Best New Restaurants 2012: No. 7 F’Amelia
Torontonians will bid themselves into bankruptcy to live in a neighbourhood with a good school, a dog park and a relaxed little restaurant just up the street. Todd Vestby and John Dawson, best friends since high school, may well have upped Cabbagetown housing prices by opening the quintessential trattoria around the corner from their homes. Warmed by the rosy glow of the clay pizza oven, the charming three-room space feels like a farmhouse in Tuscany. Gracious servers answer questions (yes, guanciale is cured pig’s face) and ask regulars about their weekend at the cottage. Vestby (a former stockbroker) and Dawson (a former tour guide) gave the kitchen to Bergamo-born chef Maurizio Verga, who jumped ship from Splendido for the job and devised a pitch-perfect northern Italian menu. In Verga’s hands, familiar dishes taste extraordinary: delectable chestnut tagliatelle with brussels sprouts and chanterelles; pizzas charred to perfection from 90 seconds in 650-degree heat; luscious oxtail smothered in porcinis on incredibly buttery polenta. It’s all expertly handled and blessedly affordable. Open only since September, F’Amelia is already an essential part of the neighbourhood. 12 Amelia St., 416-323-0666. See our listing for more information »
The food is excellent, but the house management (one of the two in particular) leaves a lot to be desired, and the servers do a disservice to the food — a lack of knowledge, slowness and at times outright snappiness are a deadly combination.
We were poised to make this our neighbourhood go-to place, but that won’t happen.
I have to wholeheartedly disagree with venice_2012.
What’s not to like about the management? I for one am impressed when the management of a restaurant are friendly and genuinely care about their clientele and make them feel comfortable.
Sure, there may be some servers who need a little tweaking, but if you want stuffy and stuck up service, F’Amelia isn’t the place for you, thank God. I’m probably going there tonight, in fact.
Who knows how this restaurant made this list.
Summary: terrible staff, poorly made cocktails, delicious carpaccio, unpleasant gnocchi
As we walked into the empty restaurant, there were 4 waitresses chitchatting around the bar. They saw us come in, but none of them could be bothered to greet us. After we stood there awkwardly for about 5 minutes, it looked as though they held a small discussion about who should greet us. Eventually someone came around. Talk about lazy staff!
After seating us, it was another 10-15 minutes before we had a glass of water (not to mention a drink!).
The wine was delicious, but the dark & stormy cocktail was poorly made (nothing more than ginger ale and rum). Most hilarious was when the waitress came around to tell us, for the 3rd time, what exactly we ordered, but failed to notice my partner’s empty glasses.
We tried the carpaccio, risotto, and the gnocchi. The carpaccio was delicious. The risotto was okay, and the gnocchi was terrible. Neither of us finished the gnocchi.
A woman, presumably the manager, asked us if everything was alright. After mentioning our distaste for the gnocchi she replied, “yeah, a lot of people say that”. Seriously? Why is it still on the menu?
The bill came with the price of two gnocchi included. We paid, sat around for awhile, and as we were walking out the door that same woman said, “oh, I didn’t get the chance to offer you a free drink or anything”. That’s nice, but a little too late.
Pizza good, overpriced though. Service was reasonable. What surprised me is how fast the food came. That means that shortcuts were made. I believe that the pizza was already prepared and ready for baking or maybe half cooked. Even with cooking times of 90 seconds, it was too fast. Still it tasted good. I ordered a Taglioni with “clams” and mussels. I only deteced one clam’ maybe two. It would be customary to offer at least fresh black pepper, even if they don’t believe that you should add parmessan cheese; they didn’t. The mussels and clam were clearly already prepared as the food arrived in less than five minutes from the order taking. For $22.00 I expect my pasta made to order and the seafood in it to also be made fresh. Perhaps they were frozen or prepared ahead of time. And come on, $3 for a glass of filtered water.
I think they will enjoy much success if they make food to order only and calm down on the prices. Overpriced restaurants don’t last. The local competition is really cheap by comparisson.
We won’t return.
Good honest review Andrew! I nominate you As Toronto Life’s new food writer to replace all this DISH nonsense along with the TV Chef fluff.
Good review, Andrew! Very fair synopsis!
The first time I thought the place was quaint and the service was so-so as the waitress was flustered beyond belief and almost in tears because the “chefs” were yelling at her. The food.. well that’s where the problem starts. First the dish that I wanted was no longer available nor was the dish that my dinner guest wanted. So having to make a split second decision on a replacement is not exactly the best idea. So we settled on pizzas… Meh. I thought great restaurant with great possibilities but so far its just okay. If I wanted pizza I can always go to tried and true places like Terronis or even Dimmi’s in Yorkville. Reasonable prices and delicious pizzas. This was nothing special. However I thought it was an anomaly and decided to give it another shot. On March 10th I returned to with a new dinner guest and again the same issues. The menu had just changed and what I wanted was no longer being offered. Instead I had the meal in the above captioned photo. It was blah and the portion was nothing substanital. So for a second time I have found the food to be just ok and not worth the money that I am paying. I won’t be returning. Am curious how some of these restaurants make the list.