Buca Osteria & Bar — Restaurant in Toronto

Truthfully, it feels odd to give the restaurant a one star review. The service and the ambience were both, as a matter of fact, great. And, for the most part, so was the food. But it goes to show you how fundamentally important the details are to the overall experience. We made our reservation on boxing day, just under two months ago, as a Christmas gift from my partner and I to my mother. My mother does not eat meat and because we were planning on doing the tasting menu, and so much of that is a shared experience, we all agreed to go as pescatarians (with the added note that my girlfriend, being pregnant, could not eat raw eggs, blue cheese, yada yada). I made sure to write these accommodations in my note on Opentable. Once that reservation was confirmed I called in to make special note that those accommodations had been received. All is well, I was told, that is more than doable.

Alas, fast forward to the night of our big meal. I made sure to confirm our accommodations once more and our server was taken aback. Her notes just mentioned the pregnancy. Nothing about the pescatarian menu. She brings over the dining menu and both finales have, you guessed it, red meat (bone marrow in the octopus, waygu in the other). "Is this alright?" she asked. But, of course, it wasn't. As my mother doesn't eat red meat. As I had communicated in both my Opentable reservation and my phone call immediately following the confirmation of that reservation. There is some shuffling and a conference off to the side with the chef, in hushed tones, where we clearly see.

She says its been handled. But, the thing is, we are spending 600 dollars on dinner (a bit over, with tip). And now, as opposed to having a feeling like that tasting menu is thoughtfully designed, you get the impression that some things were more haphazardly thrown together to appease our accommodation. Which we went to great lengths to make clear. So, while some dishes were most certainly unchanged, you can't help but wonder if that third pasta would have been a pasta? angel hair into spaghettini? Is that where one of the concessions was quickly made off to the side? Or when you get the small and understated piece of fish as your final course, knowing how well thought out both the octopus and waygu sounded, if this is just all they had on hand? This is comparatively a little anticlimactic perhaps?

And that's not to say any of it was bad. In fact, for the most part it was great. But the presentation of the whole experience was thrown off kilter. And we're spending over 600 dollars on dinner which is something I can only really afford to do once a year and which, given the cost of entry, 150 per person plus tip (and drink), you don't want to get the impression that the restaurant made a mistake and that you're getting... well, whatever we have on hand in a pinch.

I have had tasting menus at most of the cities top restaurants. I take my mother to one every year for Christmas. This is the first time something like this has happened. And if it has happened in the past, it didn't happen so publicly. And so I never considered it. And here, I shouldn't be wondering what I could have had. So, is one star unfair? When you're charging that price point, there shouldn't be a suggestion that there is a better meal you aren't having, if only someone had properly copied out the notes you gave... and now let your imagination carry you away with every plate we put in front of you, what we would have changed if we had more than 5 minutes to prepare for you. And so, in spite of everything and the great time we had with each other's company, we can't help but feel let down... and somewhat disappointed.

And imagine if we had cancelled, it would have cost 50 dollars a person. Meanwhile the the restaurant clearly didn't even bother to...

4/5 but bumping it to 4.5/5due to the great service.

I came here for dinner to celebrate my partner's birthday on July 24th. Emily was our server. Emily did seem quite busy, but she did take her time going through the wine list to try and figure out what we liked with the food we were going to have. She was a great waitress along with others who attended our table as well.

Now onto the dishes: Nodini (Garlioc knots with garlic, olive oil, and rosemary) 4/5 This dish came out hot, and the aroma filled the air. The outside was the right amount of hardness with a soft but chewy inside that went really well with the garlic and olive oil. Best bang for buck probably, but this should be eaten right away as it gets quite hard and chewy if you don't finish it before it cools down. It was great, but not mindblowing (like the other bread we tried which is listed below).

Branzino (Raw european sea bass finished with prosecco, lemon, olive oil, and grated rock salt) 4.5/5 This comes out with the server showing us the fish they are going to cut, and they do it right infront of you. The ingredients went REALLY well with the fish, taking away it's fishy-ness and enhancing the delicate flavor of the fish.

Carne Cruda (Raw beef, mushroom conserva, cured egg yolk, with brioche) 5.5/5 It truly was better than 5/5 lol This was hands down our favourite. It was REALLY good. Probably my favorite beef tartare. The cured egg yolk went perfectly with the raw beef and the brioche was so good! The brioche came nicely toasted, and was quite buttery. The pairing of the two was just incredible.

Bigoli (Duck egg pasta with duck offal ragu, spices, mascarpone, and basil) 3/5 The pasta was a bit of a let down for us. I love al dente, but the pasta felt undercooked. The presentation was unappealing and the taste was just okay.

Tagliatelle (Hen's egg pasta, Boston sea urchin, St. Bridig's butter, Siberian caviar, and lemon) 3/5 I love uni, and given the price ($65), I honestly thought there would be more uni flavor. The pasta felt a bit undercooked again, and we felt it lacked a bit in flavor.

Brioche (extra) When we had it with Carne Cruda, I just had to get more. Emily asked the chef and they gave us 4 extra slices. But just a heads up: it was $15 for 4 slices so just keep that in mind when you do order it because I was quite surprised when I saw the bill. lol

Tiramisu 4/5 This dish had a espresso soaked sponge in the middle that was covered in thin layer of dark chocolate in the shape of a dome, with a lot of mascarpone cream on top. The chocolate was pretty thin but it tasted amazing and went well with the dish. I do wish that the ratio of sponge and chocolate is a bit higher, as there were quite a few spoonfuls of cream we had without any of the inside content.

Overall, the dishes were amazing except for the pasta dishes. We really didn't enjoy the pasta, but I would love to come back for the other dishes. Also, it was a nice touch for the chef to come out and give my partner a small birthday gift which was a DIY Cacio De Pepe to...

This is probably the first time that I write a review on a restaurant... We go to high end restaurants for many years now and this is by far the worst experience.

The good first: Cocktails were tasty and well presented (and this is the one start, otherwise, I would have chosen no stars if such option were available for selection)

Our experience started with a wait time of about 15-20 minutes, before we were seated, despite the reservation. Things happen, not such a big deal.

Ordered drinks to start with and one of them was forgotten about. Again, things happen, busy night...

The wait time for our appetizers was roughly 40-45 minutes. The presentation and the taste were nothing to write home about when the appetizers finally arrived.

AN HOUR later (after the appetizers have arrived), we finally saw the main course. Not surprisingly, all of our main course items (there were 4 of us) were barely warm. Once again, the taste and the presentation were absolutely sub-par and the portion sizes were simply ridiculous even for a high end restaurant that "Buca" attempts to promote itself as.

The waiters ignored our instructions on when to serve what items and we are not one of those clients who like to complain and give the waiters the "run around".

What surprised me is that the number of waiters appeared to be more than adequate, but the service overall (the timeliness and the attention to details/instructions) was absolutely unacceptable for any restaurant, let alone ones with a "high-end" status.

To top that all of, the noise level at this location is simply crazy, the decor is tasteless, but for some this is a subjective observation. Some might like it.

As the "icing on the cake" was that 2 out of 4 of us fell sick the next morning with indigestion issues... Very telling...

"High end" Saturday night experience ...

Please stay away from that place. There are much better places in Toronto, especially in the price range...