Parcheggio — Restaurant in Toronto

While choosing a restaurant, I sensed Parcheggio would be safe. After all, it’s owned by O&B, a chain with such a longstanding reputation that they wouldn’t risk tarnishing it with packed tables and sloppy service. The restaurant is also located in a structure detached from the rest of Bayview Village to keep the foot traffic around the patio minimal. If you’re also faced with a hesitant diner, this is the place to bring them.

Another attractive aspect to Parcheggio is their patio menu also includes items from their adjoining sister restaurant, Beauty Barbeque Smokehouse. Italian and Southern food in one? Sign me up!

We started on the Beauty side, with the Southern fried shrimp ($24 for 1lb). It’s exactly what fried shrimp should be: clean sizeable prawns that are lightly dusted in cornmeal flour and fried until they’re just cooked through. Boy are they good, and the “white sauce” accompanying it – like a less tangy ranch – was the perfect pairing.

In hindsight, we miscalculated the order size and would have been more than satisfied with half a pound… I couldn’t even count how many came on the plate. Luckily, they taste equally delicious re-heated in the toaster oven the next day.

From the Parcheggio side came the chicken parmigiana ($24). The chicken was breaded in the same light cornmeal flour and topped with a lovely tomato sauce and mozzarella. It’s one of the better chicken parmigiana I’ve had, using just enough of each ingredient to blend into a harmonious flavour. Plus, the addition of roasted cherry tomatoes is genius, a burst of freshness to lighten the dish. Even the side of spaghetti pomodoro was delicious, made from chewy fresh pasta tossed in a thick marinara and basil.

The only faux pas was how the chicken was served: the two thinner slices on the bottom, sandwiched between a warm plate and the hot thicker slice on top. It meant the first portion was juicy and absolute perfection while the other two seemingly drier after such a great start. To be fair, I had to pack the other two to go, so they likely would have dried out from re-heating anyways.

Having snuck a bite of my husband’s smoked brisket burger ($19), I had to have another taste. The combination of a perfectly seasoned smashed beef patty topped with a slice of smoked brisket is a brilliant blend. The fixings are kept simple – a thick slice of juicy beefsteak tomato, shredded lettuce, and caramelized onions that almost resembles a chunky chutney – all on a soft potato bun that disintegrated halfway through the burger. It could have easily become too salty, too saucy, or steeped in oil, but Beauty kept it balanced and smartly left off cheese.

The burger is served with either fries or tater tots – yes, you heard right, tots! Those delicious nuggets of miniaturized hash browns. We ended up getting both as they noticed the side was wrong while bringing it out and was already firing up the right side, which arrived minutes later.

By this point, I was in a delirious carb heaven. While the shoestring fries were a bit salty, they were nonetheless cooked well … crispy with a bit of creaminess in the centre. The tots were crunchy, hot, and fresh. As delicious as they were, I must admit it’d be too heavy with the burger, so the substituted fries were likely the better choice. Instead, the tots came home with us and was a great addition...

I’ve been here before for lunch and found the food really quite good. I even met the chef owner. That was several years ago. Unfortunately this place is not the same for dinner. Really the place was empty so figured you’d get great food with no rush to prepare. Nope. I call this fake Italian food. Italian inspired really. We ordered the misto frito appetizer which is calamari and shrimp fried in a light coating. This is $19.95 and they bring you this tiny saucer of food. Maybe 3-4 shrimp and a real rag tag mix of calamari parts and a lot of batter crumbs. A measly portion of bland shrimp and calamari. It comes with a mayo based dip which tasted like store bought bottle. Do not order if you want a decent portion and have had good calamari. You will be disappointed! The waitress raved about the lasagna so I ordered. It’s a decent portion but this is really 20 layers of thin pasta with no ricotta Or spinach etc. They offer a meat sauce which more reminded me of tomato paste than sauce. Very thick almost ketchup texture. Still not at all Italian. Liked the pasta but no filling and pasty thick sauce.$22 Not worth it. The Tiramisu was good but we couldn’t find the lady fingers or mascarpone. $15 Wait staff and atmosphere is great but food is over priced and mediocre quality. Sort of Italian but not really. Maybe the$25 burger at lunch would be better. Won’t go back . UPDATE The restaurant contacted me and offered a gift card in order to come back. So I took my two sons and thought we’d try the $25 burger. To our surprise they’re not open for lunch on Tuesday. Had to go back on Friday . We ordered the brisket burgers and fries. The burgers seem to be pressed from pre cooked brisket not from raw brisket meat ground up. They had the traditional smoky flavor of brisket that had been smoked. Mine had a layered texture not typical of a regular pressed burger. Not to my liking or one of my sons either. I asked if this was formed from already smoked brisket or from ground brisket. They were not sure. I could not eat the burger since it was a bit dry and seemed to fall apart. They offered to bring me something else so I ordered the chicken parm sandwich. It was ok but a bit bland and there’s a lot of bun here. Ate a little and took the rest home. Certainly nothing like a California sandwich chicken. So not too impressed by even a $25 burger or the chicken Parm. BUT the fries were quite good. See the burger photo and decide...

Having been to all the O&B restaurants in the GTA, Parcheggio was a bit of a disappointment.

A lot of the details that are usually put into their restaurants were lacking here.

Firstly, their patio is lovely until the sun hits. The umbrellas provided cannot be adjusted or moved and sits a fair bit away from the actual tables. An awning would really improve the patio (which I’m told also closes during rain and has no heat lamps).

The other thing lacking is training. Our server was a very lovely person, but there were a number of issues related to the service. I’m unsure who or what caused the errors, but they definitely would have been avoided if better training and system protocols were in place.

Issues included:

1. reservation was made for the patio, but it didn’t seem like it was noted or notice as they were going to seat us inside.
2. a mixed drink of ginger ale and orange juice arrived as two separate drinks.
3. I asked that my appetizer (meat balls) be served with my main course (pasta), so I can eat them together. As my other two dining companions had also ordered appetizers, and we ordered an appetizer to share, I assumed that my main and meat balls would be served with the mains. I was never asked to clarify and it arrived with the appetizers.
4. when the burger was ordered, they didn’t ask how well done it should be nor mention their standard cook on them.
5. not mentioning the cook on the burger was made worse by the fact that the core of the burger was raw. Not rare. Raw. Like you could see the cold white fat raw.
6. a kind gesture to take the burger off the bill was not actually reflected on the bill. They had to reprint the bill a number of times, and then get the manager to fix it, before they got it right.
7. service was slow and lacking. There were huge gaps in time between when we were checked on. We actually had to go into the restaurant to get the bill because no one ever returned after dropping off our dessert.

In terms of the food, it was fine. The frito misto was very small though. I would have expected a larger serving for the price.

Also, the chicken fingers on the kids menu, tasted like the seafood from the frito misto. Not an issue at our table since the child in our group didn’t mind fish or fishy flavours, but it is bad protocol to let the oil get old enough to hold the fish flavour and...