Trio Ristorante and Pizzeria

Came here for dinner the other night.
It was very quiet for a Sunday. Nice neighbourhood and nice atmosphere. The staff were very nice, constantly refilling our waters and they were also very accommodating to everybody’s order requests and adjustments.
I got the pollo chicken with mushrooms with extra veggies instead of potatoes. It was absolutely delicious. The marsala sauce was amazing, the veggies were cooked to perfection and the portion size was huge.
I would definitely return :)

I just left Trio and will never go back. I am a local and chose to go to Trio with mY family for my birthday dinner. The food was mediocre and service was horrific. The bus boy was beyond rude and hit me in the face when serving dinner. Instead of an apology, he gave me a dirty look. OUr waitress never even checked on us. When I asked to speak to the manager/​owner I was told he was busy cooking in the kitchen. After 20 years of working in the client services industry, I am appalled the the owner would not show his face to deal with a customer service issue. I am not the type to complain but needless to say I will never return and I hope other yonge and lawrence families will do the same. Sal from Bellisima salon was tending bar and is somehow involved with the restaurant. When i spoke to him he was of no help at all. He said food is good but service can be «rough». What kind of response is that?!

Great food, service, and atmosphere. The chef is great and serves authentic Italian food. The desserts are great so make sure you save room for the last course.

Been probably about ⁶⁄₇ times. Food always good but after last experience won’t be gong back. Last Saturday the services was abysmal. We had a reservation for 8 PM. By 8.40 we didn’t even have a glass water. Our starter came around 9 and main course at 9.45. The waiter was condescending. There was not attention given to specific dietary requirements. One member of our party specifically asked for no onions, and there onions in his veggies. I had requested steamed veggies with no butter or oil and they were doused in olive oil. When I requested plain steamed veggies the waiter argued with me that they taste better with olive oil. The Tuna which we asked for «blue» and waiter recommended we had rare arrived well done. Zuppa de Pesce and calamari got good reviews from the diners.

I visited this hole in the wall restaurant by the corner of Yonge and Lawrence at the recommendation of a friend.
I had the Rigatoni, and I’m very glad I did. The meat sauce was very rich, super flavourful, and clearly home-​made. The portion was pretty good too, which was a surprise considering the very dark, almost-​romantic atmosphere of the restaurant. I find that those are the kinds of restaurants that usually serve you portions the size of your palm.
One more thing that I wanted to write about was our waiter. This man was Italian. Like LEGIT ITALIAN. I really enjoy going to restaurants where the waiter sounds like Super Mario. It just adds a little bit of authenticity to your experience, you know? But I digress. I had a great experience here, and I’d definitely recommend it for a date!

Meal was excellent from start to finish. We are in the neighbourhood and so walked down Yonge Street and stopped at a couple of spots before deciding on Trio. It has been a solid favourite for years. My partner and I shared a Rustico salad (warm mushrooms and spinach, garlic, pine nuts and a light vinaigrette dressing). Excellent and served with their pizza oven baked bread. I had the scaloppine Trio which is in a mustard, garlic cream sauce and I spice that I cannot identify. My wife had the shrimp in garlic with seasonal vegetables. We shared a half litre of the house wine (Italian) which was perfect. All very well served and that was on a very busy Thursday night. The restaurant is a neighbourhood gem so reservations are suggested (ie usually needed). The wine list is extensive so ask for help if you need it. They also have special wines not on the menu.
Very good food and service deserves the five star rating.

We will return, but please deal with the doors first. Sheesh.
ENTRANCE
I’m not sure I’ve ever HAD to comment on an entrance before. We sat on the small patio (seats about 10). After the third person in a row tried to open the wrong door next to where we were seated, we were thinking they could uh, ya know, put up better signage with an arrow. Use the door to the left that indents into the patio area/​building. The door on the right (that confusingly and clearly says Trio) is locked presumably unless there is an upstairs event. They should have tipped me for re-​directing confused patron after patron.
HANDICAP ACCESSIBILITY
Given the whacky entrance with a tight turn the the left then again to the right, I would say it’s pretty hard to get a wheel chair in. There is a tiny step up. A walker could maybe manage if they can go in straight and lift it up themselves, but it’s not a wide door.
There is no waiting area/​seating, so that might be a deterrent for physically disabled.
Unsure if washrooms are accessible, but most along that stretch have downstairs washrooms.
AMBIANCE
Jeans and a blazer are fine. It sort of has a bistro feel.
SERVICE
Lead waiter and the owner (who also serves) are a tad pompous and staff are overstretched. They are professional enough, though, if you don’t mind lingering a bit for business or romantic meal.
I’m glad they have lots of interesting specials, but, holy smokes, the list that the waiter very professionally conveyed was painfully long which can interrupt the flow of conversation. Seriously, maybe a dozen or so items each with a fair amount of preparation description. Twas a lot.
KIDS
Kids older than five will do fine there. I noticed they brought buttered pasta with Parmesan for a couple. Kids not in grade school probably should not dine here since food is too sophisticated and service/​menu aren’t oriented towards them. It is a rather narrow dining area, too, so if they fuss it will be exaggerated in the close quarters.
WINE
They have wine by the glass, litre or bottle. I was surprised that their house wines were not all Italian. My glass of red wine tasted oxidized like the bottle had been open for over a day, so I hope they’ll invest in a wine vacuum. Still it was a fairly decent wine. My other half was happy with his sauvignon blanc/​white wine. I was happy to see that they didn’t have a run of the mill wine list. I noticed they tend to use a fancier decanter for more expensive bottles of wine, which is a nice touch that I don’t see that often unless I’m really dining upscale.
FOOD
I salivated when I saw food brought to other tables.
Delish housemade bread (perhaps like soft ciabatta probably made from pizza dough) served to all tables is topped with a gorgeous flavourful oil. I noticed that some tables had clumps of tapenade on theirs, so that’s probably where the yumminess came from.
Generous pasta portions and lots of less common options: orecchiette, stuffed cannelloni, gnocchi… I ordered the lasagna (note that you’ll wait 20 minutes for it) made with fresh housemade pasta. It seems authentic and not covered by a slap of cheap mozzarella like you’d get from the frozen food aisle. It was surprisingly light even though it had ground beef because it had only a small amount of cheese (which tasted more than fine).
I quite like their wood fire oven traditional pizza. It does not taste like it is Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN) made with Caputo 00 flour. The dough had more structure and was more crispy in the centre. It was a lovely, crackery texture that I haven’t experienced before. I was a bit bothered that they charged an additional $ 5 for bufala mozzarella on their margherita pizza — likely because it is already topped with a nice thin layer of grated mozzarella. However, with a $ 18 price tag, that is steep compared most Napoletana margherita pizzas in town that are $ 12 – 14 on average. I would prefer more basil all over the pizza instead of just a few whole leaves that garnished the centre. I would still gladly order it again. And, get this, you can get pizza take out.
It’s the type of menu where you order your veggies separately, so plan on multiple courses.
We didn’t have time, but the server offered their famous tiramisu. Next time…
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I’ve been here a handful of times. There are some menu items that are great. The pizza is definitely memorable. However, some of the items lacked flavour at times (spices), so my fam and I stopped coming. The interior is definitely cozy.

We often get the pizza to go ($ 10/​pizza out the door with cash). We like the Positano, Genevese and Margharita pizzas. We’ve tried a couple others and they lacked flavour.
The gnocchi is great. It’s definitely better to dine in if you want pasta since it’s made in house it can get soggy if you wait too long to eat it.
Service is hit and miss. I’ve mostly dealt with the managers/​owners over the phone when ordering take out.

Neighborhood gem. Never had a bad experience. They make a nice vegan marinara pizza if you ask — great crust, cooked in a wood fired oven.

We came as a group of 18 people for a friend’s birthday.
Ambiance was nice. Limited seating and the noise level was very low; however, since we were a group of 18, we were probably the loudest in the restaurant.
The food was okay, but I’ve definitely had better Italian food/​pasta. The bread that they serve and refill is amazing. The bread sits on top of roasted garlic and olive oil. Yum! The calamari was delicious. Fried perfectly, not too brown and they were giant rings, not stingy like you would get at chain restaurants sometimes. I ordered the grilled vegetable fettuccine with pesto. Unfortunately, the pasta had very little flavour. I only tasted some flavour when I ate it with the grilled vegetable.
My partner ordered the cannelloni, which tasted slightly better than my dish, but it was plain, quite frankly. My friend ordered the gnocchi and it was way too soft. The rosé sauce with it was good, but the gnocchi itself was not a hit. However, other friends who ordered the pizza found that the pizza was delicious, and it LOOKED delicious. So, if you’re going to come here, order the pizza.
Prices were average for an Italian restaurant along Yonge Street in uptown; however, the quality of the food was not worth the price. Since it was my friend’s birthday, we had brought a cake for him; however, keep in mind of cake-​cutting fees! It was $ 25 (almost the cost of the cake itself!) and they literally just placed a candle on the cake and cut the cake for us. I do understand that many restaurants these days do not permit outside desserts though, so, think twice before bringing a cake to any restaurant!
***
I came back here a few months later and tried their pizza (their special of the day), and it was delicious. Very fresh and we were sitting right by the pizza bar area. My partner and I ordered one pizza each and that was more than enough. I think that one pizza plus an appetizer would have been sufficient. This visit bumped up my rating by 0.5 so I give it 3 out of 5 stars!

Wanted to have some authentic Italian food on a Saturday night last minute in the Yonge & Eglinton area, my first choice is usually Zucca but they were booked for the night. So I decided to try Trio based off their pizza reviews. I called them and they had a table for 2 at 8:30pm, most good Italian restaurants are normally booked for the night, if you try to get a last minute reservation, so 8:30 wasn’t that bad.
They started with delicious, fresh complimentary bread.
We ordered the carpaccio di manzo which was really nice, nicely drizzled in olive oil, really thinly sliced aged beef, that wasn’t over seasoned.
I got the 4 Stagioni pizza as a main and my friend decided on the Gamberi Carciofi.
The pizza was great, fresh ingredients on top, nice thin/​thick pizza crust, it’s done in between, some other Italian places do the crust really thin. The pizza is definitely a fair size. The only complaint I had was next time, I will ask them to have the pizza well done because I like the slight charred edges and the pizza in the middle not to have any sogginess in the middle.
The Gamberi Carciofi was good, nothing spectacular, the black tiger shrimps were cooked nicely along the with accompanying vegetables.
All in all, you get really good value for your money and it’s a nice place for a family dinner or a first date. Trio Ristorante is known as the place that makes great wood oven pizza but in reality it also serves good, fresh authentic Italian food at reasonable prices.
Also, the service was fine considering it was a packed house on Saturday night and the owner is really friendly. The service is not spectacular but pretty competent.
The overall rating is 3.5 stars but since Unilocal does not have a half star option, I gave it a four since it’s closer to a 4 than a 3.

My friends and I choose this restaurant by random. The waitress we had was so disfunctional. She asked my friend if she wanted some water and forgot about the rest of us. She did not smile and made us seem like a burden. She kept pouring our wine which we made us felt rushed. An other waiter randomly took our bread away and just took our plates away before we could say anything. It took us about 20 minutes to get the cheque. We really felt unwelcome.
My other friends liked their food. I had the rigatoni bolognese and was a bit disappointed. It was not bad, just a bid watery and blend.
I liked the atmosphere and the manager was friendly.
I would go somewhere else.

Having grown up on food made by hand, lovingly by someone from Italy, I find it hard to find some good authentic Italian food. The guys here know what they are doing, and do everything themselves.
For all the people complaining about service being slow… it’s a small kitchen that is a 2 man operation at max, and things that get made from scratch take time. Perhaps you have been eating at East Side too much, hm? It’s open for lunch during the week, but mostly based on dinner service. The rush usually starts from 6 and they’re only open until 10:30, so yeah, it gets busy.
The food is good quality made by people that are really passionate about what they do with high standards regarding the final product. It’s supposed to be an experience, not a rush. In short, the food is worth the wait. Order from their tasty selection of wine, order some calamari, have good conversations with good company, and your meal will come faster than you think. Always leave room for the handmade tiramisu, chocolate mousse, or poached pears (when they have it).

I seriously don’t know what these people under me were thinking! This place is fabulous!!! We were accommodated as a walk in party of 5, they rearranged tables so that we could be seated immediately.
We ordered our drinks, appetizers and dinners all at once and all were brought with no mistakes. I had the mushroom salad, it was freaking amazinggggggg, the portion was huge. Assorted mushrooms were sautéed in garlic, olive oil and herbs and served super hot. My boyfriend and mom shared the mussels in a tomato sauce, which they were still talking about in the car on the way home.
For mains my sister and her friend ordered the lasagna, both loved it; my mom ordered the butternut squash ravioli which, while the portion wasn’t huge, the ravioli was stuffed beyond belief and she said was so good and filling. My boyfriend had some handmade pasta with ricotta, spinach in a tomato basil sauce which he polished off easily. I had the four cheese pizza which was so good, cooked in the pizza oven, beautifully thin with REAL gorgonzola, mozza, goat cheese and parmigiana. It was sooo good. While the bill was fairly hefty, we did have 5 diners, 3 alcoholic beverages, and 2 appetizers. It was about $ 140 without tip. Please ignore the reviews below and go nowwwwwwwwwwwwww if you want some great handmade AUTHENTIC Italian food!

Why 5 Stars for Trio Pizzeria? For one simple reason, a good pizza at a fair price. And decent service too… But my priority was finding something acceptable to my palate.
In my desperate quest for pizza baked in a wood burning oven, I found the one made here is the closest I get to what resemble of a true Italian pizza. Without paying an arm and a leg for some dough, cheese and simple tomato sauce (with NO spices). In many places in Italy you can pay as low as 3.5euros ($ 5CDN) for a Margherita… and in Toronto some places can go up to $ 14CDN (9.5euros), with good ingredients… only if I can find them on the pizza…
Trio delivers a decent product that still refreshes my memory of Italy, without any glam. My 5-​Stars to a good humble Pizza.

Friendly owner average Italian food. Our server was the obnoxious used car salesmen type. Ordered the genovse pizza the sundried tomatoes were so salty they were inedible. We order calamari to start but the quality of squid was so poor the perfect cooking couldn’t help it out.

Dropped in on a busy Saturday night for them.
Waited 5 minutes until hostess greeted us.
Waited another 10 minutes until waiter came with the menu.
Service was very slow for the duration of the meal. Although staff was friendly.
Food was pretty good. For a mid-​price restaurant though, they should be providing better service.

I chose this spot at random from the many options on Yonge Street. From the sidewalk it looks great: nice little patio (with a huge umbrella for shade on sunny days), sliding front so the interior is open to fresh air, and semi-​fancy décor.
Unfortunately, in this case looks were deceiving. Because we didn’t have a reservation we were seated outside on a chilly summer evening. The interior tables were about ¾ occupied, but at no time during out meal was the entire interior full so I’m not sure why we had to sit in the cold other than punishment for the audacity of being walk-​ins.
The waitress showed up eventually to take our drink order, walking away before we could even tell her that we’d already settled on our meal selection. It was another ten minutes or so before we saw her again. Service was very slow for the duration of the meal, although our waitress was friendly and pleasant when she was around.
I foolishly ordered rigatoni bolognese, something I can easily make at home for myself (despite my terrible cooking skills) and found it unimpressive. Sure it’s a fairly basic meal, but for a mid-​priced restaurant meal to taste exactly like I had prepared it – except more bland — is unforgivable. My boyfriend was served the wrong salad, although he did opt to just eat what he was given (rather than wait another 15 minutes), and he assures me it was tasty. He also said his seafood pasta was pretty good, which I will take with a grain of salt as I can’t recall the last meal he didn’t say he enjoyed.
Drinks were boldly overpriced. $ 7 for a bottle of beer (bottle, not pint) is more than you can expect to pay at most establishments in the area. Not to mention the fact that our glasses sat empty for over 15 minutes before anybody showed up asking if we wanted another round.
My experience at Trio was a 1-​star experience, but since my companion was less appalled than I was I’ll be generous and up the rating to 2-​stars. Either way there’s no reason for you to consider dining at Trio unless you’re specifically looking to have a lousy time.

Wow, research elsewhere indicated that Trio was a good pick. Research elsewhere returned terribly terribly wrong results. Trio’s Caesar salad featured powdered Parmesan and was pretty flavourless. The house wine was undrinkable, and the quatro formaggi pizza was really bland.
What’s worse, is that when the server asked specifically how the quatro formaggi pizza was and we let him know it was bland, he started mocking us for supposedly wanting red sauce under it. Um no, one of the cheeses was supposed to be Gorgonzola, had you put Gorgonzola on the pie, it would not have been flavourless; other options for a flavourful white cheese pie would have been a nice garlic white sauce, some pesto, or some fresh herbs.
Trio is full of Italian snobbery with no quality to back it up.
The second star is only because one single diner in our party had a good experience. Apparently the mozzarella in the caprese salad was really good.