I was so disappointed recently to learn that my favourite dish here is no longer on the menu. It was a squid ink pasta with clams which was delicious and worthy of 5 stars on its own! It has been replaced with a shrimp bucatini with pistachio pesto which was alright. I also really like one of their desserts - the Caramel Copetta which is a salted caramel gelato sundae with peanuts and marshmallow. read more

Taverna Mercatto - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

I had a very enjoyable meal and experience at this restaurant while in Toronto. The bartender was friendly, the drinks were tasty, and my seafood fettuccine was delicious. I will definitely be returning here next time I come to town read more

so disappointing. Not gracious with serving size and food was super plain and not flavored. 2/10

Pizza is delicious . Good spot when downtown Atmosphere is great , outdoor patio in summer is ideal read more

My guy and I came here after a show at the ACC. We we're looking for an interesting place to eat while in Toronto and this one hit all of the right spots for us! We were excited to see the variety of authentic Italian fare and wine which we greatly enjoy. The food arrived and it was nothing short of absolutely stellar. We started with the Spiedini, Carpaccio Di Manzo and Frutti Di Mare. We enjoyed the amazing appetizers so much, I actually ordered a second Spiedini! Lol the octopus was grilled perfectly while still tender and flavourful. After savouring every bite, we decided to actually get some entrées. My guy ordered the Chitarrine E Vongole (Squid Ink Pasta with clams) and I had the Striploin steak. Both meals were absolutely delicious. My steak was grilled to absolute perfection and his pasta was nicely done, the clams were a lovely touch. The food was incredibly fresh. The second thing I have to point out about our experience is the phenomenal efforts put forward from our server, Zoey. He suggested appropriate wine pairings for every dish that we enjoyed. His attention to detail and extensive knowledge on Italian wine really made our dining adventure outstanding. He thoroughly explained everything and answered all of our questions. If you're lucky enough to have him as your server, you will be in for a treat! Thanks Zoey! :) Overall, it's one of the nicest dining experiences we've ever had in Toronto and we will be sure to return there once again when we are in town! 5 stars all the way. read more

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I had spaghetti and meatballs it was the best meatballs I've ever had very close to Italy food my wife had the special cannelloni with spinach and ricotta We sat outside with a beautiful breeze. Service was prompt and friendly Highly recommend read more

Venue- 5/5. Beautiful, classy interior and big sidewalk patio plus superb Italian food = a pretty solid night. Located in a touristy area between the ACC and Rogers Centre, TM is perfect for dates, family or friends gatherings, or touristy night out. Food- 4/5. There's not many vegetarian options unfortunately. Pescatarians can rejoice though - the platters feature many seafood options. I ordered the albacore tuna, which came on a bed of greens and green beans and boiled potatoes. The tuna steaks were fatty and well cooked, but smelled and tasted a bit too fishy imo. My partner ordered the margherita pizza, the only vegetarian pizza option unless you consider the salsiccia, which can become vegetarian by replacing the sausages with veggies. The crust was very thin and the dough was quite tasty. Reminded me of a via mercanti pizza. However, the cheese was so-so. Our favorite dish was the arancini appetizer - 3 fried risotto balls coating chewy provolone cheese on a bed of tomato sauce. Strongly recommend this dish - unhealthy, puts you into a food coma, but soooo delicious. Value- 3/5. Pricy, but reasonable for date night. Pizzas and pastas are $15-20 while protein platters hover $20-40. Tonight for two without drinks we spent $60. No complimentary bread here (though we never asked), so load up on orders! Service- 4/5. We had a wonderful waitress. All the staff in fact were young, poised, and chill/friendly. Have to subtract 1 star for the speed and attentiveness - appetizer came after the mains since was forgotten and everything took a while to happen, from waters to orders to food arriving to billing. read more

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I love this restaurant! The restaurant itself was really nice, staff service was excellent, food was great! Definitely need to try the calamari! It is so good. I had the linguine and it was so delicious! The sauce was just perfect. If you are into seafood on your pasta, definitely try this dish out! read more

Taverna Mercatto - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

Catching up with my friend over lunch today. This place was packed even on a Monday, speaks for itself how popular this place is. The quality of food prevails - i ordered a Linguini di mare and my friend ordered a pizza. We always knew the quality of food is high but when it comes to accommodating client's dietary restrictions, they are not as flexible. The lactose free options were quite limited and not left with many alternatives. My pasta was a bit disappointing- how could a seafood linguini not come with shrimps but only with small pieces of scallops, mussels and calamari? The pasta was al dente but the ingredients could be more robust. Their desserts are always to die for- the caramel icecream cup was to die for and so was their tiramisu! If i were to choose, i would jump right into desserts if possible! All in all a great place to catch up with friends!! Have fun and enjoy!! read more

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The waiters and waitresses on staff are passionate. Do good things. The way they book reservations makes NO sense.... last 5 visits empty restaurant, was told no tables available.... worked with them stayed. Left the Empty Restaurant, no there was no party or work event. Let get that rolling well. Do not go eat next door. You will be sad.... read more

Nice patio, good for business meetings as the interior is beautifully done. The food is OK but the price point is high. We had good service and they were quick to bring the food out. It's a fine option if you're right in the area and looking for a business lunch place. read more

The food is delicious! We had a little of everything; Carbonara Pasta, Steak, Beets salad, Calamari, Bolognese. The atmosphere was great. The service was not very good. read more

This is go to for us before a game. The food is consistently good. Service is also good with a good offering. Considering the area, it's good value for the money. Atmosphere is quite lively. Pizza is very good ... wood fired. Friendly casual environment. Good place to visit even if you're not attending a game. read more

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Came on a weekday for a lunch date with a friend. We picked this place to try black squid ink pasta which they said was freshly made on the menu! My friend had a carbonara and I went for the squid ink. It was a bit underwhelming. The portion sizes were medium to small but the ambiance and service is really nice. Both of us agreed we'd had better pasta elsewhere. Maybe the pizzas are a better choice? There is definitely a mad lunch rush with all the offices around but there wasn't a wait which was nice. The interior is spacious and the tables are a good size but it can get quite noisy during the rush. Try going at 1 or 11 to avoid. The server was nice and food came at a good time. read more

Taverna Mercatto - Carbonara and squid ink pasta. - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

Very nice and helpful staff, great food and fast service. Interior is cozy and coffee tasted great!

OOF - $20 pizza that's semi soggy? No thanks. Dishes are overpriced and quality of food is not great. Most diners here are folks who work in the office buildings nearby and are optimizing for convenience rather than quality. read more

We made a last minute reservation here for four on Saturday. The service the food and the ambiance was on point. I had the 8oz prime rib steak with fries. The steak was delicious and cooked to perfection. The fries were crispy and had a very nice dip to dip them into. One friend had gnocchi, orecchiette pugliese and there was another pasta dish. I would say the portions for the pasta were small. We ended up having to order arancini for the pasta people to be full. They were delicious. read more

Taverna Mercatto - Martini - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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One of the best Italian restaurants I've been to! For not having reservations we were seated immediately and taken care of quickly as well. From the Arancini to the suuuper thin crispy margherrita pizza to carbonara and the BEST moscato I've ever had in my life. Went here almost a year ago and STILL think about this meal and crave it pretty frequently. Definitely a must if you're in the area! read more

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Such an unpleasant visit. The first and hopefully, the only one bad experience at Mercatto. I've been a returning customer for quite some time. Different location and generally an overall good experience. Not tonight. I'll be brief in explaining why: - our main courses haven't been served with bread (not that I wanted to but my guest were expecting it especially because in our previous visits we always had it without even asking) - my carbonara: good taste but my spaghetti alla chitarra where broken in half. No wonder why I was offered the spoon. - when pointed out, the server was quite unpleasant, hasn't made any effort to apologize or trying to offer anything to "repair" to the unfortunate event. She only asked if there was anything else I wanted. Even if this was her effort to solve the situation, well, as far as I'm aware, there are other ways to ask the same. Overall, very disappointed for the experience as my appetite was gone and the service didn't seem to have made any effort to make it up for it. Hopefully, this will be an isolated case. The long pasta is for a reason. Try to do that in Italy, and you get "shot" on site. (Ps. Yes. Were in Canada but you're a restaurant selling the Italian experience). read more

I didn't like our server that afternoon, and that set the tone for the entire meal and this post. He had this air of superiority over us, (and I'm only guessing here) because we didn't want alcohol during a work related lunch, we didn't want soft drinks (didn't want all that sugar), and just went for the Toronto's finest water. We skimped on the dessert because we just weren't that hungry. Having a clumsy waiter was slightly annoying, but to have a dirty fork fall off a plate and onto a diner (in their clean pristine work outfit) is inexcusable. Food was just OK. It's better than the food court, but it's just that, OK. Tolerable because we needed a restaurant with service and a place to talk. read more

Here's the thing, a restaurant experience is typically 50% about food and remaining about Service and Setting... While I would give full points to the service and setting, I think the food was average. We ordered for beet root salad, pizza and Italian Rice balls. The beet root salad was off balance on balasmic vinegar and the pizza had a bitter herb, which I did not like. The rice balls helped in satisfying the meal, but I ended up picking up desserts at next door Soho. read more

Came here on a saturday night at around 6 for a little date night. The restaurant was probably half full, with people clearing out for the upcoming raptors game. We got seated at a booth which was really nice and intimate. It was comfy and also had outlets for phone charging! Very nice touch there. We decided to get the lamb rack entree and the berkshire pork entree. The lamb rack was cooked to perfection, and the veggies and grains (Im not really sure what it actually was) served as satisfying side dishes. I had a taste of the berkshire pork and it was extremely tender, and the fries were crispy, skinny and seasoned well. For dessert, we decided to get the cannoli and the ricotta cheesecake. It was so yummy! The ricotta cheese was light, but had the right amount of cheesy taste. I think I prefer this more than a new york style cheesecake. Overall, great place to come with friends or to have a little date night. Great italian food! I'd love to come back for some pizza and pasta next time! read more

Taverna Mercatto - Lambchops $29 - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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I've been here two times so far, and counting! The last time I was here was with some family friends for a weekend lunch. We were lucky it wasn't very busy and we got a corner window table. We decided to order a bunch of dishes to share - beet salad, calamari, a couple of pizzas, pasta carbonara, lamb, and of course, a bottle of Chianti (afternoon drinking FTW - there's a reason we all get along so well). Everything was pretty good! We all enjoyed the food and had a good time. I think my favourites were the calamari and the pasta. The other time I was here, we had lots of fun and enjoyed our meals. Consistently good times here so far! read more

Not sure why it took me so long to review this restaurant. I've been here numerous times and it never disappoints. Food had always been deliciously prepared and staff is friendly and courteous. This time around, I had the tuna app (forgot the name of it), lamp chops and some kind of lemon raspberry dessert (forgot the name of it again). Tuna app was perfectly dressed. Lamb was so tender and melt on my mouth goodness. The lemon raspberry dessertwas so light and perfectly balanced taste of sweet and tart. I look forward to returning soon! read more

Taverna Mercatto - Lamb chops - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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2.5/5* Food - food was not what was expected from a welcoming ambiance. Came with a group of 16 for a birthday in the private room. Seafood linguini ... Just puréed tomato sauce with seafood (mussels without the mussels, just shells). Ravioli.... More like ricotta cheese wontons.. Did not taste the brown butter.. Not flavorful. Calamari... Salty.. Arancini was the best (stuffed risotto balls) Service - 1* server only gave one napkin to the one person who asked for it (came in with a pile of napkins but gave it to one person...) Server asked if we need them to cut the cake and I said we can cut the cake so that the cutting fee doesn't apply (waiter told us that there would be no cutting fee if we cut it ourselves) waiter then came back and told us that he made a mistake and that there will be a cutting fee (only charged us for half the people)-- should have been taken off because it was his fault. Ambience - should have labeled the private dining not room for what it was because people kept walking into our room thinking it was a washroom. read more

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I landed in Toronto on the day it was snowing a lot. It was the beginning of the snow season. After checking into Airbnb, I was looking at nearby places to have a good meal. I tried to visit this place. The ambience is pretty nice and the staff was very friendly and welcoming. I went onto try their spaghetti. I didn't like it much as I felt it wasn't properly cooked plus it didn't have much flavor. I finished my meal with Caramel Coppetta dessert (Cookie Crunch Gelato with Roasted Peanuts) and Tiramisu. Tiramisu was again a let down but I loved the Caramel Coppetta. So, overall I would say the experience was pretty average. read more

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Great service here. They know their wines. Had a variety of things such as pizza and pasta. The last time I went I ordered the pork special. Very tender meat with home made gnocchi. read more

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A few friends and I were looking for places in the area for dinner after work and we decided to come here. We walked in and were shown to our table immediately by one of the staff which was great, however it took forever for the server to come and take our orders. Luckily we weren't in a rush. We decided on this place because the menu online seemed pretty reasonable for what seemed like an above average Italian restaurant. We started off with the calamari which was really good - as per all the reviews, but the main dishes were quite disappointing. I got the carbonara, and although the taste and quality were decent, the whole dish was probably enough to feed a 3 year old. The restaurant is over-priced and over-rated, and they don't even have complimentary bread/olive oil/balsamic vinegar which is pretty much a staple at any Italian restaurant. Wouldn't recommend coming here on an empty stomach unless you feel like spending $100 to walk out with a full one. read more

Taverna Mercatto - Calamari - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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I really like the atmosphere here- it's very trendy, funky and eclectic. The location is perfect in terms of downtown Toronto. I'd recommend making a reservation to ensure you can get seated in a timely manner. The menu is a bit limited, but the wine selection was quite extensive. We got a bottle of Pinot noir (the farm) and a bottle of Syrah (st chinian) as well as the cheese/meat tray, Arancini, beets and buratta, and the margherita pizza. Our pizza was cold when it arrived which would be our only complaint. We loved the arancini! It's worth checking out! read more

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Since Taverna Mercatto is near my building, I have always wanted to try it since I have a deep love for pasta. However, every time I ask about the wait times, it's always at least an hour. I finally gave in and went on a Friday night around 5:30pm and got on the wait list. They gave us an estimated 45 minute wait time and were right on the ball about that; we were promptly seated 6:30pm. The ambiance was cozy but lively. The interior was beautiful and classy and it paved the way for a nice evening out. It's a short walk to the ACC and one block away from the CN tower which made it very convenient. My party and I ordered the calamari starter, the salsiccia pizza, the bucatini gamberetti, and the polla alla diavola. The calamari was a good sized plate and the caper cream dipping was delicious. I loved the shrimp that came with the bucatini and the pasta was made just to my liking - on the harder side but very tasty. I especially loved the pesto sauce in this dish. The pizza was okay; the dough was very thin but was a good add on to go with the rest of the dishes. As for the spicy chicken, it was cooked well - not dry at all. Overall, I was very satisfied with the plates that we ordered and was very pleasantly surprised. Prices were reasonable and were at about 20-30$ a plate. Service was great and we always had what we needed. Overall, I really enjoyed my experience here and would say that I'd come back for another meal. The only slight deterrent is the wait time but given how I had a great time here, it seems that everyone else does too so it's no surprise that wait times are long. Definitely recommended! read more

IOU's hotel recommended this place. Food was ok, service was a little slow. Not my favorite place ! Our server was very nice !! read more

Came here for an early dinner. Staff very friendly and foods great. Our group had: Lamb shank Meatballs Calamari Beet salad All very good. Have a decent Barolo by the glass so I'm happy happy! read more

Taverna Mercatto - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

This restaurant is located near my office in Toronto and it is one of the places we like to go as a team.... the food is very good, the ambiance is perfect - whether you are going as a couple or as a small group and the location cannot be beaten. The group had meat and pasta - and all loved their dish. I once had the beef and once had the chicken and both were really good. The chicken had a little twist giving it a bit of a different personality. This is definitely my go-to place with colleagues or even by myself when traveling. read more

Beautiful restaurant. Menus are poorly designed and hard to read. The Manhattan Cocktail I ordered was good. To eat, we had oysters (Amazing) Bucatini (meh) and Catta-something (decent). For the price, the food lacks flavour and I've had better at cheaper places. the noodles were good though. The location and patio is amazing as well. read more

Excellent authentic Italian pasta that is al dente with a fresh sauce. Quick friendly service. Tiramisu was non conventionally served in a coffee like cup but was delicious nonetheless. read more

Taverna Mercatto -Toronto. Pizza and calamaris were actually very good. The place is nice. read more

Taverna Mercatto - Italian Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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We decided to check this place out because we saw the pretty decor from the outside. DRINKS: Beer - Peroni Appetizer: SALUMI (3/5) (local and imported artisanal meats) The jamon was delish! The pretzels that came with it were a great mix with this charcuterie board. Mains: CHITARRINE E VONGOLE (3/5) (fresh squid ink pasta, savoury clams, guanciale, bone marrow pangratatto) The clams & squid ink pasta were good. I liked this pasta compared to the tortiglioni that I've ordered. This pasta gears towards the lighter end of taste buds. TORTIGLIONI (2/5) (butchers ragu, lamb neck, wild boar, provimi veal) There wasn't enough sauce and they added too much salt onto the pasta. But! The meats within the pasta were pretty good. read more

I was a little skeptical walking into Taverna Mercatto, since they've basically become a chain (ie I was expecting a classier East Side Marios). But I was ultimately quite pleasantly surprised by an above-average Italian meal. We started with the Arancini (chive, risotto, provolone, spicy tomato sauce). It arrived to the table hot and fresh, and was quite delicious. The inside of the ball was gooey and cheesy, while the sauce provided for the exterior was a perfect complement. I ordered the Spaghetti e Bufala (tomato sugo, mozzarella di bufala, basil, padano). This was a simple yet effective tomato-sauce-based pasta dish. I really enjoyed the little pockets of mozzarella that kept popping up through the dish. I suppose my one complain was that it might've been a little *too* simple (ie it could've used more spices to give it just a little more flavor). The service was slow but attentive. read more

This would be on the lower end of places to go in the area, but sometimes it's so busy for whatever reason that it's impossible to get in anywhere, so you end up here. Service was very slow overall, but our server was kind and competent. Food was, for lack of a better way to put it, unexciting. Ordered the calamari and shishito peppers to start, which was a smaller than average portion and I didn't particularly like the breading they used. The four of us each got a pasta and they were all fine, but again, pretty boring. Likewise with the seared albacore tuna salad. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good. read more

Loved the eclectic decor!! We had the beet and kale salad-delicious!! Pesto bread- so good and the spaghetti pomodoro- amazing!!! We will be back!! read more