Cano Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

Worst, most bizarre dining experience I've had in recent memory.

My car broke down in the area so my boyfriend and I had some time to kill while waiting for a tow. Looked up restaurants in the area and called Cano to see if they could accommodate a vegan dietary restriction. I was put on hold, then they said yes. When I asked what the vegan options were, I was told they didn't know and we'd have to ask our server. No offer to find out for us. That should've been the first red flag; the whole point of calling ahead is to see if it's worth coming in. But I was only a couple minutes' walk away so I figured it was worth a try anyway.

We got inside, and the hostess had her backs to us. We squeezed inside by the hostess podium to make room for the servers going in and out, but she never turned to acknowledge us or say it would be just a minute. A server even walked by and let us know she was indeed the hostess... but she still did not turn around. We waited for a few minutes awkwardly before she finally turned around and said she could seat us. We asked if she could check what the vegan options were before seating us, and she told us we'd have to ask the server. Okay then.

Someone came over quickly enough with water, but we waited a while before anyone came by again to take our order. Our server was very friendly, but seemed nervous and like he was about to cry. We ordered some cocktails ($18 each) and asked about the vegan options. He had to check with the kitchen, then returned and said there were two pasta options they could make vegan, one being the tagliatelle. I asked what kind of noodle that was and he correctly explained it was a long noodle like linguine. I triple checked that the noodles had no egg in them, and he said yes, it was vegan, so I went ahead and ordered that.

When the food came out, I got penne. I asked him if there was a mistake as I had ordered the tagliatelle, and he said, "Hmm, that is odd, the noodles should definitely be a bit longer." HAHA WHAT. I said, well, I'm happy to eat it as long as it's vegan.... He assured me it was.

I realized after biting in that it was definitely the gluten-free noodle, which is pretty disgusting and not something I ever would have willingly ordered. I am willing to bet that somewhere along the way, the kitchen realized the tagliatelle was not in fact vegan, and gave me the only noodle that was (the gluten-free option). Even if the noodle was passable, the sauce was the most basic tomato you could ever taste. Jarred sauce from the supermarket has more flavour. My boyfriend got linguine and meatballs and said it was also the worst, most basic pasta he's ever had.

It's just bizarre to me that not a single employee in a somewhat upscale restaurant knows anything about a vegan option, and also that I was weirdly lied to or gaslit about it the entire meal LOL. I would have been understanding if they were upfront about the mistake or the need to change the pasta, but there was no explanation or apology and it was super weird.

The bill was nearly $120 when all was said and done, for some of the worst food I've ever had (and small portions). The cocktails were good, at least. Never again will I step foot in that place. Vegan or not, this place has subpar food...

I had an extremely interesting experience at this restaurant ... Firstly as my partner and I were taking a seat for our 9:15pm reservation, we noticed a flock of eyes staring at us from the other guest (we are both of African decent). The kind of look, like we don't belong in the restaurant. That was the first red flag of the night..

As we were getting settle in at our table, the waiter approaches us and ask if we are ready to order. His first remark was " It's good to finally see serve someone of similar ethnicity (paraphrased) ". I am assuming this restaurant does not serve many individuals of my decent or similar. At this moment, mountain of regrets flowed through head. None the less the gentleman was very respectful and provided great service ( kudos to you), , even earned a 30% tip from me, I hope he ends of receiving the full proceeds... But for rest of staff ummmm no comment.

As we finish placing our order, I left the patio to go for my prayer. When I got back the food was ready (mind you its been 10 to 15 mins). I take a few bites and noticed I left my phone in my car, I notify the waiter and run to grab my phone. This is when things gets fishy.

While Im walking back I get call from my partner saying that one of the waiters asked her if she will be paying the bill (we took a total of 3 bites of our meals..) and that a bunch of waiters were constantly pointing at our table.

While im walking back to our table, I noticed 3 waiters standing in front of our table talking in code or something. As I take a seat, they all disperse.

My partner was able to point out the waiter who asked her if she will be covering the bill. I asked him if he had any issues or anything (politely of course), he stated that " we were wondering if we could use your table as theres a group waiting (paraphrased)" I look to my left and right.. there was nobody waiting. Also this had no correlation to question he had asked my partner.

Also while I was eating, another waiter, awkwardly walks up to me and says " ohh your still here". Kind of like he was told by upper management to spy on me or something.

We end of finishing our food and ask the waiter for the bill. Waiter comes back with the bill, drops it off and attends to another table. As he is coming back to collect the bill, he tells us were good to go if we paid, I notify him that we did not pay. He gets debit machine and bills us.

As we are heading for door, another waiter (assuming some type manager), calls me by my name and thanks me for attending restaurant and hopes I come back. This confirmed to me, that I was on the radar entire night, as he probably got my name from OpenTable reservation.

Anyways, this whole night was extremely odd, My partner and I felt uncomfortable the entire time. If I were to dine and dash (as you were suspecting) - wouldn't I have finished the food first? Instead of taking only 3 bites.

It quite a shame, that there are still establishments that operate in this manner. I would steer away from this place, as certain customers are treated better...

Decided to try Cano restaurant on Saint Clair unfortunately it really did not go well.The review: Super cute atmosphere , friendly hostess informed us the table wasn’t ready which was cool with us , after Waiting 10 minutes she asked us if we wanted to start our meal at the bar and then move it to our the table! Told her Her that’s not necessary we could wait then we asked her some questions such as :do you have whole wheat dough and anchovies ? Her sweet response :do not know you’ll have to ask the server. We were seated in the back super cute . Asked waiter about the dough he said it’s homemade white no whole wheat which was fine, requested anchovies on pizza. Told they do not have any there’s no way any authentic Italian restaurant would not keep a can of anchovies then I requested some capers instead they did not have capers. if It is homemade Caesar salad dressing landscapers requested a pizza with anything will besides white he did not have. One hour has passed and we are yet to see our main course let’s consider it is Saturday night it’s busy so it should take a little bit longer but one hour for a pizza and a chicken mean not one hour we had a manager come out and apologized and I mentioned the anchovies and capers and he said we do have them on our line in the in the morning in the kitchen but then we don’t want to put them on the prep line for the evening. Apparently the pizza guy made a mistake with our pizza my partner is so upset that he told the server if it’s not here in two minutes please just bring us the bill and we’d like to leave another thing we noticed was a lovely wine menu but Where we are sitting in the back there is not one glass of wine on one table and it is packed we were actually going to order wine our favourite is the Malbec which was $22 a glass there’s no way it should be more than 15 considering one bottle of it at the LCBO is $18. At this point of one hour five minutes my partner advised the waiter if the food is not out in the next two minutes we would like our bill and we would like to leave. Unfortunately the food was not out we got up to leave we walked to the front and we saw our food but it was already too late the aggravation had settled in and we did not want to stay we asked for the bill , server spoke to the Manager who comped the salads which was both kind of him and the right thing to do in the situation. We totally sympathize with the restaurant industry which we between us have 28 years experience working in hotels and restaurants. During Covid and this summer as they get back into full dining we have and continue to support the industry. Restaurants need to remember to never let their . Review menus with staff, accommodate small requests etc... . Let’s not get into the stats of...