Stella's Kitchen — Restaurant in Toronto

Stella just recently opened doors after we sadly said goodbye to good old Pour House. I’m glad they improved the vibes with an explosion of colours and textures and information all over the place, which let’s be honest is quite overwhelming and gets me a bit dizzy every time, but it’s also lots of fun. It almost feels like my Nona’s living room, with countless portraits from deceased family members I never got to meet and plastic plants of various unknown kinds— I don’t particularly like the beige places with Scandinavian “clean” furniture around the area anyways, so I’ll keep coming back to Stella’s atmosphere as long as there’s no TVs showing live sports like last time. Seriously, what’s the point? Turn the music on instead, so much better.

Now let’s talk food! I like it, I don’t love it. I refuse to call it generic but it definitely can use some improvement here and there. If you want to go Italian cause there’s no way to go wrong with pizza and pasta, then please make sure you don’t go wrong with pizza and pasta. I understand ever since Covid some business in the food industry have optioned to hire people with little culinary experience for lesser the regular hourly rate cause this is a bs capitalist world in which profit always win and hey, you have a business to keep open— but please notice the difference between undercooked pasta and pasta al dente. Thankfully, the fine gentleman who was helping us last time we went there made sure to get me a new plate when I informed the situation, and promptly apologized as if it was his fault. It was obviously not. I don’t particularly appreciate wasting food while so many starve on the streets and that’s the only reason why I’m writing this. Plates will keep coming back to your (open concept) kitchen if not properly prepared.

I’ll keep coming back to personally check whether your chefs have been instructed about how long your pasta should be submerged in salted boiling water and whether your tiramisu got more moist and your banana split less… confusing. I’ll try other items as well, don’t worry.

Shoutout to staff for being always kind— considering the ambiance, I’m guessing whoever is behind the curtains probably has the same temper as my Nona. I’m glad I didn’t get to...

The sign outside is fantastic and should really help attract people, especially at the beginning. The inside is not as fun as that sign. Not lots has changed from the previous restaurant that I believe you owned also. I would go further on the inside to brighten it up and make it more fun. Black and white check Tablecloths don’t work. The Server last Tuesday night was stupendous! She was smiley and friendly and helpful. We were on the patio and you probably could’ve used the second person to help her out. My son had been there a couple of days earlier and said that the food was probably just below average, But my wife and I wanted to try it anyway. It’s a pretty good menu though again I think could use a little work. My son was with us and so it was his second time and he said the food was better this time around. Wasn’t hot enough though, so I think it probably sat on the counter for a while. We had had drinks to start and I ordered a glass of red wine with my meal. The manager (I think, because she didn’t introduce herself), came to bring me my glass of wine and apologized before even putting it down, saying that they had left it in the regular fridge and forgotten to take it out and so the wine that I ordered was going to be very cold. That was a little disappointing, but not the end of the world. All in all it was average. My son lives close and so I’m sure we will try it again, but you have a fantastic chance here at the beginning. Ownership needs to spend time there to ensure the quality and taste of the food is superior otherwise, this restaurant will not be the success that it could otherwise...

I was excited that a new Italian restaurant was opening in my neighborhood ( practically right across the street ) and was telling everyone about it. I was thinking it would be a great place to bring my friends and family when they come over, because it's so close to where I live. I finally got to go in yesterday on my way home to get takeout. I ordered the Eggplant Parm, because it looked so delicious in the photos.The person at the front was very nice and told me it would be " about ten minutes" which was fine. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the very strong smell of burnt food. I think it was the pizza oven. Perhaps that should have been my first clue. I waited well over ten minutes for my order ( which was fine ) but I think they forgot about it because when I got it, it was only luke warm ( I took it out of the bag to look at it ) It also looked nothing like the photos on their website, and the eggplant looked absolutely horrible. It looked really old, and not fresh at all. I was so tired and hungry that I just took it and was hoping that it tasted better than it looked. It did not. There was hardly any flavour and the entire meal tasted awful. If I wasn't so tired I would have taken it back, but I just tossed it and made myself a tuna sandwich. The pasta was sticky/mushy and the sauce was flavourless. I tasted a little bit of garlic but no tomato. I feel that it may have been leftover food from the previous day(s) I understand that everyone has bad days, but for $28.25 plus tip, I expected it to look and taste much better...