Caffino Ristorante

My Wife took me here for my Birthday. It was the second time We had been there, both times with a Groupon. I often fear that when using a Groupon the service will be affected, this was not the case with Caffino. In fact, Our server, I believe his name is Vincenzo, went way above and beyond to make sure we had an amazing time. This was perhaps the best service Ive ever received at a restaurant. Thank you for helping make Our dining experience so great!
Along with great service was great food. The lamp chops on gnocchi was one of the best tasting meals Ive ever had, seriously!!. Whatever that sauce was, that glaze, WOW!!! Try it and let me know what you think. I have pictures which I will post soon. We cant wait to go back again soon!

Caffino is a beautiful hidden gem with a lot of character. We discovered this place a few days while strolling around the area at night, hidden in a back alley right by King and Dufferin, and we made a mental note to check it out. Last night we grabbed dinner there and it’s now in our list of favorite restaurants in the neighborhood.
The restaurant is nicely decorated, full of wood and candles; the dim light gives you a cozy feeling, and the warm and friendly staff make you feel at home. Our server was of Italian origin — very cheerful, very friendly, and got us a table that was right for our needs (we were a couple so he found us a nice romantic table in a corner).
We had the eggplant parmigiana (great choice), an arugula salad, and the pescatore pasta. We drank water and I had a glass of Chianti.
We paid 85 (tip and taxes included) and I felt it was slightly overpriced, as we just had one main (the pasta) and two appetizers and a glass of house wine, but not too overprice. The only other note would be the quantity of pasta in the pescatore, plenty of seafood but the plate could have a bit more pasta. It was housemate pasta and this might have been the reason for the lesser quantity. These would be the only two aspects I would point out of an overall great experience.
We’re looking forward to going back.

Came here last night to celebrate my birthday with a Groupon. When my husband and I arrived, we sort of stood around while a waitress/​bartender was cleaning glasses behind the bar (near the entrance). Another waiter passed by us as well… Then a group of 4 came in and the lady/​bartender immediately tended to them and had them seated. I was a bit confused as to why we were ignored … But I didn’t want to let that get my birthday down. Finally an elderly gentleman waiter seated us and apologized for the young lady. No big deal I thought… Now for the food: Seemed like everyone in the dining area was using a groupon. We had the choice of 2 antipasti, 2 entrees and 2 desserts… Plus house wine… Bonus! Ambiance was great! Very warm, romantic feel. I ordered the pear and arugula salad for my antipasti and my husband ordered the grilled calamari… My salad was the bomb dot com! Loved the goats cheese covered in almonds! It was great! The grilled calamari was not the best… Very chewy, rubbery and was a bit burnt. So my husband didn’t eat his antipasti. For entrees I had the t bone veal, and he had a potato and mushroom pizza in a white sauce. The pizza had whole (un-​roasted) garlic cloves covering the cheese… Why??? At least roast the cloves. My husband bit into a few because he mistakened them for potatoes… The pizza was in no way authentic italian wood oven burning etc … Very mediocre pizza… My veal dish was $ 32 and was it worth it? Not in my opinion. It was cooked perfectly, the sauce was a nice compliment and the mushrooms were great! But lacked that ooomph flavour. a little blahh. It was definitely better than the pizza though. Now to dessert… I ordered the chocolate truffle cake because I’m a sucker for chocolate… And my hubby ordered the tiramisu … The waiter told us that the tiramisu and bomba (homemade filled donuts) were made in house and that the rest of the dessert options were ordered in from bakeries etc… That being said, The tiramisu was okay… My cake was awesome. Food all in all was a 2.5÷5. Would I come back? No.
Now for the service: so if we forget the whole seating debacle at the beginning the service was still a solid ²⁄₅. We had the older gentleman waiter… Vincenzo? Can’t remember… Anyways, he seemed to be rushing us to order, seemed to be bothered if we asked him for water/​bread etc… And barely tended to us. The other waiters (all the younger ones)… Were amazing! If Vincenzo ignored us, we were helped by the younger guys that worked there with a smile and an apology (for not getting water till after our main course or bread before our main arrived or the bill after a whopping 45 mins after we were finished our dessert waving our arms at Vincenzo…) never have I ever waited so long for a bill or felt so ignored. I understand that the restaurant was busy because of all the groupons… But then they should staff accordingly. They only had 3 waiter/​esses working on a Friday night … These 3 also worked behind the bar… It just seemed like the older waiter was overwhelmed by the crowd and didn’t know how to prioritize. Oh well! So much for my birthday dinner! I’ll stick to Il Mulino!

The food here is delicious! The staff are always friendly! It’s a nice, quaint restaurant with a really cool feel (all the melted wax candles add a special feel). We get take-​out most times from this place and it is always ready before we get there which is awesome! The salads are incredible to start with (especially the house salad, the sauce is insanely good) and I always order the penne arrabiata or margherita pizza, they are both delicious and filling! This is most certainly a place we will continue going back to!

Great spot, intimate and good food. Great for a small group or even a date. I tried the pizza, and gnocchi both were delicious and filling. Service was great!

Was here for a family dinner. we had 10 people and they treated us great. Best experience thus far on our toronto trip. Food was delicious, service exceptional! Look for the address as signage from the street is small.

Today at noon I was delighted to lunch at Caffino with a client plus colleague. I ordered the beef carpaccio — excellent, substantial, impressive. I had the pasta caffina for my main and a mimosa to drink. I love pesto and this dish delivered. I was worried it would be too creamy but it wasn’t, the creamy style of pesto added in this case. The atmosphere is charming, gorgeous, cozy, rustic meets old world and new. The ladies room also impressed. I only give them 4 stars because an onion cooking made all of our eyes sting I had to wear sunglasses indoors like a diva. I will note that two fabulous women sauntered in and I thought they were famous but they were actually servers! You must experience Caffino Ristorante. Our waiter was from Bologna and quite adorable adding to the overall, «I am in Italy not in Parkdale» vibe that Caffino offers. Bring your cameras!

*4.5 stars but I didn’t have the heart to round down*
To celebrate getting my Unilocal Elite 2015 status today (AWW YEAH!), I decided to go out to dinner at Caffino. I had bookmarked a Groupon for this restaurant to buy one fine day, and today was the perfect occasion.
The Groupon was $ 70 (not incl taxes) for 2 apps, 2 entrees, 2 desserts, and house wine (we don’t drink so we had this replaced with pop). I called the restaurant up in advance to confirm that I could buy the deal at 5pm, and make a reservation the same night, and was given the green light.
Anyhow, at the restaurant they confirmed that the voucher was valid up to a certain $ value per app/​main etc from their regular menu — we were told there may be cases where you have to pay a couple dollars more (we ended up paying $ 1 extra for our selections only). This is stated on the deal as well and seemed reasonable.
The complimentary bread had a herb spread on it — one of the best complimentary starters I’ve had!
Our 2 apps were Eggplant parmesan (fantastic — rich tomato sauce, lots of cheese) and Arugula with almond crusted goat cheese (well dressed and apricot slices with cinnamon added to it was a nice touch).
Our mains were Tuna steak and Margherita pizza. The tuna steak was cooked medium rare perfectly, came with delicious crispy wontons and house made guacamole. The margherita pizza was OK but I’d have preferred more cheese.
Desserts were tasty as well but honestly we were too stuffed by that point to truly enjoy — there were several options, and we went with the Chocolate truffle cake and Vanilla/​chocolate tartufo.
Our server was excellent! He was nice, joked around a bit, refilled our drinks without us requesting, offered more bread, etc. Also, the service was quick — we never felt rushed but we never felt like we were waiting long for the next course either.

GREAT food, great staff and GREAT location.
Not a bad thing can possibly be said about our experience there.
I would recommend this place to everyone!

Caffino is absolutely amazing! Loved this place! Great décor, amazing food and the wait staff is attentive and professional. House red wine was delicious! We had the arugula salad with pear and the caprese salad to start. Both were great! We ate the beef risotto and the veal for the main. Both were melt in our mouth fabulous! And the dessert was great too, the traditional tiramisu was fresh and divine as well as the tartufo. Can’t wait to back! Great spot in liberty village. You must visit if you haven’t yet!

Bought Groupon and tried this place out. It’s a lovely hidden restaurant on King St. It’s not too pricey, and the food is amazing! The portion is right, not too big or too small. The red wine thst we got was fantastic as well. We’ll definitely come back with some more friends.

This is the best restaurant in liberty village, with the exception of Mildred’s. The food is head and shoulders above the other establishments in Liberty Village since the Chef is a true seasoned professional specializing in Fine Food and Haute Cuisine.
And the prices are actually very decent! T-​Bone steak for $ 22. Goat-​cheese stuffed chicken breast in wild mushroom sauce for $ 21. They have lunch specials every day for $ 10, and the Perronni draft beer is always on special for lunch.
The ambiance is amazing. The place used to be a factory, so huge windows with tiled panes, old-​world radiators and french-​bistro-​like tables. I love the melted candles at the entrance!

Great romantic dinner experience! Great food!
Ambiance was intimate and romantic — tea light candles, white table cloths, European décor. The place was very cozy. We made reservations before coming in (would probably recommend this since there aren’t very many tables). There was music playing in the background soft enough to allow for conversation during your dinner. Acoustics were good (i.e. you can talk and you don’t hear other people’s conversations across the room).
Server was absolutely delightful! He was very pleasant and often checked on our table and meal and made sure we were ok.
Dinner menu is pretty extensive, especially on the pasta and antipasti sections. There’s a daily chef’s menu offering as well. Price is very reasonable and food tastes great!
Appetizer:
Bread — warm bread served at your table. Bread was seasoned. Quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar at each table.
Mussels — sauce was yummy! Mussels were kind of small though, but there were enough pieces.
Beef Carpaccio — good portion size. yummy! Served with baby arugula, tomatoes/​olives, and Parmigiano shavings.
Entrée:
Risotto di Mare — risotto done right! Well seasoned and very tasty. The seafood in it (shrimp, scallops, mussels, calamari, fresh fish, baby clams) were cooked just right.
Spinach Gnocchi — [grilled lamb chops on spinach Gnocchi with sautéed rapini fresh herbs and brown butter] — soooo good! Lamb and gnocchi were cooked perfectly. The sauce was tasty. Good portion size.
Dessert:
Cannoli — came with three small pieces. Tasty nonetheless, especially the filling — it was light and fluffy — great texture contrast with the crispy fried pastry dough.
Chocolate Truffle Cake — you can’t go wrong on this one! Yummy and it was a huge slice!
House white wine was pretty decent as well.
Overall a great experience! Would definitely recommend it and will be coming back to taste other menu offerings!

Absolutely amazing! I loved everything about Caffino! The décor is very vintage and rustic, which adds to the restaurant’s charm.
I had purchased a Groupon voucher for a 3 course meal for two with wine. To our surprise they provided us with 1L of wine! I was honestly shocked, I believe it was a house wine, but it was actually very delicious. Our server was extremely helpful and very courteous. Even though we had a Groupon we were treated the same as any regular paying customer. I ordered the spicy mussels, La Veneziana pasta, and the Lindt chocolate tartufo for dessert, and I honestly have no complaints about any of it. The wine was delicious and the food was cooked perfectly, I will definitely be coming back in the furture!

Excellent first experience at Caffino! We had seen this location mentioned in passing with good past reviews.
My partner and I had a Groupon for our evening, which included 2 antipasti, 2 entrees, 2 desserts and 1L of the house wine (red or white). There was only one item from the specials and regular menu that was not included in the deal, which we were really pleased by as we anticipated a very limited menu with the Groupon.
Our server was pleasant and attentive, and we loved the atmosphere of the restaurant. The bread was great — nicely toasted with a light garlic taste. We had the caesar salad and arugula salads to start. Our entrees were the penne alla vodka and chicken parmigiana. And for dessert we had the crème brûlée and chocolate truffle cake. All of the food was amazing!
We were exceptionally pleased with the pricing of the food as well — we had expected the prices to be higher based on the location and will definitely plan to return in the future.

Originally we had put in a reservation online for 7pm and was told that someone would call back for confirmation. We never got the confirmation, so I called at 4 and was told there was an opening at 9pm. When we got there, we waited until about 9:30 before being seated. They were quite busy and the owner and staff continuously apologized for the delay. They even gave my partner and I a drink on the house for the wait and the reservation mistake.
Going to the meals, My partner and I had a Groupon for this restaurant. It included 2 antipasti, 2 entrees, 2 desserts, and 1 liter of house wine. We started with the wine which you get either red or white. We got the white and surprisingly it was very good. Their house wine was priced at $ 40 for the Liter. My partner and I had the Caesar salad and the Calamari. The salad was okay, nothing special, however the calamari was great. We then had two different risotto for our main entrees. He had the mushroom risotto, while I had the risotto del mar (seafood). Both were exceptionally good. Our desserts were very good as well, a chocolate mousse cake and a chocolate and vanilla ice cream.
Overall we were very well treated and the food was exceptional. I’d highly recommend this place!

The risotto was excellently executed. The rest of the meal was closer to average. Our server was clearly a novice, fine if someone is close by to back her up, but there wasn’t.
Very pleasant atmosphere in the space near the bar.

I think this is my first 5 star review! I couldn’t find one critique of our meal at all!
First off I have been wanting to come here for ages! Thank goodness their groupon was still available for purchase! $ 89.99 for 4 people, was a small family get together.
The atmosphere of this restaurant in the main room was homey & quaint! However in the second room, it was cozy and romantic! It’s true what the other reviewers said very romantic!
The food was superb! First off the bread, I have a love for warm bread at restaurants! It’s such a simple but rare offerings? This place not only toast their sliced baguettes but it’s also a bit garlic seemed like a light garlic spread was already spread on it! Warm and toasty!
Appetizers:
My eggplant parmigiana, eggplant was nicely breaded, the tomato sauce was sooo yummy!
We also had the mussels, grilled calamari (tender and not over done!) and the beef carpaccio! All nicely portioned!
Main:
My veal chop (off of the daily special) was fantastic. Perfect medium, the sauce was to die for! A rich reduction with some sort of cream drizzle
We also had a T-​bone steak, the fish which also came with like a crab meat rice, and a seafood risotto all tasting delicious
Dessert:
I had the pumpkin cheesecake (also off of the daily special menu), I usually don’t like pumpkin so was very reluctant to try this but gave it a go. Am glad I did coz it was like a taste of heaven! The pumpkin wasn’t too overwhelming, the cream cheese and pumpkin conmbination was a perfect balance along with a bit of the whole pumpkin spice! Kind of like starbucks PSL in a dessert! The cookie crust bottom was crunchy indicating it must have been recently made!
we also got the tiramisu, tartufo, gianormous slice of truffle cake.
I still liked my cheesecake the best!
They had a whole lot of other selections like cannoli, crème brûlée, a pistachio mousse crunch which they ran out on. Overall a very extensive dessert menu!
I was reluctant to write this review as I wanna keep this place a secret! But on a wed night it had only three other tables of twos! This place is such a hidden gem that I really want it to stick around!
Can’t wait to go back and try their pizza!
Overall a scrumptious Italian feast!

We got married at Caffino in July. We couldn’t be happier with our chose. We had a wedding of 100 people and the size of the restaurant and the surrounding space was absolutely perfect for our day of celebration. We held our ceremony in the back ally ways early in the evening and then used the premise for our wedding photos. Th inside of the restaurant was able to accommodate 50% of our guests and the other 50% was seated outside under the stars. The setting and atmosphere was romantic, relaxing and very European. You’d think you were in Italy. The food that night was fantastic and presented beautifully. Cocktails were lovely and the casual bar setting worked well for my new Irish family ;)
By the end of the night, we were dancing under the stars. The best part was that our guests were free to roam the premise and enjoy a very relaxing night. Both my husband, my guests and I truly enjoyed our experience at Caffino.
Stephanie was great at keeping the plans and the day simple and organized. The staff that night could not be better. They made the transition between ceremony, cocktails, dinner to dancing seamless and easy. They were also very friendly and extremely accommodating.
Thank you, Caffino!

Excellent food! I had La Toscana with chicken $ 17. The cream sauce was delicious. Rodney Strong Cab was tasty $ 12/​glass.
Good service from our waiter.
I’d go back for the food even though it’s out of my neighbourhood.
Our reservation at 7p had several smaller tables then later in the evening, larger parties were closing the place (our table included).
We were table of 5 reservation. Other tables were 20 and 10 so looks like a popular group dining place.
Close at 10p. A little hard to find but charming inside.