Colosseo Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Winnipeg

Where do I start?

The first thing I thought when I was here with my partner was "I've always wanted to try this place out!". The second one was "I think I've seen this episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares before". Some first impressions are the most important, but in this case, it was the second.

My partner got the pesto linguine, which as you can see from the attached photo, was drenched in oil. Immediately upon receiving the plate, pushing down gently on the noodles revealed a layer of oil underneath. Halfway through, as shown, the situation hadn't improved. I could picture Gordon Ramsay commenting about the quantity of oil, probably using language more colourful than the basil.

I had looked at the menu and saw "homemade pasta", with an entry for cannelloni. I make fresh pasta semi-regularly, so I was excited to try this entree. What I got was not what I was anticipating. As before, images of Gordon Ramsay shouting "it's not fresh, it's frozen!" popped into my mind. The meat mixture alone was... off. The taste was acceptable but no more, but the texture was pasty at best. And the pasta. The pasta was well and truly bad. Fresh, homemade pasta is not a hard thing to make. Even just semolina and water can give excellent results. This, however, was not that. It had clearly been frozen at some point in it's lifecycle, perhaps long ago. It cracked a little from the dry interior as I cut through it with the knife. The flavor was off as well, in a way that I cannot explain. I've had better noodles from a grocery store box, by an order of magnitude. I've also had better frozen meat filled pasta dishes from a grocery store box as well.

And that's nothing to say of the overall experience. The staff cut my partner off twice when asking a question, put their hands on our shoulders without asking, and were the loudest fixture of the establishment. The guests were far quieter, and the only "ambience" was the staff joking with each other while sharing things on their phones.

Overall, this trip was characterized by regret. My stomach, not 30 minutes from my experience there, is gurgling and uncomfortable. My partner's is as well. For $30 a plate you would expect quality or at least quantity, but we received neither. I regret choosing to not waste the food, I regret making the choice to give it a try, and I regret mostly not having a personal tip line to Gordon Ramsay.

Edited to add: 2 hours after our seating my partner is now throwing...

If I could rate this a -1 out of 10, I would. I'm not going to lie that my boyfriend and I are regulars when we are in need of Italian pasta and a slow, romantic date night but after tonight, we definitely won't be returning.

Although the food is worth waiting for and probably the ONLY reason to stay, the service is a nightmare.

We sat down and looked at our menu for 10-15 minutes without anyone acknowledging us. Our server came up to our table and simply asked us what we wanted to drink; one corona and one glass of ice tea. Without bothering to ask us if we were ready, she walked off and reappeared with the bottle of corona in an instant yet didn't ask if we were ready. Another 15 minutes went by as we waited with our menus closed, more than ready to order and no glass of iced tea either. We waited so long that we were even browsing through google for other places to eat. By the time we decided on another place, had our coats on and were even walking away from our table, the server decided to stop us and ask why we were leaving.

The server began to argue with us that food took some time and when we replied that we didn't order any food and waited another 15 minutes for an ice tea that still didn't come and for her to take our orders, she gave us attitude and the excuse that she had other tables and iced tea took time. I didn't realize that Colosseo was literally squeezing lemons back there to make me a super fresh glass of iced tea. Who would have guessed that they were also picking the tea leaves too.(Please also note that I'm being super sarcastic and find the server arguing about "making" ice tea a load of bull)

We don't care if it takes more than 45 minutes for food because we acknowledge it's worth it and to even return. However to wait more than 30 minutes and more for an ice tea, without someone to take our order and actually acknowledge us is not worth it. We also understand that servers can be busy with other tables but all of the servers were literally standing behind the bar chatting their lives away. There are better restaurants with...

I’m not one to write reviews but I must say I’m a little disappointed with our experience.

Firstly, when one of our group tried to make a reservation for 7pm, the person on the phone was somewhat rude and said they would be “too busy,” not specifically saying if they had an available table or not. We then called a while later and someone else answered the phone saying they would have available tables inside and on the patio for 7:15-7:30.

When we got there, a woman who seemed to be kind of in charge, I think her name is Toni, told multiple people to “watch my lights,” as there were light switches on the wall and she wanted to make sure someone didn’t accidentally touch them. However, the rude tone of voice towards customers threw me off. She also later was telling another member of staff to make sure the silverware napkins were rolled a specific way because “they have to look pretty.” Fair enough but again, a rude tone towards a young girl who seemed to be new, and quite loudly in front of customers.

When we paid at the end, the same woman handled the transactions, and when my boyfriend went to pay with cash, said “I don’t have a lot of change so I hope you have small bills,” in a very bossy and inconvenienced tone, before he even pulled any cash out. He told her to keep the $3 change that she apparently wouldn’t have in the till.

Also, when asked if there were free refills for the $3.95 soft drinks… $4!?!?, the waitress laughed and said “no free refills,” as if it was common sense. LOL.

The only other complaint is that the noise level is quite high inside. There was a larger group of young girls near us so that’s not really in their control.

However, I will say the food is amazing. It’s a bit on the pricier side but very good for a nice pasta or pizza night. The Colosseo breadsticks are super good, although ours were slightly undercooked and doughy, still really good. I’d recommend ordering takeout as the dining experience wasn’t the greatest for us but...