La Latina — Restaurant in Toronto

We visited during Valentine’s Day as a walk in (1 hour before closing time) and we were not notify about the flat $100 per costumer regardless of what you eat until we got the bill. This knowing that I was vegan and that all the vegan options were sold out except for two appetizers.

This was very misleading because we have visited this place before and they did not have this policy. But if they did, they should have tell us in advance. Or at least when we’re ordering because the menu still have the prices per dish on it. To give you a bit on context, I am vegan. Since I have been there before I knew they had a couple of vegan options and nice drinks so we enter. We got seated and our server told us that they’re about to close the kitchen so we should order our food right away. There is no problem if we have to order right away. However, when we were ready to order we were told that the only vegan options they had mushrooms on it and all mushrooms were sold out. So they were not able to offer me any main dishes, they only had 2 appetizers that were vegan 1. Fried yucas and 2. Chips and guacamole. And some drinks. My boyfriend is not vegan and he could order more food but he didn’t want to order a feast in front of me knowing that I was also hungry and couldn’t eat anything but this two things. So, we decided to order the two vegan options they have, two drinks and I think he order a taco as well. This out of courtesy because they were busy and they sat us as walk ins and we thought it was gonna be rude to just leave. Even though they didn’t have food for me.

However, when we asked for the bill we got surprised that we were charged $100 flat rate for each person (so $200), plus 20% gratuity already included. Which would have been ok if they let us know ahead of time that this was how it was gonna be. So as soon as they told me that all vegan options for food were sold out we could have leave. But they didn’t. Not until the time we were gonna pay which was misleading and deceiving. Specially because my server knew I was vegan and I was not gonna be able to order anything from the menu from the very start.

I was shocked to say the least, I think they gave us a “discount” and we ended up paying $180 for the “dinner”. We were not gonna argue about it because we knew they they knew that this was not ok.

However, this experience was horrible and the situation is completely unacceptable. I felt they only cared about money and to charged us no matter what. Maybe if we were told from the start and if they still have options for food for me would have been ok. But non of this was done which was very disappointing because just before that I was talking with my friends to all go there but after this, I would definitely not invite anyone to this...

Had such a great experience at La Latina. I came for the Sunday night dinner package with family and this was my first time coming here. All the staff were extremely friendly - from the person at the front who gets you your seats, to everyone else I interacted with.

There is a Live Band and they even have some staff who come out to dance every now and then. We were seated further away from the Live Band close to the kitchen - so just an observation, if you sit close to the Band, obviously its going to be loud. But where we were sitting you can still enjoy the music but also have a conversation without busting your vocal cords trying to speak loud.

I found the food to be delicious. The assigned waitress was very polite and professional and she came to check in with us every few minutes to get our orders of the side dishes. The side dishes were really good. I especially recommend the stuffed cheese croquettes. Then the other wait staff come around with the grilled items as they are ready to be served. The grilled items consisted of steak, sausages, salmon, pork ribs, I think a roasted pork as well. I loved them all. Note that the grilled items come around every 10-15 minutes or so. Personally, I liked this because I was able to eat in a more timely pace and enjoy the company of the people I came with instead of stuffing myself within the first half hour or something.

One of the members of our group had food allergies and how accommodative the Chef was is what truly impressed me about La Latina. This wasn't like 1 or 2 food items type of allergy. This was like several items they were allergic to. The Chef went over which items from the menu they can eat and also made some items which did not have the things the member of our group was allergic to. Just note: we did email La Latina in advance to give them a heads up about this, and you HAVE to request to speak with the Chef directly about this while you're at the restaurant as the wait staff, although very helpful, are not experts at the food preparation aspects obviously. What we did was we asked to speak with the Chef directly and spoke about the allergies, etc. So if you have some type of allergies for food restrictions - email in advance and also ask to speak to the Chef directly when you're there.

The atmosphere and vibe in there is also awesome, loved the Live Band as mentioned before and I would definitely...

I heavily debated sharing his, but ultimately after discussing this with my friends and family everyone has encouraged me to do what’s right. Lead management should know how terribly their staff treated a group I visited with a few weeks ago.

My colleagues and I were ushered out by manager Gary in under 2 hours after slow and inconsistent service and we were also misstreated and disrespected. We arrived for our reso at 7:00, we ordered (table of 5) a grand total of $500 in less than 1.5 hrs worth of drinks & food…service was quite slow but no problem as the drinks are made thoughtfully & it’s obviously busy due to the holidays. At exactly 9:00 our waitress informed us we had to leave.. as we were ordering drinks & dessert. Strange but ok?… my boss kindly asked why as no one informed her of this (we took a car into the city for this party) and she was unapologetic and said “my manager sent me over to inform you. “ At this point my boss asked for a manager. This made us extremely upset and we felt it was something personal. Manager Gary came over, he was visibly frustrated and disinterested and didn’t want to discuss his rational behind asking us to leave. He kept repeating that we were closed for 2 years and we are here to make money”. Not only is this behind crass and unprofessional, it’s clearly not true! He was ushering a table out with a HUGE bill!

After the 4th time of him saying this to my boss I asked him “how much is our current bill, Gary?” To which he put his hand up in my face and told me he wasn’t talking to an uncivilized person. I’ve never felt so physically sick and insulted. I didn’t raise my voice, curse or even get upset. But if you’re going to suggest that we are squatters at a table at least back it up. I was so hurt to see my boss argue to sit at a table and spend money when we obviously weren’t welcome. I can’t believe that this happened, we didn’t complain once about the slow service or anything- we were completely happy up until manager Gary demanded we leave with no rationale. Gary- a customer asking the cost of the bill when you throw it in someone’s face is not uncivilized- it’s merely someone defending themselves and the host having them out to dinner. Unless you want to experience deeply unreasonable and disrespectful service don’t come here. 0 stars thanks to...