Piano Piano Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

🦋We decided we wanted to try a new restaurant. We ended up checking out Google Maps and found this place. When we got to Colborne Street, we noticed we had walked by this street many times before and never knew there was a restaurant down the little street - we’d find out while eating that it opened in Dec 2022 - super new and fresh!

🦋As soon as you get to the front of the restaurant, they have big glass windows where we saw directly inside the top floor. The décor is so cool and has a very unique look. We walked up the stairs, opened the door and were immediately greeted by the hostess. She was super friendly, big smile, and more than happy to show us to our table (on the upstairs floor (same floor as the entrance).

The tables are really cool. There are two couches that run along the wall and sometimes curl out to give more tables access to the comfy seating. Again, the décor is very unique and has an old, antique-y, modern type of feel (you’ll know what we mean you try it out).

🦋Our server - Marcus - was absolutely incredible. He was calm, cool, and confident and knew the menu extremely well. He recommended everything to us (appetizer, salad, pizza and dessert) and he came up 4/4 with his selections.

🦋Appetizer: Burrata con Funghi

Oh my! Wow! We definitely have never tried anything with this complete mix. Olive oil and balsamic with mushrooms,  hazelnuts and burrata with focaccia. The focaccia was cooked absolutely perfectly and buttered lightly which made the mix sooooo much better to put on the bread and take a bite. If you come here, get this! If you’re like me and don’t like mushrooms, work around them. Easy peasy lemon squeezy 🤤.

🦋Salad: Caesar

A caesar is only as good as its dressing and let us tell you, this caesar dressing is absolutely delicious. It is the epitome of what caesar dressings should taste like. It came with anchovies (a sign of a great Caesar salad), really big croutons (same focaccia bread but cooked a bit more for hardness), and large bacon pieces (real) that were delicious (Sackeria ate these and she loved them) - I prefer smaller bacon pieces). It was big and we split it between two of us and it was a good amount with both of us sharing. Super grateful we tried the caesar.

🦋Pizza: Sweet Hornet

Wow! Another amazing, absolutely amazing dish!!!! What’s even more impressive is after we’ve already eaten two amazing dishes, we had our 3rd and it was just as incredible, if not more incredible than the first two selections. The crust was thick and baked perfectly in their wood fire oven. The cheese was fior di latte and was quality. For meat, they had a spicy soppressata and it was really good because it didn’t overpower the pizza. It added a slight saltiness and was definitely welcomed to the party in our mouths 🤤🎉. It was hot and honey but the honey definitely subtled the hot. We had choices of homemade dips to go with the pizza and we chose the creamy garlic.

🦋We are adding a new paragraph for the creamy garlic dip. Now, it is nothing like the dips we have gotten from other pizza places and honestly, we would rather order a pizza from here with their dips than any other pizza place. The creamy garlic dip was the best we’ve ever tasted and it tasted SO REAL - oh yeah, because it is! Definitely try it. We put it on our entire pizza and even though you might be afraid to hide the pizza’s taste, don’t be! It will only accentuate the tastes. Absolutely incredible 🤤🤤.

🦋Dessert: Tiramisu

Although we both don’t care for coffee, we decided to try the tiramisu because Marcus recommended it. If you’re a tiramisu lover, definitely, 100%, for sure, no if’s, and’s or but’s get this! You will love it.

🦋🦋🦋We are super grateful and thankful to Marcus and Piano Piano for blowing away our time there and creating delicious tastes that we’ve never experienced before. We are 10000000% coming back here and happy to support and recommend this cool, unique and tasty restaurant!

This is our experience....

This past summer I came to this location to celebrate my birthday with my friends. I brought my birthday cake and understood there would be a cake cutting fee. Our waitress was less than attentive, had a hostile air in her attitude, and was impossible to flag down if we wanted to order more. She didn't ask our table when we'd like the cake to come out and practically ambushed us with it. My parents, who were out of town, only asked to be Facetimed in for the cake cutting but because the waitress brought out the cake with the sparkler already lit, without telling my friends, they completely missed out on singing happy birthday with me. It took my friends awhile to start singing because everything was done so hastily; everyone was caught off guard and it ruined the moment. Also, she yanked the cake away after the sparkler died, and I got told I wasn't allowed to cut my own birthday cake for "safety reasons" (I've never experienced this at other restaurants).

I wouldn't of bothered coming if I knew I was gonna get charged per slice to a) not blow out my own candles b) not have my friends properly sing me happy birthday due to the staff’s poor planning c) not get to cut my own cake d) not get proper pictures/video with said cake.

I decided to give the waitress feedback for the future, citing my disappointment with the lack of communication, how it dampened the mood, and I was upset to not be able to share this moment over video call with my family. I was polite and aimed to give feedback to enhance future patrons experience. Rather than apologise, the server crouched down, looked at me condescendingly (almost like "why are we even having this discussion") and very patronisingly asked me what I wanted her to do about it. She had the audacity to glance at my friends almost to say "can you get a load of this?" but unfortunately for her she was met by less than sympathetic stares back.

Sadly, this encounter did leave me crying at the restaurant, on my birthday and my friends had to make sure I wasn't shaking while speaking with the manager. The manager asked what instructions were given to our waitress and that's when we told him nobody asked for any! The only thing that was comped on our bill was the cake cutting fee - pretty ridiculous considering the waitresses attitude left me crying publicly. The manager offered to take my details to make my next experience more special, but there's dozens of other restaurants in Toronto that have provided me excellent service and I'll never have to worry about this type of behaviour - that offer doesn't cut it. The only silver lining was that other patrons overheard the commotion and wished me a heartfelt happy birthday and offered to take photos for me and my friends while we were leaving.

Unfortunately from looking at the previous reviews, it looks like my experience wasn't the first time the wait staff's service has been less than favourable. I cannot recommend coming here, and please AVOID like the plague for your...

What the Piano Piano team have accomplished at their newest location is something remarkably special.

You absolutely need to try it.

My favourite Piano Piano so far - and I've been to all of them for every imaginable occasion.

5⭐ Nestled away on a quiet block of Colborne Street just north of Berczy Park, entry into this divine experience feels like you're being let in on an incredible secret.

I had to ensure a table in the basement having seen photos. The journey downwards elicits a hushed as you tread the carpeted stair.

Through the curtain what greets you is a carnival of delights.

It feels like the designers read Jordan Baker's famous line in Gatsby, “And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy"

And decided to deliver on both.

This location is perfect for anything from eating alone at the incredibly designed bar, to a candlelit dinner for two, to a large dinner party - or anything in between.

The fixtures are on point from the merry-go-round central bar (complete with photo-op horse), to comfortable chairs at quaint two- and four-tops, circular booths for groups, mirrored columns, and gallery walls. Every surface has its own print - Medieval print wallpaper, animal print stools, and ornate carpets.

This explosion of prints is tempered from a rolling boil to an enjoyable simmer through excellent dimmed lighting, textile dampening, and music loud enough to set the mood but not kill the conversation.

It is a maximalist fever-dream that delivers on every point. Even the washroom delivers on this premise, something I absolutely loved.

Enough about my experiential delight - let's talk food and drink.

Jayden and the rest of the incredible staff did a stellar job.

Drinks: We opened our evening with a Piano Piano Spritz and a slightly spicy tequila & mezcal concoction.

Apps: Cocktails were joined by the burrata. If you know Piano Piano, their burrata is top notch. But the Burrata al Funghi at this location was unexpected, shocking, novel, delicious. I was in love. Hazelnuts with mushrooms? An unexpected combination befitting of the location it calls home.

[Pro tip: order extra bread upfront]

Main: The staples that were walked past by service staff all looked incredible, but we were here for something really special…

The Octopus for 2. The generous helping was incredibly tender with a delicious, perfected char. The base of Japanese eggplant and the brown sauce complimented the octopus wonderfully.

We chose to pair it with roasted brussel sprouts and two glasses of an excellently dry Prosecco to wrap our meal.

Listen - I was in absolute awe from beginning to end. I've had the privilege and joy to experience multiple incredible meals lately and Piano Piano is my new favourite. I will be back soon.

If you have yet to go, be prepared to take lots of photos. This location has an infinite amount of angles, vibes, aesthetics -...