Il Boccalini

Don’t ever order take out from this awful place. We ordered a caesar salad and a pizza and they managed to screw both up so badly it was shocking. The lettuce for the caesar was so soggy and wilted it was practically soup. I’m not sure was kind of cheese they are using on their pizza’s but it’s certainly not mozzarella because it was incredibly greasy, and tasted a lot like processed swiss cheese. It was completely covered and inedible. When we called them back to express our distaste with the food they did nothing to compensate for our experience and simply did not care. Certainly could not take criticism and claimed that, being in business for 30 years, they have never received such complaints which I certainly believe is a load of crap. They have no pride in their service.

It was my girlfriend’s birthday so we decided to give this place a try. We were a group of about 10 people. The restaurant has a cute décor and it was pretty busy. I ordered gnocchi. The food was cold. The gnocchi were tiny and flavorless. The waitress we had was an absolute disaster! She had no manners whatsoever. It was a byob, so we had a bottle of white wine. The waitress asks if we would like her to pour our wine so we said sure. She pours the wine and proceeds to tell us that we shouldn’t expect her to do that all night because she’s very busy. Who says something like that? Then it would be best not to offer to pour our wine! When we were all done eating she came by to gather the dishes. In an attempt to be helpful, I wanted to stack my plate on top of my girlfriend’s to make it easier for her. The waitress practically yelled at me and told me not to do that! I was pretty embarrassed. Then the bills came. We were all in couples except for one girl who came alone. The waitress starts distributing the bills and then yells out «who’s the one that’s alone?». Talk about no class!!! One of the couples had a problem with their bill. The waitress had made an error. She went to fix the bill and when she brought it back she yelled out the amount on the bill to make sure it was now correct. Everybody at the table now knew the amount of that couple’s bill. How ridiculous is that?
This waitress has been there for many years, so she isn’t new. I thought this was important to mention.

Made reservations for 7:30, and I arrived about 10 minutes before. I was told that the table was not ready, and it would be a few minutes. The few minutes turned out to be 40!!!
When we finally sat down, our waitress, at first seemed stressed out, but as the evening progressed she turned out to be very pleasant.
We decided that we would never return, but as soon as the food arrived, and we took the first bite, it was a different story. It was absolutely delicous.
The food made us forget about the wait. I will defiantly try it again.

Saturday nite, you need reservations and I can understand why!!! Busy and full house, but a great meal if you can nab the reservation. Veal, pasta, pizza, all great dishes!!! And the all u can eat mussels are well presented and prepared. A must try in St. Laurent… oh and BYOB to boot!!!

I found Il Boccalini after moving to St. Laurent from the south shore where I lived for 15 years. I was in search of a nice place to celebrate Mother’s day 4 years ago. Although I love to cook and entertain for friends and family I decided to have someone else do the entertaining at least this time. I remember being wooed by the excellency of their dishes, but I cannot recall exactly what I had. All of us who dined were impressed enough to want to go back the following year. Somehow we did not, but last year we returned keen enough to make the pilgrimage for 2013!
If I have any criticisms, I will get them out now. I try to understand that indeed it is a busy night given the celebratory mood, but there were some annoyances that must be known. First, the servers bringing our meals were not the same who took our orders. So not only was service slow, but one of our mates had their dish taken away only seconds after delivery to be brought to a different table. Then a few minutes later, the meal that was ordered was delivered… the exact same that was taken away! The other flaw would be a spaghetti and meatballs dish that arrived minus the meatballs. This omission was mentioned to our initial waiter who took our orders, but by dinner’s end, still missing the balls. This was finaly ‘solved’ by a take home package of meatballs. I have one more to mention, but that will be later, so now let’s move onto why we WANT to dine here… the delicious offerings of food!
I started with a ceasar salad, call me lame, but I LOVE a great ceasar salad and like always, it hits the mark, at least for my liking. A perfect amount of lettuce, not to much, just the right amount to start your meal. The dressing was mild devoid of a harsh garlic essence and perfectly spread with croutons that stayed crunchy right to the end… magnifico. The bruscetta that is on every table was just a devine.
One of our mates enjoyed the perfectly fried calamari with aioli and marinara dipping sauces, the latter was lipsmaking perfection, such a fresh flavour perhaps just slightly warmed enough to maintain a fresh, raw tomato essence.
As for my main dish, Linguine Alla Gigi arrived, I now remember why I wanted to come back to this restaurant. This decadent harmony of linguine pasta, creamy rose sauce, parmesan cheese, ham, long green onions and sauteed mushrooms arrived piping hot. Within a few fork fulls, the few prior mentioned frustrations were soon out of mind. The portion of this dish is HUGE! Just like last time I shamelessly took home the remainder of what I could not finish, but could not stand the thought of it not being enjoyed a day or so later.
However, if one issue remains, it is the markup of the wine, at least for the house selection. We were a party of seven, with one minor, that left six of us sharing a 1 litre of ‘house red’ that is in fact, Citra Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. Since I was treating on the wine I would have wanted to buy another as we could have polished off that as well. but considering this wine retails for just over $ 10 at the SAQ, the princely markup of $ 28 was more than enough to just enjoy our glasses as we could.
I would like to celebrate Mother’s Day 2014, I just hope we will not be in a position where we wont have to worry about how our orders will be delivered as requested in a reasonable amount of time. We want to enjoy scoffing their delicious offerings, enough to recommend to to thers who we may feel will appreciate authentic, cucina italiano!

Bouffe — Les entrées sont sublimes! Leur plat de saucisse italienne, poivrons et olive noire est complètement hallucinant. La simplicité même ! L’huile d’olive qui utilise vient vraiment assembler les trois composantes. J’ai été un peu déçu du plat principal, mais c’est peut-​être simplement de mauvais choix de ma part (le ragout d’agneau). J’y retournerais définitivement pour essayer autre chose.
Ambiance — décor un peu cliché, mais pas dérangeant. Il y a également des téléviseurs superflus à mon avis, présentant les fiches des desserts. Les tables sont immenses, mais pour moi c’est un point positif, car plus de plats rentrent sur la table !

J’ai absolument adoré leurs pâtes aux fruits de mer! Tellement généreux et la sauce était absolument onctueuse! Ils ont également plusieurs plats typiquement italiens et tous faits avec des ingrédients très frais! Cette place devrait être plus connue! Et surtout, n’oubliez pas d’essayer leur dessert au limoncello! Mmmm mmm mmm!!!

I have had the pleasure of dining here twice now while on business.
Nice outdoor terrace with a view of historic buildings of old St-​Laurent. When the weather is nice the cover is rolled up. Inside seating is comfortable and classy.
Service, from greeting all the way until we exited the restaurant was warm, friendly and impeccable. I think we were the last to leave one night and no one ever made us feel rushed.
The group I was with covered an erray of menu choices from veal, tortellini, pizza, mussels, calamari. Ceasar salad was a bit heavy on the sauce.
One of the guests orderd a bottle of spanish wine, not very tasty but not the fault of the restaurant. They have a decent wine list, we chose poorly.
Overall a very enjoyable experience. I would definitely recommend this restaurant.

Had a great family meal at this restaurant.
Nice terrace with a view of historic buildings of old St-​Laurent. Inside seating is comfortable and classy. This is a big restaurant that can accommodate large groups.
Service, from greeting all the way until we exited the restaurant was warm, friendly and impeccable.
Had the mussels and minestrone soup for entrée. Marinara mussels were small but perfectly cooked and tasted exquisite. The minestrone soup was ok but laked a bit in flavour.
Guests at our table had the pizzaiola and parmigiana veal. They were both tasty and perfectly cooked. Children had the margherita pizza. The sauce and cheese were fantastic but the crust tasted more like bread than pizza dough. It kind of ruined it.
They have a decent wine list. However they only serve the house wine by the glass. That evening it was a very nice quality Chianti that married very well with all the dishes we had.
Finished off with the house cake. Which was a white cake with mascarpone cheese (not the tiramisu). It was good but nothing special.
Overall a very enjoyable experience. I would definitely recommend this restaurant.

Excellent Italian Restaurant.
Their Table D’Hote is a nice value. Usually I have their excellent mussels to start and then one of their veal specials. Dessert is so so.
Another time I had a scrumptious Lamb Shank dish, however, it is rarely on the menu.
Superior service.

Super Nice setting. Large outdoor terrace. Large well lit and decorated dining room. Excellent and experienced service. High class.
Food is fresh, classical, and very well prepared.
Wine list is priced OK with many popular choices.