Saturday, May 25, 2013 — Partly Cloudy 5°C
Restaurants

L'Unita

  • Currently 2.34/5

Rating: 2.3/5 (41 votes)

Posted by Staff / Listed on January 28, 2008 / review policy

2 Comments

L'Unita
L'Unita, in the space of the former Arlequin Restaurant on Avenue Road, is a bustling Italian restaurant. Toronto Life's James Chatto is a fan of their red wine risotto with pesto-spiked marrow bone. Yum!

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Ingrid Masak Mida / February 1, 2008 at 08:22 am
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L'Unita is a trendy new Italian restaurant that replaced the former Arlequin's at Ave and Dav. We waited three weeks to get a prime reservation time for Saturday at 730 pm and were anticipating a fine meal based on other reviews. When we entered the room, it was packed with the fashionable crowd. But when the hostess seated us in a back "hallway", I started to wonder if we were fashionable enough. There were four tables for two in this narrow hallway that is the server's access into the kitchen. We were the second closest table to the kitchen and my husband had a "lovely" view of the prep area. We asked if we could be seated elsewhere but were told there was nothing else available and the maitre d' said that we would be served "the same food as the rest of the restaurant." Two plasticized menus were plunked down on the table along with some cold bread (do they leave it outside? how does bread get cold?) After studying the menu, I ordered an organic pork chop with gorgonzola gnocchi and rapini as sides. My husband ordered chicken. My pork chop was burnt on the outside - charred to a crisp black finish - and basically raw on the inside (did they confuse the Florentine steak from the menu with my pork chop or is all their food cooked this way?). The accompanying onion garnish (or was it a lemon - it was hard to tell in the low light of the hallway) was also black and inedible. The gnocchi was alright - a little greasy from the gorgonzola and the rapini were a little limp. The pressed chicken was fine and my husband offered to switch with me but I just tried to cut off the burnt bits and eat the inside. No one asked why my plate was piled with the burnt bits of petrified pork chop. My water glass, which had sparkling water in it, was refilled with tap water more than once. In spite of a terrible main course, I was still hungry and hoped that the restaurant could redeem itself with dessert. We ordered lattes and chocolate espresso cake. It had to be the smallest piece of chocolate cake I've ever been served. It was rich and dense - just on the skimpy side. As we were finishing our dessert, another unlucky couple was shown to the table right next to the kitchen. They were young, hip, fashionably dressed, and obviously on a date. They sat down on the edge of their seats and asked for another table. My husband pointed out that it wasn't that we were not hip enough to sit in the main part of the restaurant, it was just luck of the draw. This was no comfort to me after a terrible meal. The main highlight was the big candy bowl by the entry way. It was a sweet exit. I don't know if I ordered the wrong thing but I would never go back and risk getting seated in that hallway again.
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Paola Scicchitano / April 21, 2013 at 11:21 am
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Last night (Sat Apr 20/13) my husband and I went out to L’Unita restaurant. We hardly get out these days since we have a 26 month old and another one on the way so you can imagine what kind of expectations we had of our one night out! The night out was for his birthday, so I did my research on Toronto’s restaurants and happily settled on L’unita.
Upon entering the restaurant my first impression was cozy but lively, tastefully but simply decorated where old meets new and just a ‘happening’ place to dine. The waiter took us to our table and this is where our dining experience went downhill. The table was situated in the corridor that led to the kitchen so we were apart from the main dining space, away from all the action that would have entertained us, away from the atmosphere which is critical to your dining experience. It’s like having a dinner party at home and sitting two of your guests in the hallway or laundry room!!!! There were two or three additional empty tables in the same narrow corridor. I expressed my dissatisfaction to my waitress and asked for another table and she advised me that there were none, but if one was made available we would be at the “top” of the list to get it. Naturally this didn’t happen since we were completely forgotten and I watched a table of four leave and quickly accommodate another couple (I thought we were at the “top” of the list?????).
My husband and I are also Italian and we both cook exceptionally well, put it this way, we take our food incredibly serious! So our expectations of L’Unita were high. We had the chestnut arancini with bacon marmellata, there were alright, the best ones I’ve had were at Tappo Wine Bar. We shared a romaine caesar salad which was delightful, ingredients were fresh and crisp, the dressing was tangy but refreshing, and, REAL bacon. While we waited for the next course we watched the wait staff continuously crash into each other while they brought food in and out of the kitchen. For a main, my husband had the braised ribs, very tender, flavourful, small portion for $28 (for a moment I thought we were at Hy’s steak house). I had the braised lamb gnocchi which were light and fluffy and probably homemade, the lamb was very tender but a bit over dressed so it concealed the real taste of the lamb, also very over priced for a small portion, $25 (I’ve never seen pasta priced like this, even at the newest restos in the city).
I had absolutely no desire to have dessert in that corridor, with the red kitchen light warmer glowing in the background. It was as if we worked in a banquet hall and we were eating our dinner in the back. Don’t restaurateurs pour money into the ambience to make sure it’s appealing to their clientele so they continue to indulge in their menu offerings?? From a business point of view, I can see that the more tables you have in a restaurant the more revenue (in some cases) but it occurs to me that L’Unita does not take the dining experience as serious as I do!
Before you try L’Unita, I recommend Campagnolo first, you will get the whole experience!!
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Location and Contact Details

134 Avenue Road (Get Directions)
416.964.8686
Yorkville
Italian
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