Da Chefs Padella - Halton Hills

Felt compelled to post this as I felt the two one star reviews were harsh after wanting to try it and make up our own mind Went for dinner, my wife and

1 star service and atmosphere. 4 star food Visited on a Saturday night at 6 pm The bad - the atmosphere is horrendous.

Went there for dinner with my family today, we arrived around 7Decore looked like an after thought.the chairs were horrible.tables were small..

1 star service and atmosphere.4 star food. Visited on a Saturday night at 6 pm. The bad - the atmosphere is horrendous. It is clean but there is a serious identity crisis going on. Is it trattoria, is it a dive bar, is it a pizza take out place? It is NOT a romantic date destination. The floors are mismatched with chipped tiles. Teeny tiny tables (tables for four is only appropriate for 2). Uncomfortable chairs, no candles, terrible wall decor, the bar has flags and stuffed animals decorating it..... etc etc. The service is unprofessional (with the exception of one server). We ordered white wine. After pouring two glasses our server simply left the bottle on the table. Not only was there no vessel to keep the wine chilled, she never came back to re-pour. By the end of of meal our white wine was warm. No water glasses or water on the table. Has to ask for it and again, never refilled. Our server didn't know the menu, didn't know wines or pairings, didn't know the specials and hadn't tasted them. There was only one dish on the menu she liked and she said she liked it because it was plain..... She was very clear she needed to go home because she had partied too hard the night before......she was friendly enough but ridiculously unprofessional. Wine list is sad. 6 or 7 options of each white and red but very few italian wines. Made no sense to me. Wines start at $28 and go up very quickly from there. An average bottle is $40, a liter is $32 and not a great selection to choose from. The good - the food! There was a serious lack of seasoning in every dish we ordered BUT the food was made from scratch and very flavourful. I am not easy to impress and the quality of the food was memorable. We had the grilled calamari ($12) a light dish and cooked very well. Mussels ($12) well cooked and a great broth. Fettuccine ($18) was perfectly el dente and the sauce was not too rich with a great balance of stock, wine and cream. Seafood Linguini ($20) was ok. Great sauce. The flaw with this dish is the use of surimi instead of crab. Could have been a great dish but missed.Portions sizes are ok but there won't be left overs.The bread and butter on the table was just a bad idea. They needed a better quality bread with evoo and balsamic dippers.The tiramisu and the cream brulee are made in house. The server told us the rest are not. The tiramisu ($6.50) was absolutely fabulous! The best I have ever had (even in italy). I am undecided about whether I will go back. Our bill was $125 for two of us, and those prices open up a lot of dining options. The food was very good but whether it was good enough to overcome the atmosphere and the bad service.......I don't know.

I had dinner at Da Chef's Padella - only my second visit to this awesome little place. For anyone familiar with the Georgetown/Norval area, it is where the Pancake Factory used to be. The decor isn't fancy, but it is comfortable. What is amazing is the food. They are an Italian restaurant but have a few different items on their menu as well. The special tonight was Rabbit Pernod with basmati rice. One of the best meals I have eaten in a while. Their Insalata Caprese had huge pieces of bocconcini cheese and just the right amount of balsamic. Prices are reasonable, wait staff is friendly but not hovering. Can't wait for my next meal there.