Trattoria Caffè Italia — Restaurant in Ottawa

Ate there June 17 during the Italian Festival. They should of had a front check in to avoid the confusion we experienced. Was told if we didn’t want to wait for a table outside to go inside and we would have one right away. Went inside and was told that we had to wait 15 mins because of reservations they had at 7pm A few minutes went by and a table opened up outside. Not a great table but we had a table. Had to get the staff to put card board under the table leg as it was seriously off balance. I was sitting in my chair off balance to one side. Didn’t complain because we had a table. 10 mins into sitting at this table the table next to us opened up, before they gave it to someone else, which was much more comfortable then sitting sideways. we moved and while changing tables the bread plate and cutlery went flying off the sideways table smashing to the ground....lol. Now happy with the new table we ordered. My friend ordered Lasagna and I ordered the Spaghetti Carbonara. Food came faster then expected. My food came and it looked unappetizing, but I hoped it tasted better. The carbonara was dark in colour and very pasty like it had been reheated. I hate because I was.hungry, but I didn’t enjoy it. After eating my Carbonara I noticed a person beside me ordered the same, and it looked nothing like mine. It looked fresh and very appetizing. My friends lasagna was off to she didn’t eat it, pasta was pasty also. It looked like they put layers of pasta on a plate and topped it with pasta sauce and cheese and heated it up. When complaining to the owner his response was “they have the best best lasagna in the city. My friend has eaten at this restaurant many times and never had anything like what they served her yesterday The owner was rude and told my friend to stop complaining so much. I wish they would have offered us at least a percentage off our bills instead of taking the high road. Customers deserve the best service and product no matter if the restaurant is busy. Because of this experience I’m writing this comment. It could have all been avoided and 2 customers would be coming back. I must also add our waitress...

It breaks my heart to write this review.

Today I had the worst service that I have experienced in the past three years of going to this restaurant. My date and I arrived at around 8:40 PM.

Granted, they were fairly busy when we walked in. I ordered tea for me and my date after the waitress came to our table. She took our order and after about 15-20 of waiting we asked her about the ETA of the tea. It came after an additional 5 minutes of wait.

That’s ok, sometimes we don’t start on the right foot.

After that the antipasti, and the first dishes arrived. They were delightful. Once we were done with the first dishes, my date and I were deep in conversation. So much so that by the time that we started to wrap up our conversation, we realized that most of the restaurant was empty and it was 10:00PM. Our main dishes were no where in sight. I had to wave down the waitress and even raise my voice when she kept walking away and ignoring us (hopefully unintentionally).

When asked about the ETA of our food, she said that the order has been placed a while ago and she will check with the chefs.

Not two minutes later she’s coming back with our food.

The lasagna was good as per usual, the margarita pizza did not taste good at all. The sauce was very sweet and the dough tasted like cardboard.

Both dishes were lukewarm and weren’t hot as if they just came out of the kitchen.

When mentioned to the waitress she said that “maybe the pizza is just not for us”. Pizza was returned to the kitchen after one bite and was not comped.

Overall, The service felt very neglected and leaving a lot...

Not impressed with the food, service or prices after dining here last night (reservation under Lee for 3 people at 8pm). Took 7 minutes to be seated (there was no line), and then we weren't even acknowledged for nearly 15 minutes after being seated at the table. It took 45 minutes after this for 3 pasta dishes to come out and they looked as though they had been sitting under heat lamps for some time. The noodles in my dish had fallen apart which made it apparent it had been sitting out for some time before being served. One dish cost $25 and advertised as a gluten free vegetable pasta. Arrived with 2 small sun-dried tomatoes, 2 small pieces of zucchini and 2 olives. When we made a comment to the server, she left and came back 15 minutes later with 3 more pieces of zucchini. Absolutely ridiculous. It was 50 cents worth of pasta tossed in olive oil for $25, this is nothing short of highway robbery. Didn't even receive any discount from the bill after making this comment and someone who appeared to be the owner or manager was sitting behind us drinking wine and did not approach the table to address the complaint. The food was average at best and overpriced, could have made these dishes at home. It's really difficult to mess up a pasta dish and disappointing it would happen at a well-reputed Italian family owned restaurant. I would expect after months of closure they would make the extra effort to ensure a more...