Vinnie Zucchini’s Italian Eatery

Sure, you can find what to eat there and it will be OK, but generally the amount of oil in every single portion they have there is just disgusting to me, gave this place 4 chances (2 of them was not my initiative), really not worth your time and heartburn!

Decent but spotty «Italian» buffet restaurant. Décor is pleasant but I would not call it authentic — more a kind a slightly plastic-​ey version of a trattoria.
Food varies by area: Pizza was decent and antipasto area was good, including cocktail shrimp.
Fish section was very nice with excellent calamari and mussels. Meats and vegetables were also not bad, though not everything was really Italian in nature.
Tasty ravioli, lousy mushy lasagna. Cheap imitation «parmesan», not freshly grated.
Dessert table offered little that was actually Italian — no tiramisu, no cannolli, no zuppa inglese. Pastries were a bit stale, bread pudding was quite good.
For the cost of the buffet ($ 23 for weekday dinner as of this writing) I think they could upgrade to some slightly higher quality desserts and accompaniments.
Also, I noticed that many of the offerings were not refreshed promptly. I could not try several of the pasta dishes because of this.
Table service was friendly though plates were occasionally snatched away a little too fast.

Was interested to try this place as my boyfriend had recommended it.
Came for lunchtime and was seated at a table next. Upon first glance it wasn’t all that busy but it’s a weekday so I’m sure dinnertime would be packed considering it’s Italian food and we’re in Vaughan.
Entering the buffet area, I was first drawn to the pasta table — big mistake!
Filled up in that before realizing there was still cod fish, sliders, and crab cakes… my favorite out of everything. Any pasta I tried was all the same and nothing special, the lasagna was alright but mushy.
The sweets left something to be desired. Maybe the cream puffs were the best of all I had tried — and I am a lover of all sweets. It was also difficult to tell what anything was because it wasn’t indicated. So it was kind of a surprise to try everything including the ice cream. They even had red velvet cake which got me excited at first but a little sad after.
Bill came up to approximately $ 36.00 which isn’t unreasonable considering the large quantities of good available. I got full.

Excellent variety of reasonably authentic Italian food. The lasagna is mushy and is obviously overcooked and reheated but still tasty. Tripe on the weekends is a particularly nice treat. If you don’t know what it is, just pass. :) The pizzas are quite good. Deserts are a little unspectacular so you just fill up on everything else beforehand. Rated slightly above average for the choices but points lost for quality of some of the dishes and the price which is a little on the high side.

For a buffet it’s not bad. There’s variety and all. I would give it a 2.5. It’s not as much variety as I hoped For. But there’s enough to find something you’ll like and stick to. The ice cream was bomb. You’re better off at east side marios. You get what you ask for in a buffet. If I would compare it to another buffet such as Mandarin I’ll take Mandarin hands down

Ohhhh I’m so full. Here’s my review:
Décor: Definitely has an authentic feel to it. I love it.
Service: Wonderful. The lady who served us provided great service. Although I must say that she didn’t have a lot of customers to care for. I’m not complaining because she was very attentive towards my company and I :).
Food: I must say… that I was expecting more flavourful dishes. Also, I had a recipe with rigatoni pasta and it was not al dente. Another thing, the gelato wasn’t creamy at all. The spumoni tasted basic.
Ummm… That’s about it.

The food here is nothing spectacular and more along the lines of what you may expect for a buffet that costs 28 dollars per adult. Seniors get a bit of a break at 23.80 per and I’m sure children cost less too but I just don’t know how much.
This place is separated into 3 main dining areas, one smaller table area with the bar near the entrance and the food stations area.
The different stations each have something a little different with the hot food all running in a U shaped perimeter with smaller stations such as the salad and dessert more of islands to the side.
There is a main pasta station which has a variety of shapes and sizes and different sauces such as spaghetti, linguine, tortellini, meatballs with marinara.
There’s a carving station which doesn’t look too impressive and the chunk of meat they had there looked rather dry. They had baked chicken but all were dark meat pieces (thighs and drumsticks only).
Other hot food items included breaded chicken cutlets, calamari, cod in sauce with potatoes, mussels etc. I was sort of disappointed to not see veal or if there was I missed it.
There were a few varieties of pizza too.
More common staples I wished to see would have been chicken wings of some sort (come on, it’s a buffet) and a more impressive selection of meat. Meat balls, chicken fingers, a sad looking carving station to me don’t really cut it. This place is carb central so if you eat that you’re going to get full on sugar.
Honestly this buffet is not very impressive for the price as far as variety and selection goes. Not having white meat chicken unless it’s processed is sort of a downer. Mussels are not as good as other shellfish where calamari is probably the best seafood item they have.
I noticed some stations were empty long enough for me to take a photo of them empty. I had to go back to get meatballs and tortellini.
Bottom line this place is OK but not great. For 28 dollars I’d rather eat a real Italian meal instead of having my wide choice of carbs from polenta, pasta and pizza which are relatively cheap items.
Clearing of plates and drink service is fine. There’s a decent variety of ice cream (about 8 or more different ones) and a small selection of deserts.

Worst buffet that I’ve ever been to! They charge so much for a very small selection of italian food ($ 27 weekend dinner) which btw i think, is not authentic at all. Most dishes were very salty. Risotto, lasagna, parmigiana, calamari, you name it. And then they have 2 kinds of soup and both were tomato based which was salty too. Desserts are hmm just ok. Cant really say much about the service. Anyways, I have not enjoyed even a single food here. Its that bad. Absolutely my first and last! Please save yourself some money and get some happy meal from Mcdonalds. I know I should have. Sorry!

Worst experience!
We went in on April 4^th 2015 with our extended family, four adults and two kids. Had a bad experience at the entrance itself.
They said, there is a wait of half hour, and we were still thinking what to do, and the lady asked us «So, do you want to leave?» this is the exact sentence she asked. We are shocked to hear that, and no one would even bother to wait i guess.
We were highly humiliated by the way we were treated, and lost respect.

I went here with my coworkers. The restaurant has nice amount of seating and the service was good. The person at the door and our server were extremely friendly. Our server was very quick in cleaning and providing drinks… so the service was up notch.
The washrooms were very clean and nice. Over all the food choices were ok. They had a Pizza area, Pasta area, Grill area, sea food and vegetable area, soup and salad area and a dessert area. If you want to be high on carbs then this is the place.
Overall an average Italian restaurant with blend Italian food!

I really enjoyed eating here. It’s a buffet style restaurant serving Italian food. The service was quick and friendly and the food was pretty good. I really enjoyed their pasta selections. Plus they had a good variety of vegetarian choices. And the desserts were good too. I really liked the coconut ice cream and the coffee cake. Their drinks menu had more alcoholic drinks than non alcoholic ones, which was a bit disappointing because I don’t drink alcohol. But the non-​alcoholic drinks they did serve were very good. Other than that it was a great experience eating here and I would definitely come back again.

I’ve been to a fair share of Buffets, but this one is definitely
1) not a lot of variety
2) over-​priced for the available selections (2014 prices — week-​day lunch: $ 14.99, dinner 21.99 | weekend lunch: $ 19.99, dinner $ 27.99 | Sunday and Holiday all day: $ 25.99)
3) inexpensive ingredients
Let’s re-​start this review with some positive notes:
Nice décor. Similar to Frankie Tomatoes in terms of inside decors.
Large washroom with chairs (which I was able to use to nurse my baby in privacy)
In terms of the food:
— cold pizza
— cafeteria style pasta
— 4 large round cakes and some other small desserts
The only «key elements» during their holiday lunch was:
— tomato sauced base mussels
— cold shell-​on shrimp at the salad bar
— roast beef (not a lot of beef taste)
— ham (but meh…)
Key elements of what I would expect to find at an Italian Buffet
— selection of cheeses and pates
— portobello mushrooms
— they should have cook to serve pasta with selection of base sauce
— chocolate fountain
— variety of delicatessen (their antipasto bar consisted of can corn, cold pasta, beets. really? even Asian buffet has these!)
For a few bucks more, I’d rather go to Dragon Legend or Dragon Pearl for their wide selection of food — sashimi, sushi, peking duck, cook-​to-​serve diced AAA Steak, crème brûlée, Lamb rack/​lobster/​oyster/​crab leg (depends on the weekend), However, if you want cafeteria pasta and Tim Horton’s soup for $ 26 + tax, be sure to check out Vinnie Zucchini! ;)

I’m so upset! I was there two months ago (after years of not going due to food going downhill) and was really impressed.
Well either they changed owners since then or they’re back to their old ways, I hated it tonight!
I had a group of 13 to celebrate a birthday since I was impressed the last time, and what an embarrassment to my friends and family who came from all over to celebrate at this poor excuse for Italian.
As well, the food was cold, the service was horrible (never asked if needed more drinks, took food away when you weren’t paying attention, definitely not worth a tip!
Save yourself the trip, this restaurant is a joke run by Asians and Indians is no Italian restaurant!

Not as bad as i was expecting… it is an Italian buffet, so don’t expect Bymark quality. The service was very friendly and the service was quick.
Good selection. It’s not a bad place to have a small family party with kids… at least you’re not overpaying for food your kids won’t eat… i’ve made that mistake numerous times…
Increasing the selection and improving the pizza (offer a thin crust option) and pasta quality would definitely improve their rating… just a suggestion :)

So they closed the location years ago around Dufferin and Steeles and this is what they came up with… just pathetic. I remember going 7 – 8 years ago (close to home) and the place was packed, with good food, different salads and great dessert. Not sure what happened, food cost? New owners? but this was a joke.
The salad selection is sad, not to mention not even 1 pasta salad really? What happened to all the different dressings? Cesar is all you can come up with? No one ate the pasta but one kind, when it was over is wasn’t refilled. Some of the dishes are bland, or most of the dishes have the same marinara sauce which makes things just boring. Desserts… ah what dessert, ice cream, some brownies and cookies game over! The atmosphere in the place is like the food, boring!
If you want an all you can eat go Asian or better yet go to another Italian restaurant, avoid this place. For an all you can eat Mandarin got more choices and even though I hardly go there I would recommend it. They are hurting really bad and need changes asap! Save your money, trust me.

To say this an Italian Buffet restaurant is akin to saying that Venice is more beautiful than Florence… it’s all in the eye of the beholder.
While there are Italian dishes on the buffet (pizza, pasta, etc), this does not make it an Italian buffet restaurant. There is a variety of dishes, some appealing displayed (and tasty) and some not so appealing displayed (so I wouldn’t even try them).
Service is very good… plates cleaned quickly and staff are friendly (plenty of hellos, etc.)
This place is very busy so there is an assumption that as it’s a buffet, you’re getting a good deal. I’d rather spend a few extra dollars and go to an authentic Italian restaurant where quality exceeds quantity.

I’ve been here twice, once during dinner and another during lunch.
I would recommend dinner service because they had a better variety of desserts, but who’s really going here for desserts! If you’re craving italian, lunch is very much worth the price.
The only thing i didn’t like and I thought was very deceiving was on their website it showed pictured of cannolis, and when I went there none were served! Also my friend bit into a cream puff and it was frozen.
Overall ³⁄₅ Go for lunch as its a better value for the price, but for dinner go to a real italian restaurant

Italian buffet! Didn’t think I could go wrong. But a couple of my Italian favorites were missing — pesto, good Italian gelato, and some good olé traditional spaghetti with meatballs. But I’m really just pissed off about the pesto.
My grievances aside, a bit about the restaurant:
1. It’s huge and it gets super busy on Sundays. They have literally tried to fit a table in in every corner of the restaurant so if it’s busy at all, be prepared to have your privacy invaded.
2. Sunday all day buffet is around $ 24.99/person and I’m not sure it’s all that worth it. Other days are probably a better value at this place.
3. The servers seem super nice! Mine was.
4. Best entrée? Four cheese tortellini
5. It’s not all Italian. Some med food as well. I was happy to see calamari but it was meh! I’ve had better.
Probably not coming back.

I love Vinnie Zucchini’s! There used to be one in Brampton but it closed and I’m so happy there is one in Vaughan.
I love the pasta here, I always leave so fat because I only eat pasta. Like four plates. I don’t even touch anything else but I’ve heard the pizza is good.
I like going for lunch it’s like $ 12 on week days, kind of pricier for dinner and on weekends.
My dad gets a senior discount when we go here, which I believe is 10%.
All you can eat pasta that tastes amazing?
Count me in.

Except the service, nothing worth what I paid for. The pizza is cold, the pasta is undercooked, the rosti and grill are taste bad, only salads are fresh… I’ve read the reviews before I went there, so I expect a better dessert bar, however, the desserts are way below what I expect compare to Frankie.
Plus, it is more expensive than frankie, won’t go back again.