Via Mercanti Woodbridge — Restaurant in Vaughan

After a big afternoon out, my friends, wife, and I were pretty hungry. None of us are from this area, and we knew nothing of the "non chain" restaurants. Everyone was leaning towards Italian food. We tried one place nearby, but they were closed for a private event. Some Google searching and this place came up.

Upon arrival... lots of parking as it is in a strip mall. The front view to the restaurant isn't very inviting and doesn't give off any vibe of being a good Italian eatery. Stepping inside, things looked better.

We were seated rather quickly. Yay! Menus were brought, and then there was a lengthy wait before we saw the server again. Ho hum.... she brought us water and we had to request the drink menu.

She returned after a bit with a plate of sliced toasted bread, which was burned across the top. She took our drink orders. Two espresso martinis, one other type of martini and an Amaretto sour.

The espresso martinis came out first. They were good, although one had way more cinnamon across the foamy top than the other. It's not really a complaint, but it just looked quite different for being the same beverage.

Then she came back a few minutes later with my friend's martini. She ordered it dry, with gin and extra olives. It looked like a glass of water in a martini glass. No olives. A little discussion regarding this only to learn that they had no olives other than the ones that go on the pizzas. One would think that they would come over and explain having no olives before making the martini. My friend took the drink anyway, even though the server said she could dump it and make her something else. She also explained that the bartender was on break somewhere, so she couldn't ask him if the olives were anywhere else. Hmmm. Bartender on break... who made the drinks? My friend still said it was okay. She ended up leaving the restaurant and going to some sort of meat and cheese store 2 or 3 doors down and bought her own jar of olives to add to her martini.

Our other friend's Amaretto sour didn't come for almost 10 more minutes. Four drinks for the four of us were ridiculously staggered. So much for us all toasting our nice afternoon out together.

The server came back and took our food order. That went fairly smooth. I got my usual to any Italian place, chicken parmigiana. My wife got chicken scampi in a wine marsala sauce. My friends got lasagna and a mushroom risotto with a request to add some meat to it. There were a few options, and she chose the sliced beef. We all enjoyed our meals, but my friend did say the beef slices were very dry.

Now, while we ate, another group was seated at the table behind us. We overheard them being told what the specials were for the day. We were not informed of the specials.

We couldn't help but notice that our server did not look like any other server present, and by that, I mean their attire. The clothes do not matter, but this just made us wonder who served us? Clearly, this wasn't their usual job, or maybe they were very new.

We all agreed that this most likely could have been a far better experience if someone else had...

I recently dined at Via Mercanti and unfortunately had an experience that left me thoroughly disappointed. From the moment I entered the restaurant to the time I left, it was clear that customer satisfaction was not a priority for them.

The ambiance of the restaurant was pleasant, and the service initially seemed promising. However, my entire dining experience took a turn for the worse when I discovered a hair imbedded in my Tiramisu. I promptly brought this to the attention of the server, expecting an apology and a swift resolution.

To my surprise, the response from the staff was far from what I anticipated. Instead of acknowledging the issue and rectifying it, the server insisted that the hair was mine and that it was simply an unfortunate accident. I found this response not only unprofessional but also highly disrespectful.

I explained that the hair was definitely not mine, as it was of a different colour and length. Despite my efforts to convey this, the server remained dismissive and insisted that I pay for the dessert. This left me both frustrated and incredulous, as I couldn't believe the restaurant's refusal to take responsibility for such a blatant hygiene issue.

The lack of empathy and customer service in this situation was shocking. A reputable establishment should prioritize the well-being and satisfaction of its patrons. Charging me for a dessert containing a foreign object and claiming it was my own hair is not only unsanitary but also demonstrates a complete disregard for customer concerns.

I left Via Mercanti with a sense of disappointment and frustration, vowing never to return. I hope that others are spared from such a disheartening experience, and I strongly urge the management of Via Mercanti to reevaluate their approach to customer service and...

Ask for TAP water - unless you want to be charged for regular water!!

I rarely write reviews, but I felt compelled to write something due to our disappointing experience last night at the Woodbridge restaurant location.

My friends and I (group of 8) were each charged $9 for water, yet we were never once told that it costed money to drink water. At the beginning of the meal, the waiter asked if we would like “flat or sparkling water” and we all said flat immediately. None of us expected to be paying for water and none of us have ever been charged for basic water.

One of my friends and I went to speak to the manager who quite frankly, did not care or have any sympathy towards us. We were not asking for a refund, just acknowledgement for purposely tricking us into paying for water and not being upfront with what they were charging us. The menu was not entirely accurate and most menu items were more expensive than advertised.

Paying an extra dollar or two more per item did not bother us as much - it was the fact that we had to pay for water (which should be free of charge) and no one seemed to care that we were not happy. I read a few Google reviews and noticed that this is not the first time that this has happened to someone.

On another note, no one asked for our vaccine status and we were seated fairly quickly. Our waiter kept pulling down his mask while he was speaking to us and it looked like the other waiters were doing the same thing with other guests. The manager also had his mask down when we were speaking with him. I think those handling our food should have kept their masks on.

I won’t be returning to this restaurant and I hope they learn to be more up front with...