La Cucina

Disappointing

Well, we have been going to this restaurant for special occasions for a number of years. we had dinner there last night and walked away very disappointed. The new menu left us wishing for more. Their goat cheese salad was the highlight of the meal. The monthly selection of wine was good. The rest of the plates where disappointing. The pasta was not al dente. The bison ragout was a bit too sweet for my taste. The lamb was bland, the cannelloni was over baked. My wife's chicken was ordinary and the portion small. When you go out to this type of fine restaurant, you expect the cadence of the service to be just right, last night it was off, with too long a wait in between courses. The chocolate lava cake was presidents choice quality (my daughters comment verbatim), the cannoli reasonable. Tip and wine included we paid over $400...we wont be going back again, too risky for the price.

Rotating Chefs

This restaurant has been plagued with ever changing chefs, I believe they are on their 4th at this point, and I must say he is very impressive. Although quite young his dishes have demonstrated skills beyond his years. The seasonal/regional menu keeps things interesting and all the offerings we have tried to date have been excellent, I hope the owner can hold on to this one. This is a weekly stop for me.

My husband and I went to La Cuchina for our anniversary and we were very pleased. We dined on the rooftop terrace and it was a very nice atmosphere. I just wish the view was of the Tuscan countryside instead of Guelph's graffiti but what can you do? The servers were attentive and the food was great. I had mentioned in passing to the host that it was our anniversary and a couple of staff members wished us a happy anniversary as we exited. It was very nice.

Most Pretencious Restaurant

A friend of mine suggested to visit this restaurant after work on a Wednesday evening about 3 weeks ago. OVERALL: It's a VERY NICE and ROMANTIC place to IMPRESS your love interest. It is also VERY UPTIGHT atmosphere, where one has to whisper and sit with a straight back. Make sure you DRESSED UP and BE PATIENT as you'll receive plenty of LECTURES on the menu and GEOGRAPHY of Italy. Make sure you're NOT HUNGRY, as you'll WAIT A LONG TIME for your food when there are 5 chefs and 3 waiters working in this small restaurant with about 10-12 tables (most are 2 people or 4 people tables). Oh and don't forget to bring your credit card as it'll be one OVERPRICED meal. P.S. What is the purpose of the open kitchen when we cannot see the chefs in action in the dining room? Also, the so-called chef "table" is more like a bar setting. Decor & Atmosphere: When we walked in, we realized that we were UNDERDRESSED as we were in jeans and T-shirt. The restaurant has very nice decor - white table cloth, neatly folded napkin, wine glasses and silver cutlery. There were about 10-12 tables, but mostly are 2 people or 4 people tables. There were 3 waiters, all dressed in crisp white shirt and narrow black tie asked whether we had reservation. Since it was about quarter to 6pm, and there was only one big table with a party of 8; we were seated immediately. As we walked pass the small open kitchen, one of the 5 chefs greeted us. Then the "INTERESTING" experience began... SERVICE: As soon as we sat down, our waiter offered to hang our jackets. Which was odd, because he should have asked before we seated. Then, he immediately asked what TYPE OF WATER we wanted. He BOMBARDED my friend with at least 5 types of water. e.g. bottled, sparkling, Italian imported bottled, Italian imported sparkling, etc. He EXPECTED an answer IMMEDIATELY from my friend. My friend felt pressured and said Italian sparkling, as that was the last thing he said. The waiter quickly walked away, without asking what my other friend and I wanted. Since my other friend does not like frizzy beverage, so she asked the waiter for REGULAR WATER. When the waiter returned, he brought BOTTLED WATER and immediately poured into my friend's glass before she could correct him. Also the waiter did a sloppy job at pouring the water, which costed $7 each. The waiter then proceed to give us a LECTURE ON THE MENU. For example, he explained which region each dish was originated. However, he couldn't tell us the soup of the day. The other waiter had to tell him. Our waiter tried VERY HARD TO "PERSUADE" US TO ORDER FULL COURSE MEAL (i.e. appetizer, pasta and main). In the end, my friends ordered pasta dishes (lasagna and ravioli, both about $20) and I order a main (veal chop, about $30). After we ordered, the waiter gave us a bread basket (about 6 small pieces of bread) and a basil, balsamic reduction olive oil dip. It was a very nice dip and good compliment with the bread. At first I could not figure out the herb, so I asked our waiter. He was overly excited to give me a LECTURE on the dip. The resaturant was not full, only a table with party of 8, which already order soon after we were seated, besides the 3 of us. However, it took the restaurant a good 45 minutes to serve us our food. Although the pasta were freshly made daily, but we were sure the lasagna and ravioli were made already. Also, the veal chop did not take that long to cook. How is it possible to take this long when you have 5 chefs working? At least our waiter was nice enough to bring us another round of bread without us asking. We were also serve an intermediate course between bread and our courses, compliementary of the restaurant, to clean our palette. FOOD: Florence fennel and pink grapefruit salad (on the house) - for palette cleansing after the bread, before our meal. It tasted okay, but I don't think the bitterness of the florence fennel and the sourness of the pink grapefruit went well together. Lasagna - The portion size was okay. Nice texture of the fresh pasta, but the filling was nothing special. Ravioli - Considerably small portion for the price ($20 for 9-10 ravilois). Nice texture of the fresh pasta and very flavourful filling (goat cheese). Veal Chop - Nice portion. The veal was very tender, but lack beefy flavour. The sauce was nice but a bit salty for my liking. The sautee vegetables tasted good, but not memorable. DESSERT: When we finished our main course, our waiter CLUMPSILY cleaned the table. He even dropped an utensil onto the floor. He returned and asked whether we would like any dessert or wine or coffee. We politely decline. He then said the following, "LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT DESSERT IN CASE YOU DECIDE TO RETURN". I am sorry? What did he implied? Once again, we received another LECTURE on the dessert menu. The desserts were: flourless chocolate torte, penna cotta, tiramsiu and some baked cake with fruits (berries?). It was interesting that the server explained the FLOURLES CHOCOLATE TORTE to us as a CHOCOLATE CAKE WITHOUT FLOUR. I guess our watier believed that the 3 of were not culinary savy enough to know that. For the record, we know what are flourless chocolate cake, penna cotta and tiramisu are and how to make them. As we exited the restaurant, we passed by the kitchen, the same chef said good bye to us.

Closest thing to real Italian food

La Cucina has an open concept with the kitchen at the front of the building open to the dining room. The ambiance is very romantic with interesting artwork although it can get a bit loud if you are nearer the kitchen. This place is all about Italian food, featuring a seasonal menu and dishes from different parts of Italy. The service is very good, although on busy nights you can be left waiting a little. On the hand they do not rush you, while deciding and are knowledgeable about the dishes. The antipastos were great, one was thinly sliced beef and the other was Mozzerella di Buffala was amazing, if you've never had fresh mozzerella before have it. We each had a pasta dish and it was very good, very well prepared. If you've eating in Italy the portions are very well managed and the same here, so you never feel too full, but not hungry. Don't expect to get a heaping pile of food here. They only use the best ingredients and I suppose that justifies the cost. Their wine list has all Italian wines, starting at $35 a bottle for a house red or white. Overall I had a very pleasant experience at La Cucina, a true place for special occasions. I have not had the opportunity to sit out on their terrace yet.