Delicious food, great Customer service, the waitress was so sweet! Loved the meat and cheese board(antipesto platter), the delicious complimentary bread and pasta (manicotti) which consisted of pasta with cream sauce with spinach and bacon! read more

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Great service! Our server was wonderful. The ambiance was nice, not too loud. There was unlimited bread to start. I got the carbonara which was okay, nothing to write home about. I do think it's a prime location for appetizers and reasonably priced drinks so I will be back for that. read more

tosca ristorante - Italian Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

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Horrible place, horrible service, food was really not worth the exorbitant prices. We were barely greeted at the door by this short rude snooty waiter, waited for our drinks, were rushed through our food order, never had our drinks refilled. I had read the negative reviews but discounted them as just disgruntled customers, but these people were right, it's an overrated shitty place with subpar food and horrible service. It just baffles me in this tough economy as to how these restaurants can operate like this. Save yourself the horrible experience and go to little Italy restaurants instead, you'll thank yourself for it. Avoid at all costs. read more

Stopped in following an event at the NAC in Ottawa, and was stunned by how tasty the food we ordered turned out to be. Try the Lasagna! read more

We come here often for work events and I appreciate this restaurant being able to accommodate our big group with little notice. I tried the cannelloni and I loved how creamy the ricotta cheese was, the pasta also tasted fresh. The only thing I would've enjoyed was if the bread we received once we sat down was warm. read more

tosca ristorante - Cannelloni - Italian Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

The soup of the day, tortellini with beef, veal, and chicken broth was very good. The veal Marsala was decent, the meat was a bit chewy. Our server was very good, personable, helpful, and to the point. The ambiance was nice as well, dim lights and comfortable. The overall attention to details and friendliness from staff was noticeable. A good place to go if you are in Ottawa. read more

A group of four on a business trip and came hungry. First of all, the food was nothing but superb. We did find the service a little forced. Not unpleasant, just a little disinterested. Ordered mussels as a starter. Very yummy with an amazing sauce that was just perfect. Next I had a rack of lamb. It came with some penne pasta is a garlic sauce. It was perfect and I really enjoyed it. So, come for the food ... not the service. Maybe it was just an off night. read more

Although the food and atmosphere was phenomenal. Our server was less than accommodating. She was busy socializing with other servers and the table taking shots that was across from us. I waited 30 minutes for a slice of cheesecake because she was gossiping. (As we sat close I could hear the whole conversation with the other table) The rest of the servers were immaculate. read more

Was a nice pleasant meal. Better than prior critiques. Simple pasta meal desired. And delivered. If you like carbonara, have the kitchen ADD peas. Maybe a little more garlic in the sauce. Fresh pepper to taste. Cleaned the plate. Gorgonzola tortellini delicious. Get it. Salad big enough for two. Enjoy. Will be back read more

This was quite the disappointing experience. The interior of the restaurant looks really nice, however, the food and the service were disappointing. The complimentary bread was just disappointing. First of all they didn't give us enough for the table. The bread was cold and hard. It tasted pretty stale. The butter (that was supposed to be whipped, was also hard. My husband and I ordered two different pizzas. My husband got the calabrese pizza. It was bland, sloppy, and thoroughly disappointing. When you take a bite of the pizza, everything slides off the crust. The sausage tasted like frozen store bought sausage. I had the nonna attina pizza. The toppings also just slid off the pizza and the only flavour I got was from the hot pepper. The waitress was nice but she never came back after the food was served. We were never asked how the food was. We only saw her for the bill. I've been to other restaurants with much better Italian food for just about the same price. I do not recommend this place. read more

I am absolutely in LOVE with Tosca's! The restaurant's decor is dark with dim lighting, which makes it very intimate and romantic. It's most popular amongst couples, parties, and business people. No matter how packed it is, which is usually the case, the servers and staff are fast, friendly, and professional. When you first sit down, they usually bring you bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping, and a small plate of olives and hot peppers. No matter what you order, and even if you're not into wine, I would suggest ordering a glass with dinner. It'll really compliment your meal. My boyfriend switched it up between the lasagna and chicken parmagiana when we went, but I stuck to the tortellini both times. It's cheese tortellini, cooked al dente, in a creamy parmesan and Gorgonzola cheese sauce with spinach and prosciutto. It's absolutely to die for and I can't get enough! The prices aren't cheap, but well worth it for the quality, portions, service, and overall dining experience. read more

tosca ristorante - outside of a restaurant - Italian Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

Our meal was delicious and the service was outstanding - when the waitress found out we were going to donate our leftovers to a needier person she even threw in some additional items read more

I came by Tosca in the summer and I'm really late in reviewing this place! My friend wanted Italian food that day and I wasn't sure of any good places in Ottawa as I don't go out for Italian food in Ottawa. Tosca was recommended to us and we headed down to O'Connor St and sat down on the patio. It took awhile for the server to come by but she took our drink order and then brought some bread out to us. We didn't get any oil but got packaged butter. The bread was like grocery store dinner rolls but slightly stale. When the waitress came back around...after some time...I ordered the veal marsala with vegetables and potatoes and a beer. The veal marsala was ok. I didn't think the veal was that nice and the sauce was the best part. Unfortunately the sauce wasn't great. I'm not sure if it was just a bad day in the kitchen or the usual staff were all on vacation but I would probably have preferred eating at East Side Mario's that day... The dining experience sucked because it was such a great day out but the service was really poor and the food was about the same. read more

Always a fantastic and authentic Italian meal provided at Tosca! The wine was a full bodied Toscan, and it did not disappoint. All precautions taken during Covid-19. Had a wonderful risotto and spaghetti carbonara. Highly recommended! read more

My co-worker and I ate here. We were dressed business casual. The server taking our order was professional; however, there was another male waiter that kept looking at us with absolute hate. He kept passing by staring at us with absolute hate on his face. Then he stood by the counter and kept staring at us like he wanted to kill us if he could. Uncomfortable and not enjoyable experience. We did not complain at the time but noted that we would never go back to a resturant where the food was mediocre and the waiters psychotic. Wanting to all: Psychotic server(s) - BEWARE! read more

My daughter and I went there last Friday night. While the restaurant has a nice ambiance I would not recommend. It was very quiet and in the downtown area not really near byward at all. The bread was stale ( always a sign of what's to come ) the burrata was ok but I have had much better ... served with stale bread. We split a pizza and a salad. The salad had store bought dressing and the pizza was very very ordinary, hardly any flavour and the sausages were awful on it. More like a breakfast sausage then an Italian sausage. After we ate the server brought our bill !!! No would you like dessert / coffee / tea. We walked out of the restaurant completely stunned, very disappointing in both food and service. read more

This place has the 'looks' of a nice place. Nice decor, well dressed servers, etc. But it fails miserably in terms of the service and the food, which are two key areas that would keep me from returning. With regardsa to the service, while we were seated right away and had our orders taken quickly, once we got our food, our server never came back to see us despite us all emptying our drinks reletively quickly. Even asking other servers to get more drinks did nothing. Big mistake. Secondly, the food just isnt that good. I consider it italian food for people who don't know what good italian food should taste like. Simply put, there is much better italian out there so while it may be 'okay' it sure isn't the best. I had the carbonara and while it was large, the sauce was too creamy, the bacon tasted like bacon bits from a jar (I prefer pancetta anyways), and you they have the nerve to use Kraft parmesan cheese (I mean, c'mon, what italian restaurant doesn't use real parmesan cheese?!?) In the end, it was a let down and if the service was better, maybe it would be a place to go if you didn't care much about what you ate, but the service kills it as a place I would ever go back to or recommend another person going to. My two cents. read more

I was in your restaurant this evening around 8PM-10PM with 4 colleagues of mine- all of from out of town and several from the UK and I from the US. We had a fantastic dinner and we all commented on how great of a choice our friend made in suggesting it. While the meal itself was perfect the service we received was one of the best I've ever experienced. (and I've been to a thousand or two restaurants in the last 10 years or so and around the globe...not bragging...just love traveling and dinning out!) Our waitress was attentive (but not overly attentive), served us all with a genuine smile and just knew how to make us feel welcomed. It makes a big difference to your customers and it makes me want to come back again someday to enjoy your restaurant. I very rarely send comments like this in but the excellence in service and food must be recognized ! Thank you for a a great evening! read more

Let's start with the good. My very fussy daughter had the spaghetti bolonaise, with sauce on the side of coarse. She genuinely loved it to our surprise. My wife had the manicotti, which she regularly gets from other restaurants, this was a whole new level of terrible. I can't describe the flavour, it was bad. I had the spaghetti carbonara, the sauce was well cooked, smooth and creamy, not the scrambled eggs in cream I've had from other restaurants. I prefer the kinds with smoked bacon, this tasted like the old stuff we forget about in our fridge. The parmesan they added to our dish was the cheap kind from a bottle, not grated kind you usually get from restaurants. read more

Excellent service. Bruschetta and muscles with red sauce were both amazing. Shrimp and scallops were a bit small for the main but they were cooked perfectly. read more

Excellent quality authentic Italian food. Super friendly and Wonderful service. Best tiramisu I've ever tasted and I've tasted quite s few from Beverly Hills to Florence. I definitely recommend this restaurant and would come back if I'm ever in this neck of the woods. read more

Ordered take out since nothing else was open - I really wanted shwarma... So here's what I had: Ceasar salad - amazing with nice light creamy sauce and real bacon bits. Croutons were also fresh and crunchy. Calabrese Pizza - the dough needs to be lighter. It was thin crust but flat - more icky thick pita than light and thin. The tomato sauce lacked sophistication. It may have had some basil in it. Calabrese sausage fell short. Not spicy or flavourful. It was much better for breakfast the next morning! Lasagna - it was nice and saucy but again, lacked complexity in the flavours. Too much pasta, not enough meat and filling. Best part was the Italian bread to soak up the sauce outside of the lasagna that all the meat had run into. The bread that came with the lasagna was fastastic. Love that white crunchy but "moelleux" center... There's some sophistication for your day. Slurp your spaghetti! read more

Tosca is a very nice restaurant. My friend and I had a nice experience. We went for lunch during the work week. The restaurant was busy, people in every seat which is always a good sign. The service was warm, friendly and professional. The food was very good. Complimentary bread to start. I had the tomato cream gnocci and my friend had the salad. Both dishes were very good, not blow your socks off, but very good. I would visit this restaurant again. read more

Went for Mother's Day dinner, unbelievably disappointing. The food was tasteless, dry overall pathetic. Will not go back. Don't waste your money there are so many other fabulous Italian restaurants in Ottawa. This is not one of them! read more

This restaurant has great atmosphere. It has a tiny (6 person) bar with no real bartender. We had a so so dinner in the dining room with an awesome waiter. Wasn't thrilled with our dinners but we come from an area with excellent Italian food so this may not be fair. Enjoyed it anyway. If you eat here, ask for Jonathan for a waiter.....that will make up for anything!!!! read more

The pizza is like a sandwich of white bread, cheese and tomato sauce. Soft and undistinguished. We ordered spaghetti pomodoro. That was a mistake. The waiter had no idea what "pomadoro" is and he thought we ordered chicken parmagiana. Suggestion: Outside of Italy, ask for "spaghetti with tomato sauce." We waited 35 minutes for the order. read more

Lunch meeting at Tosca last week.. Location is convenient, service is pretty attentive - albeit there was hardly anybody there that day. I would not recommend this place to family or friends.. I had the veal which came with a side of vegetables and 3 potato wedges. The veal was over-cooked and unfortunately quite dry; I had one bite of the potatoes and couldn't continue - very bland. My next lunch meeting, I will suggest another restaurant.. This was my second time there and it was about the same experience. I wouldn't go back. read more

This is an exceptional restaurant. Food was amazing. The made items to order. Their Caesar salad and the creamy pesto is amazing. End the evening with the lemon sorbet. Even my girls loves it. read more

tosca ristorante - a young girl eating a piece of cake - Italian Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

Took a visitor from Ireland and booked through the online feature, notifying the restaurant of same. On arrival, was greeted by a disinterested man, who told me it would be a "few minutes", who then proceeded to become absorbed in his phone while standing at the podium in front of me ( a good 5 minutes). When we were finally seated, it was near a large party of 15 or so people. The first waiter was downright rude / rushed. We ordered two glasses of wine; they had different amounts in the glasses. The second waiter was more attentive, but as he was also assigned to the party, there were long waits (bread came quickly thanks to a busboy). Overall, the food was good, not great (my shrimp were rubbery), all of which could have been smoothed over by a little extra care; but the ambiance was spoiled by the rushed service, the sloppy wine service, delays, and lack of any attention to any of this. I won't be back any time soon. read more

A reservation was made indicating that my wife was celebrating her birthday. It was to be a romantic dinner for two. One visit was all it took to see what some of the bad reviews might be about: 1) our waiter was totally devoid of any charm or personality; no friendly smile, no "hello, welcome to Tosca Ristorante", he's just not in the right line of work at all; 2) bread was brought out without any butter -- come on, guys, have some common sense -- don't make the customers have to ask for it; 3) the meal was adequate at best, seeing as I can make much better at home -- so, all in all, nothing to rave about; 4) there was no acknowledgment of my wife's birthday, no complimentary slice of birthday cake, no flaming sambuca shots, in fact, they were all out of Tiramisu, too -- on a Saturday night when it should be imperative that they have enough for the weekend; 5) the owner(s) made it a point of sitting at the front entrance so that all of the visiting Guido's and Gino's could come up and make a big deal out of kissing them and receive their blessings -- and after awhile, all of these mafioso wannabes were getting in the way and paying customers had to walk around them whenever they were either leaving or entering the restaurant... my advice to the owner(s) would be to pick a discreet corner of your establishment away from the customers if you want to turn your restaurant into a mafia social club so it doesn't look too "Goodfellas". So with a few minor adjustments, Tosca could offer a much better dining experience -- for starters, try to find serving staff who aren't coming in straight off the construction site and try keep the mafia hangout vibe to an absolute minimum. Don't underestimate the little details -- it's the little details that elevates great restaurants far and above the so-so restaurants and creates repeat customers. However, I'm not holding my breath that any constructive criticism will change anything. My impression is that Tosca was created primarily for tax purposes by a couple of old Italians with money to burn. read more

Although I've come here before, I was here most recently for a large group event. Our event took up all but about 10 tables in the place. Given that our event involved speeches and a slideshow and etc, any other restaurants would have closed its doors- they did not. This made for an uncomfortable dining experience for the diners who had the misfortune to accidentally wander into a private party. Beyond this, although they apparently handle large groups all the time and we had a small-selection, the meal was painfully slow. It was over an hour before people saw salads. SALADS. There were a few different entree options- although the pasta I had was actually pretty good, the chicken dish was seen as universally inedible, and the veal was passable depending on how hot yours was. At the end of the night, settling up was a disaster. Although it was explained that the attendees were from different offices across the country, and that any alcohol and food would need to be separate (and the meals were all a set price), they were incredibly unprepared. I waited to be the last one to pay to ensure that there was nothing left unsettled. When I FINALLY got to pay, I headed back to my table to grab my coat, and a server accosted me about a bottle of wine that had been on the table, which apparently people aren't supposed to take (even though they paid for the bottle?) in Ontario. Again, they knew there were people in the group from literally every province and even though I had nothing to do with even organizing the event and hadn't had wine all night, the waiter proceeded to admonish ME over this bottle of wine, telling me among other things that "he hopes 'my friend' gets pulled over for open liquor" ummmmmm okay? Overall this was really not ideal in any way. At all. We had a fun night here but it was really in spite of Tosca, not because of it. read more

One night visit to Ottawa. Basic Italian menu; small selection of Italian,Australian, and Argentine wines. Service was good; the food is serviceable. read more

I've been here twice now, and haven't been disappointed. Tosca just serves good Italian. This past time, I had the calamari (very good) and gnocchi calabrese (excellent). The portion sizes are large. Service was friendly, although not speedy. Overall, a good experience and I would certainly return! read more

The food was ok but the owner is rude and berates his staff. We found this unprofessional and made us uncomfortable. The pasta and mussels were very good but we decided to have dessert elsewhere due to the atmosphere. We tipped well to make it up to our server. read more

My colleagues and I ate lunch at Tosca restaurant.Our service was terrible and one of my colleague's pasta contained a long strand of hair. Unfortunately, she already ate a couple bites before she noticed the hair. Yuck. We waited several minutes for our waitress to stop chatting with a friend of hers sitting at a nearby table and finally come to our table (even then, she came only because we grew quite impatient and waved for her attention). The rest of us ate our meals and had to wait for the replacement pasta for our colleague. We were finished our meals by the time it came and she ate some of it and had the rest wrapped as we really needed to leave. While the waitress offered a half-hearted apology, I was still shocked to find that the pasta was charged on our bill. I would never have expected a respectable restaurant to have charged for such sub-standard food. We expressed that we were surprised by being charged for the pasta but, not surprisingly, our waitress did not seem to care about our thoughts on the matter. I wrote to the restaurant to complain and did not even receive the courtesy of a response. We will not be returning. read more

I was in town for a seminar on May 17, 2011 and stopped by Tosca for dinner. Whenever I try a new Italian restaurant, I always get veal parmaseana...it is my standard candle. I think Chef Boyardee's is better. In addition the wine is low value. read more

First time dinning at Tosca. Great and efficient service. I tried the penne al salmone. I was great and succulent choice. I'll return to Tosca on my next trip to the capital! read more

Loved the food. Risotto Domenico for me and the Veal Uccelletti for the hubby. Perfectly cooked and paired with a Pinot Grigio & a Malbec respectively. We'll be back should we return to Ottawa for a visit. read more

I feel like Jerry Seinfeld, but I just like saying the word Toscas! Although it sounds more Spanish than Italian, and the waiter did say you're welcome in Spanish rather than Italian, but the meals were delish. My boyfriend and I both decided we were going to eat something new, and we opted for something we could barely pronounce. He had tortellini gorgonzola which was literally oozing with flavour. The tortellini that was stuffed with gargonzola cheese and parmesan (what a fabulous idea stuffing pasta with cheese!), was rolled in a cream sauce and sprinkled with spinach and prosciutto. I ordered the fusilli primavera with tomato basil, but cream sauce was also an option. I believe the mixed vegetables were fresh, but I wasn't certain. Nevertheless, my plate looked like a garden. There were zucchini, broccoli, carrots, capers, and much more. We both managed to finish our plates, which were $17 each, and our 1/2 litre of the house red which was a merlot for $16. The service was nice, the atmosphere was nice, the conversation was great, and the food and wine was tasty. The tables are a little out in the open so not much privacy, however the building use to be a bank so you are able to reserve the vault for bigger parties. Overall, I won't be a repeat offender, but it was enjoyable. read more

As a New Yorker visiting Ottawa, I was seeking Italian food near my hotel. Unsure because of so so reviews, I took a risk. I am happy that I did. Walked in on a sleepy, very quiet Sunday to a not busy downtown restaurant (assume this place does well during the week with the local business crowd) The place is well decorated in a standard, New York, Italian kind of way and the staff is friendly. I sat at the bar and ordered a house wine and a bruschetta appetizer. The bruchetta was tasty and very fresh. Plus 1! I then was eyeballing either the veal or chicken parm and asked the waitress her recommendation, and she says if I liked veal, veal was the way to go. She was spot on. Veal was very tasty, fresh and a nice size pounded portion. Came with a side of spaghetti Bolognese that complimented the veal and it's own sauce very nicely. All in all, this place is an authentically Italian gem hidden in downtown Ottawa. Would have given it 5 stars if the place was bustling. read more