Venez déguster un délicieux repas chez Ritorno. Au menu une variété de pizzas et des pates, dans une gamme de prix allant de 11$ à 25$. Venez profiter d'une atmosphère romantique et décontractée. Ce restaurant vous reçoit sur sa terrasse en été. Profitez de service de réception, des plats à emporter et un stationnement. Ritorno est ouvert en soirée tous les jours de la semaine.plus...Plus de texte
I have never felt compelled to publicy slam a restaurant before but Ritorno has inspired me.
In reading that Julia's inspiration for opening Ritorno was her Nona, I am afraid to say that Nona would most likely be embarassed to have her name associated with the food served.
My husband and I went with another couple, who jokingly said I would get blamed if the food wasn't good as I had suggested trying Ritorno. Well, I shouldered the blame.
As reservations are not taken on Saturdays, I inquired about the best time to go without having to wait. I was told it starts to get busy around 7:00pm. We arrived approx. 6:30 and only had to wait a few minutes for a table. Great! And, true to their word, a line up started not long after we arrived and continued until we left, approx. 1-1/2 hours later. You would think, with a line of people waiting to eat that the food must be fanstastic - NOT! As I said to my friend, they must be first timers like us....they don't know better.
My appetizer (shrimp) was quite good, not exceptional, but good. The minestrone soup was a hit, however, my husbands Stratiatella (spelling?)
tasted like, and I quote, "left-over dish water". It had absolutely no flavour! It was the worst excuse for a soup he has ever encountered.
The entrees' were a joke. One of our friends ordered the Linguine with Alfredo sauce, and asked for chiken with it which they would only bring as a side dish, they would not put it with the Linguine. Sadly, the bowl of Linguine she received was about the size of a small soup bowl you might use at home for your child. Thank God she ordered the Chicken so there was at least something to eat.
The spaghetti and meatballs was also miniscule in proportion although what little there was, was enjoyable.
The little-neck clam pasta was just that...little. There were four or five clams on top of a very small bowl of pasta. One of the shells was empty and there were no clams in the pasta itself. Sad!
My chicken Limone was serviceable but also a small portion (and I am not a big eater).
To top everything off, we of course all had room for dessert, and the Tiaramasu (sp?) was probably the worst mushy mess I have ever had the displeasure of eating; needless to say it was not finished.
I actually had to register to leave a review here and I went to the trouble of doing so just so I could warn people about this restaurant. They seriously need to get a grip on what constitutes a good Italian meal. When was the last time you left an Italian restaurant hungry?
AMAZING!!! AMAZING!! AMAZING!!
We have been to the poor excuse for an italian restaurant down the street from Ritorno and were a bit apprehensive to try out this new place. We were more than pleasantly surprised!!! This place actually has a real chef! We shared an anti-pasto platter to start. Loved the figs, and some spicy sauce was to die for! Perfect starter for sharing with friends. The service was excellent...attentive but allowed us to enjoy ourselves without feeling rushed....i hate when i am rushed through my meal! Really helpful picking out a bottle of wine. The food was very authentic italian....I had the brajole and my husband a huge pasta (some pesto and vegetables). Our guests loved it and the best part was the price. We felt like we ate fine dining all the way but when the bill came it didn't break the bank! Oh, and the best foam on a cappacinno I have had in my life!
Tried for the 1st time this week..Service was slow. Long wait between appetizer and entree.Food at best-mediocre. I had a Caesar Salad with one sad looking Anchovie strewn across the top and a Penne S 'something..with sausage. Actually, it had lumps of fat and bone more than anything. Not impressed.
Dessert-Pannetone Bread pudding was very good.
Overall-disappointing.
Was in recently for dinner, been a few times and this one was the best one yet so I thought I would post something on here. I've been mindful of this site and it's unfortunate that so many people accentuate the negative and so few decide to put forth positive feedback on their dining experiences.
The mussels were excellent, well spiced and just enough sauce left over to mop up with the fresh bread, the olives were very tasty as well. My rigatoni was perfectly cooked and sizeable...had to take some of it home...no problem there - lunch the next day. The veal parmigiana is huge and also nicely cooked, risotto was creamy and delicious. Only minor negative - perhaps a little salty on the breading for the veal, but could be just my tastes..not salty enough to discourage my companion from valiantly attempting to eat the whole thing. To no avail....more lunch for the next day!
Chocolate mousse was silky and delicious. Service was attentive, professional and courteous. The ambiance casual, the restaurant clean and the evening was very enjoyable.
Thanks for making the decision to go out a good one for a change.
The whole experience was a bit disappointing.
The decor is fine. The food is ok. The service is lacking.
As for the food. I had bruchetta - which was actually pretty good. Nice crostini, cheese, tomato and roasted garlic. It went down hill from there. I ordered one of the evening's specials - which was steak with gorganzola. I requested no gorgonzola cheese - and chose risotto as my choice of side. The steak came - it was cooked medium, came with cheese on top of it (though I had requested medium rare - with no cheese), had roasted potatoes on the side (recall I had ordered the risotto), and large stalks of chewy, out of season, grilled asparagus.
For you meat lovers out there - they gave me a poorly trimmed, lousy piece of meat, from the bad end of the tenderloin... you know the one that tastes like it hung out with the liver for a while. I suppose it's my fault for ordering steak in an Italian restaurant - but I figure if they put it out as a special... it should be good?!
I asked my server why there was cheese on my steak - and she informed me that it was parmesan, rather than gorgonzola (I guess she didn't understand what "no cheese" meant). At that point, I didn't bother to mention that I got potatoes rather than risotto. I had a few bites and had it wrapped for home (lucky dog).
Three of my seven dinner companions had chosen the other evening special - to be told that they only had one left. So, one got the special, and two got a rather enemic looking plate of pasta with a couple of shrimp on top. Boring.
The house wine by the glass was overpriced ($8 a glass for what I suspect was about $10/bottle from the LCBO). Also, there were only three - uninspiring choices of wine by the glass.
In all, I felt that the food was mediocre and over-priced. The service was below-average and slow. I'm not sure I'll go back.
