Restaurants
Terroni
I've mentioned Terroni in other reviews on the site, but when it comes to doing a review of this authentic Italian eatery itself, I've never managed to get any co-diners to hold back long enough for photos. Most everything on this menu is so delicious that everyone just wants to sink their teeth in.
This time though, I've convinced a few friends to give me a second for a picture, only to have the waiter inform me that they prefer people not take photos of the food. I'm annoyed, but decide to get this listing up without more photos -- the food is worth it.
We arrive at the Queen West location and for the first time in all my visits, we are seated right away. It seems we arrived in a rare window of time where there is no line-up. We order some drinks and look over the menu. It's a long famished while before anyone returns to take our order, but on the bright side, at least we're not standing outside.
Fresh bread with olive oil are presented first as we await appetizers and pizzas.
Our Quartet of Appetizers includes mini eggplant parmigian, saffron rice crocchette (alla Milanese), deep fried ciabiatta bites filled with buffalo mozzarella and anchovy and grilled bufala wrapped in speck and radicchio.
For $16, everyone at the table got the chance to try a couple unique appetizers, all of which were rich in strong traditional italian flavours. Even the ciabatta-mozzerella wraps were balanced so nicely with subtle anchovy that the latter didn't overtake things. I normally wouldn't touch anything an anchovy touched, but enjoyed these a great deal!
On to the pizzas...
Pizza Marinara, the simplest of offerings - tomato sauce and basil - is light as air, crispy and savoury. Most pizzerias don't offer this cheese-less pizza because their sauce can't truly hold it's own. Here, the sauce is proudly presented as the feature item.
Terroni's Quattro Stagioni (four seasons) pizza is also incredible. Rivalled perhaps only by the version at The Big Ragu (1338 Lansdowne), it arrives steaming and casually topped with prosciutto, olives, mushrooms and grilled vegetables.
The true test of a fresh pizza (handed down by mamma dearest) is that the cheese should be piping hot and hard to handle. If it goes to slide off the slice or burns your finger, it's going to be good eatin'. If it sits nice and behaves, you know you've got a pre-made, loveless pie.
Terroni's passes that test with flying colours as we are using our cutlery plus hands to handle the Quattro Staggioni.
With a friend celebrating her birthday this week, we insisted she order up one of Terroni's rich homemade desserts to celebrate. Spotting a Souffle di Nutella on the specials menu, she decides that Nutella trumps everything tonight. We order it up and the waiter returns with extra spoons (4 total), assuming we might to share.
Perhaps he'd never seen this dessert 'cause when he returned 10 minutes later, he was carrying a dish with an espresso cup containing the souffle. It probably contained 1.5 tablespoons of warm baked Nutella, at most. Tasty, but for $7, it was a little ridiculous.
Instead of ordering something else to fill in the gap, we enjoy our cappuccinos and reminisce of the delectable Nutella layer cake at The Big Ragu. That's one that even Terroni just can't beat.
Storefront photo by Tim Shore.
Discussion
80 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
Even though I think Terroni has the best pizza in town, I almost never order it, because the hand-made pasta and other dishes are so fantastic. The garganelli geppetto and the new orichiette al ragu d'agneau e pecorino lead me into lands of ecstacy.
In my experience, Terroni is the closest you can get to being in Italy while staying in North America.
That said, my idea of Hell is being shackled next to that one party of eighteen of the loudest early-twentysomething girls I've ever encountered, obviously without the delicious bucatini with pancetta and peas.
Do you mean Marinara?
@Amanda - I do!! Thanks - will correct that slip right away.
now understand that accommodating is the norm.
1) People in Toronto seem to think that when it comes to Italians, it's a free-for-all to scrutinize anywhere from the stereotype of always having plastic on our furniture to all Italian males having crude mannerisms with their privates in public while speaking 1000x louder than anyone else present. On that note...
2) You would never, ever go into a French restaurant and ask for substitutions of the main dish or the garnish. This shouldn't be any different for this restaurant.
3) Menu: no, you will not find Penne a la Vodka or Alfredo sauce or any other North Americanized dish that are made constantly in this city, even in establishments that aren't even Italian. The ingredients and the recipes used are taken seriously and are not found anywhere outside of Terroni's. I.e. the tomatoes are the highest grade tomatoes available in the world, the oil served to customers (for free) costs $20 a bottle retail, imported from Italy. Most establishments use bottom grade oil and therefore don't mind putting vinegar in it to taste better.
3) Wine, wine and wine: Terroni's serves wine that is normally 400% more expensive anywhere else, and on top of that, Terroni has wine served that isn't available anywhere else in Canada.
Bottomline -- you get the real deal at Terroni's, which means no substitutions. But after all of that, why would you want to?
I think I'll stick to the wonderful staff and great food at Grazie.
Bottom line is this place is great - better than the much talked about Libretto.
True the service isn't the friendliest but you try serving 100 customers with another 50 at the door. Clearly, no time for mindless chit chat.
Coming from an Italian background, Terroni has probably the freshest quality ingredients in any italian restaurant in the city. There are others which are comparable, like 7numbers, but to consistently have fresh, quality dishes day in and day out is very impressive.
Keep doing what you are doing Terroni.
1. the cardinal rule of the hospitality trade is CUSTOMER SERVICE.
2. it is rude and arrogant for a person to tell another person what they should and shouldn't like.
3. the customer is paying and the food industry has shifted towards accomodating special requests a long time ago.
I have been to Terroni a few times and I would go back, as I have not experienced some of the horrid "alteration" refusals. But I agree that the owners/managers of the restaurant has lost sight of the big picture by the way customers are treated - that or they don't care because they know their food is good and people will come regardless.
if you want your food modified, or done your way, make it yourself at home, don't effing go to terroni.
you can't eat your pizza without a friggin sprinkle of cheese?
make it at home then.
Ciao..
I appreciate your crusade against all Terroni haters, but may I suggest going to Ferro on St. Clair instead? The pizza there is 10x better and you won't be told what to do or how to eat either.
That being said, to all the cakes...enjoy.
To ontherun: even the best French restaurants know and understand food allergies. To not even attempt to accomodate to those individuals is simply ignorant and shows that Terroni does not care about their patrons.
As for substitutions, who are you to tell the artist what to paint?
If you are an annoying allergy person, you call ahead to find out their policy.
Terroni (queen st) is GOOD. It's a GOOD restaurant. It's not great.
Go there, enjoy, put up with it, whatever, but there's better out there.
I didn't leave a big tip and I saw him glare back at me from the cash register. (the tip was alright considering half the bill was wine and just two mains)
1) are you french? have you been to italy?
2) All the ingridients can be found at lablaws... though i must agree they are prepared correctly.
3) The food is absolutly NORMAL regular italian food. no better than delivery quality in europe... therefore it is absolutly rediculous that they wont add parmesan to my spaghetti if thats what i request.
BOTTOMLINE: there is absolutly no reason in this world why they should have the courage to put themselves in front of the customer.
We would go back any time to enjoy this sweet neighborhood spot!
(Pizze we chose: Santo Spirito with capers and anchovis and Santo Stefano with prosciutto, arugula, and mozzarella di bufala)
So to sum it up: delicious food, small portions and very mediocre service from servers probably poorly trained by incompetent managers themselves. But remember, as always enjoy and no tip!
Terroni could use quite a few (actually many) tips from +70 year old Angelo.
They should start with the crust because that is the most pathetic excuse far a pizza crust I've ever tried. Adding a few more toppiings wouldn't hurt either.
I do not reccomend this so called amazing pizza place to anyone. The crust is too thin, they just throw the toppings on the pizza (they didn't even take the pits out of my olives)the bacon on the pasta didn't taste to good and their appetizer that they said "was for four people" only satisfied one persons belly. Not to mention their over priced for the quality of their food. Danforth pizza house has been open for a very long time. Angelo's pizza is by far the closest to authentic italian pizza than any other place listed above. They can't even compare to Danforth pizza house.
Terroni doesn't do substitutions. Big deal. You don't like it, don't eat there but they have a right do whatever they choose without being labeled 'pretentious.' Only wildly unpretentious people call things pretentious, anyway, so thanks for giving us a clear image of what you look like.
You obviously don't dine out very often because if you walk into any Toronto restaurant run by a notable chef, take Susur Lee at Lee, and ask for a substitution, they'll laugh in your face. You know why? Because they can. It's their restaurant.
Next time you're at the Gap, ask the sales girl if she can give you that shirt without the pink bow on the collar and see what she says. Okay, pumpkin? Because taking it out on the sales girl will help.
I've had nothing but A+ service there and the one time I had a problem, a manager by the name of Steven, assuming it's the same guy, was there and took care of it in a flash. So maybe, my dear, it's not them. Maybe it's you? Take a breath and have a glass of wine. Life doesn't have to be so difficult.
Oh and comparing Terroni to Susur Lee? Really? Terroni has okay food but come on.
a glass of pino grigio, please.
'we don't carry pino grigio.
why?
'because everyone comes in asking for it, and we think there are other Italian wines that you should try.
That's exactly what happened to me. I went to Balmoral location a whilw ago and they refused to serve me parmesan with my dish. They said it would ruin the dish and against the tradition!!! What tradition are they talking about?
Now to Rita: your quote: "Having been to Terroni's a bunch of times, I just have to say that it definitely is the closest thing to Italian food outside of Italy."
I don't think you ever been in Italy. Besides even the Pizza in Italy doesn't look like the one served at Terroni. As for the attitude of the staff, that's definitely not real Italian. Italian servers in Calabria are generally nice and eager to accomodate you. I saw somewhere in a post that a waitress at Terroni Queen location said to a customer: "that's not gonna happen" after a request from a customer. Wow, talk about tradition...
@ chole king: using susar le is a terrible example, terroni's menu doesn't cost and arm and a leg, there is no world renowned chef cooking in the kitchen...i understand the no sub issue if you were paying for some real tradition like eating at hashimotos kaiseki...$500 a head for some authentic real tradition, people would understand not to mess with tradition...terroni's on the other hand is just some hyped up italian place that thinks too highly of themselves...juss sayinnnn
We called her out on a blatant lie telling her that we all heard her clearly say that it would have been a 15 minute wait for them. She was taken aside by her co-workers and within a few minutes we were all seated. She didn't acknowledge her mistake, nor did she apologize. Having read past reviews on this site and others, it looks like this is an ongoing issue with the establishment. The very fact that someone who claims to be from the restaurant responds to this blog in a less than professional manner speaks volumes about their views on customer relations.
Aside from the rude hostess, the service we received from our server was fantastic and the food was great. While the C't Mang and Ravioli di Zio Paperone were divine, I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone.
While the food and our particular server were great, I found the attitude of the restaurant to be pretentious and to be honest, a little desperate - like an actress who is clearly on their way to becoming a has-been, but won't let go. Their refusal to provide cheese on certain dishes and refusal to serve balsamic vinegar with their olive oil just aren't . . . nice. It lacks the warmth and hospitality which I associate with Italian cuisine. Instead by dictating what you're allowed to eat with what, Terroni just sounds like a humourless, uptight prig.
As for all the substitutions and cheese and vinegar complaints, give it a rest... this comment board is like eavesdropping on a bunch of spoiled children who momentarily "hate" mommy when she doesn't cough up their favourites. Since when did your opinion matter so much? And all the talk about manners sounds fake when your having a fit (in writing no less).
Give it a rest, or go back to the suburbs and wait expectantly for something interesting to happen. Real manners is being open to what others are doing and appreciating it even if it's not what YOU would do.. enjoy and walk away. Don't go back if you don't like it. Don't waste your energies spreading bad words that many could easily deny with their own relevant experiences.
This just reminds me how even after all these years of restaurants trying to bring different and authentic stuff to the table, this city still just loves to eat crap and complain.
There is nothing cool about pretending to be in control all of the time, but
obviously the sense of entitlement that directly leads to complaint goes completely undetected... ah, consumer despair... how sad it truly is...
What I hate the most is when people haven't even tried the food and start asking for all sorts of things. I went to dine at Terroni with a group of colleagues (some of which I did not know very well) and was completely disgusted and embarassed to be with them as one person in the group insisted on getting extra grated cheese on their pizza before having even taken a bite of the pizza. How did she know she would want extra cheese? Their table grated cheese is not the same quality of cheese that is prepared in the actual pizza itself and actually compromises the taste. North Americans need to learn that if they have issues with the mentality that when you go to a good restaurant, where they prepare family home recipes from a very small southern town in Italy, then they should not be asking for substitutions or modifications. You would never do that at a French restaurant nor would it ever be acceptable when you visit a traditional family in southern Italy. The wine list is very reasonable as their wine program offers very little mark up on their entire wine selection. I have seen wines that are offered at Terroni with a 300% mark up from what is listed on the Terroni menu. When you add all these things up, it's not that unreasonable to have these rules after all the depths they go through to offer the clients the best wines at reasonable prices and top of the market quality meats, cheese and produce.
Bottom line: Try the food before demanding things.
Try the food the way it is meant to be tasted by respecting these home recipes.
I can't understand why everyone is OBSESSED with making substitutions and modifications in North America but this mentality should change. If you go to a restaurant where substitutions need to be made because the food sucks it is understandable but then why would you go back?
Educate yourselves.
You are....an idiot.
The hilarity for me though is in all my visits to Italy, I have found them to be the most accomodating people ever. I'd be willing to wager that not only would they give me cheese for my pizza/clam pasta or vinegar for my olive oil without hesitation, they'd also happily provide ketchup to pour on my pasta (if so desired), or ANYTHING TO MAKE THEIR GUESTS HAPPY. That's the Italian way, not this stuck up, "I know what you want better than you do" bull that Terroni passes off as fine dining.
FYI, since we were still hungry, we went to One Of A Kind down the street and had a much better meal.
This policy of not providing parmesan with certain pastas and pizzas is totally arrogant and really left us with a bad experience.
I was told by management that it would compromise the integrity of the dish. I tried to explain to him it was something I've actually been provided with in the past (at the queen w location) and that its what I like to include with my pasta but was flat out refused rather rudely.
We decided to leave because I couldnt support the logic, policy and service behind it. All this does is piss people off and there inflexibility to resolve customer requests = TOTAL ARROGANCE.
IM DONE WITH TERRONI - I'LL NEVER GO BACK!
reporting! Keep up the good works guys I've included you guys to blogroll.