Tosolini's
As a farewell party, the people at work organised a dinner get-together for me last week. Not wanting Chinese, nor Hogs Breath (which so far has been our default choice), a colleague chose Tosolini's.
Tosolini's has been awarded AHA industry award for ‘Best Restaurant Cafe - Canberra’ for 2 years running (2009 and 2010) as stated on their website. Looking at their online menu, I couldn't help but salivate a little and taken a very long time to decide on just ONE dish! Straying away from my default choice of Seafood Marinara whenever I'm in an Italian restaurant, I opted for their Duck dish - because I LOVE DUCK! Quack! lol
Much to our dismay, the online menu is not the same as the menu that they gave us when we arrived. Which is such a disappointment, because
a) we have 2 people who have allergies and we made them look at their online menu (on the website it said al a carte menu for Jan 14-21) to see if they can have something at the place
b) they have NO duck!!! *sobs*
In the end, after much deliberation, I chose their Bug Tail Fetuccine, with olive oil, cherry tomatoes, garlic and chilli tossed through. When I ordered, the waiter told me that they've run out of bug tails, but they can do it with scallops instead - which suited me fine. We also shared some parmesan bread and sun-dried tomato bread - which were SO GOOD, I would just be as happy having them alone for dinner!
When my dish arrived, I got neither bug tails nor scallops! Instead, I got some mini sized prawns - so disappointed! When queried, the waiter (a different one from the one we ordered from, who was a lot friendlier than our waiter) said that he'll get the kitchen to make me a serve of scallops and was quite apologetic. In less than 5 minutes, the waiter arrived with my half serve of pasta and scallops! lol 1.5 serves of pasta and seafood for the price of 1 = bargain!!! :P
A little on the expensive side (if you didnt get the additional half serve like I did), Tosolini's serve Okay/Average/Meh! Italian meals. I would still rather go to and pay for Belluci's. Though cooked al-dente (just how I like them), the serve of seafood was over-cooked. My prawns were dry and tasteless, the scallops not juicy at all. Since it's very hard to muck up a mix of olive oil, cherry tomatoes, garlic and chilli, my dish could have been better.
Now, their service... Like I've mentioned above, our waiter wasn't too friendly. He was unwilling (lazy?) to check with the kitchen whether they could accommodate the 2 ladies with allergies - eg. not serve herb aoli with their steak, how hard could it be??? - and just told them that all dishes are served as is. Things got a little interesting when it comes to dessert. A friend had ordered Ricotta and blueberry tart served with berry compote. When the plate came, it looked more like Flourless chocolate cake with swirls of berry sauce.
Now seriously, if we're as patrons could tell that what we got is so NOT what we ordered, why would you blatantly lie and try to pass it off as one???
Yeah.....
When we argued with him, he took the plate and threw it straight into the bin - plate and all - then ran into the kitchen.
WTH?
We understand that they're busy, and that it is evident they're short-staffed, but its not our problem! We booked and if they are so overwhelmed, they can turn people away if they have no booking! So anyway, the friendly waiter came to us and asked if everything was fine, and we told him what happened. When he went inside (not sure to do what), our waiter came back and said that they've run out of the tart that my friend ordered and whether she wanted something else - she didn't.
Understandably, we weren't very happy. Our waiter came back and apologised to us, saying that the whole throwing plate out wasn't directed at us, it was to the kitchen. It took great courage to apologise so we just let it go. He then came back with a plate of chocolates to make up for it - so that was nice. However, I am a firm believer that service is a make or break deal for a restaurant. Seeing that Tosolini's is just an average restaurant in my opinion, coupled with bad service, I most likely won't go back.
In saying that, though I would like to disagree with their website about them having the best coffee in Canberra (have yet to find BEST coffee in ACT), their coffees are pretty good. So I probably will go back for their coffee and perhaps even their parmesan bread.
Tosolini's
Ph: 02 6247 4317
Cnr of London Circuit and East Row (Bus Interchange)
Canberra City ACT
http://www.tosolinis.com.au/
Tosolini's has been awarded AHA industry award for ‘Best Restaurant Cafe - Canberra’ for 2 years running (2009 and 2010) as stated on their website. Looking at their online menu, I couldn't help but salivate a little and taken a very long time to decide on just ONE dish! Straying away from my default choice of Seafood Marinara whenever I'm in an Italian restaurant, I opted for their Duck dish - because I LOVE DUCK! Quack! lol
Much to our dismay, the online menu is not the same as the menu that they gave us when we arrived. Which is such a disappointment, because
a) we have 2 people who have allergies and we made them look at their online menu (on the website it said al a carte menu for Jan 14-21) to see if they can have something at the place
b) they have NO duck!!! *sobs*
In the end, after much deliberation, I chose their Bug Tail Fetuccine, with olive oil, cherry tomatoes, garlic and chilli tossed through. When I ordered, the waiter told me that they've run out of bug tails, but they can do it with scallops instead - which suited me fine. We also shared some parmesan bread and sun-dried tomato bread - which were SO GOOD, I would just be as happy having them alone for dinner!
When my dish arrived, I got neither bug tails nor scallops! Instead, I got some mini sized prawns - so disappointed! When queried, the waiter (a different one from the one we ordered from, who was a lot friendlier than our waiter) said that he'll get the kitchen to make me a serve of scallops and was quite apologetic. In less than 5 minutes, the waiter arrived with my half serve of pasta and scallops! lol 1.5 serves of pasta and seafood for the price of 1 = bargain!!! :P
A little on the expensive side (if you didnt get the additional half serve like I did), Tosolini's serve Okay/Average/Meh! Italian meals. I would still rather go to and pay for Belluci's. Though cooked al-dente (just how I like them), the serve of seafood was over-cooked. My prawns were dry and tasteless, the scallops not juicy at all. Since it's very hard to muck up a mix of olive oil, cherry tomatoes, garlic and chilli, my dish could have been better.
Now, their service... Like I've mentioned above, our waiter wasn't too friendly. He was unwilling (lazy?) to check with the kitchen whether they could accommodate the 2 ladies with allergies - eg. not serve herb aoli with their steak, how hard could it be??? - and just told them that all dishes are served as is. Things got a little interesting when it comes to dessert. A friend had ordered Ricotta and blueberry tart served with berry compote. When the plate came, it looked more like Flourless chocolate cake with swirls of berry sauce.
Now seriously, if we're as patrons could tell that what we got is so NOT what we ordered, why would you blatantly lie and try to pass it off as one???
Yeah.....
When we argued with him, he took the plate and threw it straight into the bin - plate and all - then ran into the kitchen.
WTH?
We understand that they're busy, and that it is evident they're short-staffed, but its not our problem! We booked and if they are so overwhelmed, they can turn people away if they have no booking! So anyway, the friendly waiter came to us and asked if everything was fine, and we told him what happened. When he went inside (not sure to do what), our waiter came back and said that they've run out of the tart that my friend ordered and whether she wanted something else - she didn't.
Understandably, we weren't very happy. Our waiter came back and apologised to us, saying that the whole throwing plate out wasn't directed at us, it was to the kitchen. It took great courage to apologise so we just let it go. He then came back with a plate of chocolates to make up for it - so that was nice. However, I am a firm believer that service is a make or break deal for a restaurant. Seeing that Tosolini's is just an average restaurant in my opinion, coupled with bad service, I most likely won't go back.
In saying that, though I would like to disagree with their website about them having the best coffee in Canberra (have yet to find BEST coffee in ACT), their coffees are pretty good. So I probably will go back for their coffee and perhaps even their parmesan bread.
Tosolini's
Ph: 02 6247 4317
Cnr of London Circuit and East Row (Bus Interchange)
Canberra City ACT
http://www.tosolinis.com.au/