Ciao Ragazzi Ristorante Pizzeria Mercato — Restaurant in Vaughan

I am writing this review not to complain or come down on Ciao Ragazzi. Just honest feedback. The whole reason I came to Ciao Ragazzi was because my daughter wanted to venture out for Italian food. When it comes to Italian food it may seem that I’m picky but I’m not. I read the reviews and saw that this place was rated 4.9. The issue is I feel people give out these high reviews and it can be a little misleading and deceiving. Which in turn expectations are destroyed.

The restaurant is tucked away in a plaza off Dufferin. It’s much more spacious than it appears to be. The interior was cute, it has a little Vespa out in display and some Italian posters and wall murals. There was a wood oven stove as soon as you entered in. This place was jam packed full of customers. With that being said it was loud. I’m not saying that’s a problem, I am just letting you know that conversations with someone next to you is difficult because the acoustics in the room are over powering lol.

Our waitress was such a delightful and attentive person. She was helpful and accommodating.

We were seated quickly and attended to swiftly. Bonus the food was served just as quick. So extra points to the staff in the kitchen pumping out orders consistently.

While we were waiting for the food to come they brought out some bread or so we thought it was. It was actually pizza dough cooked which wasn’t bad but to be honest I would have rather had nice Italian bread served. It was accompanied with a red bell pepper sauce which was a nice touch and added moisture to the dry pizza dough bread.

Now for the appetizers we ordered calamari fritti. The calamari came out and honestly I was shocked it was damn good. It wasn’t too oily, there wasn’t too much batter and the batter was nice and crispy. The calamari were actually very tender. It was better than your average calamari fritti served at most Italian restaurants in GTA. They were the star of today’s event.

Next came out the linguine con vongole. The menu showed it had cherry tomatoes and chilli flakes but I think the kitchen staff may have forgotten some of the ingredients that were displayed on the menu. The linguine was overcooked not al dente. For me that’s a sin. The white wine sauce was decent and the vongole were good problem is the pasta didn’t absorb any of the flavors. You needed to spoon the sauce in the empty clam shells to get its taste.

My daughter ordered the penne alla vodka which again was overcooked. The sauce was salty and sweet. Too salty and sweet for my liking. The pancetta tasted like mushy bacon.

The last thing ordered was the Calzone, which I only ordered because I thought the waitress said get the calzone instead pizza and silly me ordered the calzone because I couldn’t hear her. So that was definitely my fault. I asked for extra cheese and anchovies with a little bit of sauce if anything little to none of possible. Also extra well done. The calzone came out looked decent but as I started cutting into it it just showed what a soggy mess it actually was. There was a whole ton of sauce inside which again was too sweet and acidic. The anchovies were placed in one spot In the calzone.

I would rate the food lower but to be honest the calamari fritti saved them. It was enjoyable the only enjoyable dish.

Would I go back? Only for the calamari fritti to go. Would I recommend this place yes only for the calamari fritti and service. Please take this review with a grain of salt as I am only speaking about my experience and with the dishes I...

I was excited to try this place out, on a rare night out with my husband. We were very warmly welcomed to the restaurant by the hostess. Unfortunately experience went south from there.

We were offered to choose our table, which was nice, but once we sat down we were asked not once but twice by staff to move/squeeze into our table so that others could pass or sit. It was very puzzling as they themselves sat me there and then I am now very clearly in the way!

We basically ate our entire meal with no service. Our waitress was nowhere to be seen and it was frustrating. Our only interaction was when she came by to put in our order and also did offer to pack up my pizza. Nobody came to refill water, ask if we needed anything more, how the food is, if wanted coffee/dessert, offer to get the bill. I felt like I was in a self-service take out place. Other servers nearby seemed much more available and seemed very attentive - had to flag down others to get a water refill (we had been there for over an hour), ask where food was (1 hr wait time for a pizza seemed long - a quick check in with the table to say it's coming can go a long way). Lots of hard working people in this restaurant and others seemed to be enjoying it so it seems that we may have been a one off table that didn't get much service.

The food was fine but the experience soured the evening for me. I hope you are open to the feedback to improve for next...

That was an absolute blast for a casual Thursday dinner. But let me start from the beginning.

We are incredibly grateful that the restaurant accommodated our booking changes. Within 15 minutes, we called several times, adding more people to our table: +2, +2. And they made it work! Though the restaurant was completely full, we got our spot and enjoyed the meal!

Service: It was a little bit slow initially for me personally. At the same time, I appreciated the fact that we got time to catch up and carefully read the menu, so there is a positive side to it. Once we made contact with our excellent waitress, she was always there for us. We were loud, we were laughing, we were ordering—and somehow it worked, even though the restaurant was full. I would honestly think one more wait staff member would be beneficial for the place.

Food: We just returned from Italy, and I felt like I was back there again. I loved almost everything! Though I had some questions about the base tomato sauce they serve. I felt it was a little bit rough and too red. Otherwise, great portion size, selection, and quality vs. cost are fair.

I will definitely come back. Was very happy to discover...