La Fenice

Timeles. Low key older somewhat heeled crowd. Excellent perfectly cooked pastas with clean flavours. Not inexpensive. Ceiling baffles working well to hush the din. The menu is understated and a tradition
.Veal ribeye a subtle perfectly cooked killer as was the Bolognese or Veal ragu pasta. Meltingly good Carapacio Simply perfect orange hazelnut torte AND Zablione. Highly Professional and experienced staff. A family establishment.(Nice steady work Rocco!)Imiss the days of white truffles on fettecine; Still ;;Toronto’s finest Northern Italian?

This review is for their Winterlicious 2016 menu. I would rate the food at 3 stars and 5 stars for the service, which was excellent! :) The host, waiters, and waitresses were polite, and funny is always a bonus. Our waitress came over periodically to check that we had everything we needed. I know this comes across as annoying for some people so maybe this isn’t a pro in that case. We also got complimentary bruschetta and it was very good. I love how it was made with toasted bread and not the super hard and crumbly toast-​biscuits so when you bit it, it doesn’t all just fall apart and then you need to use a fork to eat the rest.
Let’s move on to the food now! The appetizer was actually my favorite out of the 3-​course meal. I ordered the mussels and clams and it was sooooo good. My friends ordered the prosciutto and eggplant. I didn’t try the prosciutto but they said it was good and I tried a bit of the eggplant, was pretty good (healthy option as well). The broth with the mussels and clams were super yummy, it’s a good thing they gave me a spoon for it. They also provide a small plate on the side for the shells.
As for the main course, I ordered the white veal meatballs. It’s probably the most filling main course on the Winterlicious menu. Came with a good portion of creamy risotto and 3 large veal meatballs. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s Milanese risotto, but the rice was a little firmer than what I was expecting. I must say the texture was like regular steamed rice. The meatballs were good but I thought it would be more tender since it’s veal (almost feel barbaric saying that lol).
Unfortunately, my choice of dessert was the most disappointing. I got the homemade biscotti and sweets. The sweets portion is an assortment of cookies/​biscuits. The biscotti itself wasn’t bad and the seashell-​shaped dessert (bottom left) in my picture was something like a spongy cake so that wasn’t bad either but the other cookies didn’t really spark Amy ooohs or ahhhhs out of me. I think the raspberry sorbet looked the most delicious but my friends who ordered it said it was a bit too sour. The mousse sounded the best but my friends only said it was alright.

We went to this restaurant just because it was getting late and from the outside looked nice. It was quite full but not packed and we were seated swiftly. Waiter took our request and then the wait began! Almost an hour to get our wine and then a long wait for dinner which for some was just bland and the rest only ok. We had to ask for more water each time we needed it and then he only would fill the person asking. We looked around and felt the tables of two were served a bit quicker but tables of more, we had six, all had the long waits.
We were just visiting Toronto so it is not like it was local for us but if we return we would never return. The one star was because it was nice looking from the outside.

Winterlicious Review
****
This was my one and only Winterlicious booking in 2015, and the only reason for it is that my friends were meeting up as a group for dinner already, so we thought we’d try a Winterlicious menu. I’m always hesitant with Winter/​Summerlicous because I know the service can be severely misrepresented… but I thought I’d give it a shot.
Con:
The table. The actual table. The entire side on my end was that flap of the table, and it led to a knife and spoon to slide off, and us unable to put any sort of weight on the side. Kinda odd.
Con:
We were a group of 7 (diners, not artists). My bf couldn’t make the 6:30 reservation because work got busy, so I asked the server to remove one of the place settings, since we were 1 person down. But when everyone else arrived, I realized one of us had called ahead already to make the change in numbers, so asked for it back, and was met with some attitude.
Con:
We weren’t given a wine menu, so we had to specifically ask for it. The server also said «I assume it’s wine by the glass?» well, no… We’re ordering by the bottle, but thanks for that assumption! We had to pick the wine 3 times, because the first two were unavailable. Tsk tsk.
Con:
When ordering, everyone thought the first dessert listed was the best sounding one, but the server informed us that it was already sold out. It was 7pm only, at that point. I thought that was pretty poor preparation on their part. To their credit, they did come back with a substitute option, but it was a far cry from what was on the menu.
Pro/​Pro/​Con:
I ordered the BRESAOLA, which was Smoked Cured Beef with Arugula & Grana-​Padano Cheese for starter — nice presentation, good flavours. For entrée, I had Papperadelle Con Anatra, Wide Egg Noodles with Duck Confit. Another delicious dish! Presentation was just ok, but definitely well done. Dessert was the biscotti, which was the poorest presentation of dessert I’ve ever seen. Literally 3 biscotti sitting on a plate. ALSO, my friends who ordered the striploin were not given an option for doneness — medium well for all!
To their credit, the service improved throughout the meal — perhaps our server got a bit of a talking to? She was a lot more pleasant and helpful later on, and was perfectly nice while helping our group take a picture.
Overall — the service in the beginning left a bit of a sour note. It’s the Winterlicious service, I’m telling ya! The food itself was actually a 3.5÷4 rating, except for the dessert. I really don’t think the service is representative of the normal dinner service, but unfortunately, that’s the experience I had.

Treated my family to Italian food here for Winterlicious, really attentive service. Tried most of the entrees and combos between the four of us with the exception of the chicken and soup. The strip loin was a great opener, and was the highlight of the meal. I preferred the salmon to the steak in terms of texture and the garnish. The ice cream is definitely the best dessert, just the right amount of sweet and layered. The vegetarian items were not as filling, though the cheese was really good.

Overall, a great Winterlicious experience. I’d give the appetizer 3 stars (butternut squash and butter bean soup). I was expecting a puréed soup; also found it was a little luke warm. The entrée (gnocchi with artichokes in a lemon cream sauce) was 4 star worthy — rich and delicious and creamy. The dessert (amaretto mocha tartufo) was also good, though I couldn’t taste the mocha gelato. Service was fantastic. It was a great spot for lunch with co-​workers as it wasn’t noisy and we could all chat.

Dinner
Ambience: ⁴⁄₅
Food: 3.75÷5
Service: ⁴⁄₅ (gracious and friendly)
Value: 3.75÷5
Repeat: maybe

Went to La Fenice before heading out to see a play — great meal!
We told them about the theatre arrangement when we made reservations so the staff knew we had to book in time to make the play, and everything worked fine.
We started off with the soup of the day: a butter bean soup with rapini — delicious! We also had the bresaola — simple presentation that allowed me to enjoy the beef — very nice. We also had the grilled squid and shrimp — not overcooked, subtly flavoured so the seafood was the star, in a word — wonderful!
For the mains, we had the spaghetti with shrimp, rapini and pancetta — wonderful combination of flavours though the pasta was a little too al dente, and the mushroom risotto served with grilled quails — a drier style risotto with very nice flavor and very nicely grilled quails.
Service was excellent. Our waiter, Greg, knew his stuff and had a sense of humour as well that always helps. The ambience is nice — it’s relatively quiet, restrained décor makes for pleasant dining and intimate conversation. Prices are very reasonable for the quality of the food and the location — we are talking theatre row here.
Everything sounds so great, so why didn’t they get 5 stars? Well, there were a bunch of small things that just took the edge off. The wine list was my first peeve — the first three choices I made were either not available or available in different vintages that those listed, one by as much as 4 years. If you are going to update your food menu occasionally, then take the time to update the wine menu as well, it’s not that hard to do. The gluten free pasta wasn’t cooked enough. It’s very nice that they offer GF alternatives, but the kitchen should learn how to cook it properly. The risotto needed a touch more liquid — it might be a drier style, but it shouldn’t be dry.
Overall, dinner was good and it didn’t break the bank, so I would go back.

Met a friend here after work one night and he recommended this place. We came at around 6 so it wasn’t too busy. The restaurant was small and quiet — it definitely felt a little older and outdated for my taste. Our server was great, he was very attentive and knowledgeable about all of the seafood and wine they had and was able to make great recommendations.
I had the Grigliato Misto Di Mare — Grilled shrimp, calamari, scallops and salmon. It was pretty good, the seafood was fresh and the portions were pretty large, I couldn’t finish it so my friend had to help. He had a seafood pasta dish that was also pretty good. I’m not a huge fan of pasta but I thought it was pretty authentic and fresh. For dessert we had this dessert that was different types of ice cream in a ball, I forgot the name but it was really good and I would definitely get it again.
The food was pretty good but the atmosphere wasn’t for me. I was hoping to go somewhere more fun and high energy. I would recommend this place for anyone looking for a tasteful relaxed dinner in a casual but classy place.

This was not a good experience. Service was bad overall and my boneless chicken entrée tasted awful, in fact I thought it was tuna initially. Once they replaced that meal with pasta I was fairly happy with the taste, but this is not a good restaurant and I do not recommend.

When I first walked into this restaurant for my girlfriend’s birthday party, I was really impressed. The service was courteous as we were welcomed with coat check and shown to our tables.
First impression: nice ambience. Looks like a great place for a date. Sometimes awkwardly quiet (they have no background music), but I was impressed.
The food itself was actually quite good. I had the seafood mare risotto. Absolutely amazing. I’m normally not a fan of seafood other than sushi, but I have to say, the food was excellent.
So why two stars?
Well like many of the reviews I saw here, I too experienced bad service from the actual waiter assisting our table. I understand that we were a big group (about 16 people) and they can be stressful, but the server we had was absolutely horrendous.
We were for the most part on time (our group was complete by 8:15PM for a 8PM reservation), yet our server was rushing us to order food when most of us wanted to just start with appetizers and drinks.
That’s fine, maybe it just closes early. But no it gets worse.
Our waiter had a tendency to just reach over you without asking. There were a couple of times he literally grinded my body with his sweaty body. Really not pleasant.
It gets even worse.
He was basically tossing the bruschetta onto our plates. Half the tomatoes spilled onto my dress pants. He spilled salad dressing on the girl beside me and did not seem the least be apologetic. Never once said excuse me or checked up to see how our meals were.
I try not to be a bad customer because I used to be a bus boy in high school, but man this guy was bad. So bad that I don’t feel guilty for only tipping him 10% and that I still feel the need to call in and complain about him.

Food was average to good. Nothing great.
Service was terrible. Snooty. Stuck up. Service was like doing us a favor.
Never going back again. Would not recommend.

Mamma mia! Definitely an OVERlooked place, though I do think it’s a tad OVERrated. Two «overs» in one sentence? That’s crazy talk. How does that even make sense?
Let me explain. Hidden amidst the throng of hip-​looking King St restaurants, it’s very easy to overlook this restaurant. Not only is signage not prominent, the whole structure of the restaurant feels a bit more «sunken» than its neighbouring competitors. Thus there’s really nothing that sticks out and yells at you that this is, in fact, a nice place to eat.
On the other hand, after eating the food, I have to say that the food itself is solid but not overly great. There is an overall freshness to the food that’s very hard to match, but some of its entrees can be a bit lacking in the taste department (risotto: I’m looking at you). The flavours don’t jump out at you, but are rather very subtle, which can be a positive as they let the natural taste of the ingredients come out. The grilled calamari appetizer though, is definitely to die for and is streets ahead the rest of the meal.
The restaurant itself is very much «old-​world». The ratio of servers to tables is off the charts (it felt like there was one waiter for every 3 tables), which is fantastic and rarely seen anymore in the modern cavernous restaurants of today. The website looks like it was designed by someone who just got to know how Internet web design looks like. The overall lighting inside the place is subdued with a shade of red (yes, RED!). In other words, it’s really taking a trip back in time. When food wasn’t complicated, social media meant discussing a newspaper article together, and fancy accouterments were viewed with something close to disdain. It was refreshingly nice, it’s just a bit TOO «old-​world» for my liking.
So overall, in my opinion, yes this place is worth a visit, and yes it really is overlooked much more than it should be. But on the other hand I have to respectfully disagree with many of the Unilocalers here. I think it’s a solid restaurant, but not a stellar one.

Came to La Fenice while visiting Toronto, and was very pleased with the service, atmosphere, and food. I ordered the shrimp (or prawns), and despite requesting that no butter was used, they came out amazing! So delicious and juicy! The service here was excellent as well. My boyfriend and I asked many question about the area and where to visit and closed out the place, and the entire time all employees were incredibly friendly, helpful, and on top of their game. The bottle of wine we ordered was excellent as well, and the atmosphere and ambiance of the restaurant was nice, above average without feeling stuffy.
I highly recommend visiting La Fenice, and can say they are great with their seafood. (My boyfriend ordered the lamb and while it was definitely good, did not blow him away like my shrimp!)

This place is in the arts district where plenty of restaurants are and you can choose from many! Do not overlook this place!
The service is impeccable! The mussels are to die for! The tiramisu was the best I’ve ever had! Love this place!!! A bit quiet, but so romantic and tasty!!!

The street reminds me a lot of Italy, especially during high tourist season. There always seems to be someone standing outside holding a menu, trying to get you to come in. Sounds like a shady business practice. La Fenice didn’t have someone standing outside, but we still would’ve almost missed the place if we weren’t paying attention. The space isn’t much to write home about, but it is cozy and probably really intimate if there were more people. Even with an empty restaurant the staff had spacing issues.
This is your quintessential Italian restaurant, complete with friendly servers with heavy Italian accents. We started with a little prosciutto and melon, and the gnocchi. Melons other than cantaloupe seemed strange, but I guess anything sweet and juicy to complement the salty would work. The sauce on the gnocchi was a little sweet, but still good and even better with the cheese.
They really do the pasta justice, which seemed fresh, by cooking it al dente in my case. Pappardelle with duck confit ragu was cooked well; the duck not overcooked and just enough tomato sauce. Thankfully this sauce wasn’t as sweet as the antipasto, but that may have just been the game-​y flavor of the duck confit balancing the sweetness out. Nevertheless, I’m a sucker for pappardelle, so this was a hit.
Wine was served a touch warm, probably due to how it was stored, but a drop in a bucket for a few moments solved that problem. I probably enjoyed the dessert portion of the meal the most. A little wine, a little limoncello, a few whiffs of some grappa, a little grappa, and then my favored affogato, and I was all set. We had our own little smelling session of their grappas, and that helped us pick out some really good stuff.
4 stars for some seriously solid Italian fare, made better by the desserts, after dinner digestifs, and homely service. Don’t be scared of this somewhat touristy street.

Our final night in Toronto and we were a fatigued group. By the time we coalesced for dinner, the team was more looking forward to crashing than eating. Trying to find something nearby that would meet our diverse food preferences, we decided to walk over to Earls, which was just a few blocks from the hotel.
Bad idea.
Immediately upon reaching the restaurant I sensed there was going to be a problem and sure enough, checking in with the hostess delivered the mind boggling news of a 2.5 hour wait.
Seriously? There’s about a million (literally!) restaurants in Toronto. Why was everyone at Earls? More importantly, why were we?
So, out came the Unilocal app and we quickly identified King Street within the Entertainment District as our next destination. This is a fabulous area in downtown Toronto that features one non-​chain restaurant after another. During the warm weather every restaurant offers outside dining on the sidewalks and in some cases on the roof.
We wandered up and down the core blocks, comparing menus to Unilocal reviews and ultimately settled on La Fenice. What a choice! Walking into the restaurant we immediately felt the March Toronto chill melt away. The restaurant is quaint, elegant and authentic. We were seated at a large round table at the front as our server unfolded our napkins and placed them in our laps.
Classy!
As we pursued the menu, the server introduced us to the fresh fish options of the night by bringing out a platter chock full of raw fish (
). Hilariously, he chose to display the fish immediately in front of the person at the table who has a healthy aversion to seafood. We were all cracking up!
We ordered a bottle of Leonardo Chianti ($ 33.00) and some appetizers including Funghi di bosco al sapore d’erbe (Fresh wild mushrooms sautéed with fresh herbs
) ($ 13.00). They were delicious, especially if you love exotic mushrooms. The meal was paced perfectly and we were all relaxed and content by the time we placed our dinner order. I ordered the Costolette d’agnello ai ferri (Grilled rack of lamb with fresh mint wine sauce) ($ 33.00) as did two of my companions. Another co-​worker ordered the Pappardelle con ragu di vitello e funghi porcini (Veal ragu with porcini mushrooms) ($ 22.00) and the final companion, the Nodino di vitello ai ferri (Grilled extra thick, double-​cut veal chop seasoned with herbs)($ 34.00). (BTW, all prices in CAD.)
The lamb was perfectly prepared. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s the before and after:
. I’d say that’s a pretty good testament to a thoroughly enjoyed meal. Thank goodness I wasn’t looking to impress any of my companions, because it would have been a damn shame to have not been able to pick up those lamb ribs and peel every last morsel off the bone.
We were all so stuffed that we decided to skip dessert.
On the way out we marveled at how we would still be waiting to be seated had we chosen to put our names in at Earls. Beyond that there’s absolutely no way we would have had as tremendous of a meal. This was serendipity at its best!
The bill for the evening, including tip came to CAD $ 320, pretty darn close to what we spent a few nights earlier at The Keg (see my review:
). And, while we enjoyed that meal, it doesn’t really come anywhere close to the meal we had at La Fenice. The take away, at least for me, is that no matter how formulaic and dependable restaurants like The Keg may be, seeking a more intimate experience is well worth the effort.
It’s just an entirely different level our outstanding.

OK, now, I LOVE La Fernice. But this review is solely based on my winterlicious experience today.
Service was amazing as always. I love the wait staff. Food is always cooked to perfection — especially the pastas. Al dente isn’t a given at most Italian places. Also, their bread is to DIE for… 3 pieces later.
For Winterlicious, I started with the prosciutto and melon. It was great but uninspired. I think it would have really popped with a little drizzle of oil or balsamic. At least they did a few different types of melon.
I had the chicken over polenta. This was horrific. The polenta was hard as a rock. Chicken was tender but this bright orange sauce ruined it aesthetically and taste wise. It was like a bright tomato sauce. Disappointing.
Finally, so Italian ice cream. It was good. The Raspberry sorbet was better.
All in all, I should have ordered from the regular menu. *sad face*
Until next time, may your chef hat be straight and your kitchen clean!

Toronto so happily overfoams with trendy rustic-​style Italian restaurants that I am almost surprised when one – in this case, La Fenice – sports a more traditional ambience. A pair of pals and I headed here for their Summerlicious menu.
The food is as great or better than what you might expect from Terroni or any of its reasonable facsimiles. I had a fresh garden salad with bocconcini, duck papparadelle, and raspberry sorbetto. The papparadelle was delicious, and the duck was perfectly cooked, swimming in a light but hearty sauce. The sorbetto had such a potent flavour, it was like something you’d serve to an alien if you wanted to be sure they knew exactly what the heck raspberries taste like.
The service was maybe a little too attentive at times – the waiter was becoming interrogative about a piece of steak left uneaten on one of my pal’s plates – but nothing to complain about. You leave feeling that a lot of care goes into the food and service.

It’s strange. I knew about (almost) every other restaurant in this area, except for this one.
It was my best friend’s bachelorette, so I was attempting to find a restaurant that can hold more than 10 people, and NOT be à la carte. I called almost every restaurant that I could find, and somehow landed on this one. I called this one, and they were super duper nice and said that they could accommodate my party AND it would be à la carte! Win!
We ended up here at 8:15 pm on a Saturday night with 13 hungry girls. It was excellent service! There wasn’t that many people at the restaurant — probably one table inside, and everybody else was outside. We had our table ready for us, and the waiters/​waitresses were excellent. Bread was excellent, and they also provided us with bruschetta (on the house).
I, myself, had the gnocchi — which I was quite happy with. Everybody else seemed happy with their meal as well, and it wasn’t too pricy.
The cutest thing was that they kept offering to help us take pictures for the evening. Absolutely wonderful service. No complaints, and they weren’t complaining about us being there either.
Loved it!