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| Polipo alla griglia (grilled octopus, cannellini beans, potatoes, EVOO pasley oil) |
This was an invited tasting (thanks Zomato! #ZomatoXTuttoPronto), but as always, opinions are all my own.
Good Italian food and ambience. Dimly lit but enough light to see your food, the candles and lighting pieces were very nice. It feels a little rustic but very comfortable, loved it! And if I were to sum up the dishes, I would say the sauces made the meal. The flavours were subtle but good, a nice round of dishes.
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| Loved the lighting piece above the back bar area |
Anna Maria (the owner) was also very pleasant and let the food speak for itself. Tutto Pronto actually started almost 12 years ago as a take-out and catering place. They still operate that portion of the business but a year into the business, the space next door became available and she took a leap of faith and opened the dining area we got the pleasure of dining in last week. Next year, they'll have an upper floor for event space/private functions and a roof top patio (love roof top patios) and I expect it to be just as well decorated as the current dining area.
We started the night with a number of appetizers, a small portion of pasta, an entree, and ended with dessert; traditional cannolis.
Appetizers...
My favourite of the night was actually the Polipo alla griglia or grilled octopus (pictured at top). The octopus was slightly charred and not too chewy, quite tender actually. There isn't an overly "sea water" taste to it and the accompanying beans and potatoes went well. I think I especially liked the parsley oil, it added nice flavour to the dish, a little bit of zing without being spicy. It was also a little more unique.
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| Arancini (rice balls stuffed with meat ragu, mozarella, peas) |
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| Pizza Fritta |
These pizza fritta's really grew on me, the bottom piece is fried and there was a certain taste to it that I found familiar but couldn't put my finger on it. (I almost want to say that it somewhat tastes a little like the fried dough sticks you order with congee but a different texture, lol!) It was quite good.
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| Cauliflower Fritters |
Seems like cauliflower is on the menu at a lot of places these days. The cauliflower was nicely battered, but it didn't have much going on in terms of flavour unfortunately.
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| Involtini di melanzane (eggplant, ricotta, spinach baked in tomato sauce) |
Always a fan of eggplant, this was not bad. Light on the spinach though.
Pasta...
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| Casarecce alla siciliana (handmade pasta, roasted eggplant, fior di latte cheese, tomato basil sauce) |
This was a very simple dish but the sauce was quite nice. Not too sour/tart and seemed like there was a natural sweetness to the sauce that I believe is also homemade. Pasta was cooked well. I don't know what the portion size would be like if you ordered this off the menu so you might not want to use the above photo as reference.
Main Entree...
By this time we were quite full. But, I still managed to eat most of this plate. The veal was a little "chewy" for me, but the sauce was a nice mushroom sauce. Like I said, the sauces were quite good here.
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| Scaloppine al Marsala (veal in procini sauce with marsala wine) |
Dessert...
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| Cannoli (ricotta and chocolate filled pastry shells) |
Cannolis are always nice little sweet treats that are simple and not too sweet; it ended the meal nicely.
This is my first invited tasting and it really is nice to experience a night out such as this. I will admit that when you are invited to such a tasting, you get great service (we did), so I can't comment on the regular service. I'll most likely return as the food was good with a home-cooked feel, it's close to home and also moderately priced (after peeking at their menu online).
Tutto Pronto Ristorante
1718 Avenue Rd
Toronto, ON
M5M 3Y6
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