La Contessa

Such a fun, cozy experience. Sat at bar for dinner. Delicious wine and martinis. Waitstaff rotated in as bartenders. All were very helpful and friendly. Would recommend to anyone looking for a relaxed, but classy restaurant experience. No bells and whistles. Just solid food and tremendous service.

A friend took me to this wonderful place for my birthday. The food is delicious, service with a great smile was impeccable, musac just perfect ,
since it was my birthday for dessert I had a Tiramisu with a candle on a large plate on which was written Happy Birthday in chocolate scrumptuous.
Highly recommended.

Went there for our anniversary. The food was AMAZING, our sever Flora was A++ prices were reasonable. Environment is beautiful.

This was an accidental find. Normally, in Windsor’s Little Italy (or «Micro Italy», as I like to think of it), we head to Spago. However, some nights, that’s not an option (unless you’re okay waiting an hour for a table, and I was far too hungry for that). Stumbling on La Contessa was a bonus!
The décor is interesting — modern, classy, a bit funky. Our server was friendly, and knowledgeable about the menu. Complimentary bread was excellent — I had to use some willpower not to fill up on it! The caprese salad was unusual — a bit more peppery than I’m used to, but I liked the inclusion of cucumbers. The arancini were … I can’t resist — they were AMAZEBALLS! (Amazing rice balls!) They were a good size, the rice was moist and cheesy on the inside, along with peas, the outside was hot and crusty, and they were served in a wonderful meat sauce. I have had the monster arancini at Vito’s Pizza, which aren’t bad, but my husband and I both felt that La Contessa’s version was much better in terms of texture, and the surface area to volume ratio (so you get some of the crunchy outside in more bites of the rice ball). I could live on the arancini from this restaurant. I want this place to succeed, just because of those arancini!
We also had pasta — cannaloni and gnocchi. It took a little while for the pasta to be served, but it was worth the wait (and the wait was not unreasonable). The cannaloni comes in a rose sauce, and my husband also ordered that sauce with his gnocchi. Both were very good — the gnocchi had a bit of a lighter texture than I’m used to, and the cannaloni was one of the better versions of this dish I’ve had. Servings were pretty generous — we packed up about half of each. (They were both good the next day.) The rose sauce was good, but I’d be interested in trying some pasta in a different sauce next time to see what they are like.
Unfortunately, the service started to decline part-​way through our meal. This is pretty much the only reason this isn’t a 5-​star review, as we liked the restaurant atmosphere, the food was really good, and service had been good initially. It took a while for our server to get to us after we’d finished eating our entrees, and then she’d given us some time to decide whether or not we wanted dessert … which turned into a VERY long time, and the next time we saw her, she just gave us the bill. (We’d been planning on sharing a dessert, but decided at that point not to bother.) I suspect that the restaurant was a bit understaffed the evening we were there, and our server was stretched thin. It was a little disappointing to end on a note where we felt a bit neglected/​ignored, but overall I have to say that we had an very good meal, and I’ll certainly go back and try it again. (Those arancini are calling my name!)

We stopped for dinner late, on our way back to Windsor from Niagara Falls. It was around 9:30 on a Friday night. We drove down Erie street, and this place was still open and had outdoor dining, so we stopped in. We were seated right away, and enjoyed our little table outside watching the people and cars on Erie Street. Outdoor chairs were comfy, we had a little candle: it was nice!
The restaurant itself is beautiful on the inside! Very elegant, and trendy. Fancy lighting and very modern/​trendy.
We were being waited on by two beautiful, young girls — I asked if they were related and they were sisters. I also asked if this was a family business, and she said yes. These girls were SO sweet. Very friendly and familiar. As soon as we asked for anything they were more than happy to go get it. They were just fantastic.
The food was very good! We had two orders of Spaghetti Carbonera, and a spaghetti bolognese. Never had spicy carbonera before; glad I asked for mild because the spice was a little too much. Other than that — it was delicious. My son enjoyed his bolognese. The portions were an excellent size, and enough to take home for lunch the next day! Which is good considering the prices are a bit steep: but that’s to be expected at a nice place like this.
Great location, great service, great food! I highly recommend eating here.

Another great restaurant in Little Italy.
La Contessa is located in the heart of Little Italy and thus far, this region does not disappoint. I want to say one is better than others (I’m sure there are), but you couldn’t possibly be upset with any choice. This place is a nice restaurant located across the road from Mezzo and holds its own. The staff is definitely some of the nicest and were real helpful. The menu serves up your classic Italian fare but with prices a bit better than others in the area.
We ordered the Calamari appetizer to start. The gf ordered the Carbonara while I ordered the Veal Granchio. Starting with the appetizer, the Calamari was simply incredible. I know calamari is overplayed everywhere, but this appetizer was so crisp and delicate. The meat inside wasn’t tough and it’s refreshing to have tender squid. The breading was so light and not greasy at all. Wonderful way to start.
I ordered the Veal Granchio with a side of penne. The Veal Granchio is veal scallopini in a mushroom blush sauce with tender pieces of real crab topping it off. The veal itself was tender and really went well with the sauce. The crab meat pieces were a nice touch but they didn’t stand out. The portion of veal was so much. I was full almost halfway through. The blush sauce was a bit heavy but had wonderful flavor. The penne was cooked nicely. The dish was great but the sauce was becoming to heavy for me to finish. It became lunch the next day.
The Carbonara was nice. It’s a dish consisting of spaghetti tossed in a garlic pancetta cream sauce and finished with egg. The dish tasted good, but I thought it to be a bit dryer than other Carbonara dishes I’ve tasted in the past. There was also a nice kick to it which I enjoyed.
Great place overall. Nice environment and has a very intimate feel to the place. The one knock is a lack of parking which Little Italy needs to fix. The menu was solid and the service phenomenal. Definitely worth a visit.