Pulcinella (Toronto) Ristorante & Wine Bar (established 2010) — Restaurant in Toronto

First of all, a note to the comments from Jim Ginny (a female patron) below. I was there and witnessed the spectacle you created at the restaurant. You were not waiting 25 minutes, it was 5 - 10 minutes at most, and Mario apologized profusely! He bent over backwards to accommodate you and your guest. At all times he was completely professional. You exclaimed that you were in the service industry, and as such - you should know better! You were truly shameful, and I could tell your guest was cringing in embarrassment at your behaviour. I couldn't believe how rude you were to the staff and to Mario, creating an uneasy atmosphere for the guests who were having a good time. When I interjected because of your abusive behaviour, your language towards me was well - unacceptable and disturbing. You should be ashamed of yourself....

Pulcinella is a total gem - not only of the Lakeshore community, but of the GTA. Mario and his staff always go above and beyond to accommodate patrons.

Truth be told, my partner and I have been coming here for years.... in fact, we had our wedding reception here. I can honestly say we would not have changed a thing. All our guests said we had the wedding everyone wishes they had! Since then, we have had countless birthdays, anniversaries, and many other celebrations.

The food at the restaurant is consistently exceptional, as is the service and friendliness of all the staff! We are truly fortunate to have Pulcinella in our area, and always look forward to our Thursday evening dinners as a kick off for the weekend.

As one can imagine, COVID negatively affected so many restaurants and neighbourhood gathering spots. Pulcinella truly helped us out throughout COVID, as the restaurant always gave us something to look forward to - our Thursday night take out! Now that they have reopened we are so happy to be able to go back and enjoy the patio! The atmosphere there has been so pleasant, as everyone (I believe) couldn't wait to get out and be social again! Mario and staff do their best to accommodate everyone - ALWAYS adhering to COVID safety protocols.

Often, Mario's wife Andrea is working as well. Without exception, Mario and Andrea make it a point to make us feel like family. I honestly can't say one negative thing about this restaurant. Excellent food, staff, and a place that truly makes you feel like family. Truely a pillar of the community.

Much thanks to Mario, Andrea and all the staff for all of their hard work, dedication, amazing food, and for making everyone feel...

You will wonder why 1 star when I tell you I LOVE this restaurant. I have been there multiple times and LOVE it so much that when my "Italian family" from BC comes into town....I brought them here. And I typically only do reviews when I receive excellent service, but yesterday when I went, I was so disappointed. Our "regular" waiter, a gentleman wasn't there and he is AMAZING! My husband and I got there first and ordered our drinks from a lady. My girlfriend came later on and placed her order for drinks from a gentleman and her drink came and ours didn't. And then we had to ask again for our drinks and replace the order. And when the lady waitress was telling us the specials...she walked away 2 times in between her own conversation. She told us she would be our server but after that she never returned to our table again. We asked for 2 bills prior to ordering and then only received 1. My husband's bread was BURNT and we had to ask for it to be taken back. I don't believe they should have even served it to us in the first place if they were paying attention and looking at the food they were serving. My girlfriends food was "lukewarm" and the SALUMI appetizer that we typically order came with way LESS cheese than we are accustomed to getting when we order this dish. It was little small cubes of cheese..about 4. It typically comes with large pieces. The gentleman asked how everything was at the end of the meal and so I started to tell him but before I could even tell him everything, he apologized and said they were short staffed and that is wasn't an excuse but then hurried off. I didn't even get the chance to tell him that when I went downstairs to use the bathroom, there was NO toilet paper or hand towels in the first bathroom. I didn't leave feeling like I was heard. For all the things that went wrong and especially because I told the gentleman how much I like the restaurant, my expectation was that at the VERY LEAST they would have offered us a "free dessert or entree" the next time we come in to make up for our experience. I am sad because I really do LOVE this restaurant and the food they serve. This restaurant is not a fast food low budget place so my expectations for the price you pay is where is should be. I don't ask for much, but I do ask...

Went here for summerlicious lunch right at 12pm when they opened and there were 4 other tables inside being serviced along with 5-7 tables out on their patio. The service was great! The starters were fantastic as the calamari was seasoned very well and the carpaccio was great too although quite a lot of oil. The main courses we had were not as great as the starters, as I felt there was no real taste to mine and I added a lot of salt to it to give it some taste. My partner's one was okay as well but neither were something we would order again. The desserts were great but as both were very sweet coffee was needed with them which cost an extra $3.95 each. We were seated under the air conditioner inside and the table we had was wobbly which I did not like and feel they should have fixed.

Overall: I would recommend this place as their calamari was really great and carpaccio was very good as well. Service was excellent considering they were kind of busy and I really appreciated the sever refilling our water without us asking. We would return to try a different main course and dessert.

Update: we revisited this place and tried some different items on the menu. The service stayed consistent with our waiter (Antonio-i think) always refilling our tiny water glass which we really appreciated. We ordered the calamari again and it was good. For our main courses we had the Pescatore and the Gnocchi a la vodka. I enjoyed the Pescatore as the amount of seafood they gave matched the pasta and the seasoning and flavor was great (no additional salt required). My husband's gnocchi were cooked very well and were not overly chewy. There was a lot of bacon in it and it was his personal preference that maybe less was needed but I appreciated the amount of bacon they put in. The only small issue was that some of the calamari in the appetizer and in my pasta felt a bit over cooked and chewy. Overall great service and food as we received our appetizer within 10ish minutes of ordering and our main course...