Regina Pizzeria & Trattoria — Restaurant in Toronto

My boyfriend and I came here this past Saturday. We went to a show across the street which ended up finishing later than we expected thus making us 20 minutes late for our reservation. We were approached by an older man dressed in black who honestly on first impression was not welcoming nor pleasant, he looked at us and said "yes?" . We said we had a reservation for 930, and sorry we are late. Right away he tells and bluntly says we have to wait and walked away. This is fair considering we were late, but rude right off the bat. We thought of leaving but it was now 10 pm and we were starving. We waited about 15 minutes. Not complaining about that. But no invitation to sit at the bar or anything. We waited in the entrance until we were seated.

Our waiter gives us the menu and asks if we wanted ice water. Nothing else was offered. We ordered our food, a simple salad and pizza (no complaints here, the food was decent). The bizarre thing? We didn't get a basket of bread, or anything. So I thought okay, this Italian resturant doesn't do that. Fine. UUntil a table of four comes in after us and they are seemingly treated way better. Lemons in their waters, and bread! With the olive oil and balsamic. I am Italian, and this is what I am used to!

At this point we already have our pizza. Not once did that man who first came to us asked how we were, how the food was. In fact he didn't even look in our direction. Our waiter also didn't ask how we were doing . Didn't care if we wanted an adult beverage, soda, or more food. Nothing.

We ask for the bill, and some younger guy from the kitchen comes out and gives it to us.

Pleasant and polite guy, but makes a mistake on the bill - probably because he never served us, so how would he know what we ordered. But you want to know what this guy did that no one else in the place had the decency to do? Ask how we were, how the food was, and what we were doing the rest of the evening. The only person with any customer service.

I'll never go there again. I don't care how good the food was. It was the Worst service I have ever seen/experienced. We literally felt like we were bothering these people.

Anyways, rant over. I hope someone who owns this place ends up seeing this review and trains their people how to treat...

Pasta can be one of the easist and most affordable dishes to make at home. (It ain't rocket Science!) Why is it so difficult to find a really good Italian restaurant in Toronto that doesn't charge an arm-and a-leg, even for just a simple, humble plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce? I really wanted to love this restaurant... Pleasant waiters, an old-school menu and decor, and in business for over 50 years. The only real problem is... the food. The caesar salad dressing was home-made, zesty, and delicious, but the lettuce and croutons were drowning in it. (It was ridiculously over-dressed.) My dry (not fresh) spaghetti was overcooked. (Not quite mushy, but not remotely al dente, either). Its bolognese sauce was watery and bland. And the (sparsely-topped) pizza's crust was very heavy, and had a peculiar texture, as if it had possibly been previously frozen. The genuine veal (not pork) parmegian was pounded thin and very flavourful, but was over-salted and a little greasy. There was a small ring of water at the base of my pasta which only happens when a pasta isn't drained sufficiently, or when the tomatoes in a sauce have been heedlessly overheated. (The water in the tomato pulp separates, resulting in a very thin, watery sauce.) It reminded me of the pasta I had eaten in my one previous visit to Regina's, several years ago. (Deja vu.) I was tempted to blot my plate dry with my paper napkin. This bewilderingly long-term (watery) problem needs to be - and could so easily be - corrected! The devil is in the details. Portions at Regina are decent, and the prices are the going rate for Italian cuisine, but with over half a century of experience behind them, I expect a little more finesse in the kitchen. Including tax and tip, dinner for two, without alcohol (just two entrees and one shared app, with no beverages or desserts) was $80. Not expensive, but not exactly cheap either. Bottom line: Regina has a nice staff and atmosphere, but the kitchen really needs to do some fine-tuning, even after 50 years of experience. Regina's... I know you can do better... and your customers...

I never leave reviews but I’m so disappointed with the service today. I have ordered from this place over 15-20 times and enjoyed it every time. I always order a gluten free margarita pizza and have never had a problem. Last time and Today I ordered and it was not the same gluten free dough. Mind you, they know me as we are regulars and know our address because we order so often. I was upset at the dough because it was different then the last how ever many times. I kindly called and asked why it was different as it was not good at all.

The owner or manager (the not so polite one) replied to me by saying “that’s the new product we carry I don’t get the other dough anymore there’s nothing I can do, what do you want me to do that’s what I get now.” I said wouldn’t it have been a reasonable gesture to let the customer know especially if I’m a regular? He said “I don’t know what you want me to do, you ordered gluten free I’m not going to tell every customer that orders gluten free this information” okay sure that’s fine. That’s fair, I’m a reasonable person I can understand things change, but if I’m a regular customer don’t you think it would be kind to let me know considering I order this almost every weekend? I guess customer satisfaction is not something that is important to this person.

Moral of the story I’m throughly disappointed with the way this was handled by the manager/owner as I have been a valued customer for years and feel very sadden that the response was so unapologetic and rude. The staff is great and kind. But an apology from the gentleman on the phone, would have sufficed or just simply an explanation prior to me putting my order through that the product has changed so I knew what to expect and could have ordered something else on the menu instead as their food is usually very good and enjoyable. Very disappointed with the way this was handled and I will not be...