Tosca Ristorante

I was pleasantly surprised by the food. The atmosphere is modern, bright and well decorated. Every single pasta dish was a pure delight. The aroma and flavour were quite present. The service was excellent as they were very attentive to our requests. The pistachio gelato was a must, imported directly from Italy.

5 stars all the way. I asked about gluten-free. The staff was quite knowledgeable. The menu does NOT have symbols showing gluten-free, or any other dietary restrictions. It's an Italian restaurant. I ordered what I thought was a gluten-free chicken dish. The menu description doesn't mention "breaded". The waiter pointed out that this particular chicken breast was breaded and contained gluten, and suggested another. That chicken dish was excellent, in a mushroom tomato sauce. Well spiced. A few vegetables on the side. It looked amazing and a little lite, but in fact, I didn't finish it. We each ordered a glass of red wine. No special. Their basic red is not every else's basic red. The wine was delightful in its own right.

On a busy Valentine’s night, we had a very lovely time here. There was a line up initially but it moved fast, they were serving us all Champagne while we waited. The atmosphere was so calming and cozy, all the servers, hosts and bartenders worked well together. Our server Alicendra (i may be spelling it incorrectly) was lovely! Food was scrumptious and drool worthy! Overall we had such a lovely night, thanks to your team!

Great place for Italian in downtown Ottawa. The food is delicious. I have come here for the last 15 years and have never been disappointed. Service is kind and efficient. The atmosphere is elegant, modern and fun.

You must add Tosca to your places to eat. Food from scratch, quality of food is wonderful, romantic atmosphere, service always great, friendly with attention to detail. Highly recommend.

Delicious food, great Customer service, the waitress was so sweet! Loved the meat and cheese board(antipesto platter), the delicious complimentary bread and pasta (manicotti) which consisted of pasta with cream sauce with spinach and bacon!

I was pleasantly surprised as this was the first of ten restaurants in Ottawa where the cutlery was of a high standard (18/10 stainless steel). I ordered the $60 dish - "Rack of Lamb Andrea", the ribs were tender and tasty, but the price was clearly overpriced as the portion was very small. Instead of potatoes, I would suggest adding some eggplant and zucchini slices to the vegetables - it would have been much tastier that way! When I asked the waiter to move me to a table for four because I enjoy dining at a larger table, he gladly agreed. In some restaurants, the waiters refuse for some reason. The service is excellent...I recommend it.

Had a great time! Crazy busy for Valentines and they were behind schedule. They were respectful and courteous. Kept us in the know and sat as accordingly. Good food and dinner, ambiance is nice too.

Great service! Our server was wonderful. The ambiance was nice, not too loud. There was unlimited bread to start. I got the carbonara which was okay, nothing to write home about. I do think it's a prime location for appetizers and reasonably priced drinks so I will be back for that.

The soup of the day, tortellini with beef, veal, and chicken broth was very good. The veal Marsala was decent, the meat was a bit chewy. Our server was very good, personable, helpful, and to the point. The ambiance was nice as well, dim lights and comfortable. The overall attention to details and friendliness from staff was noticeable. A good place to go if you are in Ottawa.

Stopped in following an event at the NAC in Ottawa, and was stunned by how tasty the food we ordered turned out to be. Try the Lasagna!

We come here often for work events and I appreciate this restaurant being able to accommodate our big group with little notice. I tried the cannelloni and I loved how creamy the ricotta cheese was, the pasta also tasted fresh. The only thing I would've enjoyed was if the bread we received once we sat down was warm.

Although the food and atmosphere was phenomenal. Our server was less than accommodating. She was busy socializing with other servers and the table taking shots that was across from us. I waited 30 minutes for a slice of cheesecake because she was gossiping. (As we sat close I could hear the whole conversation with the other table) The rest of the servers were immaculate.

A group of four on a business trip and came hungry. First of all, the food was nothing but superb. We did find the service a little forced. Not unpleasant, just a little disinterested. Ordered mussels as a starter. Very yummy with an amazing sauce that was just perfect. Next I had a rack of lamb. It came with some penne pasta is a garlic sauce. It was perfect and I really enjoyed it. So, come for the food ... not the service. Maybe it was just an off night.

Our meal was delicious and the service was outstanding - when the waitress found out we were going to donate our leftovers to a needier person she even threw in some additional items

Was a nice pleasant meal. Better than prior critiques. Simple pasta meal desired. And delivered. If you like carbonara, have the kitchen ADD peas. Maybe a little more garlic in the sauce. Fresh pepper to taste. Cleaned the plate. Gorgonzola tortellini delicious. Get it. Salad big enough for two. Enjoy. Will be back

This was quite the disappointing experience. The interior of the restaurant looks really nice, however, the food and the service were disappointing. The complimentary bread was just disappointing. First of all they didn't give us enough for the table. The bread was cold and hard. It tasted pretty stale. The butter (that was supposed to be whipped, was also hard. My husband and I ordered two different pizzas. My husband got the calabrese pizza. It was bland, sloppy, and thoroughly disappointing. When you take a bite of the pizza, everything slides off the crust. The sausage tasted like frozen store bought sausage. I had the nonna attina pizza. The toppings also just slid off the pizza and the only flavour I got was from the hot pepper. The waitress was nice but she never came back after the food was served. We were never asked how the food was. We only saw her for the bill. I've been to other restaurants with much better Italian food for just about the same price. I do not recommend this place.

Always a fantastic and authentic Italian meal provided at Tosca! The wine was a full bodied Toscan, and it did not disappoint. All precautions taken during Covid-19. Had a wonderful risotto and spaghetti carbonara. Highly recommended!

I am absolutely in LOVE with Tosca's! The restaurant's decor is dark with dim lighting, which makes it very intimate and romantic. It's most popular amongst couples, parties, and business people. No matter how packed it is, which is usually the case, the servers and staff are fast, friendly, and professional. When you first sit down, they usually bring you bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping, and a small plate of olives and hot peppers. No matter what you order, and even if you're not into wine, I would suggest ordering a glass with dinner. It'll really compliment your meal. My boyfriend switched it up between the lasagna and chicken parmagiana when we went, but I stuck to the tortellini both times. It's cheese tortellini, cooked al dente, in a creamy parmesan and Gorgonzola cheese sauce with spinach and prosciutto. It's absolutely to die for and I can't get enough! The prices aren't cheap, but well worth it for the quality, portions, service, and overall dining experience.

My co-worker and I ate here. We were dressed business casual. The server taking our order was professional; however, there was another male waiter that kept looking at us with absolute hate. He kept passing by staring at us with absolute hate on his face. Then he stood by the counter and kept staring at us like he wanted to kill us if he could. Uncomfortable and not enjoyable experience. We did not complain at the time but noted that we would never go back to a resturant where the food was mediocre and the waiters psychotic. Wanting to all: Psychotic server(s) - BEWARE!

I came by Tosca in the summer and I'm really late in reviewing this place! My friend wanted Italian food that day and I wasn't sure of any good places in Ottawa as I don't go out for Italian food in Ottawa. Tosca was recommended to us and we headed down to O'Connor St and sat down on the patio. It took awhile for the server to come by but she took our drink order and then brought some bread out to us. We didn't get any oil but got packaged butter. The bread was like grocery store dinner rolls but slightly stale. When the waitress came back around...after some time...I ordered the veal marsala with vegetables and potatoes and a beer. The veal marsala was ok. I didn't think the veal was that nice and the sauce was the best part. Unfortunately the sauce wasn't great. I'm not sure if it was just a bad day in the kitchen or the usual staff were all on vacation but I would probably have preferred eating at East Side Mario's that day... The dining experience sucked because it was such a great day out but the service was really poor and the food was about the same.

My daughter and I went there last Friday night. While the restaurant has a nice ambiance I would not recommend. It was very quiet and in the downtown area not really near byward at all. The bread was stale ( always a sign of what's to come ) the burrata was ok but I have had much better ... served with stale bread. We split a pizza and a salad. The salad had store bought dressing and the pizza was very very ordinary, hardly any flavour and the sausages were awful on it. More like a breakfast sausage then an Italian sausage. After we ate the server brought our bill !!! No would you like dessert / coffee / tea. We walked out of the restaurant completely stunned, very disappointing in both food and service.

Let's start with the good. My very fussy daughter had the spaghetti bolonaise, with sauce on the side of coarse. She genuinely loved it to our surprise. My wife had the manicotti, which she regularly gets from other restaurants, this was a whole new level of terrible. I can't describe the flavour, it was bad. I had the spaghetti carbonara, the sauce was well cooked, smooth and creamy, not the scrambled eggs in cream I've had from other restaurants. I prefer the kinds with smoked bacon, this tasted like the old stuff we forget about in our fridge. The parmesan they added to our dish was the cheap kind from a bottle, not grated kind you usually get from restaurants.

Excellent service. Bruschetta and muscles with red sauce were both amazing. Shrimp and scallops were a bit small for the main but they were cooked perfectly.

Excellent quality authentic Italian food. Super friendly and Wonderful service. Best tiramisu I've ever tasted and I've tasted quite s few from Beverly Hills to Florence. I definitely recommend this restaurant and would come back if I'm ever in this neck of the woods.

I was in your restaurant this evening around 8PM-10PM with 4 colleagues of mine- all of from out of town and several from the UK and I from the US. We had a fantastic dinner and we all commented on how great of a choice our friend made in suggesting it. While the meal itself was perfect the service we received was one of the best I've ever experienced. (and I've been to a thousand or two restaurants in the last 10 years or so and around the globe...not bragging...just love traveling and dinning out!) Our waitress was attentive (but not overly attentive), served us all with a genuine smile and just knew how to make us feel welcomed. It makes a big difference to your customers and it makes me want to come back again someday to enjoy your restaurant. I very rarely send comments like this in but the excellence in service and food must be recognized ! Thank you for a a great evening!

Went for Mother's Day dinner, unbelievably disappointing. The food was tasteless, dry overall pathetic. Will not go back. Don't waste your money there are so many other fabulous Italian restaurants in Ottawa. This is not one of them!

This restaurant has great atmosphere. It has a tiny (6 person) bar with no real bartender. We had a so so dinner in the dining room with an awesome waiter. Wasn't thrilled with our dinners but we come from an area with excellent Italian food so this may not be fair. Enjoyed it anyway. If you eat here, ask for Jonathan for a waiter.....that will make up for anything!!!!

The pizza is like a sandwich of white bread, cheese and tomato sauce. Soft and undistinguished. We ordered spaghetti pomodoro. That was a mistake. The waiter had no idea what "pomadoro" is and he thought we ordered chicken parmagiana. Suggestion: Outside of Italy, ask for "spaghetti with tomato sauce." We waited 35 minutes for the order.

This place has the 'looks' of a nice place. Nice decor, well dressed servers, etc. But it fails miserably in terms of the service and the food, which are two key areas that would keep me from returning. With regardsa to the service, while we were seated right away and had our orders taken quickly, once we got our food, our server never came back to see us despite us all emptying our drinks reletively quickly. Even asking other servers to get more drinks did nothing. Big mistake. Secondly, the food just isnt that good. I consider it italian food for people who don't know what good italian food should taste like. Simply put, there is much better italian out there so while it may be 'okay' it sure isn't the best. I had the carbonara and while it was large, the sauce was too creamy, the bacon tasted like bacon bits from a jar (I prefer pancetta anyways), and you they have the nerve to use Kraft parmesan cheese (I mean, c'mon, what italian restaurant doesn't use real parmesan cheese?!?) In the end, it was a let down and if the service was better, maybe it would be a place to go if you didn't care much about what you ate, but the service kills it as a place I would ever go back to or recommend another person going to. My two cents.

I've been here twice now, and haven't been disappointed. Tosca just serves good Italian. This past time, I had the calamari (very good) and gnocchi calabrese (excellent). The portion sizes are large. Service was friendly, although not speedy. Overall, a good experience and I would certainly return!

Ordered take out since nothing else was open - I really wanted shwarma... So here's what I had: Ceasar salad - amazing with nice light creamy sauce and real bacon bits. Croutons were also fresh and crunchy. Calabrese Pizza - the dough needs to be lighter. It was thin crust but flat - more icky thick pita than light and thin. The tomato sauce lacked sophistication. It may have had some basil in it. Calabrese sausage fell short. Not spicy or flavourful. It was much better for breakfast the next morning! Lasagna - it was nice and saucy but again, lacked complexity in the flavours. Too much pasta, not enough meat and filling. Best part was the Italian bread to soak up the sauce outside of the lasagna that all the meat had run into. The bread that came with the lasagna was fastastic. Love that white crunchy but "moelleux" center... There's some sophistication for your day. Slurp your spaghetti!

This is an exceptional restaurant. Food was amazing. The made items to order. Their Caesar salad and the creamy pesto is amazing. End the evening with the lemon sorbet. Even my girls loves it.

Tosca is a very nice restaurant. My friend and I had a nice experience. We went for lunch during the work week. The restaurant was busy, people in every seat which is always a good sign. The service was warm, friendly and professional. The food was very good. Complimentary bread to start. I had the tomato cream gnocci and my friend had the salad. Both dishes were very good, not blow your socks off, but very good. I would visit this restaurant again.

Took a visitor from Ireland and booked through the online feature, notifying the restaurant of same. On arrival, was greeted by a disinterested man, who told me it would be a "few minutes", who then proceeded to become absorbed in his phone while standing at the podium in front of me ( a good 5 minutes). When we were finally seated, it was near a large party of 15 or so people. The first waiter was downright rude / rushed. We ordered two glasses of wine; they had different amounts in the glasses. The second waiter was more attentive, but as he was also assigned to the party, there were long waits (bread came quickly thanks to a busboy). Overall, the food was good, not great (my shrimp were rubbery), all of which could have been smoothed over by a little extra care; but the ambiance was spoiled by the rushed service, the sloppy wine service, delays, and lack of any attention to any of this. I won't be back any time soon.

Lunch meeting at Tosca last week.. Location is convenient, service is pretty attentive - albeit there was hardly anybody there that day. I would not recommend this place to family or friends.. I had the veal which came with a side of vegetables and 3 potato wedges. The veal was over-cooked and unfortunately quite dry; I had one bite of the potatoes and couldn't continue - very bland. My next lunch meeting, I will suggest another restaurant.. This was my second time there and it was about the same experience. I wouldn't go back.

A reservation was made indicating that my wife was celebrating her birthday. It was to be a romantic dinner for two. One visit was all it took to see what some of the bad reviews might be about: 1) our waiter was totally devoid of any charm or personality; no friendly smile, no "hello, welcome to Tosca Ristorante", he's just not in the right line of work at all; 2) bread was brought out without any butter -- come on, guys, have some common sense -- don't make the customers have to ask for it; 3) the meal was adequate at best, seeing as I can make much better at home -- so, all in all, nothing to rave about; 4) there was no acknowledgment of my wife's birthday, no complimentary slice of birthday cake, no flaming sambuca shots, in fact, they were all out of Tiramisu, too -- on a Saturday night when it should be imperative that they have enough for the weekend; 5) the owner(s) made it a point of sitting at the front entrance so that all of the visiting Guido's and Gino's could come up and make a big deal out of kissing them and receive their blessings -- and after awhile, all of these mafioso wannabes were getting in the way and paying customers had to walk around them whenever they were either leaving or entering the restaurant... my advice to the owner(s) would be to pick a discreet corner of your establishment away from the customers if you want to turn your restaurant into a mafia social club so it doesn't look too "Goodfellas". So with a few minor adjustments, Tosca could offer a much better dining experience -- for starters, try to find serving staff who aren't coming in straight off the construction site and try keep the mafia hangout vibe to an absolute minimum. Don't underestimate the little details -- it's the little details that elevates great restaurants far and above the so-so restaurants and creates repeat customers. However, I'm not holding my breath that any constructive criticism will change anything. My impression is that Tosca was created primarily for tax purposes by a couple of old Italians with money to burn.

One night visit to Ottawa. Basic Italian menu; small selection of Italian,Australian, and Argentine wines. Service was good; the food is serviceable.

The food was ok but the owner is rude and berates his staff. We found this unprofessional and made us uncomfortable. The pasta and mussels were very good but we decided to have dessert elsewhere due to the atmosphere. We tipped well to make it up to our server.

My colleagues and I ate lunch at Tosca restaurant.Our service was terrible and one of my colleague's pasta contained a long strand of hair. Unfortunately, she already ate a couple bites before she noticed the hair. Yuck. We waited several minutes for our waitress to stop chatting with a friend of hers sitting at a nearby table and finally come to our table (even then, she came only because we grew quite impatient and waved for her attention). The rest of us ate our meals and had to wait for the replacement pasta for our colleague. We were finished our meals by the time it came and she ate some of it and had the rest wrapped as we really needed to leave. While the waitress offered a half-hearted apology, I was still shocked to find that the pasta was charged on our bill. I would never have expected a respectable restaurant to have charged for such sub-standard food. We expressed that we were surprised by being charged for the pasta but, not surprisingly, our waitress did not seem to care about our thoughts on the matter. I wrote to the restaurant to complain and did not even receive the courtesy of a response. We will not be returning.

Although I've come here before, I was here most recently for a large group event. Our event took up all but about 10 tables in the place. Given that our event involved speeches and a slideshow and etc, any other restaurants would have closed its doors- they did not. This made for an uncomfortable dining experience for the diners who had the misfortune to accidentally wander into a private party. Beyond this, although they apparently handle large groups all the time and we had a small-selection, the meal was painfully slow. It was over an hour before people saw salads. SALADS. There were a few different entree options- although the pasta I had was actually pretty good, the chicken dish was seen as universally inedible, and the veal was passable depending on how hot yours was. At the end of the night, settling up was a disaster. Although it was explained that the attendees were from different offices across the country, and that any alcohol and food would need to be separate (and the meals were all a set price), they were incredibly unprepared. I waited to be the last one to pay to ensure that there was nothing left unsettled. When I FINALLY got to pay, I headed back to my table to grab my coat, and a server accosted me about a bottle of wine that had been on the table, which apparently people aren't supposed to take (even though they paid for the bottle?) in Ontario. Again, they knew there were people in the group from literally every province and even though I had nothing to do with even organizing the event and hadn't had wine all night, the waiter proceeded to admonish ME over this bottle of wine, telling me among other things that "he hopes 'my friend' gets pulled over for open liquor" ummmmmm okay? Overall this was really not ideal in any way. At all. We had a fun night here but it was really in spite of Tosca, not because of it.

A group of six of us went to Tosca tonight because we thought it was a decent restaurant. Wow! What a mistake. It was horrible. First, the noise level made conversing next to impossible. Way too loud. Next the quality of the food was not worth the long wait for our main courses. The calimari was like rubber, some of the dishes were salty and the pizza was really doughy. How a restaurant can screw up so many meals on a Monday evening is beyond belief. We eat out quite frequently and love trying new places but this was a mistake. I would not recommend this restaurant.

Firs time in Ottawa, We were Locking for a Italian restaurant and I'm glad that this restaurant was near by. Plates aren't cheap, but food tasted very good. I wasn't sure what to order and I ask the waitress what would she recommend and she was very helpful, Food and Service is Great!!

I was in town for a seminar on May 17, 2011 and stopped by Tosca for dinner. Whenever I try a new Italian restaurant, I always get veal parmaseana...it is my standard candle. I think Chef Boyardee's is better. In addition the wine is low value.

First time dinning at Tosca. Great and efficient service. I tried the penne al salmone. I was great and succulent choice. I'll return to Tosca on my next trip to the capital!

Loved the food. Risotto Domenico for me and the Veal Uccelletti for the hubby. Perfectly cooked and paired with a Pinot Grigio & a Malbec respectively. We'll be back should we return to Ottawa for a visit.

I feel like Jerry Seinfeld, but I just like saying the word Toscas! Although it sounds more Spanish than Italian, and the waiter did say you're welcome in Spanish rather than Italian, but the meals were delish. My boyfriend and I both decided we were going to eat something new, and we opted for something we could barely pronounce. He had tortellini gorgonzola which was literally oozing with flavour. The tortellini that was stuffed with gargonzola cheese and parmesan (what a fabulous idea stuffing pasta with cheese!), was rolled in a cream sauce and sprinkled with spinach and prosciutto. I ordered the fusilli primavera with tomato basil, but cream sauce was also an option. I believe the mixed vegetables were fresh, but I wasn't certain. Nevertheless, my plate looked like a garden. There were zucchini, broccoli, carrots, capers, and much more. We both managed to finish our plates, which were $17 each, and our 1/2 litre of the house red which was a merlot for $16. The service was nice, the atmosphere was nice, the conversation was great, and the food and wine was tasty. The tables are a little out in the open so not much privacy, however the building use to be a bank so you are able to reserve the vault for bigger parties. Overall, I won't be a repeat offender, but it was enjoyable.

As a New Yorker visiting Ottawa, I was seeking Italian food near my hotel. Unsure because of so so reviews, I took a risk. I am happy that I did. Walked in on a sleepy, very quiet Sunday to a not busy downtown restaurant (assume this place does well during the week with the local business crowd) The place is well decorated in a standard, New York, Italian kind of way and the staff is friendly. I sat at the bar and ordered a house wine and a bruschetta appetizer. The bruchetta was tasty and very fresh. Plus 1! I then was eyeballing either the veal or chicken parm and asked the waitress her recommendation, and she says if I liked veal, veal was the way to go. She was spot on. Veal was very tasty, fresh and a nice size pounded portion. Came with a side of spaghetti Bolognese that complimented the veal and it's own sauce very nicely. All in all, this place is an authentically Italian gem hidden in downtown Ottawa. Would have given it 5 stars if the place was bustling.

Caprese salad and Caesar salad very good. Mains ok. Service very good - very personable server, Jonathan. Good wine list.

Went in on a weekday evening and it wasn't busy and service was lacking. Ordered the fried calamari which was extremely chewy as it was probably from a frozen bag. Also had the gnocchi which again was from a grocery store package. Very expensive prices ($20 for pasta) for the quality of food.

Great food, great service. Can't wait for them to open their new location in Finley creek.

Great food. Nice ambiance. Decent prices. Ordered tortellini Gorgonzola. Awesome. Hubby ordered veal with shrimp and peppercorn sauce. Both recommended by server. Both dishes were so good.

This was my first and last visit to Tosca's. First, my friend ordered the Fusilli Primavera (pasta and vegetables) with cream sauce. The vegetables looked like they were from a freezer bag and not fresh, in fact according to my friend they tasted like previously frozen vegetables...seriously, this place is going to charge $17 for pasta and vegetables and they don't even use fresh veggies? Seriously? Next, I ordered the Cesar plus added chicken and a little penne. I knew immediately from looking at the dish that the chicken was emulsified. Emulsified means that you do not actually receive a real chicken breast, the meat is from different parts of a chicken such as legs, back and thighs that are mechanically formed to look like a real chicken breast. Now having a wonderful San Franciscan palate, I know I have high standards but I don't eat emulsified chicken and I avoid restaurants that use this product. Typically this means I avoid franchise restaurants as they generally cut corners by serving fake chicken. I assumed Tosca's was decent place; safe enough to order a chicken breast to accompany my Cesar salad. I was charged an extra $6 for the fake chicken plus an extra $5 for requesting a bit of penne to be mixed into my salad. Although the price was the least offensive part about the meal experience, I was not impressed at a total charge of $ 21 for a chicken Cesar salad. When the young served asked about my salad, I told him the chicken was emulsified. An experienced waiter would have immediately taken the chicken off my bill but regardless I would still post this review so that those with quality meat standards would have a window into the chicken being served at Tosca's. Save your money for a satisfying restaurant experience. Lastly, I would seriously question some of the reviews on this site and Yelp -- my perception is that they were written by restaurant staff.

With memories of summer fast fading, my thoughts turned to my neglected social calendar. I couldn't remember the last time I had lunch with a friend. Determined to address my serious lack of social grace, I quickly selected the friend, and then immediately turned to the more serious business of finding the perfect restaurant. At the recommendation of my friend, I agreed to the conveniently situated Tosca ... an Italian restaurant located on the ground floor of a government office building in downtown Ottawa. We arrived at the restaurant just after the lunch hour crowd was seated, and were met at the door by a courteous waiter who kindly arranged for one of the more desirable tables thanks to a last minute cancellation. We ordered wine, which arrived promptly, and selected the Tosca salad from an extensive menu that offered a selection of traditional Italian dishes with a contemporary flare. The salad featured beautifully grilled, sliced chicken breast accompanied by a simple salad of tomatoes and cucumbers in a balsamic vinagrette. Simple, memorable and the perfect choice. If you're looking for an Italian restaurant with good service, an extensive menu and moderate prices in downtown Ottawa, visit Tosca and catch up with an old friend. Recommended.

I used to come to Tosca all the time for lunch a few years back, when I was working at a government building just around the corner. I remembered it as a beautiful restaurant with a great menu, delicious food, and impeccable service. After driving by it by chance with a friend last night, we decided to go in for a late dinner at my recommendation... big mistake. I will first say that we were greeted and seated immediately - there were only three other tables seated, but I was not worried as it was a Monday night after all. We ordered a half-liter of the house red wine which was also served very quickly - I guess that's the perk of going to a restaurant when it's having a quiet night. We weren't that hungry so we skipped appetizers and just ordered a main dish - I got the Penne Fortunato and my friend got the Linguini with seafood (can't remember the name!) which was linguini in a tomato sauce with mussels, shrimp, and scallops. My dish did have hot peppers as one of the ingredients - I do like some spice to my food but not when it's overwhelming - so I asked the waitress. She assured me that there were only a "few" peppers. Wrong. So very wrong. When I finished the actual pasta, my plate was just full of this stew of hot peppers with maybe half a tomato. I cried and sniffled my way through the meal. It was delicious and I will give them that, but I would have appreciated being told that it was absolutely loaded with hot peppers when I asked. I would have happily chosen something else on the menu. The Italian sausages on the plate were delicious albeit not the best quality, and overall taste was good. Not amazing, but good. My friend liked the mussels on her dish, but the shrimp were more akin to breadcrumbs, and the scallops were about the size of a dime. No exaggeration here. They were absolutely tiny. Again, taste was amazing, but they probably shouldn't have such an extensive seafood menu when the seafood is pathetic at best. And now the real problems - there was a table in front of ours that had two gentlemen. They obviously had racked up quite the bill in drinks and food and were getting a bit loud and flirty with the waitress. The waitress was getting loud and flirty back. At this point, there were three tables still seated in the restaurant - so you'd think that a waitress could keep up with that. Well, she could if she wasn't standing at their table for 20-30 minutes at a time talking about their personal lives and laughing obnoxiously at everything they were saying. At one point she even grabbed a chair and sat down with them!!! She sat there for at least 20 minutes. And when she finally got up, she walked right past our table without even a glance. Our table's drinks were finished, we wanted our bill, it was getting late, and we just wanted to go home, but this waitress obviously appreciated this man's conversation than her other customers. There was another "server" there (I use that term loosely) who had served our coffee afterwards, but he was not any better. He would forget our drink orders when he got to the bar, and rather than come back to the table, would actually SHOUT across the restaurant and ask us to repeat our order. My friend wanted a coffee and I wanted an ounce of baileys on ice. Not complicated. An hour after we finished our drinks he finally found it was an okay time to pick up our glasses and we then sharply asked for the bill. He mumbled out a meek "Oh, I thought she already gave it to you" and walked away. He was just rude. He then shouted across the restaurant to her to print our bills. While the waitress was giving us our bills and also while she was serving another table's food, she would be looking back at this table of two gentlemen and continue joking loudly with them and laughing obnoxiously... WHILE AT SOMEONE ELSE'S TABLE. She probably wouldn't have even gone to that other table if they weren't still waiting for their food. I felt bad for this other table because it looked like they were a couple out on a date, and had to deal with the waiters shouting to eachother, and the waitress shouting and flirting across the restaurant to these two male customers. I've never been a waitress but I know that this is completely inappropriate. The hike in prices along with the decline in food quality and the unprofessionalism of the staff will ensure that I will never come back here again.

We had seafood and Flavia pizza, salmon and veal parmigiana good size portions, and taste. With glasses of wine cost just over $100. Our waitress was nice. Will come back next time we are in Ottawa .

I went here for a special dinner with my fiancée as we had been here before and really enjoyed ourselves. The food was very good and there selection of wine is generous. Go for their pastas, they were very good! The service was good too, I was disappointed because the waiter said they couldn't honor a coupon I had received, despite there being no restriction on this date. I wasn't happy with this and emailed the restaurant. They were helpful and provided a $20 gift card for my trouble (same value of the coupon). I will be returning again soon for some great food:)