Review Ardo Restaurant - Toronto

Braised short rib was my favourite, melt in your mouth soft, the cannoli was also amazing. Service was outstanding, our server Meghan made great recommendations and we enjoyed every dish/drink she suggested. We will be going back often! Reasonable prices for great food.

Pleasant, lively, chattery atmosphere. Kind and accommodating staff. The food was great! I tried a selection of their dishes and a few stood out to me. Their chick pea fritters appetizer is one of the best things on their menu. So light, satisfyingly crispy, and the unique chick pea taste makes these little crisps more addicting than your favorite french fries. Their gnocchi is spectacular. Each bite was so smooth and satisfying. Their cannoli is simply perfect. Everything you expect and more. Their absolute best item is the cream with candied lemon and fennel (not sure of its proper name). It is irresistible, such a smooth and elegant taste. I could eat tubs of it. The prices are slightly above my style of eatery, and their other dishes can be average. However they have many dishes which make the entire experience worth it. Overall, a pleasant experience!

Family run restaurant? Check. Authentic Italian? Check. Astonishingly deep wine list? Check. Sublime and sensationally presented plates? Check. Warm and friendly room and atmosphere?Check. Best cannoli you will EVER have this side of Naples? Check. We dined at Ardo a few weeks ago - and are going back soon - and we still look at each other with a stupid grin and go ‘damn that was a tremendous dining experience!” Sig other had the braised short rib and - I kid you not, she may have experienced a low level orgasm, it was that good. Just deep well seasoned flavor and unctuous-ness. I had the daily fish special and I can say I left the plate as clean as the moment before they plated it. Meaty flavorful sustainable Northwest Territories whitefish with golden beets. I think I passed out temporarily from the umami of crisp fish skin and the soft flaky texture and taste. Honestly, it’s going up on the list of top 10 meals. And I’m already wetting myself with excitement about going back again this week. I cannot wait. Edit: back again and braised beef and squid ink pasta in the back alley outdoor patio. Couple glasses Nero d’Avola, finished with cannoli and dreamy creamy pannacotta

Had a birthday dinner for my dear daughter last night. The restaurant was busy. The service was awesome (shout out to Anthony for the amazing service and wonderful sense of humour!!) We (there were 5 of us) enjoyed everything we ordered. I ordered Gnocchi and it was amazing! I will go back again in the new year :)

We were welcomed very warmly by the staff, and particularly enjoyed the decor and musical ambiance. To eat, we shared a burrata, a margherita pizza and the tartufo, which were all delightful. Our personal highlight was the burrata, which is imported from Italy. It’s fair to say it’s the best I’ve ever had in Canada. Would recommend this place!

Friendly staff, good menu at fair prices. Portions are decent. Would return again and try the pasta. Be prepared to wait a little bit longer between dishes..

Last night my friend, who was visiting from Portland, and me went to dinner to one of the best Italian restaurants in town. The owners Roberto and Alessandro are wonderful hosts, the service was impeccable, and the Sicilian dishes were exceptional. We had the Polpo (octopus), la pizza Milazzo, the scallops (a delicacy) and the best Carpaccio di Tonno I've ever had. Everything was ultra fresh and cooked or marinated to perfection, in some of the best olive oil imported from Italy. Try their great Sicilian wine selection and make sure to order their Negroni cocktail. All in all, a great dining experience, great atmosphere and hospitality. Grazie mille al chef Roberto e al host Alessandro, siete bravissimi!

Great service - restaurant was busy, but we felt very well taken care of. A few interesting but tasty house cocktails, delicious pasta (I had “tartufo”, spaghetti with anchovy butter and truffles) and partner had veal (perfectly cooked). Portions are a nice size, although I was still too full for dessert 😢. Good wine selection, not too big. Will definitely be back to try more appetizers (and the cannoli!). Make reservations if going on a Friday!

Sicily is a rich, fertile, volcanic and beautiful land. It is the legitimate heir of ancient Greece, but also boasts the influence of peoples like the Arabs and the Vikings; south and north. I'm here to talk about cooking and Ardo restaurant, but you cannot appreciate the cuisine of this excellent little restaurant without presenting it, even if superficially, in the context of the intense cultural melting pot that Sicily reflects. At Ardo you will find true Italian food in its Sicilian inclination. The Ardo dishes, from appetizers to desserts, bring out the raw ingredients of the Sicilian territory (Ardo also imports flour, pasta, and special oils from Sicily, which you can buy) without forgetting tradition. It’s a wonderful menu, capable of delivering surprises, respectful of the past great for the palate and your health. And remember that each dish of Sicilian cuisine is a piece of history. Over the centuries, the island has been conquered by the Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, Austro-Bourbon, Piedmont. It does not end here. Because the domination policies were complemented by other influences are less aggressive and more purely cultural. Then there was - and still is - the Tunisian influence due to the close relationship between live across the Strait of Sicily and which finds its highest expression in the couscous. Indeed, Ardo has one of the more interesting couscous dishes in the city. Sicily was the granary of Italy and the first great laboratory for the development of pasta, which was tested in new recipes and shapes. Yes, before Marco Polo went to China. At Ardo, you will find the best interpretation of Sicilian cuisine in Toronto, or perhaps in Canada. Sicily, however, is one of Italy’s most beautiful and cultured regions. Archimedes, the third century scientist, was Sicilian. One of Italy’s Nobel winning physicists, Antonino Zichichi is Sicilian, Some of the best writers of the twentieth century were Sicilian: Leonardo Sciascia and Luigi Pirandello to name a couple. Some of the best actors, directors, statesmen of moral rectitude and human touch (the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, for example) are Sicilian. The food of this island is part of that rich heritage, befitting its natural beauty and the three thousand-year history. Of course, Sicily is not around the corner from Bloor Street. Yet, if you go to King Street at the point where it intersects Sherbourne, not too far from downtown, where you can easily find parking, you will reach Ardo. The staff is genuinely friendly, rather than unctuous. Roberto, the owner is a classic Sicilian gentleman. His cuisine reflects his taste and his heritage. Ask for some bread and the excellent Sicilian olive oil and you'll understand immediately the goodness' of what you are about to experience. And if you like wine, you can finally try the excellent Sicilian wines: red, suggest the Nero d'Avola; White? Vermentino. Try a real Marsala and finish with a lovely digestive like Montenegro; there’s enough variety for all tastes: I stress you should try the Sicilian wines. To better appreciate the delicious dishes, you must understand Sicilian cuisine and its roots. It comes from the fact that Sicily is in the center of the Mediterranean, where an extraordinary climate allows farmers to grow the tastiest vegetables, grapes, olives, oranges in the world. They produce the most aromatic olive oils and precious wines thanks to grapes and herbs have the most intense fragrances. And it is also a place where people are still in touch with the genuine flavors from the sea and the land. Roberto has not betrayed Sicilian food, by combining and adapting it in the way that is typical in Italian cooking outside – and even in - Italy. In Sicily, the memory of the old recipes is still alive. New generations have not lost that knowledge. In Sicily there might be roughly 10-12 McDonald's restaurants to give you a quick mental picture of the strength of local traditions. In Milan, there are 23 alone. Sicily is the Mediterranean, thus it’s a cradle of food that combines health, tradition and taste. At Ardo, you will find just that. I tried a bit of everything: calamari, arancini, traditional pasta, octopus, marinated anchovies, cod croquettes and my beloved eggplants. If there is a typical Sicilian vegetable you must try, by the way, it’s the eggplant. The only 'problem' - in the selection; not the quality '- are the desserts. I have a sweet tooth and Sicily boasts among the best desserts in the world. Ardo does have excellent cannoli and gelato (an invention of Sicily), but there are so many more Sicilian delights. Perhaps, I might make an offer Roberto can’t refuse, persuading him to bring out an Iris or a Cassata on the menu soon.

My girlfriends and I got a last minute reservation tonight at Ardo. We chose this restaurant based on our love for Italian food and the excellent reviews we read online. We were very excited for some great eats and wine. We asked for a 6pm reservation and were told to come anytime between 5:30 and 6, we just had to be out by 8 as there was a reservation - no problem, we thought, we had somewhere to be too! We arrived and immediately loved the atmosphere, the restaurant is cozy and clean with an open kitchen. That's where the positive part of this review stops. It's a Monday night and it was before 6pm, we were the only people there when we arrived - you would think there would be amazing service. But where do I begin... First of all, we asked for bread while you were waiting, and you have to pay for it. I love fine dining and am happy to shell out on a high quality meal and fantastic wine, but having to pay for bread?! That's terrible customer service. Two of us got pasta - I got the ragu and my friend got the lobster ravioli on special - they were both ok, but nothing great. Our friends got arancini and pizza and seemed to like them a lot more, so if I ever do go back, pizza it will be. My ragu wasn't overly flavourful (truthfully I like Cibo's ragu much better), and desperately needed pepper, but after our food was delivered, we didn't see a server again until our plates were cleared. The portions of the pasta were quite small, and my friend who got the pasta and I were both still so hungry when we were finished that we wanted to order a pizza to split, but no server came by to see if we wanted anything else. Also, the wine list is terrible. They only have 2 red wines by the glass, and I can safely say the one I tried wasn't great. I would have loved to have tried the other one, or really have a second glass of anything considering I had finished my small 5 oz glass by halfway through my meal, but... you guessed it.. we didn't see a server until the plates were cleared. After our plates were clear, we waited over 20 minutes before a server came by again. To be clear, this restaurant is quite small (15 tables top), and we were seated right by the kitchen, so they couldn't exactly miss us. Finally we ordered dessert from a different server, and then waited 20 more minutes without any kind of attention. We flagged her down, asked about status of dessert, and she responded with a very rude "it's coming". It ended up being over 45 minutes from the time our dinner plates were cleared until we got dessert. It also took her forever to bring our bills and cash us out, so not only did we hold the table unnecessarily long, but we were very late leaving for our other commitments too. I'm usually quite generous with tipping, and I would never hold back part of a server's gratuity based on the taste of food, but this is quite honestly the worst service I have ever seen. There was no reason for a table to go unattended so long, and I would have loved to have tried more things to improve my opinion, but not only were we not attended to, but one of the servers was quite rude. Aren't you supposed to be selling patrons on more drinks? My bill ended up being quite low for a normally pricey restaurant because I only had one drink and needless to say there wasn't much of a tip, but I would've loved to have spent 3 times this amount for a better quality meal with service. The atmosphere of this place is great, but I can recommend about a dozen other Italian restaurants in Toronto that have way better wine selection and better service. Two stars was generous for my experience tonight.

Too many restaurants pander to the bland North American palate and dilute authentic cuisine to accommodate the masses. How awesome to come across a restaurant that stays with it's cultural roots! Sicilian Italian is lesser known than the infamous Tuscan, but with it's Moorish influence - pine nuts, raisins, couscous - it's infinitely more interesting! As I live locally, this will definitely be a regular place for me! Daily and weekly selections make for a fabulous variety according to the availability from suppliers across Canada - white Chanterelle mushrooms from Quebec, Shark steak and Tuna flown in from PEI, Sicilian olive oil to die for (and available for sale), cherry tomatoes from Prince Edward County which in the Chef's own words are almost better than Sicilian! A great ambience to top it all off. Highly recommend the "Chef's table" seating where you get to watch Chef/Owner Roberto working hard at his craft! Enjoy the specialist Aperitifs and Grappa!

Our visit was short. Friends and I showed up with some wine from our cellars. We had picked the wine to specifically pair well with the menu at Ardo, including some Mt. Etna wines. My friends had taken wine to Ardo in the past, and paid corkage. Despite seeing the array of bottles on the table, the server started to serve us, opened a $7 bottle of water, THEN told us the restaurant doesn't do corkage. We remarked that we had visited Ardo and brought bottles, paid the corkage in the past. The waiter checked and said their policy had changed, so we paid for the $7 bottle of water and headed for the door. The owner then came up to explain how it was not the restaurant's fault and that they had no choice as their liquor license had been 'changed' inferring some unilateral action to remove their corkage license by the lcbo. We were already leaving and had paid the bill. The owner kept arguing with us and only succeeded in delaying our departure and move to another more wine friendly establishment. We won't be going back to Ardo. Ended up at Le Select and had a great time.

Beautiful airy space, warm and welcoming service, delicious food and wine - we had a lovely evening at Ardo. Our server was a delight and our meals were delish. We loved the blue bar - great tiles! Our Sicilian wine was perfect with our pasta and pizza.

Chef Roberto and his staff are masters of cuisine. The flavours were awesome, the service was exquisite, the ambiance was warm and sexy. From beginning to end this was the perfect dining out experience. We're definitely going back and back and back. Cannot recommend enough.

We are new to the neighborhood and wanted to support local business. We strolled upon Ardo and walked in without reservation (on a sat night 7:30) and were welcomed by chef Roberto himself. We were accommodated without a delay (they were busy) and welcomed as if we were regulars. The ambience was clean, simple, casual, intimate, elegance. Service was stellar and prompt. The menu was to die for. I wanted it all! We started with the grilled octopus. And the Etna pizza. WOW! Hard not to order the Burratta. Next time for sure! Next to arrive was the mushroom gnocchi, light, airy and delicious! To say the least! Now....the swordfish (in from east coast). Never had anything like this before. Cooked to perfection and fork tender, melt in your mouth amazing! Ended the meal with espresso (the real deal) and two Sicilian cannoli. Perfection. Not one bad thing to say!! This one, we will call home!! Thank you Chef Roberto and staff.

Roberto Marotta is an Incredible gifted Chef/owner with immense knowledge, passion and love for food and hospitality! A rare gem for the city of Toronto!

Chef Roberto created a masterpiece of a meal for us! Everything was off the charts... you have to try the cannoli for desert

Love, Love, Love Ardo Restaurant! Superb everything... from appetizers to desserts, and the atmosphere and staff are "top notch!"

The best Sicilian cuisine this side of Milazzo, Sicily. Quite possibly the finest food in Toronto.

Finally made our way to this little food paradise. The food is incredible and the service exceptional. This is our new "place" that we've been looking for since we moved to the city a couple of years ago. Absolutely amazing!!

Amazing authentic food! Excellent service. It felt like we were in Italy! Would recommend it to everyone!

This is by far our favourite new restaurant in Toronto, with all the characteristics of an enduring go-to for us. Food is terrific and authentic proper-Italian, in the best traditions of Toronto's Italian immigrant heritage. Starters are lovely - especially the arancine, which we always begins with. Pizzas are special in light of the bread. All bread is in fact baked in house. Dessert is a treat - especially Roberto's family cannoli. We will be going here for years to come -- what a terrific add to the neighbourhood and the east end more broadly.

Prompt service and a great atmosphere. I ordered the salsiccia and was delighted. It was extremely delicious with the perfect amount of cheese and sauce. Watching the chef work was like watching art be made. Will definitely return.

Simple, but sophisticated. Good service. Food is honest. Deserts rocks ... best part of menu! Keep some room.

Best Sicilian food in Toronto. Great atmosphere, great wine selection and very attentive servers.

Wonderful food. Expertly crafted. Exceptional quality and value. Service was educated and understated. The wine selection was small and deftly assembled. I'm a convert.

Hands down best gnocchi. Involtini was also incredible. Beautiful aesthetic and amazing service.

Beautifully executed food and cocktails in a comfortable environment. Great service to boot! Been twice and will continue to go back for more!

Absolutely amazing food! We tried a little of everything and loved it all. Great decor & friendly staff too!

Congtratilations Roberto on getting the cover of Toronto Life. Well deserved. Always delicious dishes. !

If I could, I would give ARDO 6!!! The restaurant is small but cozy and soooo beautifully decorated!! As soon as I walked in, I fell in love with it! We had a 10-course meal! Every dish was EXCEPTIONAL!!!! I cannot wait to go back again, SOON!! ���

Best Pasta! Best Service. We will def be coming back.