Sotto Voce Wine & Pasta Bar — Restaurant in Toronto

The atmosphere here is intimate yet lively, we sat next to the open window seats and were even visited by a Dalmatian while sipping our cocktails. I like that this is a place set up in a way to allow for special little moments like that. With each dish we ordered, my boyfriend and I looked at each other wide eyed bc of the beautiful, unique melody of flavours. Before our pasta dishes arrived a different passing waitress hand picked our wines for us according to our meals and brought us bread with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and olives—that was really sweet and the kind of thing that just makes you smile.

Though I’m saddened by the way our main waitress treated me throughout the night. For some reason they would not even glance at me and would only speak directly to my boyfriend, sometimes even turning their body to me, all while constantly touching his arm and back. I was addressed only twice that night, at the beginning and at the end, and not with any of the warmth afforded to my boyfriend. There was not only a stark difference in how she treated us individually, but how the two other servers who checked in on us treated me—they actually spoke and looked at me and were very warm and sweet. I’m not asking to be treated like a princess but I would at least like to be acknowledged and respected, especially when I couldn’t have done anything to elicit that cold treatment.

It was also my birthday. We didn’t tell the staff but it was, and I hand picked this Italian restaurant of all the others in the surrounding area. I really did enjoy my night and I do think this place is really special, though that regrettably left a bad taste in my mouth, otherwise I have nothing but good...

Quite a disappointment. Cool location, and seemed to attract cool patrons. Upon entering and being seated, there were several small flies hovering around our table. Prior to being served I visited the men's washroom, which was appalling. There were hundreds of the same flies filling the bathroom, I think one of them went in my mouth. Keep in mind this was on a frigid day in mid December, not fly season. The entire place was run down. The bathroom was filthy and smelled. Paying closer attention to the dining area, nothing looked cleaned for years. Mirrors and walls were covered in film and filth. The kitchen looked filthy with a giant hole in the ceiling next to the vent hood. Wine selection and prices by the glass were great, and they had sancerre by the glass. Appetizer was decent. Main courses were quite disappointing. I had a special; a prime rib ragu on rigatoni. It tasted nice. The portion was ridiculously small. It had 13 pieces of rigatoni. I finished in 5 bites and went for fast food after dinner. My guest had a spagh bolognese which was also very small and boring. Both dishes arrived so quickly it was almost as though it was pre-prepared and quickly thrown together and served. The server was nice enough, but very brief and to the point. She never asked how our meal was going. I...

Horribly slow service, main dishes arrived 1.15 hrs after order was processed. Extremely rude manager and entitled server. Mediocre food for dishes that did arrive. Hands down, worst serviced restaurant in Toronto. Will not be returning, would highly NOT recommend.

Details: It's unfortunate that I am leaving such a review as I was looking forward to dining here. I used to live in the neighbourhood and passed by this restaurant frequently. It wasn't the fact that the food arrived so late (the food that did arrive), accommodations could've been made accordingly. What was most insulting was the manager who attempted to put me in my place by telling me "actually" my order was inputted less than an hour ago. What the manager failed to realize was that actually it was an hour post order when she said that, and she also failed to acknowledge that we were waiting to even INPUT our order. We had to flag down the waitress to place our orders. The consistent excuse given was "the restaurant is small" - I've been to smaller restaurants with better and quicker service. This is unacceptable and I can see why they've downsized in space...