These guys had some awesome pamphlets with all the great summer activities going on in Oakville. I…read moretook all of them!! Super friendly and helpful and they even had some great water there for you to cool down from the heat!

Tip: Parking in downtown Oakville requires shelling out during regular business hours. However,…read moreI've been there after 6 pm on weekdays and street parking is free. I have visited downtown Oakville a handful of times. I like it. It reminds me of being in the Beaches where I grew up. You get a nice view of Lake Ontario. There are parks that overlook the lake. There are also stores that you can peruse. The downside to any downtown location is trying to find parking. It's such a vibrant location that it can be tough to find parking. Everyone seems to be there! Street parking often means shelling out to pay for it. However, it depends on where and when you are downtown. I was recently at Shanghai Alley Gourmet. I had arrived after work on a Wednesday at roughly 5 pm. I had to pay for an hour of parking on Thomas Street. Parking was then free after that. When I visited Chocolato with Tommy Cafe, I found free parking for twenty minutes on Robinson and Dunn Streets. It was perfect because I was grabbing a couple of amazing hot chocolates to go. I need to go back there. I do miss Joy FreshTea in this area. It had excellent bubble tea and snacks. I was sad to learn that it had closed. Then again, many businesses in the Lakeshore Road West and Bronte Road area have come and gone. I don't know if it's the location itself that doesn't drive business or if leasing a store in this plaza is too expensive. I need to spend more time in this area. I liked seeing Roots and COBS Bread as I walked over to Shanghai Alley Gourmet. There was also a butcher shop that gave you a comfortable neighbourhood vibe. I have a friend who lives in Oakville. It's a good reason for me to drop by, see her, and discover the downtown area with her. Downtown Oakville is cool. I'll be back soon! (312)

I hate to say this, but Downtown Oakville is nicer than my City's equivalent, Port Credit…read more Why? Overall, it looks better maintained (wider, newly paved sidewalks, landscaping), a bit more mix commercialized stores (lululemon, kit & ace, Anthropologie), and just nicer, newer looking storefronts. The whole strip looks uniform. Whereas Port Credit is older, more narrow walkways, mainly all mom 'n pop stores with some chain eateries, not as nice storefronts. Off-strip, some streets look a bit sketch. It doesn't look as though the City has put as much money into maintaining this area as Oakville does their downtown. BOTH areas front Lake Ontario with parks overlooking the water. Although both areas have some vacancies, the overall impression of Downtown Oakville is great - especially during the warmer months on non-peak times!

I visited Italy last year and this restaurant is on that level or, dare I say, BETTER. I'm…read moreextremely impressed with the amazing service from David, the authentic Italian ambiance of the restaurant, and I cannot give a higher praise for the food. We started with the calamari and Cesar salad. The Cesar salad was very fresh with crunch romaine, salty and crispy bacon bits and a nice dressing. The calamari REALLY started our meal off on the best note. It was batter with what looked like cornmeal making it not too overly batter like most places and it allowed the squid to really show. The squid so so soft (not chew) not overly seafoody flavour. It was so light yet delicious, it paired so well with the aioli it came with. Next they brought over a basket of focaccia made in the morning. This was the most fluffy and lightest focaccia I've ever had. I consider myself quite the focaccia connoisseur and this was literally the best focaccia I've ever had... and I've had a lot. It came with a small dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Next we shared Nonnas gnocchi as they are most known for it. The waiter said nonna comes in extra early every morning to hand make her gnocchi. I've actually only ever had the gnocchi from Eataly and there is absolutely no competition to Nonnas gnocchi. It was so light and soft like delicate little pillows. We had it with the Gorgonzola sauce and it was incredible. The sauce wasn't overly stinky as I was expecting from the Gorgonzola. I definitely recommend getting the gnocchi with this sauce. The lasagna was massive, really nice meat sauce and good amount of cheese. The fettuccine was really good, the sauce and mushrooms were my favourite part. And the chicken was cooked perfectly. Juicy, not dry at all with a delicious topping of some type of cheese and tomato mixture. We ended with a cappuccino that cake with a little cookie. For dessert, we had the tiramisu which was spectacular, a must try! And the cannoli had a very crispy exterior with a light filling with chocolate chips and it was on a drizzle of a berry jam. I came from Toronto to try their food and the quality, presentation and taste is impeccable. If I could give 10 stars I would. I will definitely be coming back! Keep it up, Ritorono!

A few weeks ago, I visited Ritorno with my friends to sample their homestyle Italian dishes . They…read moredo certainly live up to expectations as it's a small taste of Nonna's kitchen! The Linguine Pescatore Aglio E Olio is a nice balance of textures from the al dente pasta with the variety of perfectly cooked seafood medley wrapped in each bite. The Spaghetti Pomodoro is a solid balance of rich pomodoro served with their giant meatballs to soak up all the sauce. The Risotto Confunghi Matta is well seasoned with a crack of black pepper to enhance to overall body of the dish with the rice and mushrooms blended well in the stock and Parmesan Cheese. Overall, we all enjoyed the dishes and experience and we can't wait for the next visit!

This is one the popular brunch spots in Oakville and it can get very busy at times, specially…read moreduring the weekends. We arrived around 11am on a long weekend and they had plenty of tables available, but by the time we were leaving, all the tables were full. You need to order your food first and get seated after. They bring your order to you, but if you need a coffee refill, or milk and cream, you need to pick them up yourself at the station. Coffee refill was a challenge for us, since we had to go through all other tables and wait for the staff to refill our coffee, and even there were times they were out of milk and had to drink our coffee black. We ordered "Key West Eggs", "Crepe au Fraises", "Slow Roasted Lamb" and "Canadian Peameal Back Bacon". Our food was delicious and we would love to go back and try more of their menu items. Just expecting delays for our coffee this time. Lol

Nice sandwiches. Poor service. Stoney's Bread Company makes great 'next-level' sandwiches. There…read morewere many to choose from. The Balsamic Chicken (with bacon, goat cheese, roasted red peppers, spinach and pesto aioli) was fantastic, and had excellent flavours. The side dipping sauce was delicious. The Florence St. Sandwich (with tomatoes, artichokes, Asiago and sun dried tomato pesto) was good, but I didn't enjoy the flavours as much so would probably try something different the next time. I would have preferred to select my own bread since the ciabatta and panini was hard to cut through with a knife - it got messy. It would have been better if it was cut in half before being served to the customer to make it easier to eat. After ordering from the counter, there was sign to wait to be seated. Service just to get seated was extremely slow. In the end, we asked someone if we could seat ourselves, which we did. The food was then brought to the table, but it was confusing since we had to get up again to go to a different counter to put cream and sugar in our coffee. Although the portion size of the chicken and ingredients were good, the sandwiches were pricey considering there was no table service, and seating was disorganized. It would be difficult to host large groups or families here. It would have been ok to reduce the amount of chicken to cut costs and price since there were two thick layers of meat. Ambiance was good.

A few of my friends came here to try their pasta on a weekday night. It wasn't super busy but it…read moretook almost an hour for us to get our food. We each ordered different pastas. I got the vodka rigatoni, my friends got the spaghetti pescatore and the cavetelli. I really enjoyed the vodka rigatoni, it was rich in tomato and chili flavour. The cavetelli was also amazing! Overall the food is great, a bit disappointed in the service.

Such a fantastic dinner! A very cute and quaint restaurant, and not along the Main Street in…read moredowntown Oakville. I definitely recommend making a reservation, especially on a weekend night as the restaurant has limited seating. This was probably one of the best Pescatore I've had in a long time! So much flavour and extremely fresh seafood. For dessert I shared the tiramisu with my family and it was so light and airy; the perfect finale to a great meal. Our waitress was so kind and made sure we were well taken care of. Love this spot and it's home-y feel!

The quality of the food was great…read more But it was like ordering from the kids menu but with adult prices Overall not the best value of money specially when my charcuterie board came with human hair on it and they had to be reminded about my drink order But yes... the food was delicious but after a starter and a main I could still eat a horse

As always. Love this place. The food is always amazing and the drinks always are well done. Borgo…read morewins my heart with its classic tomato pasta and yesterday with its cauliflower and burrata dishes. The only sad thing is the classic Oakville restaurant price steady incline. Every time I come here it's more expensive. But it says a lot that I still come and enjoy myself time and time again. 9/10

Very good food in a nice family restaurant the service was great too and the ambiance was very…read morepleasant

Awesome food... yes truly awesome…read more A real local Oakville jewel tucked away at the far end of Lakeshore. So well tucked away that we've missed it for an entire decade and we thought we'd checked out every eatery in town The fried Calamari on a bed of spinach was slightly salty but everything else was lip smackingly delicious And the crowing glory was their Tira Misu... a family recipe is what Pasquale told us it was And he was delightful company and spent some time chatting with us on his way out and gave us an insight it his world and that of his lineage and association with the restaurant industry Reminded me again of just how impersonal and robotic our world has become and how much refreshing and rejuvenating such inter personal and face to face interactions albeit with a total stranger He asked us to come back and we sure will Ciao

Jessica did such an amazing job with our group of 6. We had a group of 4 including our 2-year old…read moreson as well as the two locals we were visiting. Our tour ended up just being our own group and felt like we were on a private experience which elevated the whole affair. Even though we did have two locals with us, they had not visited any of the sites that we went to so it was a new and wonderful experience for all. The restaurants we visited were excellent with plenty of seating and no waits. The tour felt like it was a well-oiled production and Jessica seemed to be familiar with the staff at each location. Another bonus was that she set the pacing exactly to our needs when accounting for the inclusion of a 2-year old. This was an awesome way to learn about the culinary scene and its integration with the history of Toronto, which also made the tour more interesting and educational. We had not known that Toronto was such an eclectic food scene, but after the tour could definitely see why it is such a competitive place to open a restaurant. Jessica was an awesome guide and a generally fun person to hang out with. We bonded over our love not only of food but of travel and swapped stories about various places we had been. Interestingly, she was able to make a recommendation for an upcoming trip that we were taking to Austin, Texas about another (unrelated) food tour which we actually did end up booking and was also awesome. She also provided some additional recommendations for more places in Toronto for our group to visit during the trip which was very appreciated! Overall, I would highly recommend this food tour and specifically our guide Jessica to anyone looking to explore the Toronto food scene in more depth and detail!

Amazing tour with an amazing guide! He knows a great deal about the area and gave us a lot of food…read morewith great options. When I return to Toronto, I will visit Kensington again!