| 02 March 2008
 |
57a Adelaide Street West, Toronto ON 416-203-3093 www.terroni.ca Map Approx $30 per person Local Food? many local ingredients Local Wine/Beer? good selection |
Lunch,Dinner Mon to Sat: 11am to 11pm Closed on Sundays |
Seems not too long ago on Victoria Street -- while we were enjoying pizza at Terroni -- we were told that the restaurant was moving over to the Courthouse building on Adelaide to make room for Osteria. The entrance puts you in the center of Enoteca, the wine bar. A high ceiling atrium, with the bar on one side and a cheese station on the other. Towers of vino stand against one wall while various Italian goods outline the other. The mood is rustic. Very little of Courthouse’s nightclub essence has been preserved except for the loud characteristics of impatient diners, this time around they’re waiting for tables and good eats. Chandeliers hang from above detailing the preserved architecture of the York Courthouse complex.
You have to walk through the crowd to get to the reception station. A DJ can be spotted near the staircase next to a wall of Italian chocolates and canned tomatoes. The DJ spins anything from house to 80’s pop, and keeps the atmosphere alive. This is a much different scene from that small dining room on Victoria Street. I was walking down the street during my first visit, and just popped in to purchase a jar of those delicious and spicey Donato Macina pugliese peppers, and a bar of Venchi chocolate.
A week later I went in for a dinner visit. That night, my companion and I were seated almost immediately. The main dining room is gorgeous; distressed wood tables and large fireplaces. A rather random map of the world occupies the large wall. It’s not often you dine under such rich architecture, the withdrawal from contemporary design was very welcome. The pasta is good but the thin crust pizzas take the main stage/ Many evenings I dreamt about the cheese and cold cut platter. The Beef Carpaccio is a favourite among all of my friends.
I had a delicious plate of rigatoni with ricotta, deep-fried eggplant in a tomato sauce, followed with a slice of the spicey Don Corrado pizza and a taste of the Canna a Mare (spaghetti with clams and mussels).
Initially, our waiters rushed over with menus and a large bottle of water but then left us unattended for about 15 minutes.
On my second visit I arrived around 5:30 pm. The wine bar was incredibly busy, and I asked about the wait times. 40 minutes. I was told they were still not taking reservations. Moments after, the host answered the phone and jotted down a name along with a number. The waitress then took my name and I headed back to the wine bar. The obvious ineptitude of managing the line became obvious after that. Every few minutes I would spot the host wandering around calling out the names of guests. Her calls were barely heard in a loud room. The ineffectiveness of this approach seemed to delay the wait for a table.
I took a risk, and left the premise to head home for a glass of wine. We came back to Terroni about 40 minutes later to find that we were on the waiting list, and after another 20 minutes we were finally seated. Working out the kinks in a new space as large as the courthouse could take some time, but it seems to me that managing the door should be a breeze.
I can accept that the smaller locations wish to stick with their ‘no reservation’ policy, but this large space should be treated differently. One waitress did mention to me that they do take reservations for early dinners, but this information was only mulled over by the second waitress who said that the no reservation policy is still in effect.
The Terroni experience is a worthwhile adventure. The menu carves a culinary path, with the ingredients inspiring you to try more than one dish. The ingredients are fresh and easily discernable. Sometimes less is more, most times it even tastes better. What a long way they’ve come from stuffed paninis. Careful, you might over extend your visit.
No reservations unless you wish to enjoy some private dining in the atrio, tinello, ufficio, and cantina (lower level) rooms.
