Chianti Cafe & Restaurant — Restaurant in Saskatoon

Updated review: Here's a disclaimer of sorts... I used to work at Chianti's in its hay day when Pacific cinemas was still a block away and we had line ups out the door every week on Sun, Mon and Tues pasta frenzy nights. That was a time when we also had a jazz singer and pianist on Wed and Thurs nights, free glass of wine at the door for any wait longer than 5 minutes and the staff hustled like crazy to serve hundreds of people each night. It is not that Chianti's anymore. I have been eating at Chianti's ever since working there because I knew the menu inside and out (still do), trusted the cooks and loved the food. Last time I ate there may have been a few months ago (winter). I took my family there again this past Sunday night and ordered a meal I have many times in the past, the Linguini Kitsilano. Upon receiving the food, I noticed just by looking at it, that the peppers and mushrooms were not sauteed in the pan first, they were thrown in with the sauce and pasta raw. not good, but not the worst thing either. Whatever. The sauce looked like it was super blended, not what normally looked like a homemade pasta sauce at Chianti's. It looked like it was straight out of a can from the grocery isle. I then tasted it, and for certain, it DID NOT taste anything like the tomato sauce from previous months and years. It was different in every way, it was sweet, overly salty at the same time, and glistened in the light as though it was partially made of Ketchup. Again, not the same sauce I've had hundreds of times before. My wife ordered a Penne Pacifico, and she always had gotten a side of marinara to go with it. It was forgotten when the food was brought out, and when we asked politely if we could still get it, we were told by the server that the cooks were making it and it would be out soon. Huh? The sauce is sitting in a metal container in a heat bath. It only needs to be poured into a side dish and brought out. Regardless, we waited another 5 minutes at least for it. Unfortunately, it was the same pre-made sauce I had. Please bear in mind that all of this was Sunday night after 7:30pm with maybe 5 other tables in the whole restaurant still there. It was not busy. All of this is after we were given water by the supervisor when seated, and we were not seen again until 15 minutes later when the same supervisor saw that we had not been served yet, asking "has anyone come to see you yet?" Which we replied, 'No, not yet.' Again, it was not busy at this time. We ordered wine, which was the house Folonari Italian red. It tasted watered down. I'm trying to be objective here, but honestly, that is a wine I've had hundreds of time as well. It tasted watered down. It had ZERO aftertaste. like, nothing. It even looked lighter in color than it usually does, but who knows. We sent it back and got something else, and we were given a replacement fairly quickly, so that was good. And now we'll get to the bread and oil/vinegar. The bread is soft, but it is so bland!! It used to be REAL foccacia bread with rosemary you could actually see in the bread, and the balsamic vinegar is light and lacks flavor. After all of this, we noticed something else... there was literally no music to be heard in the restaurant. As if the experience we had wasn't weird enough, there was no music to help the atmosphere. I've never sat in a restaurant in my life that didn't have some music playing in the background to make the stay a pleasure (or at least try to). Here, there was nothing, just the sounds of clanking dishes everywhere, the noise of cutlery hitting the plates, and the dead sound of a restaurant failing to deliver any experience that is worth the trip. As Simon and Garfunkel sang, it was the "Sound of silence" in the oncoming wake of a pasta restaurant getting ready to compete with the big pasta houses (Old Spaghetti Factory, Olive Garden) due to make their entrance to the...

For years Chianti’s was our go to place, it was awesome service, great owners, amazing chefs, excellent atmosphere and the food was fantastic.They were the only Pasta place in town and they had the market cornered! Fast forward, 10 years! Headed out for supper, kids wanted The Old Spaghetti Factory but the line was a 45 minute wait! I told the kids not to worry as a great pasta place was just up the street. The empty parking lot, run down building and trailers stored on-site should have been our first clue but with nostalgia in mind we proceeded inside. The paved parking lot is broken and in desperate need of repair, the outside is very run down, my kids were very unsure we should continue. The restaurant is exactly as it was the last time I visited about 10 years back but with some significant changes. 1. Empty tables - one section was not even usable as it looked to be storage. 2. The decedent dessert display was there EMPTY and dirty, obviously not used. 3. There are holes and metal coils sticking out of walls that I’m assuming once held lights or screens. The floor was sticky as you walked and the atmosphere was lacking. The kids and I were hungry so with much apprehension we decided to stay, “how hard is it to make spaghetti and meatballs, you can’t mess that up”, my son commented. We sat and the waitress was very nice though her English was minimal she was polite and tried her best. Truly, the best part of the experience was her kindness. I asked for a kids menu and she said “it’s missing” but she brought the little tablet they place their orders on and showed it to me there. I asked for the bread and she said it was not included but extra, we ordered it and in the end she was kind and did not charge us for it. The spaghetti and meatball (yes, one giant meatball on top) arrived for both children and my order of my favourite Four Cheese Ravioli was served. The spaghetti was thick, which was different and strongly resembled canned pasta. My daughter took one bite and could not eat it, my son dove in and said it tasted like the special pasta I once let them try for school lunch that Dad doesn’t like (Chef Boyardee). I laughed and switched plates with my daughter as she liked the taste of mine. I did eat the spaghetti and sauce. It was edible; however, it did taste canned to me and was not near the calibre of food that I’d remembered. The four cheese ravioli was tasty but not at all like before, the sauce was runny and the ravioli were not stuffed, they were just square shaped noodles, I’m guessing that maybe they popped open when boiling, maybe??🤔? The focaccia was served hot from oven but it was placed on a paper napkin and that of course stuck to the bottom and we lost some bread prying it off. Balsamic and Olive Oil were nowhere to be seen and were not offered. The bread was a nice flavour but it was doughy as it was not cooked properly. My daughter ate a few bites of her meatball and stopped suddenly, within a few minutes she had to excuse herself as her stomach was not holding that food down. My son took a bite of his meatball and was put off and didn’t eat any more. I mentioned to the waitress that my daughter was sick after eating the meatball and my son did not like it at all. She got a bit defensive but was very polite and dignified and she said the meatballs were made at 9am and stored in fridge and were made fresh each day. I suggested maybe they check this batch and then I did ask about the change of owners and who new owners were. The waitress explained she did not really know the owners as they live in Toronto and only come for a brief time every month or so. Sadly, unless there were significant changes, my family and I will not visit Chianti’s again. Judging only from the emptiness tonight, and knowing a pasta place two blocks away had a 45 minute wait list, I wonder if many others also feel the...

My husband & I decided we would try a new place, well that was a huge mistake... We used Skip to have it delivered. The food came to 70+ dollars...My husband had the Prime Rib burger & I had the Crab Dip with toasted French like bread & the Pineapple Shrimp & we both had dessert, him the carrot cake & I had the turtle cheese cake, now where to begin. DO NOT WASTE A CENT ON THIS PLACE. Our food arrived WITHOUT the desserts, so I called the restaurant & spoke to some lady & told her about the food being cold, she in turn blamed it on the distance the driver had to take it, which is 1.1KM from where they are located, plus I tracked the driver & he went & picked up the food & came directly to us in less then 5 minutes, I also explained this to her, but she insisted it was the Skip drivers fault. Move forward to the desserts, they did bring them but it took close to an hour for them to get them to us. The food was DISGUSTING at best, 3/4 of my husbands food went into the garbage, as for mine, the crab dip was tasteless, the bread was toasted to the point of black in places & beyond crisp, as for the pineapple shrimp, well it said shrimp in a pineapple sauce, ummmm NOT, the only thing pineapple about it at all was the pineapple pieces, the sauce lightly coating the shrimp had a white colour to it & the amount of pine nuts, well I think they spilled the bag into my container. The desserts you may be wondering, the turtle cheese cake was gritty & had a strong chemical taste to it but other than those 2 things it was tasteless as well. My husband wouldn't even try his carrot cake & honestly I can't say as I blame him, when I was putting it into a container it felt on the dry side, what a shock...lol. So long story short, if you have 70.00+ bucks to burn, grab a Bic lighter as it would be more enjoyable than what they serve & even dare to call food. If I could rate them a big fat ZERO out of 5, I sure as heck would & that would be to kind. SAVE YOUR MONEY peeps & go grab a Big Mac. P.S. When I ordered via Skip, I ordered from a place called PRIME BISTRO, but when I called the person on the other end answered the phone saying CHIANTI CAFE & RESTAURANT, so don't be fooled, so PRIME BISTRO is a ghost name for what it actually is. 100% DISGUSTING & ZERO enjoyment from it. If you wish to give it a try, you can't say I didn't warn you. Oh & as a side note, she was going to talk to the manager & see what they could do to make it right, if you are thinking I'm still waiting to hear back from them, you would be...