John’s Italian Caffe

Overpriced for what you get. Pizzas were bland. Salads were ‘meh’…
This place used to be great but has gone down hill… won’t be back…

If I could choose another restaurant I would not choose this one again. The service was slow. The staff was impolite.

Awful! Don’t try!

When we last passed John’s in early 2014, it was shut down. We thought it was closed for good but apparently they were just renovating. Funny, because the restaurant is definitely not shiny and new by any stretch. It is bright green however!
At any rate, today we sat on the patio and ordered so me bruschetta to share, which was truly delicious. Then we each had the veal parm panini with Caesar salad on the side. The sandwiches were well made and tasted great. The Caesar was a bit of a disaster, not mixed well at all, with stale croutons (is that even possible?) and randomly placed globs of dressing. Oh well, you win some, you lose some!
The service… The waitress seemed quite disinterested in her job, and wasn’t too quick to please. One person at our table asked for a Shirley temple and was told that it couldn’t be made but san pelligrino would be their closest substitute… Not so close. We also asked for some extra sauce on one of the sandwiches and she made it seem like that request would be hard to fulfil.
All in all, tasty panini and bruschetta. Skip the salad and you’ll be fine.

Walked past again today and it appears to be open. I guess they were just doing a renovation.

Terrible and slow service. Attitude of the waiters suck, and seem unhappy to be serving customers. Waiters stole money from my friend and I when we ate there. We paid by credit card, and this is a restaurant where you write down the tip amount on the receipt and leave it for the waiter to honestly type it in. Except the waiter took a generous amount more than the tip I left her. When I went to go back my money back, the manager was very angry and unapologetic. He actually paid me back by cash even though I originally paid by credit card. This place is sketch as heck.
Food is mediocre. Definitely not worth putting up with long wait time and terrible, moody service from incompetent waiters.
Never, ever coming back again and would not recommend it to anyone else. Worst restaurant in Toronto.

I love this restaurant. The food is excellent. The pasta dishes have real taste whether it is an aoli dressing or tomato based. The pizzas are great. The house white is served cold, very tasty and generous in volume. The staff are friendly. What else do you need? Yes, one more thing, it s reasonably priced! Go there, its great!
Eric from Toronto

Came here for lunch on a weekday. I wouldn’t choose to go back but if a group of people insisted I would suffer it out and eat here again.
Pros:
— good sized patio for a Baldwin St restaurant
— reasonably priced
Cons:
— slow service so not ideal for a lunch time sit down. waited 15 minutes for the bill and then just went inside to the bar and lined up to pay. this was much more effective. Server seemed frazzled even though the place wasn’t full (busy but not full)… maybe they need more staff who knows.
— food was just okay.
— my bill was wrong by a few dollars, but was in such a rush to get out I didn’t bother to ask them to correct it. Didn’t want to waste more time there than I already had.

Their food and service is alright. Nothing spectacular really. The main reason I’ve been there quite a few times is that they’re close to the U of T campus.

This has to be the worst Italian restaurant in Toronto.

Don’t come here unless you have infinite time to wait for food, and you have exact change for your meal.
Visited with party of 8; not only did they refuse to provide separate bills, they limited the number of non-​cash transactions to 3, and refused to break our 20s so that we could pay each other.
Look, I’m not promoting dine & dash, but if you want to be paid, you HAVE to make it easier than this.

Cute restaurant for an intimate date. Had the spinach and ricotta pizza. The thin baked dough was very crunchy and chewy. Sauce light and tangy, it was quite light surprisely, I was not too full, the small was just enough for two.

I just came here to lunch and the down-​to-​earth comfortable feel is what I enjoy most about this place. I love their pizzas, particularly the spinach ricotta one. Their paninis are good too and at least you can have a nice wine with you meal with the sun shining in through the windows if you don’t make it in the summer.
The service is not over the top, but I like that it’s not a place you go to when you want to be pampered. I like being able to get up and grab something when I need it and not worry about offending anyone too. It’s super relaxed and a good (not-​so-​quick) lunch spot that I like to go to in one of my favourite cute neighbourhoods in Toronto.

I might have been a bit too sassy about John’s in my previous review. Truth is former company affected my view of this reasonably priced, romantic Italian bistro.
Went tonight with a large party that all arrived at different times and the service staff took it all in stride, even when we did staggered ordering. Tip of my tiny Italian hat to their patience.
They have drink deals with appetizers now (buy an app, $ 5 off a litre of wine), and the pizza and pasta are still decent. The veal panini and cream linguini are my new *stellas.
PEPPER POINTS: For their house red. More than drinkable, lovely.
⁷⁄₃₀
PS: Cornucopia.
*Stella is star in Italian. STELLLLLA!

There was a time during my undergrad when I loved frequenting John’s Caf.
Wine served in tall glasses, home-​style Italian food, and student friendly prices served as the main attraction. Recent visits however have made me wonder if the chef and my tastebuds have since graduated.
I would definitely stay away from the lasagna, it was way too inconsistent and soupy. Pesto based pastas are also heavily recommended over the tomato based sauces. The service was not the greatest either and we had to wave the staff down for help every time. Hopefully I can have better experiences there in the future, because it’d be a shame considering the great location, patio, and memories!

Came here for a quick drink with Eric L.
Pros: awesomesauce patio, great for people watching
Cons: Crabby staff and horrible food!
We sat down at a dirty table and were blatantly ignored by waitstaff as they served other tables. After flagging a waitress down we were lectured for sitting down without «waiting to be seated». Pfffff. Table was eventually cleaned and menus were brought out.
Greek salad came out so fast that it surely had been pre-​made. Seemed like a huge rip-​off for $ 9. The pizza other people were eating did look good but I can’t comment as we didn’t sample any.
My diet-​coke was approx ¹⁄₃ of a can poured into a tiny wee glass.
Nothing to recommend here besides the patio!

Had a lovely lunch here last week, I love the fact that this place makes you feel like you’re not in the big city. It’s tucked away in a little residential area. I wish they kept this place as a pediestrian street lined with the nice patio restaurants.
I’ve read a few other reviews and noticed that it might be a trend that service is slow? It took ½ hour for our meal to come (which was a panini and a salad — shouldn’t take that long). Despite the slow service, the staff are friendly. My one peeve is when they bring your meal and then don’t come back to check. ⁹⁄₁₀ times there is nothing wrong with my meal but it’s just nice to acknowlege your customer and check in on them to complete the service.
I had the Hero Panini — Capicolla, salami, mozzarella, lettuce, fresh tomato with our homemade secret dressing along with a side salad.
I really enjoyed that the panini was not overdone and made just right. Usually you end up breaking your teeth on these hard stone-​like paninis that are stiff like carboard when over grilled but this one was light and toasted to perfection.
Ingredients were fresh and Im just a lover of salami. It’s the German in me: P
Patio was packed, so luckly we grabbed the last one!
It’s a big venue with plenty of seating.
I would definetely come back here again but I will have to do the rest of the street first — one by one: D
Next stop will be the gelato place next door.
Just a note — If you have a one hour lunch break don’t expect to go back to work on time: P I won’t hold it against them, thank god I have an understanding boss: D

Fantastic, unpretentious place! The front patio area is a wonderful oasis with shade trees in the evening. They have an awning that they pull out in case it rains as well. Get there early for the patio, it fills up at dinner.
The service was politely attentive every time we’ve been here. There don’t seem to be any «waiter zones». Just catch any wait staff’s eye and they will attend to you promptly. They will also leave you alone if you wish. We have never felt rushed here. Very important for a nice summer patio experience.
Pizza is the way to go here. The Gorgonzola is fantastic! Even the basic Margaretta is loaded with sauce and cheese. They did not skimp on the toppings. The crust was thin but nicely chewy and flavourful.
The Basil Bruchetta was OK. maybe a bit more basil and garlic needed for my taste. I’ve also had the Lasagna which was very filling with salad but not as rich as I had hoped. I wouldn’t mind a few other staples on the menu as well, such as Calamari or Mussels. Very nice wines and a simple variety of beer on tap as well.
All in all, it has a very nice ambiance and a very friendly staff. A great casual summer patio experience.

While walking along Baldwin, looking for somewhere to chill for a hour or so until my Unilocal friend meet me up for some Pre Unilocal Event eating, something drawn me into John’s Italian Caffe.
Not the food… as I did not even look at their menu…
It was their Patio… I like how it looks with these big trees act as shade… Just giving me a feel of myself lying underneath a tree in nature. having a nap!
Ended up I did not have a power nap as usual, I ate and drank. my pre pre Unilocal Event eating…
Apricot Wood Ale ($ 5.95)
— A hint of fruity taste. which I really enjoyed. but who won’t enjoy a beer on a nice summer afternoon?
Goat Cheese Bruschetta ($ 7)
— I have to say I was really disappointed…
— The bread was hard and stale. I felt like I was chewing cardboard. but I was hungry… so I ate them all!
— The goat cheese being dry itself did not help at all…
I definitely feel like I am on vacation while having a drink at the patio of John’s Italian Caffe. I will be back next time but just for drinks. I found the food, at least the bruschetta is not up to par!
BTW, I was having so much fun daydreaming and playing with my IPOD using their WIFI. I did not even realize I was there for almost 1 hour. and my Unilocal friend arrived and pick me up for our next pre event dinner!

Customer service level separates my review from a 4 star (or perhaps 5) and the 3 star I’ve given it. While I have had a good server every now and then, the majority of the times, it’s been slow.
The food and price is what keeps bringing me back to it. It has just the right amount of variety to choose from even if you are a vegetarian. Pasta, pizza and panini are the 3 big menu items. With good salads and appetizers to start off with as well. The pizza would be my recommendation as it makes a great doggy-​bag food as well. The panini does come well dressed with vegetables and some of them do pack a bit of sting to their taste with the sauce used.
The caffe aspect though should be better, one time they did not have coffee but instead served americano, that confused me a bit. It serves more or less the typical coffee drink you can find in any caffe.
It does have one of the better patio’s on Baldwin Village (at least from the restaurants one can frequent on a student budget).
But all in all, worth a visit.