Cantina Amici — Restaurant in Vaughan

Our group of 4 had dinner here on a Thursday night. The decor and atmosphere was very nice. Once we were seated there was a considerable delay with our server bringing water and placing an order for some wine and cocktails. The appetizers, fried calamari with shrimp, and octopus were plated very nice with disappointing small portions...lol and this was not reflective of the price. The small portions carried over into the rigatoni with wild boar which looked like a tasting menu portion. During our dinner the owner came by to introduce himself and asked how everything was which is a nice touch. We joked about the tiny portion sizes and he pointed out that their pasta is home made and most restaurants plate about 90-100 grams....they plate 120. His reply was absurd..and not accurate. Despite the slow service through the night, we enjoyed our friends in a nice setting. Another note...the wine list is grossly marked up. No repeat for us...looks like the social media influencers have pumped this...

This place seems over-hyped as my experience was entirely disappointing. The portions are really small for the prices. The recipe for their risotto is a choice... I could only taste Marsala (which isn't very authentic). What I love about mushroom risotto is the subtle flavors, and they covered it up. Are the chefs not proud of their cooking?

Worst part was the dessert. For $16, we got tiramisu in a moka pot! I'm used to some of these restaurants having ridiculously pretentious presentations, but this didn't even look good! And the portion was so small. It seemed like there was one lady finger (split into 2) that was kinda floating in the moka pot and it wasn't even properly soaked, so was still hard. There's a reason traditional tiramisu is not served this way. We spent more than enough money but left hungry and unsatisfied. What a joke and quite cheap on the restaurant's part.

Our server was fantastic, which is why I'm not rating...

We went for a dinner. The service started well - we were seated quickly; servers were quick to take orders. However, the service went downhill quickly once the restaurant became busy. The service is extremely slow; no one checked in to take away dirty dishes or refill water or asked whether we needed anything. It’s not servers’ fault though as we can see they were stretched very thin. For a busy Saturday night, the restaurant should’ve at least two more servers.

The food is decent with pretty presentation. The charcuterie board is very good. The Zuppa de Peces is solid. The Funghi has some kinda crumbs that made it taste a bit sandy. The lava cake is a bust though with no lava flowing out. The merengue lemon tart is good.

Overall, one might have a better when the restaurant is less busy. The food is on the expensive side given the...