Trattoria Nervosa

Pleasantly surprised by this trattoria. Very affordable for the kind of food they offer. Decent size plates and staff was kind and efficient. Its a small place, very packed, no a lot of privacy or intimacy but very charming.

I’ve walked by this place so many times but after a glorious discovery of sample sale in the area, decided to stop by here after for some Italian on a Thursday evening.
We started with the meatballs, which were really tasty and then we split rigatoni al pomodoro which I thought was decent — pasta was cooked well and sauce was moderately flavourful but nothing spectacular and we also split the prosciutto pizza which I thought was much too salty. All of this was beyond filling for the 2 of us.
This place looks like it’d be adorable during the summer time on the patio. Also, keep in mind they do not accept reservations after 6pm however, they really work their magic to get things turned around as quickly as possible.

Quite a romantic little spot here in yorkville. Didn’t realize this was actually a sister restaurant of gusto 101, which I absolutely love. Was a bit disappointed that they didn’t serve the house wines by the ounce like they did at gusto. $ 1 and ounce of house wine! Loved that about gusto. There’s a neat second floor spot that is perfect for group parties and in the summer they have a small area on the patio as well. Love the décor and ambiance here. Service is excellent and it seems like a happening spot. I would bring my friends back here if I was in the yorkville area. Get their kale salad with the steak side you won’t be disappointed.

Good food, not great food! I’m from Montréal, so I guess I have higher standards when it comes to dining out!

If you are in Yorkville area, this is a nice place to check out. I’ve been here a few times throughout the years.
In the summer, its especially nice because they have a small patio on the top floor and one on the ground floor outside their restaurant. Because of the location, you might spot a few celebs as well. I spotted an actress from a TV series on Showcase here. Even Beyonce and Jay-​Z were spotted dining here while in Toronto a few years ago. If its good enough for Queen B, it should be worth checking out right? lol.
Celebrities aside, this place makes a nice spot in you are in the area. I tend to order from their pizza options and split that with a friend. They make their pizzas thin crust. Good for families, friends and coworkers.

Went on a date here, wasn’t extremely busy on a Saturday night. I ordered the Bolognese which was absolutely delicious, however I was a bit disappointed with the portions. Very romantic.

Busy on a Tuesday night at 7:30!
Worth the wait. Enjoyed the signature mushroom pasta. Was phenomenal. Took a doggie bag for lunch the next day.
My man had pizza, said it was good. But he was really jazzed about the kale salad. Good old fashioned. Def come here again.

Amazing pumpkin ravioli. Comfortable vibe, average service. Great for a cozy small dinner or a group.

I’ve been coming to Trattoria Nervosa regularly ever since I moved downtown and it’s definitely one of my favourites!
Located in the heart of Yorkville, Nervosa is a great place for lunch or dinner. In the summer, it has 2 patios — one upstairs (beautiful and one of my favourite patios in the city) and one downstairs. It does have 2 stories, but seats are taken up extremely fast. Also upstairs is a small balcony that only sits the cutest table for 2 while overlooking Yorkville.
Prices are extremely reasonable as all except one pasta dishes are under $ 20 and they all come in very sizable portions. Drinks are definitely average for the area (e.g. pretty pricey) and a cocktail is about $ 10-​$ 14. Despite the price, I always get the in-​house sangria (I prefer red, but many of my girlfriends are huge, huge fans of the white). Better than Patria and a lot of the Spanish restaurants in the city that claim to have the best sangria in town.
As for food, I don’t even need to look at menu most of the time since I’ve been here so many times and I know what I love. Some of my favourites are:
1) Mafalde ai Funghi: I’ve had this pasta back when it was fettuccine ai funghi. Now that they’ve changed the pasta to mafalde, it’s just as delicious as it ever was. Coated in a delicious, truffle cream sauce with 4 – 5 different types of mushrooms (portobello, oyster, porcini mushrooms, and crimini), the pasta is perfectly al dente. In comparison, I find Buca’s pasta too al dente for me (still delicious!) and a lot of other place in the city not al dente enough. Nervosa has never failed me in all my times here. Every single person who I’ve come here with and didn’t listen to me and got something else has some mild form of regret when they tasted this dish for the first time.
2) Fettuccine alla Bolognese: simple and perfect. It is such a classic dish but Nervosa does it very, very well. The meat to sauce ratio is perfect. Highly recommend this if you are someone who doesn’t really like cream sauces.
3) Insalata di Cavolo Nero: the kale salad. I don’t even usually like kale but this I will definitely eat it. The perfect balance between the kale, the pine nuts, and the pecorino (but not too cheesy that it overpowers the salad). Always a staple at our table.
4) While I always seem to end up ordering the mushroom pasta. However, if my dining companion wants to share a pizza as well, I’ll choose either the Regina Margherita (tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, champagne tomatoes, basil) or the Contadina (tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, capicollo, sopressata berkshire sausage, San Daniele prosciutto, basil).
A lot of people compare Nervosa to Gusto 101 (its sister restaurant on King West, which I adore as well), but I will say this — Nervosa’s pastas are definitely better than Gusto’s. The difference is small in some dishes (e.g. the mushroom pasta but you can definitely taste it) but very big in other dishes (e.g. the seafood spaghetti).
Overall — definitely a favourite of mine! It’s charming, delicious, reasonably priced and very centrally located. Give it a try if you haven’t been!

Cutest, coziest atmosphere in Yorkville. And delicious, delicious Italian food. That’s really all you need to know. Try the funghi pasta, you won’t regret it.

Not sure why Nervosa has a low rating, but this place pasta and pizzas are awesome.
After a day of shopping or having dinner here after work, with a great patio — can’t ask for more and it’s Yorkville!
Portions are big and decently priced here, if you haven’t eaten here yet, you should go.

Ambiance is great.
Service actually needs some improvements (e.g.we asked for some bread the staff said of course but never came back with bread.)
Recommend:
Baked cheese appetizer (god it was tasty)
Kale salad
Mixed funghi pasta
Tiramisu

Very often your experience of a restaurant is shaped by what you choose to order.
What I recommend: The polipo, archtic char, and margherita pizza.

I don’t know what it is, but their olive oil is amazing, I’ve never tried an olive oil so tasty. I had a kale salad with pine nuts which was pretty good. The only reason I’m not giving a 5 stars it’s because I think the service wasn’t great.

Love the food, the location, the ambience. Best pizza evs! I really love this place so I’m going to round up my 4.5. This place is super fast-​paced, so don’t expect attentive service. Also I think the service used to be better but was lacking the last few times I was there, that’s why I took off the 0.5.
Super chic place in the midst of Yorkville. The décor has a lot of character even though it’s a bit cramped inside. It’s not a really big place and you really don’t get a lot of privacy because the next table is just literally a breath away from you. However, during nice weather the patio and roof patio should be opened.
I love everything here. Pizza’s great, super thin chewy crust, tasty sauce, delicious ingredients whether it is spicy sausauge, proscuitto, fresh basil or arugula, combined with flavourful cheeses. It’s Italian goodness rolled into a thin sheet. I haven’t tried too many of the other entrees. Pasta is good and fresh. Tried the ceasar salad, it’s a bit on the small side for sure, but still very tasty, Bruschetta is just okay for me, not enough flavour. However, the oven-​baked Asiago served with crostinis is divine!
So far, one of the best Italian restaurants in town. I love coming back here when I’m in the area. A nice weekend would be Nervosa plus a massage in one of the nearby spas. But it does get pretty busy on the weekend. Not really sure about reservations etc. But it just seems like you will just have to wait during busy times. I need to come back to try more of their other dishes when I’m not just craving pizza!

The food here isn’t bad, but what really did it for me was the service.
During my entire dining experience there, I felt a bit shafted by my server. We almost never got checked on about how everything was going, we never were given bread like all of the other tables, and I had to go out of my way to get the servers attention. Our server barely even spoke to us at all.
We had ordered the Bruschetta ai Funghi to start, which wasn’t bad, but the price was a little steep for what you got. There were three pieces of Bruschetta covered in mushrooms, cheese, and balsalmic. Nothing special.
I got the Malfalde ai Funghi as a main, which was pretty good. The pasta is not too rich despite it’s cream sauce, and the flavor of the different mushrooms really came through. Only disappointment was that it was undersalted.
Overall, the food was pretty good, but it’s hard to enjoy a meal when the service is really lacking. I hope this was just a one-​off thing.

This is my usual Sunday spot for lunch.
Fantastic pasta and pizza. Cool place with great menu variety and some of the best people watching in the city.
Make sure if you go you either sit upstairs inside or one of the patios as the downstairs floor has you sitting far too close too other guests and can get very hot.
Service has been fantastic in the past but the last time we went was some of the worst service I’ve had in a while anywhere. Willing to chalk it up to catching our bad attitude waiter on a bad day.
Would recommend and will return.

Trattoria Nervosa is chic casual authentic Italian restaurant in Yorkville, Toronto. It neighbours several trendy boutique shops like Anthropologie, Pink Tartan which also carries Want Essentiels and Uncle Otis Clothing. The restaurant itself has two floors with a beautiful patio space upstairs and on the street level. I love the upstairs dining room space. It is very cozy.
Nervosa Toronto is like a breath of fresh air compared to Buca on Kings West. The service at Nervosa is friendly and attentive. And let’s not forget how amazing the food actually tastes!
We came here for lunch before we started our day shopping in downtown Toronto. Everything on the menu sounded amazing. We optioned to share three dishes. We always like to share food to sample more variety and because we are greedy. Eating one dish alone never seems right.
Caprese Invernale 15.99: buffalo mozzarella, roasted heirloom tomatoes, chestnut and pine-​nut pesto, baby kale, arugula, black olive gravel balsamic reduction, drizzle with Nervosa organic olive oil. Fresh.
Prosciutto e Rucola Pizze 17.99: Tomato sauce based pizza topped with fresh mozzarella, San Daniele prosciutto arugula, shaved parmigiano 17.99
Mafalde ai Funghi 18.49: A medley of mushroom spores — portobello, oyster mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, crimini mushrooms parmigiano, and truffle paste in a light cream sauce. What is amazing about this pasta is it not overwhelmingly rich. The truffle paste is not over-​powering and you can still taste the differences in all the mushrooms.
It is probably one of the best funghi mushroom pasta I’ve had in a very long time. The delicious mushroom sauce simply hugged the curly nature of the perfectly cooked al dente Mafalde ribbon pasta.
There’s a reason why every time we come to Toronto, we always come visit Nervosa. Come before noon during the weekdays to ensure a good seat. The lunch crowd can get quite busy.
Nervosa Trattoria, always a pleasure!

Trattoria Nervosa is tucked away in Yorkville, Toronto right across from Anthropologie. I believe the restaurant has a sister named Gusto 101 on King St. West, which is another hot restaurant popular among the local. Trattoria Nervosa is much smaller in size with tables on first and second floors for customers. It has an open kitchen and a set menu that we makes us come back for more.
The restaurant’s house bread is given after we order, which always takes awhile. The entire menu is available online on their website. It consists of daily specials, appetizers, salads (some have half portions, so ask your server), pastas, and pizzas. In addition, Trattoria Nervosa also sells their in-​house olive oil which is amazing! With origins in Abruzzo, it is so full of flavour and smooth, it makes me want to buy a bottle every time.
As much as hubby and I want to order a salad, appetizer, and pasta, we usually order just pasta because the portions are huge. Seen from other customers, the salads look very appetizing and scrumptious. We asked our server if they served them in half portions, and we were delighted to hear that they served their arugula salad (Rucola) by halves. The other salads were unfortunately not served in half portions.
Rigatoni al Pomodoro:
It is a basic Italian pasta with tomatoes (pomodoro). It was full of flavour and left me wanting more. In North America, I find that it is sometimes difficult to find a true tomato pasta, as many restaurants serve meat sauce (with tomatoes) than just tomato sauce. I was happy to see Trattoria Nervosa serving this and really enjoyed my dish.
Mafalde di funghi:
This is a favourite between both of us, and so one of us usually orders it (usually hubs). This pasta uses numerous mushrooms with truffle paste and light cream, giving it a very rich texture. Our taste buds immediately light up and go into celebratory mode as we eat this pasta. We always order pasta with truffle paste when available. This was our wish come true. Aside from the truffle paste, the portion is huge, which is always a great plus.
Agnolotti di zucca:
I wanted to try something new, and I was pleasantly surprised with how good this dish was! What really drove home was the browned butter and the pumpkin paste. I mean, it couldn’t have tasted any better. The kick of sage pulled it all together, leaving your mouth full of so many flavours to digest. This dish definitely tops one of my favourite pasta dishes of all time, and I would for sure order it again. I am a huge fan of foods that use pumpkin, and as I have never seen pumpkin and ravioli coupled together, this was indeed a refreshing combination.
The restaurant holds private functions and also honours takeout food through the maegen app.
If you’re on the fence about the restaurant, we would definitely recommend this restaurant!

Came here with my mother & sister after one of my wedding dress fitting. The location is great, right in the heart of Yorkville. Great food and drinks! We sat upstairs as the downstairs was full. Had a wonderful experience.
Came again in September and unfortunately the outside of Yorkville (most of the patios were having this problem that day) was swarmed with bees! We were sitting inside but the windows were all open and had to leave because of the bee infestation. We will definitely return now that the bee-​season is gone! :)