Sotto Sotto Restaurant

I've usually just taken dates to Sotto Sotto, and I've never had anything but fantastic meals and service.

This past weekend, I took my 8 year old daughter and I will say that I had as great an experience with her than I have had with anybody else...needless to say, our relationship will last far longer than that with anybody else! ;-)

This restaurant is not "kid friendly" in the sense that there is no children's menu, and the restaurant is expensive...but If you're up for spending the money, you will not be disappointed.

Luckily, (or unfortunately because I was paying) my daughter has my appetite, so we were able to order individual appetizers and entrees.

Abigail started off with a gingerale, and I opted for a dry gin martini. From there, she decided on Mussels (with white wine as she doesn't like tomato chunks in her sauces) and I went with the beef carpaccio. She was really digging the mussels, but of the two she let me have, they were succulent, large and delicious. My carpaccio was fantastic, and she really enjoyed the sample I gave her...until I told her what it was and then she just kind of glared at me. Luckily that blew over quickly and our entrees arrived.

I ordered a half litre of Cesari Valpolicella Ripasso ($28.50) to go with the rest of my meal. I guess at this point I should mention that we were staying at the Intercontinental Yorkville and within walking distance just to ensure the teetotalers of Yelp.

Keeping in mind her aversion to tomato chunks, I ordered her (my absolute favourite on the menu) the Rigatoni Al Quattro Fromaggio, and I had one of the featured dishes, Pappardelle w/Meatballs (or if you're familiar with the restaurant, Mamma's meatballs). You can't go to Sotto Sotto, hear a feature dish with meatballs, and not order them...you just can't.

Both of our entrees were absolutely fantastic. The food here is so consistantly good that, as I had mentioned, I have yet to be disappointed in many visits over the years.

For dessert, Abigail had the chocolate mousse, and I went with the Banana Gelato w/strawberries. A double espresso to top it off, and we were finished.

The service is very friendly, and reservations are an absolute must. We had a 6:30pm reservation (couldn't get later with 5 days notice) and upon confirmation, they reiterated that my table would need to be free by approx. 8:30pm. Two hours is a perfect window when dining with child anyhow.

Everything before tax was ~$156...taxes and tip brought us to an even $215. For a fantastic meal and an experience that my daughter will always remember, I'd definitely do it again...it was worth every penny!

OMG ! This place is FANTASTIC ! The atmosphere, the food and wait staff & manager too ! I don't know where to begin other than you cannot go wrong with anything here.

Was here last weekend visiting a friends and they brought us here, which is their favorite restaurant in Toronto. We had a great bottle of wine chosen by our server and started from there...

We had a few apps that were DELICOUS ! Grilled Calamari was AMAZING ! We also had the Osso Bucco and literally melted in your mouth and had a great flavor. I had the 4 cheese Rigatoni, by far the best I've ever had and my boyfriend and girl friend got the Penne with Vodka sauce, ugh so good too ! Her fiancé got the Spaghetti Meat Sauce. Everything was amazing, even down to the dessert ! They had my absolute favorite dessert of chocolate mousse. Yumm !!! :)

We sat early for dinner and was quiet. By 8pm. the place was full ! Be sure to make a reservation as this is a smaller restaurant and is known for their great food ! Definitely a spot I will be returning to when I go back in July ! Thanks Sotto Sotto for an amazing dinner !

This is one of the best Italian meals I've had in Canada! We came here for a business dinner, and they gave us a nice secluded table by the front window. It was near the door, but the curtains successfully blocked out the cold, and made us feel important.

I tried the risotto, the calamari/seafood insalata (amazing), and the seafood spaghetti with white wine sauce. All were outstanding! For dessert, we had the dessert special, which was the best cannoli I've ever had - they MUST add this as a regular menu item!

The service was friendly, casual, and very helpful. We all had very enjoyable meals, and I will definitely be back!

Such a cute and quaint little spot. It was me and my boyfriends anniversary and we got a nice table for 2 by the window. Great for watching all the luxury cars being handed over to the valet!

We started off with the antipasto gordonia, which is a seafood platter. SOOO GOOD! The calamari and shrimp was grilled and spiced perfectly. Our waitress said it's for 2, but I could've eaten it all on my own.

My boyfriend got the capellini nazini, which is angel hair pasta, rose sauce with shrimp and arugula. He had gotten the main size, which was perfect for his appetite. I wish I had gotten it. It was so delicious! The shrimp was seasoned, not just plain which I loved. Perfect!

I got the papparoelle dei castelli, egg noodles with mushrooms, but the appetizer size, which is perfect for a small appetite like mine. The dish was very plain. Not much flavor to be honest. If I ever come back, I'm def getting the capellini naZini!

We ended the night with the creme caramel. Everyone raves of the tiramisu, but I've had it so many times everywhere else, so I'm not sure how amazing it is. But the creme caramel was nothing special. Maybe I should've gotten it. Next time!

This place is perfect for special occasions. Honestly the price wasn't too bad, I was thinking this would've broken the bank, but then again we really didn't get their meat or seafood dish.

EXPENSIVE - YES. AWESOME - YES!

Bobby, you know Dinero, yeah - we've dined here. Not together, but we like this place. It is THE place! A place to gawk at celebrities and the pretty people. A place to get both delicious and fresh food, made to order, with accomodating & very attentive service. They have an expansive wine selection, and offer two different dining area experiences. The top floor, with several window-view tables overlooking the busy Avenue Road...is more traditional dining and tends to be quiet. The downstairs area makes YOU feel like a celebrity. Loud, intimate, all action, a romantic-setting, and GREAT!

I had the pleasure of dining here several times, and would love to go back again (and again) when visiting Toronto. Love Sotto Sotto!

The night started with their manager telling us "it's not 50% off tonight". It took us a while to process this as I didn't think someone would call me poor for walking into their establishment. Keeping in mind we were dressed well - we are professors. The server was non-existent and was making remarks about my brother's illness. At the end of the meal the server straight up insulted my brother because of his disability. The manager didn't care and treated us like peasants.

The food was alright. We left hungry and made.

Sotto Sotto more like Shitty Shitty.
Spent an anniversary here a few months ago with my boyfriend. We went in with an open mind... although, we had read rave reviews so we had some expectations that it would be a good meal at the very least.

The atmosphere was unimpressive. The waitstaff were girls talking about personal plans for weekend parties and were very inattentive and cold. The head waitress ended up helping us (a middle aged woman who seemed swamped with work even though there were lots of waiters standing around ended up taking care of us... only seemed to care to a minimum... nothing outstanding. Basic).

The food was poor. I went for a salad and mushroom plate. He went for a charcuterie plate and pasta dish. My salad was basic, borderline pathetic. The mushroom plate lacked flavour and had zero excitement. The charcuterie plate was not true to the description. The best part was the sliced pear garnish. And his pasta was undercooked and hard. They offered to make him a new dish but he was disappointed by the rest and wasn't in the mood anymore. We will not come back here again.

This establishment is not for us. We'll stick to Mistura, The Keg, Pizza Libretto, and Jacobs. Too many "oops" at this place.

This was easily the best meal and dining experience my husband and I have had this year. We loved the cozy European atmosphere. Our waiter treated us like he was our best friend. He didn't like the way the fresh mozzarella looked that day so he advised against an appetizer with that. He created a combination of dinner items for my husband that wasn't on the menu and it was amazing. Thinking about the pasta carbonara I had is making my mouth water as I write this. Everything is incredibly fresh, the grill is a few short feet away and we saw our food come off the flames and to our table steaming.
Only criticism is the tables are packed in too tight. You feel like you are eating with strangers because their table is 1 foot away from yours. However, I quickly got over it when I bit into my bruschetta.
Call a few weeks in advance to get a table at a time you want.

Very small place that is extremely busy even with a reservation. Ambiance is classic and traditional but tight space that can be loud. Food is very fresh, especially anything with seafood in it. Wait staff, hostess, manager super friendly. High price for food is worth it.

Unfortunately I did not have a great experience at Sotto Sotto. Was there just a few weeks ago and received such a bad and snobby treatment from the host and waiters that I decided to leave even before they put some bread on my table. It was that bad.
I have been to sister resto Spuntini, and this is not the case, not sure why Sotto Sotto is such a snobby restaurant. What I do know is that I will never put up with bad service...and to their disadvantage they lost on a good review from me and for them to make it to the Foodies Inc. blog.

Viviana.