Constantine Toronto — Restaurant in Toronto

I booked Constantine for my bday dinner with my husbad we got to the restarant at 6.30pm on a Friday night for dinner in the dining area it was completely dead and the lighting was super bright at that time so we moved to the dining lounge it had a few more people. We were seated but sat for 15-20 mins no one came to give us water or offer a drink. I had to get up to the hostess stand where 5 staff stood and were chit chatting including the manager and had to ask for service. Then this happened once again I had to go to the Hostess stand to order some food/drinks again they were in a group chat. It felt like I was a nusisance disturbing them. The manager came to the table never once did he say sorry or was nice even after I said it's our first time at Constantine and special for me as it was my bday. Because I have never eaten at the restarant before and wanted his recomendations bascially pointless my husband and I were starving as we both came from work so we started with a starter the mushroom flatbread it NEVER said on the menu it comes with black olives on top or at all on the menu well my husband and I don't eat black olives which has a strong taste so it should have been put as one of the toppings so we had to send back which was unfortunate as we were straving and annoyed at this point and had to wait to have a new one made. We were going to leave after the flat bread to some where new which we would have a better experience. They brought the flatbread and it was good and we were hungry so we thought we would give it another try. We ordered more food not once did the manager check in or try to turn this experince around he seemed to be annoyed at as us the entire evening did not even check in. Again we had to wait for service instead of me having a bday desert we paid and left. I thought about how much we spent after we left a few days later I wanted to give the GM my feedback opposed to just writing this review as it was once of the worst experinces on my special night. The GM asked me what I would like and made me feel like I was looking for a free meal or something I told her I just wanted my feedback to be heard by a person and not just another review she then said I would like for you to come back and have a better experience and she would send something in the mail nothing came. I just want to say don't waste your hard earned cash at Constantine...

BEAUTIFUL DECORS AND AMBIANCE. I LOVE THE OPEN KITCHEN HERE. YOU CAN WATCH THE TALENTED CHEFS PREP AND CREATE ALL THE DISHES!

SERVICE 5/5 I DONT REMEMBER OUR SERVER'S NAME, BUT HE WAS ALWAYS ON TOP OF KEEPING OUR GLASSES FULL. GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR, SO FRIENDLY AND POLITE. HE MADE OUR NIGHT VERY MEMORABLE AND ENJOYABLE! SO WERE THE SUPPORT STAFF WHO BROUGHT OUR FOOD AND CLEARED THE COUNTER IN A TIMELY MANNER.

OVERALL FOOD 5/5

SALT COD FRITTER - NICE LIGHT BATTER COVERING FRESH CHUNKS OF COD, SERVED WITH A HARISSA AIOLI [SPICY CHILI TOMATO BASED] AND SMOKED PAPRIKA! SQUEEZE THAT LEMON ON THERE TO ROUND OUT THE TASTE! IM NOT A FISH FAN BUT THIS WAS SO FRESH AND QUITE TASTE!

CACIO E PEPE - A DELICIOUS CRESCENZA FLATBREAD [ SOFT CHEESE] WITH SOME NUTMEG AND BLACK PEPPER. SIMPLE BUT I PROMISE YOU, YOUR TASTE BUDS WILL BE BLOWN AWAY!

RICOTTA GNOCCHI - THESE ARE FILLED WITH SQUASH ON A PARSNIP -PUREE WITH CRISPY SAGE & PARM SHAVINGS. THEY COOKED MORE AL DENTE WHICH I FORGOT TO ASK THEM NOT TO...BUT THE FLAVOURS WERE AMZING.

COAL ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES - LOVED THE ASSORTMENT AND COLOURS OF THE VEGGIES. THERE WERE BEETS, CARROTS, SUNCHOKE AND I PINEAPPLES. YOU GET THAT LIGHTLY CHARRED SMOKEY TASTE. A PINCH OF SALT. AND SOME SPRING MIX TO LIVEN UP THE COLOURS. BEAUTIFUL DISH!

SPAGHETTI DI MARE - A SEAFOOD SPAGHETTI DISH, BUT WE REQUESTED IT TO BE MADE W/ONLY SHRIMP. THEY WERE VERY ACCOMMODATING TO THAT. IT WAS TOSSED IN A LIGHT TOMATO AND FENNEL SAUCE.

SIDE OF ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS - DELICIOUSLY CHARRED AND TOPPED WITH PUFFED RICE BITS AND SHAVED GRANA PADANO CHEESE!

CHOCOLATE SPONGE CAKE - A RICH CHOCOLATY SLICE OF CAKE WITH AN EARL GRAY MOUSSE, AND COCOA NIBS SPRINKLES. A CHOCOLATE LOVER'S MUST HAVE!

WE HAD A WONDERFUL EVENING HERE AND WOULD DEFINITELY BE BACK TO TRY THEIR BURGER! IT LOOKS SO JUICY AND FRESH FRIES ARE SO GOLDEN...

We ordered the $170 Wagyu Angus grass fed steak special. It was the most disappointing steak I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. I’ve enjoyed lots of steak in my life. I love steak and I love beef and this was a disaster. It was extremely tough, not well marbled at all, dry, with tons of fat, I’d say it was about 40% unappetizing fat. Fat can taste absolutely delicious if it’s well seasoned and crispy — this was the opposite of that.

The steak was hard to chew and I asked for a sharper knife because my steak knife wasn’t cutting through the meat. The waiter brought me a knife from the kitchen to use. It was still hard to cut and we were all very unhappy. Nothing was good about it. We complained right away to the waiter and we asked him to bring over the manager. The manager said that’s how it’s suppose to be and I said that’s not true. He knew we were incredibly unsatisfied about the steak and offered to take off the side salads off the bill. Those weren’t particularly any good either, but we’d have paid those, he should have offered to take the steak away and taken it off our bill instead.

After trying to work our way through the steak, which was impossible and we left most of it. I realized I should complain again. There is no place in this world where anyone eating a $170 steak should leave unhappy and and not love the steak they are eating. Every bite of a $170 steak should be enjoyed and savoured. I requested the steak to be taken off the bill, the manager refused. So I threatened a horrible online review. He did not care about a horrible online review so we paid the bill and left unhappy. So this is my review of the restaurant.

To be fair, the restaurant is beautiful, pasta was good though I didn’t try it and people also enjoyed the flatbread and soup. That said, nobody is going...