Experience two levels of dining at one of Stratford, Ontario's great restaurants. Our pizzeria serves the best thin crust pizza, pasta and fresh salads and is a fabulous bar to meet up with friends after shopping. Or dine in our stunning main level Taverna for a romantic evening where we feature hand made pastas, locally sourced meats and seafood while you select the perfect wine from our extensive wine cellarmore...See more text
The restaurant seemed quite upscale when we walked in but we were quickly tuned in. There was a waitress walking around with an exposed midriff and several of the others looked as though they rolled out of bed and grabbed whatever black clothes they could find. The menu was sparse at best. The cesaer salad was overloaded with garlic and something resembling bacon that tasted like rotten meat. My ravioli was drenched in oil that they called pesto and although I tend towards bland foods, this was too tasteless even for me. My boyfriend's ravioli looked like it came out of a frozen dinner pan and was tasteless as well. The dessert of puffed pastry filled with hazelnut cream was dry and hard; in keeping with the rest of the meal. The portions were small and overpriced. What a huge disappointment. If it were not for each other's company the evening might have been ruined!
As usual, the front of house staff were exceptional, but our server was an obvious novice. After a disappointing appetizer of antipasti-served without bread- an obvious oversight- our entrees arrived cold, including the steak. The stek was returned to the kitchen and then brought back "re-heated" and consequently over-cooked. We have always enjoyed the pizzeria, and will continue to frequent the downstairs, but will not return to the upstairs ristorante.
This is the most pretentious and badly run restaurant I have ever been to. They seem to think that the secret of Italian cooking is to sink the food in virgin oil and load it up with big pieces of garlic, presumably to prevent it from surfacing. This is the first time I have felt nauseous in a restaurant, and this after eating only about a third of an defrosted, oily fish dripping with virgin oil which I was unable to finish. My wife had to hang her pieces of pasta up to dry in the fork before eating them. They and specially their pretentious chef are in dire need of a visit from Chef Ramsey, who would probably fire the whole lot and turn the place into a dry goods store. And to top it all, they have the gall to overprice the food: $29 plus tax plus tip for my defrosted piece of oily fish with six small pieces of zuchini and a wet and shaggy piece of lettuce!
We have been going to Stratford for 10 years. We always visit Pazzos after a show at least one night of our visit.
We just returned from Stratford. Yet, I feel poorly about our visit to Pazzo's. The pizza was fine for $12-pricey but we knew what we were buying-it met our expectations. We ordered the house red wine. They literally served a 3 oz glass of wine and charged $10 per glass. My expectation was $6-7 and perhaps a bit more generous. I should have asked. Anyway...water in a wine glass next time, if there is a next time.
GO ANYWHERE BUT HERE!
In a party of nine, there was something wrong with everyone's food. The wrong dishes were brought out or dishes were missing key ingredients. Food was poorly executed.
We had to wait an hour for our mains, and no one apologized. In fact, the waitress in charge of the dining room was rude and confrontational.
Easily the worst dining experience I've had anywhere, but they get lots of tourists/play goers so they don't care.
