simple house salad), and they had to be somewhere else in an hour. The 3-person walk-in group that arrived at the same time we did had not received their mains by the time we left the restaurant over 2 hours after we arrived. That's how awful this service was. As my date was finishing her main, the manager walked by to clear off a table behind us and his suit jacket dragged across my date's plate. That's how tightly packed the tables were. Yet another restaurant that used to be great (apparently) has seen its dining experience erode completely. It seems this restaurant is trying to make up for lost business due to the pandemic by seating as many clients as they can, and they don't care at all about the dining experience. I felt embarrassed for bringing my date here, and will...

I wish I could give this place -5 stars. We ordered from here through just eat at 7:00 p.m. for it to be delivered at 8:30 p.m. at 8:40 p.m. still did not receive our food and did not receive it until 9:15 p.m. which is NOT their fault. I would like to note I’ve also been fasting all day so I am starving at this point. When the food arrives, the order is wrong! They screwed up half our order, so when I call he’s like no it’s just eats fault, I’m like just eat made our food? They said no we see here that it’s supposed to be red sauce (WHICH I AM ALLERGIC TO), so I said I am literally looking at the order right now that’s not true and I am allergic to tomatoes hence why I ordered white sauce. He finally reads it and admits yes they screwed up and blamed it on the fact they are soooo busy. He then says he’ll give me a credit next time I come, my response is well what would you like me to eat now? This is not what I ordered? He’s like we have no drivers and starts raising his voice saying “what? You want me to fire the chef? You want me to kill him”?!?! When I agreed to drive over (which takes 20 minutes both ways, so 40 minutes total) to grab it. I get there, the main thing to note is they were DEAD. They had maybe 8 people in the entire restaurant and him, i’m assuming his son, and friend are just hanging out at the bar.

I waited for 5 minutes then got my food. I grab it and just keep quiet and walk away as to avoid confrontation, his son then says “you’re welcome” sarcastically, then he repeats it. I’m sorry, you want me to say thank you for driving all the way there and grabbing my right order?!?! Then we got into an argument while he’s swearing at me and basically walking after me ready to fight. Stay away from this place. Literally any bad reviews you read are true about this place. I wish the food was even worth it, it is disgusting. The cheese tortellini was disgusting. It was watery and has a weird after taste. The wood fire oven pizza is NOT WOOD FIRE. It looks something you would microwave at home. The garlic bread has no garlic it’s literally just bread with cheese.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. You’ll either end up in a fist fight with them or upset with your dinner. I don’t know how they’re still open. Literally walk 5 feet down the sidewalk and go to Giovanni’s so much better. Please see pictures below to see how "busy" they were hanging...

A deeply disappointing experience – lack of empathy

Today I went for lunch with my husband and our son. It wasn’t our first time at this restaurant — we’ve always been treated well before. However, today we witnessed something that, in my opinion, was deeply inhumane.

From the moment we arrived, the older man in charge (I’m not sure if he’s the owner or the manager) was already somewhat hostile. He made it clear there were a lot of people and didn’t want anyone asking how long the food would take. Despite this, we decided to wait. Our meal took an hour to arrive, and honestly, the pasta wasn’t as good as other times — but that alone wouldn’t have been a big issue.

What truly made this visit unpleasant was what happened next. A young man arrived — very polite — and requested a table. He received the same curt response about wait times. He waited patiently for his order, just like we did. The young man appeared to be on the autism spectrum, which I mention because it’s important context for what followed.

At one point, he gently asked how much longer his order would take. The man in charge responded in a very rude and dismissive manner, saying that he had already been told no one knew how long it would take and that he shouldn’t ask again. The young man fell silent, clearly confused and uncomfortable.

Everyone around us who witnessed the exchange was equally unsettled by the lack of empathy and the unnecessarily harsh attitude. A woman sitting nearby couldn’t stay silent and called out the manager’s behavior, saying it was inappropriate. Instead of acknowledging this, he responded with the same hostile tone, insisting again that everyone had been told they didn’t know how long the orders would take — even though by this point, most customers had already left.

What’s saddest is that this is supposed to be a family-run business. You’d expect a basic level of kindness and human decency — not just toward that young man, but toward all customers.

Good food alone doesn’t make up for poor treatment. What we experienced today left us with a bitter taste, and I truly hope this review encourages some reflection. Hospitality starts...