Ascari King Street - Toronto

I really enjoyed the food and the service at this restaurant. The ambiance is lovely. My only suggestion would be to offer more brunch options for vegetarians. For instance, when I ordered the Benedict, they substituted avocado for the meat. It would be fantastic if there were more vegetable substitutions available.

The food was pretty good very tasty and different. Loved the BURRATA E CAPONATA, very impressive! The PAPPARDELLE D’ANATRA was very unique and flavorful. The dessert was also amazing... Enjoyed each bite of the food. The service was excellent, our server was friendly and he recommended the mocktail and also made a surprise mocktail ... Too bad I couldn't drink grapefruit, luckily my friend was fine to switch, so all good! The ambience was OK, the tables were a tad close to each other and the crowd was loud when we were there on a Friday night... We had to talk very loudly in order to hear each other sitting accross the table.. The price was a little steep, so overall I'd give this place a 4.2 star.Vegetarian options: I believe there were a few options without meat...Kid-friendliness: I don't think the location and meal are suitable for kids...Parking: Street parking and parking around the area. Not too convenient. But that's the same in most of the places downtown Toronto.Wheelchair accessibility: Don't think it's convenient for wheelchair users.Dietary restrictions: I think this may not be suitable for people with dietary restrictions... But could ask the staff to suggest some dishes if there are any restrictions.

Nov. 5th was a birthday celebration that I hope no one gets to experience at this restaurant. Here is how it went down: Around 5pm I called to let the restaurant know our group of 7 will be late at our table because the traffic was especially bad that day When 5 of us were at the table we were continuously urged to order by the manager (not our server) who bluntly announced: BECAUSE you guys were late you should probably start ordering already so you can BE OUT of here by 7:30 . We knew that the table was reserved for us for 2 hours but we did not need their rude service to keep reminding us that we needed to leave which we had no intention of staying after 7:30pm anyways. Please refer to the $100 cake I ordered days ahead and brought to the restaurant to be cut after supper. I specifically told them not to not cut or distort the cake before we take some photos with it! Second photo is them bringing it in after ripping 1/2 of the decoration off which is OBVIOUSLY suppose to be PART OF THE CAKE in the shape of a flower HENCE WHY it costed me $100. Not only did they seem unapologetic, they even seemed annoyed when I pointed out that THEY made a MISTAKE. Instead, the manager who tried to solve the problem was rather annoyed at me just trying to enjoy a damn birthday cake on my birthday. We sent it back calmly, asked them to please try their best to put it back in its original shape. Then the manager comes out holding the cake in the third photo and says there was some miscommunications about the cake but here it is and oh, no sparklers allowed and leaves abruptly... Each of one us were speechless because of how REMORSELESS the manager was for ruining someone 's cake without considering taking 2 seconds to ask us whether they should distort the cake before bringing it out. We were later told they asked the HEAD chef and he/she told them to just rip it off. HELLO??? Did you forget this was my cake and I specifically told you guys to NOT do anything to it? WHO in their right mind would just go ahead a destroy a beautiful piece of artwork like that without consulting the owner?! We confronted the manager who continued to talk over everyone at the table trying to shut us up when all we wanted was a sincere apology! Yet the lady keeps changing the subject to I know it doesn 't look like the original because we removed the box, and we removed the ballon. She continuously avoided apologizing and was repeatedly discourteous towards us purposely ignoring the fact they just ruined my birthday cake, and night with the audacity to not own up to her actions! We were also aware there was a $5 cake cutting charge per person that we accepted. And this is what they 're capable of! In conclusion, I beg of you to give the other restaurants a chance instead of Ascari. This is not how you do business in any type of industry, especially when we come here on a very special occasion. There are restaurants who are truly sincere and tries really hard to provide good value and service for people in the city. SO please, I beg of all of you, please don 't support bad businesses anymore! Give others a chance and soon enough bad businesses like Ascari will close to make space who restaurants who are deserving!!! Note to restaurant owner: It is very sad to see the reputation of your restaurant defeated by letting someone who undoubtedly unfit at their job (or any position) represent the entire restaurant. There are many outstanding talents out there who can handle this situation maturely with integrity and good manners. Please view this experience as an opportunity to grow!

I went to this restaurant for a friend's birthday dinner. The atmosphere was nice. The food was delicious, but I wished the portions were a bit bigger! We started with the beef tartare, followed by squid ink pasta and fettuccine with lamb sausage for the main course. The beef tartare was excellent, I wanted more of it! The squid ink pasta had a bright green sauce that was tasty, with octopus and squid. The fettuccine with lamb was the most flavorful and my favorite dish of the night! Overall, the flavor was top-notch, but the portion size could have been better. The atmosphere was also great. 10/10 for flavor, 7/10 for portion size, and 10/10 for ambience.

I highly recommend trying the "experience" menu at this restaurant! It's very interesting and similar to a blind tasting menu. My wife and I loved the service, the food, and especially the desserts. The deconstructed tiramisu and the calamari starter were must-tries.