Before me and my date decided to stroll around Toronto we stopped off at an Italian restaurant in the distillery district called Tappo. After wading through the crowd of people watching the glass and clay blowing demonstration we finally reached the restaurant which was unappealing from the moment we saw it. It had all the aspects that could have made it a good restaurant, but it seemed to accentuate all the aspects that it shouldn't have.
After waiting 10 minuets for a waiter to seat us, it seemed their host/hostess had the night off, we were directed to a few tables. It seemed that even he did not know where he wanted to seat us. After pulling out his treasure map from his back pocket and directing us to the "X" on it we finally sat down. Did I mention that we had reservations? Then after another 5 minuets we received menus, but it think the hostess/waiter is supposed to give them to you when you are seated, but not here. After waiting, again, I knew that the waiter was here to take our order only by the slap on the back he gave me. More excess waiting ensued before we could even flag down our waiter to give our order. While he was leaning over both of us to take our order, which he forgot promptly and had to be reminded of, we could see that the pressure of the night was starting to get to him. The sweat the was sticking to his forehead had had enough and he proceeded to sweat on us and our table. I believe that was the aperitif of the night.
It seemed that all the people who were out at the distillery district just to be seen descended upon it's bar hoping that their presence alone would elevate the atmosphere away from the trendy art scene and onto themselves. This was most fervently demonstrated by the middle aged mother who, while hitting on all the men by showing them pictures of her kids, would continue to lean over and tell me not to eat her salmon. You could really tell she was out for her kids as was accentuated by the 4 bottles of wine and the pair of empty cigarette packages on the table. But the reason I go out is not the people around me or the wait staff, it is about the food.
After our orders were finally on the table the food, after all the build up with everything the restaurant had bombarded us with, was less than expected. For an Italian restaurant to overcook an antipasto is simply unacceptable: chewy calamari, dry and chard quail, and hoary vegetables. The mains were still on order until 30 min after I ordered, I was told that they were out of the Boar and as a good waiter he decided to choose a substitute for me. Except, it was not what I was in the mood for. Even when I got to reorder I was let down. Salmon on a bed of greens with tomato sauce out of a can is not an Italian dish, it is something from a 24 hour diner. Now this is not to say the salmon that I ordered and the tenderloin that my date ordered was not cooked well only that when you go out to an Italian restaurant you would expect some Italian flair or content with your meal. Not simply a clone of a plate you could eat at any other restaurant.
Bad service. Poor Food. Suffocating atmosphere. Tappo has it all. The saving grace for the night was the wine which we received 30% off of because the server decided not to tell us, after all of our orders went in, that the bottle we previously ordered was out of stock. Sufficient to say, the bottle that we did receive was excellent...except it has fallen out of my possession so I cannot tell you what it was. Sorry
All in all I would stay away from Tappo. It just happens to be yet another overpriced Italian restaurant in an otherwise saturated market.
Cheers!
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