Taverna Italian Kitchen + Bar — Restaurant in Saskatoon

This is an absolute must. Classic Italian dishes executed perfectly. The house made focaccia arrives on the table, complimentary. Dip it in the olive oil balsamic and it sets the stage for a great meal ahead.

Now, the menu is THICK. There is a lot to choose from. If you're unsure, ask the staff. Our server was so friendly & welcoming, with excellent recommendations.

So, I can chef some great pasta dishes, but tagliatelle is a noodle I leave to the experts. And when I read house made Bolognese, combined with how many decades this restaurant has been here, I knew I made a great choice.

The sauce is full of flavour and exactly what a Bolognese should be. When I learned that my Mom and my Aunts had been to this restaurant back in the 1970's, it all started to make sense. I loved in Saskatoon for 5 years but my first time here was in 2024. It still has a new restaurant feel in the fact that their is a zest for life in the air. We were a day-of reservation for 10 people at 5pm (I know, not ideal, but funerals happen suddenly and sometimes reso's are last minute with people coming from our of town.) And staff accommodated a change for adding 4 more people no problem. (Note: if we had wanted 630 or 7, on. Saturday, I doubt it would've worked out. We were seated at 5 and the place was full before 6pm)

The pasta was cooked perfectly. I had a bite of the lamb skewers, wow, never have I had an absolutely perfectly seasoned & juicy lamb bite in my life.

I still a bite from my Sister's plate of pesto gnocchi, sweet baby Jesus, was that incredible. All 14 people raved about their meals, from lasagna to cannelloni. The only critique was from 1 of my Uncles, who is very particular (and loved every morsle of everything else) he said the tiramisu was okay. I had a bite and thought it was very good but I also don't consume tiramisu on the regular.

Wine selection is deep. I'm a beer guy and I appreciated having a local brown followed by a near-perfect milk stout from Black Bridge Brewing in Swift Current.

So many 'yumm!' across the board.

Next time I'm in Saskatoon, I'll be back. And I'm getting the lamb and not...

I had looked for Reddit recommendations for authentic Italian restaurants that were highly recommended and this was one of the top ones.

We did do reservation through OpenTable but they weren’t full when we got there. Looks like sometimes this isn’t the case and reservations are usually recommended.

The decor is great. Trendy, clean and modern. Nice lounge vibes. I picked here because it has a HUGE menu to pick from.

The serve staff was professional and kind but we didn’t vibe either, it felt like we weren’t of the right crowd shall we say. He was great at his job it just didn’t feel comfortable.

The menu being written in Italian with English descriptions felt overwhelming. It does add to the experience. The drink menu is huge, but somehow didn’t have stuff I wanted. My partner liked their white peach lemonade with added vodka.

We got arancini balls. They were excellent. A little spicy but they were a great appetizer. We also enjoyed the bread which I believe was focaccia with some garlic butter patty.

My meal was a pomodoro tagliatelle with Sicilian meatballs. They are able to sub pasta types which is great. My partner got the cannelloni. He really enjoyed his dish.

I on the other hand found it underwhelming. I’m used to authentic. Italian restaurants with great flavour profiles and a solid pasta sauce. I had to ask for salt for mine. The tagliatelle was great though- thick and excellent texture in the mouth. The meatball didn’t strike me as being noticeable either.

It reminded me why I don’t frequent Italian restaurants outside of my hometown.

For the majority of people who aren’t as picky I do believe this would be a great Italian experience. I just need more bodied flavours & to feel like it’s authentic which I did not. To be fair- it’s hard to find. So I give it a graceful four star.

Parking is street parking. Can be difficult to find. Likely need to walk. Sometimes need to pay if you’re...

The only reason I'm giving 2 stars instead of 1 is because the food is great. Every meal that was ordered in our group was amazing but unfortunately the service and our treatment by our server was so horrendous I struggle even giving it a 2. My husband reserved a table for 10 people as a surprise for me for my birthday. From the moment we arrived our server was far from polite. Our group ended up having 2 more people the reserved for which I understand can be frustrating for a business but when we told her she looked at me and said "are you kidding me? We're full" and walked away. We didn't see her for a half hour. We squeezed in and it was ok. When she finally returned she took 2 people's drink order and left without the rest. This happened three times. It took us an hour just to get our drinks and get to order. It took 2 hours for us to get our food and some orders were wrong. She asked one person to take their shrimp off their plate and give it to someone else..... what!!? When we finally finished eating every bill was wrong. We tried very patiently to try and help her get them correct but in the end everyone gave up and just paid for whatever they had on the bill. It took us so long for our meal (sat at about 715 and walked out at 11) we were the last table in their and they were cleaning. It was a terrible experience for a night that was supposed to be...