trattoria mercatto || classic italian cuisine since 1997

101 College Street (inside Eaton Centre), Toronto, On
http://www.nadege-patisserie.com/

If you always liked to eat in Downtown, Toronto, there is no way you could have missed Mercatto. Mercatto has currently opened three restaurants in the core of downtown - College Street, Bay Street and Toronto Street. Mercatto serves Italian food and I would say their franchise at Toronto Street, serves Italian food at its best. I have been to all three of Mercatto's restaurants and my favorite is the one located at Toronto Street for its food quality.

It was my first time eating at Eaton Centre's Mercatto. 

Here I go again with zzz French Onion Soup:

The soup had all the flavors: the melted cheese and the onion taste BUT, it was warm. I hate warm soup, why can't soup ever be served to me HOT? *sad*

arancini

tagliatelle

service || awesome! The waitress accidentally placed her finger in my boyfriend's cup and she quickly took the cup away and gave him a new glass of water. Now, imagine if that happened in a Chinese restaurant....Also, the service was quick! I ate during the rush hour (around noon time) and the wait for my order was not long at all.

food || the french onion soup tasted great, i didn't like the risotto balls all that much because it felt like i was eating risotto rice with tomato sauce. =T the tagliatelle had strong pesto taste and it would have been an amazing pasta if they gave me more tomatoes since it was a vegetarian meal! Next time, I shall go back to the Mercatto on Toronto Street!

price || $15-25 per person

decor || clean and urban design, their washrooms are very original lol.

what I ordered || zuppa (4 onion soup), tagliatelle (paste menu), arancini (apristomacco menu)

blacksmith bistro || classic italian cuisine

166 Main Street, Markham, ON
http://www.blacksmithsbistro.com/about.html



One of Markham's famous communities is Unionville - Main Street. Main Street is so beautiful, I am in love with the environment there. The street is far from urban, it's more like the pioneer times..you see rustic/antique-looking restaurants and residential houses. Also, there's Too Good Pond, ice-cream/candy shops, Starbucks, etc....definitely drop by there when you have time. I like how there are mini bridges there and some nice areas to take cool pictures. I once had a photo shoot there, just for fun =D

That's me on the right. Twin sister on the left.

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Stella Artois [left], Apple Martini [right]

Bf's lunch: Chicken Panini :)

My Sesame Chicken Salad, second best salad I've ever had.

service || the waiter was friendly and every 10-15 minutes he would come over and ask us if everything was okay :) 

food || loved my salad, I love how my salad was not dry because of the amount of vinaigrette they put in it. The apple martini lacked alcohol (even though it was 12 in the afternoon LOL).

price || $13-20 per person

decor || classic italian restuarant, looks a bit rustic outside, I guess that's the theme of Unionville? The pioneer-ish village? lol

what I ordered || sesame chicken salad, apple martini 

romano's || $20 for $50 value of food (dealfind)

830 Rowntree Dairy Rd., Woodbridge, ON.
http://www.romanoscuisine.com/menus.html

Coconut shrimp! I LOVED the sauce.

Linguini Puttanesca - Black Olives & Anchovies Pasta

My boyfriend's meal: Osso buco

Will there be a next time? No. And if I actually ate the food for full price with no offers, I don't think it would have been worth it. 

service || SLOW SLOW SLOW. I waited 5 minutes to have the menu handed to my table & waited another 10 minutes to have my food ordered (the restaurant was not that busy).

food || average - my pasta was too saucy, real italian pasta does not have sauce taken over the taste of pasta. ALSO, I only found ONE piece of anchovy in my pasta. I never knew anchovy was a delicate food? [sarcasm mode ON]

price || used dealfind offer: pay $20 (+tax and tips) for a value of $50 worth of food, on a daily basis, it would be $15-20 per person.

decor || I give TOTAL props to the photographer who took the photos for this restaurant! He/she must have some amazing skills. When I took a look at Romano's official website, I thought this place was so PRETTY and spacious inside! The fireplace, the candle lights, the furniture, EVERYTHING just looked so amazing. However, when I went there in person, my jaws dropped (in a bad way). I was so disappointed, the restaurant looked nothing like the pictures shown on their website. The restaurant was small, the lighting was bad because it was too dim inside Romano's and there were no candle lights =(. It looked like a restaurant that needed renovation. I felt embarrassed bringing my boyfriend there because we both saw the pictures and was expecting something good.

what I ordered || linguini puttanesca (black olives & anchovie pasta), coconut shrimp (appetizer)