A sweet family-owned restaurant with parking and two floors! This was such a good Winterlicious find; the portions were generous and everyone left happy. The dinner cost $45. Standout dishes: 1) Pollo Marsala (Boneless chicken scallopine, mixed mushroom & marsala wine sauce, roasted potato, broccolini) and 2) Nonna's Meatballs Slow tomato sugo, braised beef & pork meatballs, roasted garlic bread. There were only two things that marred our experience: the bread that came with the winter caprese salad was so hard; we wondered if, perhaps, it was leftover from lunch. In addition, we came for an early dinner, and the staff had just finished cleaning, but the smell of chemicals was quite strong. We realize that they can't crack open a window, but it was definitely off-putting at first. However, we would definitely recommend this place. On a chilly Saturday night, it was so full and they even had a musician playing the guitar and the accordion. Not a common sight in an Italian restaurant in TO. read more

See all

I was here last night with a group of 9 and the experience wasn't the best even though our waiter was wonderful and did his best. That's why service gets 5. What really bothered me was the mediocre food and really bad communication. I was in touch with Mario about prix fixe menu for my group. It's $55 per person for a three course menu and the portions were tiny for the money. Everything lacked seasoning and the salad was not restaurant quality. Gnocchi for main course was also a small portion, the tomato sauce lacked flavor. The saving grace was tiramisu but again it was a tiny portion. Seriously, why did this have to cost $55. The worst was that even though the menu said bread and butter included, they didn't serve until we asked them and showed the online menu. Then they brought out bread which honestly shouldn't even cost them much. The part that bothered me is that they charged $20 for water. For a second, it felt like I was in Europe, not Canada. Before I made it here, I asked Mario if he could include soft drinks and water on the house because we were mostly doing veggie options. He said he will let me know what he can do by running numbers but he never got back. And then finally charged me for water as well as soft drinks. Overall, it was not a satisfying experience. Our main course was out super late and our waiter was apologetic. The bill took a long time to come as well. I wouldn't recommend this place as there was no value to customer! So much needs to be improved. read more

Came here on Saturday 7pm to try out their budget Winterlicious dinner menu. I didn't expect too much from the moderate reviews and the low price point, but was much better than expected. $33 for Dinner and $23 for lunch. They prefer the whole table orders Winterlicious or all do not to make it easier for the kitchen. Though they did agree to split our table because of a diet restriction so my other friends can order something else. We originally booked it for 6:30pm but they had no issues shifting our time slot 30mins later. The restaurant was full when we arrived and the server seems super busy but were able to accommodate all our needs. In terms of highlights, we decided the chicken marsala was the better main with the flavourful sauce. My friends who ordered the veal mentioned it was way too lemony. For apps, the Caprese salad was amazing. We loved the freshness of the tomato, cheese, and pesto. For dessert, the lemon cheesecake was the perfect light and delicious ending that wasn't too heavy. Another great option was the dark chocolate cake, which wasn't too decadent or overly sweet. The tiramisu, one the other hand was nothing special. It looks like the dessert options may have been made in-house. The best bang for the buck would be the lunch Winterlicious set. Though for dinner, the veal or chicken scaloppini as a main would be a better value. Those options are only available for dinner while all other main/app/dessert options would be available for lunch Winterlicious. However, all are still quite good value. Each of the mains mentioned is $26 on the reg menu (when Winterlicious all together is only $33!) and the server also mentioned they are the same serving portions as the regular. The Caprese salad appetizer is $15 on the regular menu. PS - This restaurant's demographic skews a bit older, I say avg age maybe 50+, the price points are a little higher and it's in Etobicoke so not exactly a young hip crowd you would expect to find in a downtown restaurant, read more

See all

One of the best evenings out we have had amazing fresh food best steak ever server was fun and attentive

I recently organized a team-building event for my department at work. My manager had suggested going to Pulcinella a while back, as this restaurant was a part of Summerilicious. I decided to keep this suggestion as our lunch spot and then head over to Playdium. Yes, I made it a two-part event. Yay, me! My department is a group of ten folks. However, three people had to opt out of lunch. I drove my small team of two over to Pulcinella. It is street parking along Lakeshore. You park diagonally and make your own lines, as there aren't any! We walked over to the restaurant. We were immediately seated inside. As expected, the fussiest person on our team wanted to move out to the patio. It was a hot day and we decided to stay inside. The vibe inside the restaurant is relaxed and classy. The bar area is impressive with all the boozy nicely displayed. We got our Summerlicious fixed-price menu and the regular one. I went with the former. As crazy as this detail may sound, I have not participated in Summerlicious in a decade. I tend to take vacation in July and am often out of the GTA area. This year, I ended up doing a staycation and made the effort to partake in the event here and again a week later. I ordered the following items: - Seven-bean soup with parmesan - Chicken parmigiana with penne - Tiramisu The seven-bean soup was amazing. It's funny how I used to dislike bean soup, but this one was blended nicely, with a bit of texture left over. The parmesan on top was a nice touch. I got the chicken parmigiana with penne as my main. My colleague was so hungry that she couldn't wait to dig in to hers. She then held off, a bit embarrassed. I told her not to be, as I had stabbed into a penne noodle, so she felt much better. The chicken parmigiana was flavourful, tender, and perfectly done. The penne was al dente. Yum! Tiramisu is my favourite dessert of all time. I was not disappointed with this version. You got three artistic scoops of tiramisu. It was delicious. I would have given this place a perfect rating. However, the downside is that this restaurant is on European time when it comes to pacing. We had all indicated what our orders were for Summericious, providing what we wanted for the starter, main, and dessert. There was a waiting time of twenty to thirty minutes between courses. It wasn't busy for lunch. I had originally booked two hours for our lunch and booked 2 pm for our group to be at Playdium. I had to ask for our bill at 2 pm and it took forever for our server to divide our three bottles of carbonated water on three different bills. Ugh! Oddly, I wasn't stressed. I knew that the three folks who didn't join us would be waiting for us at Playdium and holding the fort. It all worked out. The washrooms are downstairs. The sinks are fancy in the women's. It's clean. No complaints here. If you want decent food at a slower, leisurely pace in a gorgeous restaurant, this place is for your. I would recommend coming here for lunch and booking three hours. (282) read more

See all

This restaurant was reccomended to me by a friend bc of the specials We ordered 1 order of arancini, 1 order of sorrentina (gnocci with rose sauce), veal parm with penne pasta in rose sauce, and penne rose for my son Overall food was okay but the portion size for sorrentina was a little lackluster and the arancini unfortunately were a little hollow On the positive side, for kids they offer pasta for $5 and the portions are very generous! If you're in the mood for pasta consider checking this place out especially if you have kids - they will love it and so will your wallet...just stay from the gnocchi Taste: 3/5 Quality: 3/5 Portion size: 2.5/5 Overall: 3/5 read more

I've been here before and it has been great and yesterday was no exception. I had a risotto, my mom got seafood pasta and my dad had chicken Parm with pasta. My parents didn't finish their food so we took it home to go so I could eat it the next day. I started to eat the pasta and it tasted great and then I took a bite of the chicken and the texture felt super off to me, it was hard to bite or chew. I look at the chicken and half THE CHICKEN IS RAW! What!? How ? My dad ate half and just thought it was crunchy, and I'm pretty sure his crunchy was just raw chicken that was hard to bite through or it was thin enough and was cooked. I took photos to show the difference in colour of chicken. One is white and the other translucent.... I'm really off put by this and sad to say I won't ever come back to this place. Raw chicken on mother's Day of all days.... read more

See all

Cinghiale/ wine braised boar ragu campanile pasta cacciocavallo cheese. Fabulous food. All the people surrounding me at the bar were fabulous. One of my best nights read more

Pulcinella - Italian Near Me - Etobicoke, Ontario

Surprisingly the south Etobicoke neighbourhood of Longbranch, while up and coming, still doesn't have many "nice" places to go for a date night, so when we discovered Pulcinella for the first time after moving near the area we were thrilled! It's located near 37th and Lakeshore and is trendy looking spot that doubles as an event space with a main dining room and a smaller private dining space in the basement. It's the type of place where the owner or one his son personally come around each night to ensure you're having a good time. An element of service that isn't as common these days. Occasionally on the weekend you might be lucky enough to catch some live entertainment in the form of classic Italian guitar or accordion music. Again a GREAT date night spot for you and your special someone. Every menu item I've had here has been fantastic (and I've only had appetizers, salads and pastas). My favourite pasta is the CINGHIALE ($19.00 ) which is 3 hr braised ragu of farm raised Boar meat and red wine, with fresh rigatoni & shaved cacciocavallo cheese. Mamma Mia what a dish! That fresh rigatoni literally bounces across your tongue and the rage is so flavourful I typically continue to eat 5-10 bites after I'm full! Admittedly I'm a creature of habit so I've had this dish on 2/3 of my visits but this past weekend we went for a special dinner out and I stepped outside my comfort zone and went for their Atlantico ($25.00) which is fettucini "alla Carbonara" with pancetta, egg yolk, parmigiano & black pepper with Fresh Atlantic Lobster Meat. Yes. Lobster meat AND Italian Bacon in one of the creamiest sauces I've ever had in Carbonara dish. Omg. It's so good I've been feverishly scouring the internet for a duplicate recipe so I can make it at home for friends and family... but until I find one, I'll just bring them here. One last item of note is their Caesar salad, which is uncut full pieces of Romain lettuce which is less creamy and more... fresh, if I had to use a word to describe it, than any other Caesar salad I've ever had before. They do have an extensive wine list as well and I think in future that I might just order bottles because the per glass prices are a bit expensive for 6 oz. Which is odd because the rest of the menu is such good value for money. Good news as well, they took over the restaurant next door and after a length renovation are about to open a wine and tapas bar with small sharing plates. I can't wait. Eatcrest Out read more

I had my birthday dinner at Pulcinella during the Summerlicious event which I strongly recommend. It's within walking distance from my house, Friday, summer night, birthday... just perfect! Good thing we had a reservation because the place was packed!! I think we took the last table for 2 (they have a nice patio too). Service was impecable! Our server was quite the character... French, had lived in Brazil and Mexico, spoke like 5 languages, very funny and charming, he knew the menu extremely well. The food was amazing! Perfect temperature, perfect texture, delicate flavours, authentic Italian, very nice! We ordered a bottle of Italian red wine and: Appetizers: beef carpaccio / arugula and strawberry salad Main: veal ragu / seafood pasta Dessert: tiramisu / fruit tart Summerlicious was $29 per person + the wine, so it was awesome! read more

Pulcinella - Italian Near Me - Etobicoke, Ontario

I am more and more impressed with this place. This evening was excellent starting with our über knowledgeable waiter, Giovanni. He offered specifics on how the food was prepared and the various wine pairings with each of our meal choices. I was very impressed. This evening my dinner date started off with the Carpaccio and arugula salad with pine nuts and I has a simple salad. For mains I has the Cioppino, a seafood stew with pastina pasta. I had it the last time I was here but needed to have it again. The broth was perfection! My partner had the house feature which was Bison rib steak with Brocoletti. There wasn't much left on his plate and he said it was outstanding. The bottle of wine we chose on recommendation from Giovanni was Blazon from California. This Pinot noir was so yummy and I could have easily had more ..... Burb! We didn't have dessert but the feature was Zeppole and any proper Italian would know that Zeppole is a treat this time of year. I kind is regret not getting them. I am liking this place more and more and I feel taken care of when I come here. I will definitely return! read more

Pulcinella - Bison Ribeye steak - Italian Near Me - Etobicoke, Ontario

See all

We've kept driving past this place on our way during many neighbourhood errands, so we finally took the time to try it out tonight. We easily made a same evening reservation on Yellow Pages. We were greeted promptly and our coats were taken. We were then brought over to a reserved table and introduced to our server. He was very friendly and quickly provided the specials as we reviewed the menus. We were immediately offered sparkling or still water, and some decently fresh bread quickly surfaced. We started with the delicious calamari appetizer which featured some red & jalapeno peppers mixed in, along with fried capers - very tasty. My husband had the ragu pasta, whereas I had the 'Zucca', butternut squash ravioli served with some fried sage and brown butter sauce. Both of our portions were decently sizable. We both got glasses of the house cab sauv (under $10 a glass for 6 oz). We then split the chocolate lava cake which was marvelously delicious. All throughout, the service was attentive without being annoying. For a Friday night, the restaurant was pretty full. We'll definitely be back. read more

Amazing!! Everything we ate and drank was absoutley delicious. We started off with some oysters, which we all enjoyed. For appetizers we had arancini and calamari, which were both top notch. I had the risotto fungi, and it was to die for and my mom had the gnocchi alla vodka. We were so stuffed and satisfied by the end of the night. I can't wait to go back again!! read more

I went for Summerlicious last week and while the food was good the waiter was rude. We asked for a separate bill afterwards and while apparently they have a disclaimer that they don't do separate bills during this busy time, we were not explained that. Instead the server was rude and condescending it. Also, we were the only people at the patio and there maybe 4 tables occupied inside. read more

We dined here for winterlicious. The portions were huge and the food and desert amazing. The service was great too. I would dine here again. They do need to lighten the space up a bit. It's an old dark Italian restaurant. read more

It's been 20 mins....stillllll waiting for someone to come by to take my order... Recommended by the owner's friend to try this restaurant....and I'm ready to walk out... And they're not even busy. Finally ordered, and got my pizza. I ordered a very simple pizza of fior di latte cheese (which costs more - but it's delicious), sauce, pepperoni and mushroom. Hoping it to taste like beautiful Famoso Pizza, but of course it doesn't :( So Mr. Waitor comes back and tells me they don't have anymore fior di latte......fine :( Then he tells me there's no pepperoni either....ok I get it, it's an italian place, so I'm good with soppressata. Then I get the pizza, and they also put this chunks of fat on it which they called sausage...which I never asked for. I only agreed to the soppressata as it's the italian version of pepperoni. Then I get the bill, and I'm charged for the most expensive pizza .... Never going back, wish I never went. read more

It's been 30 minutes and counting, still waiting on our drinks..... Here for Winterlicious, staff looks overwhelmed and unable to handle the volume. read more

My husband and I went to Pulcinella for dinner tonight. We were a tad anxious about bringing our 4 month old with us, because it looked like a rather fancy place. There was no need for that, as the staff adored our baby! The restaurant was very nicely decorated with beautiful paintings of Italy and of course, Pulcinella (the Comedia Dell Arte character.) There was a man playing guitar, singing lovely Italian songs in the background. He took breaks to come over and strum for our daughter. They started our meal with delicious bread in olive oil and olives to the side. I'm not a huge bread fan, but we asked for a second plate to go with our appetizer of burrata cheese (accompanied by melons, arugula and onions). Oh my goodness, the burrata was melt in your mouth goodness!!! It is made in house. If you have not tried burrata and like buffalo mozzarella, brie or other soft cheeses you should order it. I think it's my new favourite food. For mains, I ordered the Pulcinella pizza and my husband ordered a sausage pasta. Both were perfect. We accompanied our meals with birra theresianer. We both preferred the blonde to the amber. We will be trying to find it at the LCBO. Overall, this was probably the best Italian meal I have ever had (and I stayed with a family in Italy for a week, experiencing 'mom's home cooking' so I do not say that lightly!) I noticed Pulcinella won the "Gem of the Lakeshore" award and I can certainly see why. read more

Italian food made fresh, with the love and care we found in Italy. The wait staff is competent and friendly, the kitchen is fabulous, and the house red wine is a beautiful Montpolicella Abruzzo. They treated us very well from the moment we entered, and I can't say enough good things about the food and service. We went on our 5th anniversary; there happened to be a couple celebrating their 50th anniversary--the staff treated both tables and parties well. Our waiter was charming and efficient; the guitar player was enjoyable, never too obtrusive but always providing enjoyable music. When he learned that my wife was of French descent (from our waiter, who was himself from southern France), he played a traditional French song that my wife thoroughly enjoyed hearing. The decorations and ambiance on the upper floor (where we ate) are cozy without being too dark; the downstairs dining room is much darker, but would still be fairly cozy. We had the Semplice salad (fresh, crisp), the soft polenta (amazing, and a must try), the Carmela pizza, and the butternut squash and mascarpone ravioli. For dessert, we tried Lella's Decadent Plate and it was tremendous. (We were also able to try the tiramisu because the staff gave us a piece of tiramisu in honour of our anniversary. A definite win in the customer service department.) The prices are in line with the quality, freshness, and service you receive. read more

What an odd place. It was completely dead and dungeon looking inside. The server smelled of cigarette smoke and barely wanted to talk to us. There is a very weird vibe about this place. The food was disgusting. I think it was frozen pasta that was just reheated and the pizza was a soggy mess. Honestly one of the worst pizzas I ever had in a "proper" Italian restaurant. There are so many Italian restaurants in Toronto why go here? read more

A good spot that is suitable for a decent pasta or pizza. I haven't been disappointed yet and it is always friendly and casual. A great option for south Etobicoke. I wouldn't give it 5 stars compared to some of the top Italian joints downtown, but as a convenient alternative I think it's a good option for those in the area looking for some pasta or pizza read more

So happy to find this gem of a restaurant in our new neighborhood. The food is amazing, you can really taste the flavours of the fresh herbs and ingredients. Unlike some other Toronto fine Italian restaurants, this place uses real olive oil and does not douse everything in butter for flavour and didn't mask the taste of the dish with an overdose of cheese. I started with the delicious lamb skewers and had the gnocchi for main (also yummy). The house wine was a perfect compliment for both my main and my fiancé's pene bolognese. Our waiter Julien was courteous, friendly and knowledgeable. We will be back for years to come. read more

My husband took me here for my birthday in May and since then I have had the opportunity to go back on two other occaisions- once with a girlfriend & once on business. It is a bit of a splurge if you do the appie, entree, dessert & wine however; the food is so good I don't mind. read more

We live in the hood and four friends and I dined there during Summerlicious. As disappointing as my previous experiences with my husband, who actually doesn't mind the place but I think that's mainly because our hood has very little competition. My salad was blaze', the trout cooked perfectly but had no sauce, herbs or anything to add flavour, the faro the same. Two others had the chicken and they left half as it was dry and chewy, when we mentioned this - politely - it was shrugged off. Our server/manager was almost condescending when we first arrived when he started explaining the wines to us.. believe me we look like seasoned wine drinkers :) Previous meals have been less than adequate in my mind, tasteless Bolognese, underdone pizza, mediocre salads..not to mention it's over priced.... I don't care what my hubby says, I'm not going back. there are better places even in our hood. read more

Really not sure why this place isn't getting good reviews. We went there for summerlicous but decided to just order off the menu. Everything we had was great and fresh. Starters: Grilled calamari with sauteed tomatoes. This was absolutely delicious, the calamari was cooked perfectly and the sauce was super tasty. Main: Pizza and pasta - Pasta was amazing, they cooked it to perfection and both me and the wifey were fighting over the last bite. Pizza - was good, think crust, tasty toppings. All in all a nice meal. I'm also not sure why this place is rated with 4 $$$$, it's really not that expensive. Maybe having lived downtown we are accustomed to meals costing around $20... We will definitely be back! read more

Based on the previous 4 stars of this restaurant, we invited friends to lunch on a Thursday. There was no lunch menu, just the regular menu. The grilled calamari had the grill flavour but was chewy. The accompanied chopped vegetables was minuscule. The arugala salad while tasty had no visible blue cheese or candied nuts. And then came the Margarita Pizza. If I didn't have guests, I would have insisted on being presented to the chef who allowed such a horrible pizza to leave his kitchen. It was by far the worst pizza I have ever had. What did they do to the crust? It was like soggy toast and the topping was was so thin it could have been sprayed on. Thank you yelp. Hope this review keeps someone from making my mistake read more

We saw this restaurant for a few years since we moved into the neighborhood, but today we finally made the leap and checked it out. The food was superb!!! Very fresh tasting and authentic. Beautiful atmosphere, small and romantic. Staff also very warm and attentive. Our new favorite spot in south etobicoke! read more

Not following covid protocols and not respecting reservations. Terrible customer service, I will not be going back.

Went to Pulcinella for dinner tonight with friends (Lakeshore Blvd. at Brown's Line in Etob.) during Winterlicious. Every time I go here, I am *impressed* with their fare. I appreciate good food, but rarely am I *impressed* by food. It is not simply that each and every course is spectacularly good, it is that they are unique in their flavor combinations - they make me stop and notice - they *get my interest*. I can't really describe it. It's like watching a black and white TV all the time, and then you see a colour TV. So many things you've been missing. Everything old is new again. I mean I had a Cesar salad, and a striploin steak, but it's like having a Cesar salad for the first time (what is that blend of flavours??) and then having a steak for the first time. (Oh my God. A rare steak that's also tender as butter!) I do not go here often enough. read more

Very classy place. They were swamped with it being Winterlicious, and there was a long wait for our table as they were behind in reservations, but the delicious food was so worth it! Moreover, the hostess was gracious and apologetic and even bought everyone waiting in line a round of drinks, on the house! Excellent food and service, highly recommend! (we ordered the lemon veal and chicken marsala) read more

I have been to Pulcinella a number of times and always enjoyed my meal and experience well enough. The atmosphere is nice; kind of traditional upscale, but not ostentatious. It's a good local choice for a date night or a celebratory/special occasion meal. When I've been there, the staff has been friendly and reasonably attentive. The food was always good. If I have one criticism, it's that there haven't been many vegetarian options for me to choose from when I've been there, though menus are always subject to change. The thing about Pulcinella for me, and what ultimately led to me giving it 3 stars instead of 4, is that my experiences there have never been particularly memorable; and for the price, I want to be wowed. That said, I'm sure I'll go back. read more

The food/service is 5*!! Great selection of wine too. You're going to pay for the food and service though. A bit over priced and that's the only reason I'm giving it 4 stars. I do recommend going here if you want to be treated well and munga like a king! read more

Beyond impressed: that basically summed up our first experience in this restaurant. My husband and I consider ourselves to be avid restaurant goers, and heard many good things about Pulcinella from friends. We finally had the chance to go last weekend, and we're already planning our next visit. We made reservations and were seated at a nice table in the back of the restaurant candle light et all. The decor is lovely with cobble stone along the walls with beautiful Italian oil paintings and dark wooden floors. Not to mention, there was live music by a colourful Italian guitar player who made us feel like we could have been sitting in the middle of Rome. The service was some of the best we've ever received. We were greeted immediately and started off with sparkling water while our server went over the specials. That was almost another menu, so we didn't even read though the actual menu. The wine list is fair for a smaller restaurant and is mostly focused on Italian wines. My husband prefers a good bottle of Bordeaux, but our server offered assistance in helping him out (kindly mentioning she was taking her sommelier course which impressed us). They chose a fabulous super tuscan and we were given complimentary glasses of prosecco while our bottled decanted. Needless to say, this place was hitting a perfect batting average. All we needed was good food... Superb: We were started off with homemade bread. Our appetizers were a tasty arugula salad mixed with fennel and strawberries along with an organic pork meatball served on a bed of polenta with tomato sauce and parmesan. The latter was especially good. We both fixated on the same main course which was the pasta special. It was homemade pasta with stuffed lamb shank and ricotta cheese on top. The pasta was cooked to perfection, and the meat was tender, nicely seasoned and very flavourful. I don't usually finish my plate, but I couldn't help myself. After our wine was finished and we were on cloud nine, we requested our cheque. Just when we thought this place couldn't get better, our server gave us a complimentary biscotti plate from her and the chef. The biscotti were decadently delicious and the perfect end to a phenomenal dinner experience. My husband being old fashioned didn't tell me how much our cheque was, but said it was more than reasonable considering the experience we had, so I can only say that if you consider yourself to be a wine and diner, you will not be disappointed. Pulcinella, we look forward to gracing your doors again for many times to come! read more

Winterlicious baby! Love the location, decor and atmosphere. Very happy with the house wines, though frankly the wine menu is generally beyond my budget. And the food overall is honestly as good as you'd want it to be, so I'll get that out of the way early because it really is the most important thing in my opinion. Pulcinella came very highly recommended by a friend. It's relatively new to the area but has already established itself well from what I gather. I just wish the overall experience had lived up to the hype. Two "areas for improvement". First, the table we were seated at was quite near the kitchen and tilted diagonally to fill an awkward space around a support column. Not even remotely a dealbreaker, but disappointing (especially since the wait staff were back and forth right behind us all night and the kitchen was pretty loud -- seemed like they were having fun back there). We didn't complain, even though we'd had the reservation made for two weeks and probably were entitled to a quieter table. (There were some available, had we asked, but by that same measure, why couldn't we have had one of those tables right off the bat?) Second, our server pretty much phoned it in. He mixed up our first course, made an error on our desserts (then charged us for it even though it was part of the Prix Fixe menu), spilled cracked pepper into my water glass and seemed to be trying to avoid eye contact. It became a bit of a joke how consistently he'd look around the room instead of at our table while placing something down or taking something away. I imagine (hope) it was just a bad habit, but at times I wondered what it meant. Was he uncomfortable? Judgy? Distracted? We'll never know! (And the rest of the staff were great, so maybe it was just this guy.) As for the food, I had the vitello tonato and the mushroom risotto, with creme brulee to finish. My friend had the octopus terrine with the beef bolognese and gelato. She did remark that the gelato had more of an ice cream consistency, and I found the risotto just a tad heavy on the truffle oil. But on the whole it was delicious, paired very well with their house red wine which I would give ANYTHING to be able to buy at the LCBO. (COME ON PEOPLE GET ON THAT.) So, I don't think Winterlicious was the best way to experience Pulcinella for the first time. I don't think we saw them at their best, service-wise. I'll certainly give them another go when I can order whatever I like. At the Winterlicious price, it was indeed an excellent experience. At the regular menu prices? Well, I'd probably have asked for a new table. And tipped less than 15%. 4 out of 5 stars, taking into account the value of the Winterlicious price and minus 1 star for the service and 0.125 star for the disruption caused by the proximity of our table to key work areas. (But it's statistically insignificant so I still rounded back up to 4.) read more

We were so happy when this place popped up in our neighbourhood early this year! It stands out as they gave a complete facelift to the outside of the restaurant. The atmosphere is warm and inviting and the staff are incredibly friendly! We splurged on our meal but it was well worth it for the quality of the food. The menu is seasonal, so see what's available when you're in, I'm sure it'll be delicious, and the staff will be more than willing to offer up some recommendations. Go for the antipasti tray to start - fantastic! read more

Had a late Friday night dinner there with the girlfriend recently. Walked in without reservations and didn't have to wait for a table, but the restaurant was medium busy with one large group and a couple of regular sized tables. It was a cold night though, so during the warmer months, it might be a little busier. The wait staff were super helpful, recommended beers for us when our first choice was out of stock. For the appetizer platter, I have the salami board, which featured a bunch of different types of cured meats with olives and a large portion of chunks of parmesan reggiano. The house made duck breast prosciutto was crazy delicious. I have the daily special, a huge Fred Flintsone sized bison steak. I wasn't too familiar with the meat so the waiter recommended the best temperature to cook it to for me. All of the sides were delicious. The prices were high, but the food was not just better than anything else you would find in the area, it was incredible. Will visit again. read more

The food was really good! But the price you pay for it is not something that someone might be happy about. Maybe for some people who wish to splurge then go for it. Its not the best Italian restaurant out there but the ambiance is quite convincing! Servers are friendly and helpful. I just think they need to re evaluate their pricing considering the location their serving at. read more

Now, why would someone from midtown Toronto come out to South Etobicoke for an Italian restaurant? When your friends are from Port Credit and they love the place. Now I know why. Pulcinella looks like your typical traditional Italian joint. But the menu is more upscale. Don't look for lasagna here. I started with the Pulcinella Caesar which is unique and very good. For a main I had the Cinghiale (ragu of boar meat) which was excellent. And, thank goodness, this isn't Terroni; I was able to change the pasta. My wife revelled in the Cioppino. We've gone to San Francisco partly for this dish, and Pulcinella measured up. Service was quite good, given it was a Saturday night. It's also worth mentioning that tables are well spread apart unlike in places in the centre of Toronto. Great value. Great atmosphere. We'll be back. read more

We went here for a family dinner. The service was excellent with a very friendly atmosphere. The decor was very nice. I had the pasta which I did enjoy, my wife had the steak which was mediocre. There is no children's menu. read more

I was really excited about this place at first, but cannot find a reason to go there any longer. It is really, really overpriced for the quality of food they provide. Last time my pizza was so burned on the bottom, it was charcoal black and bitter. And things like that happen quite often there - which is unfortunate, is it's one of the few places with a summer patio in the ares (and I love Italian restos... but not this one) Now I go there only if I am dragged by friends. read more