Via Mercanti

Date Visited: Dinner on Thursday Jul 9, 2015

Company: +Will Ives 

So this year, I gave Will the job of choosing a Summerlicious restaurant for us to try! He decided on Via Mercanto, an Italian restaurant located across the street from Sick Kids Hospital that is known for its authentic pizza. I was impressed and excited to try this place, I didn't realize how close it was to us either so we could go again easily in the future. It was a sunny evening so the patio was packed by the time we got there, we also followed suit as the inside looked fairly empty. When we first got the menu, we didn't see any Summerlicious on there so we had to ask specifically for that. The service was a bit slow, especially with water and taking our orders. We decided on totally separate items so we could share our meal. 

For the appetizer, I ordered the Caprese Salad with Fior de latte cheese, Roma tomatoes serviced on a bed of arugula with basil dressed in extra virgin olive oil. It looked very pretty on the plate and a good size also. The ingredients were all excellent but I thought it could have used a bit more flavour as it was a bit bland. Will got the Rancino Di Riso, a rice ball with Risotto, Mozzarella, Parmesan, Peas, and Beef. I was pleasantly surprised how delicious this was! There was a ton of flavour in the ball and the consistency of the rice with cheese and beef was excellent. I definitely could have had a few of these. 

For my main, I knew I wanted to try their pizza but couldn't decide between the Vegetarian or Romolo's. I read that the Romolo's Pizza, a half tomato sauce, half olive oil with Fior de latte, Prosciutto cotto and Mixed mushrooms is one of their classic dishes so I opted for that and also because Will would be more willing to eat it (without the veggies). I enjoyed the tomato side better cause I'm not really a fan of the smell of olive oil and found it overpowering. Other than that, the dough was very crispy but a bit hard, I thought it could be a bit more chewy. 

Will went for the Faggotino Di Parma, Housemade pasta in a cream sauce wrapped in Prosciutto crudo. This pasta was delicious, the sauce was extremely cheesy and the prosciutto was amazing, there was a lot of it surprisingly! I did find everything a bit salty though from the excess of cheese, great dish otherwise.

Finally, for dessert I went for the Tiramisu and Will got the Chocolate Gelato. The presentation of the Tiramisu was excellent, the piece was kind of small but they sprinkled lots of cocoa powder to appeal to the eye. The flavour was great and the cake was very spongey and light! As for the Gelato, it tasted like chocolate, I don't have much else to add to that :)

Food: 3/5 - Not going to lie, my taste buds may have been a bit off due to a bit of sickness but found a lot of flavours more prominent than others in the dishes.
Decor: 2/5 - Didn't see much of the interior decor but the the outside was a bit difficult to find and the seats weren't very comfortable on the patio.
Service: 1.5/5 - Not the best, very slow.
Willingness to go back: 2.5/5 - Would give it another shot, had lots of good options on their menu.
Overall: 2/5

Website: http://www.pizzeriaviamercanti.ca/

Momma's Family Restaurant

Date Visited: Dinner on Oct 7, 2014
Company: +Joslynn and +Caroline

The Oshawa girls and I decided to get together for dinner and a cheap Tuesday movie after deciding we all wanted to see Gone Girl. The movie was around 7PM so we had to find somewhere for an early dinner close to the theatre. I wasn't feeling the chain restaurants on Tauton so I decided to do some searching for other things in the area. There aren't many known restaurants in Oshawa I haven't been to at this point but I did find Momma's Family Restaurant in the Five Points Mall. I haven't heard of the place before but it had positive reviews on the internet despite not having much internet presence.

Five Points Mall isn't a very busy mall (if you can even call it a mall) so I'm sure I've passed by it on my odd occasional visit. I wasn't even sure where in the mall it was located, I found a sign outside and just parked outside the entrance. The girls said they did the same but it happened to be where I was closer, to the Target. The restaurant was right where we entered and was bigger than I had expected (not sure what I was expecting), it looked almost like a smaller East Side Mario's. Their sign said to seat ourselves so we grabbed a booth mid-way back.

They had an interesting selection of menu items, quite extensive but not sticking any one theme... had some Greek and Italian features. We all decided to share a Large Caesar Salad which was actually massive! There was 3 of us and we couldn't finish it. There was tons of parmesan and dressing which I enjoyed. There was also lots of bacon bits but I didn't like that they were the artificial kind and very crunchy. The lemon on the side was a great addition to add more flavour to the salad. I thought it was very delicious.

I couldn't decide between a few things on the menu for my main but +Joslynn was getting Lasagna already so the waitress said I could have a bit of hers when I asked for a recommendation. I decided on the Chicken Breast Parmesan with Baked Potato (I think that's what it was). I wasn't sure what to expect from the description, I thought I'd get something saucier rather than chicken with a layer of sauce and cheese. The chicken itself wasn't bad, don't think it was fresh but tasted fine. My criticism would have to be on the sauce, it had an odd flavour which tasted like the Chef Boyardee canned pasta sauce. I tried the Lasagna also and it had the same sauce which I found too creamy and thick. The cheese was nicely melted on top but was very unconnected to the chicken with the sauce inbeween. The baked potato was also fine, nothing special about that, came with butter and lots of sour cream. The side of coleslaw was tasty but not as sour as I would have liked. It was an interesting dish paired altogether, I was surprised how full trying to finish it because it didn't seem like that much food.

Food: 2.5/5 - Not the best food I've had but fairly cheap and reasonable.
Decor: 3/5 - Very cute and spacious with pictures of different mothers all around.
Service: 3/5 - Pretty quick and waitress checked up on us appropriately
Willingness to go back: 1/5 - Don't think I'll be returning soon on my own accord.
Overall: 2.5/5

Website: none

Bistro 238

Date Visited: Late dinner on Thursday Jul 31, 2014
Company: +Will

+Will was spending one of his working days in Oshawa and had some time to spare afterwards to go out for dinner with me. Since the GM Head Office is near the Oshawa/Courtice border, I decided to look up some places in that area. I haven't eaten in any restaurants in Courtice before and there wasn't very many I found to be honest. There are were a lot of bars but I wanted something nicer without being too pricey. I read some reviews on Bistro 238 and saw that they were a local favourite, it sounded fancy but their prices were reasonable. I called in the morning to get a reservation but they only had something available at 5:30PM or 8PM! We went for the 8PM so we didn't have to rush after work.

Driving there, it was a tad difficult to find because their sign wasn't visible from the main road, but you had to drive into the parking lot of the strip mall to find it. When we entered, it lined you up behind a divider from the dining area to be greeted. There was one couple in front of us and it seemed pretty full, we arrived around 7:45PM as they said they should be ready for us around then which they were. There's two small rooms for dining with about 6-8 tables in each? Most of the clientele were mature families or groups of seniors.

We came on their Pasta night for which they had a chalk board listed with their specials. Each pasta came with a Caesar Salad and was only $12! They were very keen on 'no substitutions' but there was plenty of pasta variations. I went for the Fettuccine with Atlantic Salmon and Asparagus in a Pesto Alfredo Sauce and Will got the Potato Gnocci with Bacon and Mushrooms in a Cream Sauce. We got some slices of a dark brown rye bread to start with butter on the side. Our salads came and they were fairly sized for starters, definitely not a small portion. It was topped with a crouton with pesto spread which gave it good flavour to eat by itself. The ingredients of the salad was pretty standard. The only thing I would say is that I found the Caesar dressing had a bit too much anchovy flavour. I usually don't like to taste that part of the sauce but found it to stand out.

The atmosphere of Bistro 238 is very relaxed and calm so it's great to come here for a date or a low-key family celebration where you can have a conversation. The staff were also very sweet and humble. I was pretty excited when our pastas finally arrived, I also got mine topped with some fresh Parmesan. The portions were a good size but I was already a bit full from the earlier food! They also told Will that he got the last serving of Gnocci, which I'm sure made him very happy. I tried the Gnocci and it was so good, it almost melted in your mouth after a bite. His dish also had tons of mushrooms and bacon mixed it, he finished it in no time! I couldn't say the same for mine though, mostly because I found it it very hefty and rich. The fettuccine pasta was cooked a bit hard and I didn't really taste much of the pesto in the sauce. The salmon was very fresh and you could taste it throughout the pasta. There wasn't enough asparagus though and I wish you could taste the flavour more like the salmon. Overall, everything was cooked perfectly and even though I only finished half of it, I enjoyed eating every bite!

Food: 3.5/5 - Great deal for what we paid!
Decor: 3/5 - Very old-fashioned but comfy and welcoming space.
Service: 3/5 - Pretty good, nothing too extraordinary.
Willingness to Return: 5/5 - Hope to make this a regular spot for me!
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://bistro238courtice.wix.com/bistro238

Vagabondo

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Feb 14, 2014
Company: Valentine's Day Dinner with +Will

Last year, I was looking for restaurants to go to for Valentine's Day and Vagabondo's $55, 4-course, fixed-price dinner really caught my eye. This year, I linked +Will two different restaurants' menus to choose from and he picked Vagabondo's, forgetting that we went there last year. I was happy to go again though because I had a great experience the first time around and now, I had an opportunity to blog about it! I made a reservation on OpenTable, a great site to make reservations and earn points for dining for many restaurants in Toronto and other cities!

Vagabondo is in a bit of a odd location, not really on the street but in a square. It's pretty noticeable though if you know where you're going as there's a large sign outside. The interior was decorated well for the occasion with tons of red and white balloons. We were immediately greeted and taken to our table. The restaurant is large with many different rooms, and we were placed in a small one with about 5 other tables. The placements of these tables were pretty close to each other so I felt a bit squished especially because we were also right against the wall. A waitress gave me a balloon upon entering and I tied it on my chair but I was worried it would keep hitting the guy behind me (that's how close we were to each other) so I stuffed it under the table instead. Anyways, we ordered Spearheads to drink which is one of their beers offered on tap which was described to us as a Toronto local brown ale. 

Once we placed our food orders, we were immediately brought some warm bread with olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette, and butter to start. I loved that they gave the oil and vinaigrette in their bottles (which fit perfectly together, so cute) for us to pour on our plates ourselves for dipping. The bread was great, so soft on the inside, it felt like it was just baked. Shortly after, our first course arrived, the Bruschetta Feta! I remembered when I had this last year, that it was literally the best Bruschetta I'd ever had before. I'm happy to say that it still is. The perfectly toasted baguette was loaded with tomatoes and feta. They were very generous with the toppings and literally pack it on! The tomatoes are so flavourful and lightly brushed with olive oil. The bread doesn't crumble and the toppings don't fall everywhere when you bite into it which is a nice change from previous bruschetta experiences I've had.

For my second course, I choose the Gamberi Coco, tiger shrimp dipped in coconut batter served with honey garlic sauce. The plate came with two large deep fried tiger shrimp on a bed of arugula and the sauce on the side. The shrimp was very hot and pretty large. I loved the coconut flavour with this dish, not something I've had before. The honey garlic sauce was also delicious, an interesting but tasty combination! I would never think to pair those together but it made for a nice appetizer.

There were many good choices for the main dish but I had to go with the Fettuccine Pescatore, pasta with fresh mussels, clams, king crab, tiger shrimp, jumbo scallops and calamari cooked in a tomato basil sauce. The dish was huge when I saw it with large clams topping it off and an empty accompanying bowl for the shells. The pasta was excellent, it was hand-made and the texture was a bit on the hard side which I enjoyed. There were so many mussels, calamari, shrimp, and clams in the pasta, the thick tomato sauce was complemented well with the seafood. There was only one jumbo scallop in my dish and it was awful, it was so hard I couldn't even eat it after one bite. The king crab was also disappointing since there were only about 3 small sections cut of it, so very little meat. No complaints about the rest of the seafood though, they were great. I left just under half of it to take home because there was no way I could finish it and still have room for dessert. I also had a bite of Will's medium-rare filet and it was very tender, I enjoyed it a lot.

Finally, our meal was finally ending with the Chocolate Lava Cake. It was a cute sized little cake packed with chocolatey goodness. There was the sauce coming out from the top and nothing really came out when you broke into it. Will said that you really had to get to the middle for it to come out. It was great though, the perfect end to the meal. I only had less than a quarter of it and asked for it to be packed up but unfortunately the waitress had dropped my lava cake! She was very sweet and said they can make another one but I really didn't need to take it home so I said no. 

Overall, I had a wonderful romantic meal at Vagabondo. I must say that the waitress was extremely attentive the whole night and always made sure we had enough water and asked us how we were doing. It was a bit much at times but definitely no complaints about service or wait times for food. The $55 fixed price dinner was definitely worth it, great value for delicious food as I know their menu is normally quite pricey.


Food: 4/5 - Overall great food here, they know how to do the simple things right!
Decor: 3/5 - Nice place but a little too packed, expected for Valentine's day though.
Service: 4/5 - Would be perfect service, minus the dropping of cake and asked us how we were a bit excessively.
Willingness to go back: 3/5 - Love their Valentine's menu options, wouldn't say no to coming again but wouldn't initiate it either.
Overall: 3.5/5
Website: http://www.vagabondo.ca/

Mercatto

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Dec 20, 2014
Company: Annual SJ Secret Santa gift exchange with 11 participants

This year, I was put in charge of organizing the annual Secret Santa with university friends, handed down from +Stanley who's off in NYC doing bigger and better things. I started planning early because I knew it would be difficult to find a reservation for a large group during that time of year near the Financial District downtown Toronto. I looked up a few places and decided on Mercatto, a restaurant where I could blog about the food and my non-foodies friends could still get familiar dishes without spending too much. They have a few locations in the downtown area, all situated fairly close to each other. Anyhow, I emailed them and they were very accommodating of our reservation for 14 and even warned us of the 18% gratuity fee added to large parties.

Our reservation was at 6PM and people slowly started to trickle in while others we knew would be arriving late. About 3 people went to the Eaton Centre location because of a bug on Facebook phone app leading them to the wrong address (not my fault, worked fine on a browser!). We got a long table in the back near the kitchen, but the restaurant isn't very big anyway so you could still see the front entrance from where we were. The staff was helpful and gave us an extra table to put all our presents on so they didn't have to be on the floor. I especially enjoyed the lighting of the place, it was warm with lots of candles but still bright enough to see each other. It was also very warm in temperature which made it extra cozy.

For drinks, they have a huge selection of wine and about 3 choices for draught beer each at $7 so I ordered a Moretti from Italy. We decided to put in our orders around 7PM as it was uncertain when the others were going to make it. My friends had a bit of trouble figuring out the menu which consisted of many Italian words which I think may have been a bit imitating. After questioning the waitress, we all ended up getting pizza anyways. I ordered the Speck e Spinaci with was topped with smoked ham, spinach, padano cheese, and besciamella sauce. We also requested the complementary bread as their menu noted that we had to ask for it.

Our free bread came and it was joyous because we were starving. The bread was soft and the olive oil given was surprisingly flavourful. Funny story, one friend of mine (who I"ll keep nameless) tried to spread the oil across the bread with his knife and it got everywhere! It was hilarious as having gone to university together, we're used to going to McDonald's and low-budget bars together and not classy adult restaurants, so it was a fun(ny) experience!

Our pizza came and as I was taking pictures of mine, +Alex had rolled his up to a tortilla and finished his first slice already! The pizza looked big on the plate but it was extremely thin, possibly the thinnest pizza I've had. I found the dough a bit floury especially on the crust. I was also not used not having a tomato based sauce so it was an interesting eating experience for me as well. The ham was delicious, crispy like bacon and the spinach was mushy (in a good way!) and added subtle flavour. There was something I didn't quite enjoy fully about the pizza and I'm not sure if it was the sauce or cheese. I was also very envious of the Pepperoni Pizza because that looked amazing and I almost got that instead.

After everyone had arrived and ordered, we got to exchange presents and pass around chocolates that people had received for dessert. We had settled the bills and still stayed for a quite a while after that. I think the restaurant wasn't too impressed but they didn't say anything to us. They didn't need the table or anything but I think we stayed about 4 hours there. I want to think that everyone had a fun and good dining experience here, for me it was a great night and Mercatto was very accommodating.

Food: 2.5/5 - My pizza wasn't the greatest, thought it was over-priced. I can appreciate the authenticity but I've had better. 

Decor: 4.5/5 - Great ambiance and atmosphere, many large groups that night similar to us.

Service: 3/5 - Very helpful and I don't think we were the easiest party to service but they were nice and friendly. Waitress wasn't impressed that I didn't tell her separate bills in the beginning though.

Willingness to go back: 2/5 - Good for parties like this but probably wouldn't go here specifically on a date night or anything, could think of better places.

Overall: 3/5

Website: http://www.mercatto.ca/

Remezzo Italian Bistro

Date Visited: Dinner on Wednesday Nov 13, 2013
Company: Walk-in for four

Being in the Scarborough area for work, some friends and I randomly decided to meet up for dinner afterwards as they also happened to be in town that day. After meeting up at STC for some browsing, we drove to Remezzo, an Italian restaurant nearby. It's in a small plaza with a few stores, but right beside a huge Asian grocery. +Will had drove there earlier as he had come straight from work and had a table waiting, not that it was very busy. The place is very spacious with many sections, and most tables seemed to be family gatherings.

They had their specials of the day written at the front but when I asked the waitress what they were, she had a hard time recalling them, not the best waitress. We decided to split Bruschetta to start and I also ordered the French Onion Soup. The wait wasn't too long for our appetizers. The Bruschetta came in 6 pieces which was perfect because only 3 of us ended up sharing it. The bread was nicely tasted and there was ample amount of tomatoes, very simple and delicious. The French Onion Soup also came shortly after and it looked extremely delicious in its little bowl. There was tons of cheese on the top layer and wasn't overcooked, it stayed hot throughout. It was very stringy though and I had a hard time getting down to the crouton part right underneath. Near the end, I also found all of the onion bits together at the bottom of the broth. It was +Stephanie's first time having it but she thought it was too salty. Overall, I think it was a bit messy but a great French Onion Soup.  But I would definitely get it again, it wasn't too expensive and loaded with cheese and onions.

For my main, I wanted to get the Eggplant Parmesan which was a special that day but the waitress forgot to mention that it was all out and had to return to re-take my order. Instead, I ordered the Linguini Di Mare. Our main dishes were brought out right as we were finishing our appetizers. The Linguini had scallops, shrimp, and scallops mixed in with a tomato-basil sauce. There were tons of seafood in the pasta which I enjoyed, you could really taste the flavour as the tomato sauce was pretty light. The shrimps and scallops were very big while the clams were small but there were tons of them in the dish. I took some of it home as I was pretty full from the apps but the portions were a good size as everyone finished their dishes.

Food: 3.5/5 - Mediocre but tasty food at reasonable prices!
Decor: 3/5 - Cozy, family-friendly restaurant with tons of space.
Service: 1/5 - Our waitress was so bad, but the food came quickly.
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Definitely would go back for some delicious Italian without breaking the bank!
Overall: 3/5
Website: http://www.remezzo.ca/

Avanti Trattoria

Visited: Dinner on Friday May 10, 2013

Company: Party of 5 ladies grabbing dinner before seeing The Great Gatsby

In an effort to try out some of the local restaurants in my hometown, some friends and I decided to have dinner at Avanti Trattoria, an Italian place situated in downtown Oshawa. I am always worried about parking downtown but finding a spot wasn't that bad the last few times I had been, definitely not as bad as being in downtown Toronto. Parking is free after 6PM in Oshawa and usually you can get close enough to your destination that the walk isn't dreadful. I got a place right in front but realized that the restaurant has their own parking spots after. I hadn't heard about the locally-owned restaurants in Oshawa until recently and this place was one of them, apparently with great Italian food and stone-oven pizza.

Upon entering, I was really surprised on how big the place is, with two main dining areas, huge bar, and kitchen area. There was also tons of staff available just hanging out, they were fully-stacked for the night. After the party had all arrived, we decided to start with some classic Bruschetta. We were also given bread for the table to start, and most of us had decided on pizza, so we were going to get our fair share of carbs that day. The bruschetta wasn't spectacular but still good. I'm always skeptical on bruschetta now because I had the best one earlier this year and I don't think any other one can top it. The bruschetta bread was a bit too soft all the way through and didn't have that thin crispy outer layer. Each table also had random oils to have with the bread which was nice to try.

We decided to all trade a slice of pizza to try other types and by the time we were done switching, only half the pizza was what I got! I wasn't worried though because the portion was more than enough, so much larger than a personal pizza. For my order of pizza, I got the Salsiccia. I love Italian sausage and it's usually the only meat I'd want on pizza so what's why I was compelled to have it. The overall combination of toppings on this was excellent, the red onions and green peppers complemented the sausage so well. The make of the pizza was excellent too, the dough was the right thickness and had a good amount of cheese. I was so full after three pieces which I was so disappointed because it was so good and I wanted to eat it all.
The other slices I tried were the Vegetarian, Cacciatore, and Polpette. I had debated getting some of these so I was pretty happy that my friends had gotten them instead. The Vegetarian was loaded with various veggies but I'm not a fan of olives which turned me off of getting it (yes, I understand you can ask for 'no olives'). But the broccoli was a very prominent flavour overall which took away from the other flavours. 

I had almost gotten the Cacciatore but I didn't think I had goat cheese before (but then I remembered that I did and I was a huge fan). Good thing, because it was overloaded with it! Probably because there was no mozzarella, but it was an awesome alternative. I love how thick the cheese in comparison but you can still taste the other flavours, especially the sun-dried tomatoes (which I didn't hate like I usually do), which was nice and soft like the other veggies and didn't stand out in texture.

Lastly, I tried the Polpette, which was quite similar looking to the Salsiccia but with mushrooms, Italian ham and meatballs instead of peppers and sausage. I wasn't a huge fan of the meatballs as they added an odd flavour to the pizza. The ham and mushrooms are an excellent addition but I think they were ignored among the other flavours. I don't think it was a great combination of toppings. 

Overall, I was a huge fan of the restaurant, from the food to the atmosphere, it's a nice little gem in downtown Oshawa I'm glad I know about now. 

Food: 3.5/5 - Pizza was excellent!
Decor: 4.5/5 - Brilliant Italian decor and excellent use of space.
Service: 3/5 - Pretty good, but not outstanding.
Likeliness to come back: 4.5/5 - Want to try some pasta :)
Overall: 4/5
Website: http://www.avantifood.com/