Alice Fazooli’s

A friend of mine was organizing a group dinner a few weeks ago, and she decided that Alice Fazooli’s would be a convenient location for all of us to meet and eat. Granted, the space is quite large, and in a pretty central location, but I’m tempted to say that I would have preferred eating at the Hooters down the street than spend my money here.
First of all, the service was so slow. It was a scorching weeknight and the restaurant was mostly empty, but for some reason it took forever to get our drinks and our water was hardly ever refilled.
In terms of the food, I’m seconding Justin M.‘s sentiment about the arrabbiata — I ordered it as my main and it was seriously spicy. Now, I’m pretty good with heat (years of eating kimchi) and gobbled it down quite happily, but my friend who also ordered the arrabbiata couldn’t even finish half her meal because it was way too hot for her (our server didn’t even ask if there was anything wrong with it while she was taking it away). I remember having a glass of Pinot Grigio for a really reasonable price. We also ordered a round of celebratory tequila shots, which unfortunately seemed almost watered-​down.
Also, I think the air conditioning must have been broken while we were here, because it was so hot inside the restaurant. Coupled with the spicy food and lack of water, I spent half the evening unpleasantly dabbing away the sweat streaming down my face.
My final point of contention… one of my dining companions had asked for the remainder of her food to be packed up. I left the table to go to the washroom, and saw that our server had just abandoned her plate on an empty table near the back of the restaurant — she hadn’t even brought it into the kitchen. Anyone could have done anything to that food!
It was supposed to be a special evening for my friend, and ultimately it was tainted by the poor dining experience. Alice Fazooli, if I ever meet you, I will have to suppress the urge to windmill kick you in the face.

The Service is a major issue at this establishment. After exchanging the pleasantries the server disappeared for quite a while (on our part we were still waiting for 2 guests but not even having water served to us after repeated attempts to get attention is unacceptable). The ordeal didn’t end here and after our friends came over and ordered their drinks it took another half an hour to get our drinks! Finally we order and then the wait begins and it goes on and on and on (45 minutes to get our mains!!!) The portions were OK but the service is horrendous.
They have a special on drinks here which is a pretty good value considering the location i.e. pretty much all wines are 5 $ for a 6 oz and with a flight of 3 for 10.95 (3 oz servings) and they had a decent selection to choose from all over the places (Italy, Australia etc.) My friend had the pasta as mains and I had the pear salad (small serving) and rack of lamb. The food is pretty decent and a notch above the regular chain fare but the service really let us down. The place is huge and the décor is pretty good but all the money can’t save your place if the service is sub par IMO. Dessert was OK as well we had the sorbets and Tartufo. Nothing exceptional but above average for sure. The need to get their act together But rumor has it a condo is being built here so this company might meet its own demise.

I’ve been to this restaurant a few times; mostly for work, but today with a large party of about 60 people.
They, if nothing else, can handle big tables. In fact, they split the bills for us without a care and accurately.
In fact, my wife’s order was too spicy for her (the arrabbiata was a bit potent last night; another of our party had the same issue), and our waiter asked her if it was okay and took it back for her.
The only drawback was that our table didn’t get a bread basket, but that was hardly an issue.
I had a meatball sandwich, and the meatballs were delicious, the sauce was tasty, and the roasted vegetables were well done. I got the canolli for dessert, and it was worth leaving the gun for.
I got a mojito, and it was good, but I’m still working on getting over the whole crushed mint part of it.
It’s good, though. Good service is important, but the food has to be tolerable first.

I’ve been to this restaurant a total of 3 times, and each time I’ve gone, the food was great and I don’t really have any complaints. The atmosphere is welcoming with friendly servers, and its pretty spacious inside as there is also a bar/​lounge side and outside patio. Came here recently for dinner and we ordered the Antipasto Board for Sharing and Chicken Arrostito, which were excellent! The prices are reasonable, as their pizzas, sandwiches, and pasta are all under $ 20, and if you sign up on their website to become a ‘friend with benefits’, you’ll also receive a $ 10 off coupon.sweet. =) Overall, its a casual restaurant that I prefer over Milestones, Jack Astor’s, or Montana’s any day!

This is not the first Alice Fazoolis’ I’ve been to but it will certainly be the one I do not return to. While the food is still great– the service here leaves a lot to be desired.
When I saw this place first, I was thrilled; I am a fan of Alice Fazoolis and this one is 5 minutes walking distance from my work, perfect for our after-​work –payday drink nights.
The group that visit range anywhere from 5 – 15 people — which is not a huge group but should certainly take some priority in serving because there would be larger share of tips and it’s also more work. But we’re a jolly happy crowd, happy to tip you as long as you actually serve us.
The first couple of times, we were left to wait in the hallway for a table to become available. Because were only only planning to drink, seating us in the dining room was not an option. The front of the house (maybe even the bar) manager actually gave us lip because he promised us the lounging area in the front and 40 minutes later we were still standing around looking like lost children.
The third time however, the service was rather good, we had a jolly time and reconsidered this spot as the place for drinks.
The last couple of time were horrible.
We were in the patio, which was awesome. Our blob of a waitress brought the first round rather quickly but, after that? was MIA for our table — she made extra effort to walk far around our table to avoid us, to serve the table next to us. I mean, our orders were not difficult :9 Stella and a guiness — is that too hard to remember?
It got to a point where we were individually going inside to request our drinks. We had to do the same for the bill.
I love Fazoolis food — over any other I love it. The service here is a hit and miss always, and it’s without gray area — it’s either excellent or absolute horsepoo. Which really doesn’t help in having a relaxing time with your friends when you’re chasing after a blob to get your pint.
This isn’t to say that I will never go to a Fazoolis’ but in that small block, there are similar and better restaurants all around — so Eeek, Me thinks not, is right.

I’m giving three stars because ya gotta compare places to their rightful competitors: Alice Fazooli’s is definitely better than the regular chain restaurants like Jack Astor’s, Boston Pizza, Pickle Barrel, etc. albeit a little bit pricier than those places, too.
The atmosphere was also much nicer and this location had really friendly servers, who were accommodating when we wanted to move to a booth instead of an open table!
My friend ordered:
1) Chicken Arrostito
— I don’t remember what it tasted like much, but my friend seemed to really enjoy it. The chicken seemed well-​prepared (for a chicken dish.) and presented nicely. Only complaint was portion too small!
and I ordered:
2) Shrimp and calamari Puttanesca
— I wasn’t too hungry to just ordered an app. The shrimp was just gorgeous: plump, juicy and so flavourful, especially bathed in that piri-​piri sauce. But I’m not big on cheese so too much feta for me, and the pizza crostini was basically baked mozzerella :(Overall yummy, but probably best for people who like tons of cheese.
Dessert: best dish of the night
3) Pecan pie
— Originally I got tiramisu but it came in such a tiny dish and looked like it was falling everywhere… so I asked to change and they happily obliged: D The pecan pie was delicious and oh-​so-​sinful. Big chunks of pecans, salty and sweet, good pie-​crust ratio, mmmm… I would come back just for this again.
A really nice place to go for a casual dinner out! :)

Angela decided to head to Alice Fazooli’s for a little bday get together for dinner. The Alice Fazooli’s located on Adelaide is a pretty big one and is nicely decorated. We headed there on a friday and it had all the typical young professionals there unwinding down and enjoying their TGIF drinking traditional.
We made reservations ahead of time and they were pretty accommodating and seated us even tho we only had about a third of the people there. With this being a larger restaurant, you’re in luck if you’re dropping in on a whim. At around 8ish the restaurant probably filled to just about two thirds capacity. We had some great waitresses that were attentive friendly and got hit on by our group there. And even with our friends hitting on them, service never dropped a beat.
I ended up ordering this special fixe prix dinner menu that was targeted for a valentine’s romantic dinner promo. The dinner came with complimentary sparkling wine, a small calamari appetizer, a choice of soup or salad (went with the casear, average I would have to say) and a nice entrée which was steak and some butterfly shrimp with mixed greens on the side. For dessert I went Italian inspired cannoli. Now the sparkling wine was alright, nothing special. The small calamari dish was a bit of a letdown. It was small and looked frozen. Didn’t taste fresh nor was it even deep fried well. The main entrée of steak was better. I felt the seasoning wasn’t there but it was grilled well. It wasn’t a small piece so you don’t have to worry about finding a post dinner option. Each butterfly shrimp was rather small so tho taste was okay, it was a enough work for each one to be bring the dish value down. Call me lazy, but it was enough work for me to dock them a point especially with the size of shrimp that was used. Now the dessert options weren’t great with the fixe prix menu, so I was hoping the cannoli would have panned out. I wasn’t thrilled with it and ended up leaving it unfinished. Angela wasn’t thrilled about it either and if your dessert expert stops eating, you follow their lead. The dessert felt premade and was simply waiting to be taken from the kitchen.
Overall, I’m mixed on Alice Fazooli’s. The food isn’t horrible but for the price you pay I just kinda expected more. The food just wasn’t on par with many downtown options. But service, mannn was it good. Attentive, friendly and fun (I’m sure this might be an exception to the norm). Even with our friends hitting on the waitresses (yes multiple), they rolled with the punches and mann did they fire some back at them. This was not only entertaining but helped to pull everyone out of their shell. It was a new group so this helped to break the ice. I just wished Alice Fazooli’s had better food to compliment their service cause boy did their service stand out.

Alice Fazooli’s is what Milestones, Jack Astors, Tipsy McStaggers, et al should be; a chain sit-​down restaurant that actually services food you’re not eating merely because you’re here with 8 coworkers or it’s some place that won’t offend your parents but menu prices are high enough your parents feel like they’re treating you to something special.
I had the Italian meatball sandwich with fries. Considering you get a nice bread basket to start, the $ 8 price tag was an amazing deal. The calamari, while not the best I’ve ever had, certainly rates for those looking to get their dose of fried goodness.
Décor is earthy. Booths are great for intimate conversations with your neighbor about leaking condo penthouse units but not so isolating that you don’t feel removed from a lively downtown eatery.
Service was good if a bit uneven. Nothing major, really.
They do soak you a bit for the draft. $ 8 for half a pint?
This would probably be a 3 star review if it weren’t a chain but it manages to rise above chain blandness, pulling off a PF Chang’s in the world of Italian.
Okay that said, I need to get this story into the official history. It was roughly 1991. I was working as a DTP person at SunLife downtown. It was my first job out of university. My coworkers and I heard about this new restaurant called Alice Fazooli’s. It was going to take the downtown dining community by storm. Toronto was also still in the grips of the 1991 recession. Downtown restaurants had seen their lunch crowds melt away and a new player on the scene was not welcome.
The Investments Systems Support crew took in lunch at Alice Fazooli’s during its opening week. The food was great. They had aligator on the menu back then. The meal was rounded out with some pans of buttery garlic bread. Even after a nice meal we were ready to tuck into these pans of bread. As we broke the bread, hundreds of live red ants came pouring out of the bread and crawled all over our table and food.
WTF?
We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. We called a waitress over. She seemed at a loss as to what to do. A suggestion to maybe, at least, remove the ant infested bread seemed ignored.
A manager took charge. Here’s what he was going to do. We would have to pay for our meals. But, for our trouble, he gave us all coupons for a free dessert upon our next visit and purchase of a meal. And the coupon had to be used within a few weeks.
Errr…
Like good Canadians circa 1991 we paid our bill and graciously accepted the nearly worthless coupons.
Clearly another restaurant tried to sabotage AF’s opening week. But I still think back to that day and wonder how we could have been so meek and complacent that we wouldn’t have pointed out half our table was ready to vomit and they still wanted to charge us? For serving us living ants?
That said, I’m happy to see Alice Fazooli’s, a decade on, is no longer plagued by ant bread.

Took my wife here for valentines day. They had a special valentine’s day menu starting with champagne and calamari taster. Next course was a delicious mushroom and sherry soup or choice of two salads. Entrée choice was a prosciutto wrapped halibut with veggies and potatoes or ricotta and spinach ravioli or a stripping with red chili butter, potatoes and studios salad. We had the halibut and steak. Both were cooked and seasoned perfectly. For dessert we had some very nice cannoli
Overall it was a very nice meal with great service at a great price. $ 29.99 each. The only bad part was a bachelorette party coming in and being seated next to us who were very loud and ruined the atmosphere.

It feels odd to review a chain restaurant… and I will start off by saying that I’m not reviewing the food (which is okay). This review is strictly for the patio! You might not expect it from the entrance which is off busy Adelaide in the middle of the entertainment district, but it is a little oasis — full of plants, a stone courtyard and high walls. A great spot for afterwork drinks… once the snow melts!
Not only do they have daily drink specials… Another bonus is going online and signing up for their e-​mails to get extra offers.

This place has expensive and solidly mediocre food… if not blah. Went here with a large group of people and I don’t think anyone in the group would have raved about their meal. The consensus was that the food was «ok». I had a pizza and a ceasar salad. This place manages to make ceasar salad more boring than normal if you can imagine that!
Given that, the service was quite acceptable.

You walk into the restaurant, and you feel like a boss.
When you sit down, you feel you need a flashlight cause it’s dark.
When you eat, you feel like you’re finally happy.
It’s Alice Fazooli’s…you’re expecting a great time with friends and fam.

Hit up this place for Summerlicious this year with my family. The food was great but a little bland, no real flavour. The atmosphere was amazing though so it kind of made up for it.
The server was nice but it was obvious he was striking up random conversation for tips. He started to talk to us about Toy Story 3… just because we were the typical 4 person family. Kinda got awkward.
Aside from that, the alcohol prices are UP there, and the quality of the house wine is not too well.
Overall, I only liked the atmosphere of the place. Everything else can change for the better.

I’ve been to a couple other Alice Fazooli’s locations they were excellent. When I was asked to pick an Italian restaurant for a group of friends to go, I unfortunately didn’t know many places in the area. When I found out there was an Alice Fazooli’s downtown, I thought I was all set!
I think most of my party enjoyed their meal, but I was disappointed paying $ 20+ for a fairly small portion of mediocre food. Still worth a shot, as I was probably just unlucky this night. However, I won’t be back any time soon.
If you decide to check it out, keep an eye on their Twitter account (
) before you go, because they occasionally give you some deals. (We got a free appetizer :)

My co-​workers took me out to celebrate my professional achievement one day on a Friday afternoon. It was a beautiful hot summer day and the light spray mist on the patio came in handy and so did $ 4 heinikein pints!
I LOVED the food! I had Seafood Campania — it was a HUGE dish and when i first saw it i thought theres no way i will finish it. But it was SO GOOD that i emptied the plate in about 7 minutes!!!
Ok, PROMISE you’ll have their Strawberry & Chocolate Tartufo!!! It’s to die for!!! Im not even kidding! Im not big on desserts but that thing was so darn good!
Service was super friendly! When our waitress found out that we’re celebrating my promotion, she brought me a glass of champagne at the end on the house!!! It was soo sweet! :)
LOVE Alice Fazooli’s and will DEFINATELY be back!

Although I find their entrees a tad expensive, they are very good and the restaurant has a great overall atmosphere. My wife and I mainly go there for drinks and appetizers as they have a really nice patio in the back, with greenery and shade, and they offer $ 4 pints of Heineken from (I believe) Tuesday To Friday. This may be a special for a short time, but some sign out front usually indicates their drink specials.
This is a nice franchise restaurant that is bordering on trendy. There have also been sightings of Toronto Raptors’ players attending this place on occasion during the summer. I have also had no problems with the service that some people have experienced
My wife thoroughly enjoys the Boconcini with Tomatoes, Basil and Balsalmic Reduction

To be honest the food is very bland. I have been here several times, and each time I felt I could have done myself a favor and cooked the dish myself.
Alice F does get bonus points for atmosphere. The service is above average, there is lots of room for groups, and as previously mentioned the patio is pretty nice. I think this would be a decent place to go for some appetizers and drinks (Sangria is great) and then head on to somewhere else. The theater crowd will find much better choices in the near vicinity.

This place is more upscale than its name would suggest. While it wouldn’t make any top 10 lists of Italian restaurants in Toronto it does a fair job on the food front. When I was there it was ‘Feel Good Thursday’ so the bar was jammed but this is the case with most lounges on a Thursday in Toronto.
I wouldn’t go back for the food but if you end up there on some elses suggestion it will be an ok evening.

What to do with Alice? One aggressively-​thrown beer bottle away from ClubLand, this is a restaurant trying to be many things at the same time and doing so satisfactorily. It’s kind of a restaurant, kind of a lounge, and kind of okay.
The restaurant area is a decent eatery space, ample seating with knowledgeable staff that will take you through a fairly unchallenging Italian restaurant. You can take parents, aunts, and uncles here without any concern of overwhelming them. The food is straight-​forward, simple, and tasty enough, but nothing that you couldn’t find elsewhere in a smaller family-​run restaurant elsewhere in the city. Proximity to the clubs has its consequences I guess.
There’s also a lounge area at the side, darkly lit, with a DJ spinning if you get there at the right night at the right time. The attempts to be chic and hip are apparent, with the same menu available as in the restaurant, but with a stronger drink focus on martinis. Would you expect anything less? It’s a decent eatery, and okay lounge, but nothing to make you pick up a pen, get out a sheet of paper, and write «Dear Mom and Dad, I hope this letter finds you well. I was at the most amazing place last night…»

I went here last night with a friend for some drinks and appetizers. The patio out back is gorgeous — very big with nice tables and a great ambiance — a nice oasis from the bustling downtown core.
We split the calamari and the bruschetta. The flour dusted calamari came with two sauces — a cream based sauce and a balsamic cocktail sauce and it was delicious. The bruschetta came in a bowl and you had to put it on the bread yourself. I found the bread very tough and bland and putting on the bruschetta myself was kind of annoying and there definitely wasn’t enough for all the bread they gave us.
The food was pretty expensive for what it was as well. The one saving grace was the service. Our waitress Rebecca was great. She refilled our beer constantly and was always coming around to check up on us. Granted it wasn’t busy but it was still nice to be doted on.
I would recommend this place for a cold beer on a hot day but not for food.
Also, if you want to learn Italian, they play introductory lessons over the loud speaker in the bathrooms!