Monticchio Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Winnipeg

I wanted to like this place badly! Owning a business is hard, no one doubts that...but this is an honest review of MY experience at Monticchio and i hope they can receive it in the intention that it is meant and hopefully over time, make some improvements?? Here we go; From the moment I walked in, the staff seemed to be indifferent, not at all friendly or welcoming to my presence. The restaurant was pretty quiet on this night and almost empty in the area that I chose.... as there were only two tables occupied and about 8 or 9 tables empty. I asked the server if I could take empty 2 chaired table by the window. She told me in an abrupt voice, "No" as I was a single diner, and they're expecting more people to come in shortly and that table was reserved. I was put aback by the abruptness of her comment but i brushed it off. The young hostess proceeded to sit me in the middle of the restaurant in an awkwardly placed table right beside a wall divider and support beam that made me feel squished into a space that I didn't want to be in. I then waited about 15 minutes before my waitress came to my table... When the waitress finally did arrive, .i asked again if there was any chance that I could move tables and sit closer to the window. But even though the place was almost empty, the waitress echoed, the hostess and said that was not an option. I was annoyed by the tone, but I decided I was gonna give the place a chance. I can be extremely patient because i know servers have a tough job...but i do expect restaurant staff to be warm and care about service or pretend to at least. I finally ordered my pizza but I wont lie , i was already annoyed at what i felt was youthful indifference..but I ended up waiting about twenty five minutes for the pizza, which is not a super long time to wait but in that ridiculous table squished against the pole, it felt like an eternity.. While i waited for my pizza during that 25 minute i should mention the waitress never once came back to check on me to ask if i needed anything or to evem refill my water. Insult to injury, another server was in the same section handling another table . And while she was serving a 4 person table...the rest of the section was dead except for me and all the while even though she was only a few feet away from me, she never even looked in my direction, no eye contact, not a smile not a "hey more water while you wait"? Nada When the pizza finally came, it was unfortunately as big as a disappointment as the service. The Pizza was bland with too much cheese/grease and with not much flavor. I had two pieces of my order and gave up. I had been in the restaurant for about 45 min or so at this point and i had realized that the window table that I had been denied, was still very empty and the rest of the section remained unoccupied.. :(

After tasting the rather blah pizza and feeling annoyed about being mainly ignored and the empty window table, i flagged down the waitress and asked her to box up the rest of the pizza, i just couldnt sit any longer in my frustration at what i perceived as indifference in both their food and their service.. I know this sounds harsh, but that's how I felt. In leaving the restaurant, I provided my sever with a modest tip despite my experience. But on the way back to my car I proceeded to throw the remaining pizza in the garbage a few steps outside of the restaurant... the experience left me that frustrated and the idea of taking another bite at home did not appeal. To say I was disappointed in my Monticchio experience is an understatement, I was rooting for this place. I don't think I will be back. I think when you have a business with such a history in the neighborhood, you expect a little more as it relates to customer experience.. I hope they choose to add a little bit more care in all areas. With that said, as a family run business in a neighborhood that deserves vibrant food options i hope that they figure it out and eventually do better... the little things add up, the little things matter...i...

It's OK. Went here the other day for our five year wedding anniversary. Needed something different to try rather than mainstream "Italian" food places. Dark hallway entrance where you aren't sure if you are in the right place or a neighboring business. Waited for someone to notice and greet us. Only a couple minutes wait. Tables and chairs are old school and remind me of furniture recovered from a 70's motel six. Not necessarily a bad thing lol. The server was just barely OK in terms of service. Now I know there is a shortage of workers particularly in the service industry so.... anyway, we ordered two pasta dishes, meatball and spaghetti and a seafood mix pasta plus a litre of wine. A nice plus is the homemade garlic bread twists that are offered after you sit down, and the butter is not hard right out of the fridge. It's whipped and soft enough to spread or dip the bread into. You'll be full before the main course. Remind you of anywhere? (Olive Garden) The wine glasses were foggy and spotty with stains and the carafe wasn't much better. When she served the wine she slammed the glases down and caraf. It was kind of funny. I laughed because it felt like being served by a relative that's too busy to tend to you in their own home. Anyway the food was marginal and nothing to write home about. Honestly I felt sick after and had a hard time sleeping but that's likely because I ate late and perhaps the wine didn't help. Who knows for sure. I still tipped generously because as anyone in service industry knows, it ain't easy. We had too much wine and wondered how we would get it homes since it was in a carafe. The ever offered to place the wine in an empty bottle and cork it for us so we wouldn't waste it. That was a nice plus which we appreciated. I don't think I will go back. This is the second time in as many years that I've tried the place. Not memorable, food is just OK, service not so great but passable. There you have it, my honest and...

We were super excited to go for our first time on Saturday night (my wife and I). Read the reviews and everything, we knew what we were going to order beforehand as well. Beautiful restaurant ambience but service was god awful. It was like our server was ignoring us. We arrived at 7pm and left at 9pm (2 hours). We did not get our meal until 8:15 pm (1.15 hours of waiting). Our server checked in on our table 3 times out the 2 hours, no apology, nothing. Two tables that arrived after us, one couple at each, were seated, had ordered, were fed and left before I finally waved down the busser to see where our food was at.

The Fettuccini Alfredo arrived gummy, dry and majorly under portioned. French onion soup was cold, and the Veal Marsala had no wine in the sauce and the veal was tough and rubbery. Everything was bland and under seasoned. The side Caesar Salad, that came with the meal, was the only thing that was truly delicious and desirable (order one of these, it was good). Our food sat under the heat lamps for 45 mins before it was served to us. The busser paid more attention to us than anything (thank you to him btw).

Overall, we want to try Monticchio's again, but if it turns out like this past visit, we are not giving anymore chances.

The unfortunate thing is, the other guests in the restaurant looked like they were enjoying themselves. It is disappointing to be neglected from something we were excited to try...