Little Anthony's — Restaurant in Toronto

(Explanation in case anyone is unfamiliar - Winterlicious is a prix fixe dining event that happens in Toronto every Jan/Feb. Three courses for a set price and a chance to dine at restaurants that might typically be out of range, unavailable, etc.)

Since I booked for Winterlicious I wasn't expecting the most dedicated of service but was looking forward to the meal... I know how busy it can get but I certainly wasn't expecting the worst lunch experience I've ever had.

wait times for each course was long, usually long... an hour after our arrival we'd only had the appetizer and the waitress had apologized for the wait twice when the entree (risotto) finally arrived, it was soupy looking, flavourless and under-cooked (the rice was hard/raw) - obviously rushed and not ready for serving the manager came over to apologize for the delay as well and we explained the issue with the food - he was extremely apologetic which was appreciated; he also offered to bring replacement entrees but at that point we'd been away from work for almost an hour and a half and explained that we really needed to go so we requested that the desserts be wrapped and we get the bill as soon as possible; he still took a number of minutes to repeat his offer of alternate entrees a couple more times which was honestly more annoying than helpful as we stated how urgently we needed to leave and just didn't feel they could get anything on the table quickly enought to make up for the time we'd already wasted they had an issue with packing one of the desserts so a further delay while they came out to offer alternatives (and the only "packable" option they had meant my colleague had to take a dessert she doesn't even eat) the manager delivered the desserts packed to go, told us again how sorry he was, said our "food items would be comped", invited us to come back again and then presented a bill for the desserts and drinks

My problems with this: I think the entire meal should have been comped, maybe even the entire bill. And had we known we'd been paying for the desserts as separate items we probably would have skipped them too. When I agreed to try them again, the manager made no offer to book our return visit, or offer his name/card to call later to re-book, or presented any kind of voucher, etc. to use for our return visit which means we would just be making a reservation like anyone else (hard to do during Winterlicious). How is that going to guarantee a good visit the next time? Because of his lack of follow-through, it made the whole offer seem insincere.

Sorry Little Anthony's but you were a big disappointment.

PS: the tiramisu was...

I am visiting Toronto and staying at a hotel nearby, and my friend suggested this restaurant.

I arrived right before noon on a weekday. It was not too busy, so I could walk in without a reservation.

The service was very good. I thought my friend made a reservation but actually not the case. The staff said he needed to make a note of that before bringing me in so that his colleagues would know if my friend arrived. He also chose not to take out the unnecessary 🍽️ because he wanted to wait and see where my friend would like to sit at a table for four upon his arrival.

They had a lunch set menu but the only problem was I was not really hungry. The staff who helped me with seating came again to help with adding pepper and cheese. He was not our server, but still very attentive. I ordered wild mushroom pappardelle. It was flavourful and creamy, but not too heavy. It was also in the right amount of portion. It costed $29, perhaps it was not cheap but reasonable for the quality, service and location.

One thing though, for some reason, where I seated, the tile on the floor was not flat, so I kind of lost my balance a little bit when I tried to move my chair forward while sitting. It could be an easy fix if they could move or turn the table and chairs around accordingly.

There were lots of options for food on the menu. Also, a big collection of wine, mainly from Europe and some from the US. I was curious why there was nothing from more like the new world like Australia or New Zealand.

I would definitely come back again next time and make sure I would...

As a business owner, I know how much it hurts to receive a bad review. Hence, I don’t like writing them. However you must remember this

‘Customers never forget how you made them feel’

When I think of Little Anthony’s the first thing I think of is the way my wife and I were treated as we walked in.

The male at the front looked at my wife’s service dog and immediately said ‘Pets are not welcome here’. I then responded with ‘he’s not a pet’, my wife then stated that he is her service animal.

Mind you, the dog was wearing his service dog vest. The man abruptly said ok and they then took us to our table, as I looked around, everyone had no coats on, then I realised that the male at the front had then offered to take the coats of the next guests and hung them on the coat rack by the door, we had to store our coats at our table. He had glasses and was of Asian descent.

At this point we were clearly singled out. So however good or bad the meal was, it didn’t matter at this point. We felt uncomfortable and we felt unwelcome.

I hope that this review leads to a training session on consumer experience. It’s extremely important to communicate with respect and ask the correct qualifying questions to guests or in this scenario customers (because we didn’t feel like guests at all).

The food was average, I ordered the tagliatelle bolognese, the sauce had a tinge of sweetness to it, not sure why. Bolognese sauce shouldn’t have...