Trattoria

Hello friends! I went to Trattoria about a month ago and didn’t have the greatest of experiences so the team at Trattoria asked me if I wanted to come in for a complimentary do-over. At first I wondered if I should even bother but everyone deserves a second chance so Grayson and I decided to give Trattoria another go.

Our evening started off with a glass of bubbly which meant that we were off to a good start.

Tomato Bruschetta

★★★

Our first appetizer was their tomato bruschetta. It was a lightly toasted piece of bread topped with fresh basil, parmesan cheese, a variety of chopped tomatoes and balsamic sauce. Our favourite part was the contrast between the crispy toasted bread and the acidity of the tomatoes.

Appetizer platter

Next up was the appetizer platter. It had arancini, calamari and fried brussels sprouts. Everything came on a big plate family style because Trattoria is a family style restaurant where they encourage everyone to share their food.

Brussel sprouts

★★★★

I’ve seen a lot of people coming here ordering the brussels sprouts by the plateful which was surprising to me because usually brussels sprouts isn’t the hottest vegetable item. These brussels sprouts weren’t your plain old boiled brussels sprouts though. They were deep fried and then seasoned with lemon, capers, chilies and parmigiano-reggiano.

We could definitely tell why so many people ordered these when they visited because they were bites of delight. They were slightly crisp from being fried and the seasoning brought them over the top. Grayson loved them and I almost had to take the plate away from him to get him to save his appetite for our mains.

Arancini

★★★

Arancini is something that I’ve always wanted to try but have yet to. These ones were stuffed with wild mushrooms, parmesan, scamorza, garlic and carrot puree. This combination made it very soft on the inside to the point that it was almost mushy. They were okay but we would have enjoyed them more if they had more texture to them.

Calamari

★★★

Calamari isn’t something we typically order but it was so good! The outside was crispy and inside was tender. It could have used more of the tomato sauce on the bottom to flavor it but overall it would be something we’d order again.

Our main course came in the form of their pasta platter. Ours came with their truffled spaghetti and signature meatballs, linguine carbonara, gnocchi and the shortrib pappardelle.

Linguine carbonara

★★★★

The linguine carbonara was so incredibly creamy and smooth. It had pancetta, scallions, egg and parmigiano-reggiano cheese in it. Who knew that 4 simple ingredients could make something so amazing?

Short rib pappardelle

★★★★

The short rib pappardelle was 100% better than the first time I had it. The sauce was so creamy and tasted like mushrooms. The short rib was soft and tender. The tomatoes added a pop of acidity and brightness and the pinenuts added crunch. I can see why this is one of their top sellers.

Truffled spaghetti and meatballs

★★★★

If you’re a fan of black truffle, you’ll love this truffled spaghetti and signature meatball dish topped with herbed ricotta. The sauce for this one was a cream base with lots of truffle flavour. I’m not a huge fan of truffle but the creaminess of the sauce mellowed it out so it wasn’t too strong which made it quite enjoyable. I didn’t think the ricotta on top was necessary because it added too much richness to the already rich pasta. The meatballs on the side were unlike any we’ve had before. You could tell that it was pure seasoned ground meat in there with a few extra little ingredients. Just delicious!

Gnocchi

★★★★★

Last on the plate was the gnocchi that was topped with pesto cream and tomato bruschetta. I’m a fan of all things basil so I was excited to try this dish. The gnocchi was pillowy and smooth. Each little pillow of joy was covered with a creamy pesto sauce that had a light basil flavor. What really took the dish over the top was having a bite with the tomatoes and dried ricotta.

Tiramisu

★★★

Our evening ended off with a dessert platter with a tiramisu cake and zeppole donuts. We were able to try the tiramisu the last time we were here. As with the first time, it was creamy, smooth and perfectly soaked with espresso. Be careful about eating too much of it late in the evening if you are sensitive to caffeine! It’ll be tough but you’ll thank me later because the first time I had it, I was buzzing all night!

Zeppole

★★

Zeppoles are something that I’ve never had before but they resembled little donut holes. Each donut was filled with chocolate gianduja and coated in powdered sugar before being topped with a vanilla crème anglaise. The donuts were denser than we thought at the crust on the outside was harder than we imagined. I suggest that you cut them in half before biting into them because the chocolate in the inside is burning hot! Unfortunately some of our donuts were not fully cooked on the inside because the baker in me spotted raw batter. We only ate the cooked portions of the donuts and as expected, they were delicious!

So the big question is, did this visit make up for my previous one? Of course it did! The service was amazing, we felt welcome, and the food was top-notch.

At this point will I go again? Yes but I’ll be treading lightly because from what I’ve learned, people serve you differently when they know you’re going to be writing about it later. Hopefully the service will be as wonderful as the evening we had. So high hopes!