Taverna Italian Kitchen + Bar

I had looked for Reddit recommendations for authentic Italian restaurants that were highly recommended and this was one of the top ones. We did do reservation through OpenTable but they weren’t full when we got there. Looks like sometimes this isn’t the case and reservations are usually recommended. The decor is great. Trendy, clean and modern. Nice lounge vibes. I picked here because it has a HUGE menu to pick from. The serve staff was professional and kind but we didn’t vibe either, it felt like we weren’t of the right crowd shall we say. He was great at his job it just didn’t feel comfortable. The menu being written in Italian with English descriptions felt overwhelming. It does add to the experience. The drink menu is huge, but somehow didn’t have stuff I wanted. My partner liked their white peach lemonade with added vodka. We got arancini balls. They were excellent. A little spicy but they were a great appetizer. We also enjoyed the bread which I believe was focaccia with some garlic butter patty. My meal was a pomodoro tagliatelle with Sicilian meatballs. They are able to sub pasta types which is great. My partner got the cannelloni. He really enjoyed his dish. I on the other hand found it underwhelming. I’m used to authentic. Italian restaurants with great flavour profiles and a solid pasta sauce. I had to ask for salt for mine. The tagliatelle was great though- thick and excellent texture in the mouth. The meatball didn’t strike me as being noticeable either. It reminded me why I don’t frequent Italian restaurants outside of my hometown. For the majority of people who aren’t as picky I do believe this would be a great Italian experience. I just need more bodied flavours & to feel like it’s authentic which I did not. To be fair- it’s hard to find. So I give it a graceful four star. Parking is street parking. Can be difficult to find. Likely need to walk. Sometimes need to pay if you’re within pay hours.

We were extremely disappointed after trying to eat here. We first ordered their no cheese pizza as an appetizer. It just tomato sauce on pizza dough. No flavour at all. They did remake us a pizza that was more flavourful and I do appreciate them for rectifying that for us. We then got our entrees I got the gnocchi pesto dish and I got it without the cheese and it was 7 lbs of olive oil with pesto. I ate maybe 3 pieces but all I could taste was oil and it was so bland. My boyfriend got their cannoli dish and it had 7 lbs of cheese on it, again no flavour and three bites in he couldn't eat it. All the oil and the cheese was all that dish was. We paid $105 for the meal and ended up throwing away the food. That pains me to say with how expensive this meal was. It was inedible, bland, and not the Italian experience we had hoped for. Would not recommend eating here.

The food? Meh. Half-decent at best, with all the flavor of salt and garlic. Not exactly what you’d expect from a place which calls itself premium. The sauces didn’t taste in house and you can tell most non meat ingredients are not sourced locally or with care. But the real disaster? The service. Not once were we asked how our meal was. Drinks? Forgotten. Water? Refilled once . And the cherry on top? We waited 20 minutes for the bill while three servers stood around doing Olympic-level nothing. No check-ins. No follow-ups. No effort from any of the service staff. Now for the grand finale: a 20% automatic gratuity slapped on because we had a group of 7. You read that right. They served us like we were invisible and then charged us like we were dining at Gordon Ramsay’s flagship or some restaurant with private service. My $32 pizza magically became a $44 disappointment. The whole point in such a gratuity is usually because the server is taken away from other tables due to a large group size, yet we only saw our server 3 times the entire evening. To take the order for food and drink (half of which never got brought out), to bring us food and fill water, and to deliver a bill. If you enjoy average food, overpriced disappointment, and service that makes you question your will to tip; then congratulations, you’ve found your spot.