Trattoria Taverniti (expansion) — Restaurant in Toronto

I had this place on my list since they only specialized in primarily gnocchi which was a few years ago - luckily, as per their server, "our best gnocchi dish is still on the menu!"

TLDR: Food is well made, seasoned perfectly, servers are friendly and knowledgeable of their offerings, and I am keen to return. Also, for where they are located, the pricing is quite reasonable seeing as the portions are generous too.

Even on a good day, it takes me almost 2 hours just to get to this place by transit but it is so worth it. I had the misfortune of getting derailed by a religious parade that incorrectly informed the city of which streets the parade would venture down so it ended up taking me 3 hours to get there instead 🫠 Still worth it, but I had to request the server recommend their stiffest drink to me because of the aforementioned.

Onto the things we consumed!

-[NEGRONI] $14.00 🍸 Negronis are definitely the stiffest drink they have since it is entirely made from liquor: dry gin, sweet vermouth and bitters, then garnished with orange 🍸 This was exactly what I needed so 10/10 recommendation from the server 🍸 Not for the kind of people who are looking for a sweet cocktail as this tastes exactly like what you think three liquors mixed together would haha

-[GNOCCHI GORGONZOLA] $23.00 🥔 Homemade hand rolled potato dumplings in creamy gargonzola sauce with crushed walnuts, black pepper (it is also vegetarian!) 🥔 THIS is the dish the server said is their best gnocchi dish, and I have to agree with her 🥔 I was skeptical about whether walnuts would work in this dish but wow, the added flavor/texture truly elevated the dish - adding pepper flakes was good too!

-[DOMENICO] $22.00 🍕 Pizza made with tomato sauce, n’duja, hot soppressata, mushrooms, finished off with a pesto drizzle 🍕 The pizza is pretty large, and packed with ingredients so this is what I mean by it is worth every penny 🍕 The menu seems to have marked this as a hot pizza in spice level probably due to the soppressata but I like spice so it was delicious to me

-[POLPETTE] $16.00 🟤 Homemade meatballs (3) served with pomodoro sauce 🟤 The meatballs are pretty hefty, but they remain juicy, and well cooked despite their size 🟤 The pomodoro sauce is flavorful to a point where I inquired about ordering bread as to not waste the sauce 🤣

-[POLENTA CHIPS] $17.00 🌽 Crispy and golden fried polenta fingers topped with pecorino and served with gorgonzola cheese fondue (this is vegetarian!) 🌽 Oh my goodness, the polenta chips are so crispy on the outside, yet soft and tender on the inside 🌽 The sauce the chips are served on really ended up causing me to order bread because it was absolutely scrumptious!

-[BREAD] $3.00 🍞 Came with five pieces of lightly toasted bread that had olive oil drizzled on it 🍞 No idea if they make their own bread or where they source it from but it was really good 🍞 Highly recommend you order some because it's even good just eating it plain but certainly better to ensure not a drop of sauce goes to waste

-[N'DUJA E STRACCIATELLA] $16.00 🍞 Toasted calabrese bread with a spicy pork sausage spread, stracciatella cheese, topped with drizzled honey 🍞 The first bite of this was honestly a bit jarring as I was not expecting how sweet it was going to be 🍞 Once you realize the sweetness is part of the experience though, this combination of flavors becomes an absolute pleasure to consume - the ingredients almost tasted like they were only meant to be consumed together

-[VENEZIA] $20 🍕 Pizza made with tomato sauce, red onions, gorgonzola, and proscuitto crudo 🍕 I loved the cook of the pizza this time because the previous time, the crust was a little bit too charred for my liking (I know the oven for pizzas can be quite difficult to control) 🍕 This combination is delicious especially with chili flakes, and chili...

I think of Taverniti as a neighbourhood gem that you can rely on for great Italian food in a cozy, casual, friendly atmosphere. For that reason a negative experience yesterday was especially disappointing.

We booked a table for 12 to have dinner for my dad’s birthday. We normally go to the original Taverniti, but they can’t seat 12 together, so when I made the reservation, the expansion next door was suggested to me.

The good: the food was excellent as usual

The bad: Mind-blowingly inattentive service that put a damper on the evening and prevented us from ordering a second round of drinks, wine with dinner, coffee, or dessert.

Details:

As soon as we were all seated we noticed there was an uncomfortable vibe in the room. The two servers ignored us. One of them appeared visibly angry/annoyed. We were basically the only table in this small restaurant, so it was really strange to not be acknowledged. After around 10 minutes, a server finally came to the table and abruptly said “Can I take your order?” — like, no “hello, can I get you started with drinks?” We weren't ready to order mains, but ordered cocktails/beer and several appetizers to share. A few minutes into appetizers she came back and asked again to take our order. Not a big deal, we were ready to order mains at this point, but felt like we were being rushed. We finished our drinks and wanted to order another round and/or wine with dinner, but our server didn’t come back -- instead she let us sit there for 20-30 minutes at a table full of empty glasses. One of our group flagged her down and ordered a beer, but she didn't ask if anyone else wanted anything. When our food was dropped off, still no checking in re drinks or anything else. She started clearing plates when only half the table was finished eating.

We were baffled by this behaviour. As a former server I can’t imagine treating a table like this…. not to mention she could have sold us twice as many drinks and upped our bill substantially!

Final note: An AC was dripping on a couple of us throughout the meal, which is totally not the server's fault, but the restaurant was aware and made no attempt to move us or otherwise improve...

Mediocre food. Be prepared to be racially profiled by the idiotic staff. I'm sure the staff would like you to know to not come here if you're of East Asian descent - they'll deliberately ignore you and become resentful and hostile once it becomes clear you aren't willing to tolerate this. Look at the reviews from other East Asian (and Asian) customers if you want to establish a pattern of this sort of treatment.

When I arrived, the host immediately seated the group that arrived in front of me and I had to then stand and wait for nearly 10 minutes before anyone spoke to me. After being later seated, I was forced to wait almost half an hour before anyone bothered to take my order, and all the while I could see staff literally standing and chatting with other customers. The waitress gave me a smug glance and continued ignoring me once I tried to flag her down after 20 minutes of waiting. Only once I became visibly angry did she take my order. Was she simply waiting for me to leave?

They should be allowed by the city to put a banner up front like "Trattoria Tavernini: SERVICE FOR WHITES ONLY". It would save everyone's time.

On top of all this, the guanciale in the pasta dish I ordered was obviously burnt, and the food was not outstanding in any way. The only redeeming part of this experience was a very well-chilled glass of Pinot Grigio - there are certainly better restaurants in Little Italy and I will definitely not recommend anyone try this place. I left a standard gratuity but should have left nothing for this level of service. This place needs to go out of business...