Belfiero - A great addition to a foodie's wasteland.
My family and I just tried this new 60 seat Italian trattoria and pizzeria restaurant called "Belfiero" that's located in a small plaza way in the east end of Scarborough and occupies the space that used to be home to a bar called "Wobbly Pops". We'll take anything that's remotely interesting food wise as this area is still trying to re-invent itself. We are dotted with Chinese-Canadian take out joints, half full plazas, used car lots and questionable motels So finding a trattorria sent waves of joy through me. This place just opened last week and they're still ironing out the kinks in their service. The client base is there as there are new subdivisions, old neighbourhoods with well kept bungalows and further east is the more affluent Rouge Hill area.
Anyway Belfiero is family owned and operated. The chef's name is Amado and he and his two brothers own it. They open at 5 pm, there's a casual dress code, they take reservations and they accept MC and VISA. They have their liquor license and they are slowly building their wine list. My wife had their pinot griggio and she said it was very nice. As I mentioned there are kinks to iron out in their service (they had to re-do my bill 3 times as they first gave me the wrong bill, then they twice forgot to include parts of our meal on the bill), but they are warm, friendly and attentive. The interior is nothing to write about, just clean, new, and lacking character. Remember it used to be a bar and it reminded me of a finished basement with straight columns and a tiled floor. They could use more pictures on the wall (photos, paintings, etc.). The music, IMO, didn't suit a dinner atmosphere at times.
Now down to the food review. When we were seated with our menus, the chef, Amado, introduced himself and sat down beside us. He apologized and informed us that their other shipment of seafood was delayed and so their main seafood dishes (roasted snapper, seafood pasta) were not available. If we were still interested in seafood, he offered to make us an off the menu dish of fresh mussels and baby clams in a white wine sauce with butter, shallots, garlic, parsley and home made spaghetti. My wife ordered the house salad and osso bucco, my daughter had the pizza margharita with salami and I ordered their 5 bean soup and the pasta dish he described.
He apologized again for the seafood fiasco and came back with home made bread (baked in house), and a saucer of olive oil, balsamic and parmesan. The bread was crusty, rustic, warm and delicious. The olive oil mixture complemented the bread. Next came my wife's salad and my soup. The soup is freshly made each day and it was an excellent 5 bean soup (one of the better ones I've had in a long time). My wife's salad was very appetizing and consisted of mixed greens (no romaine or your typical lettuce leaves), julienned carrots, tomato wedges and cucumber with a light drizzle of their house dressing. My wife truly enjoyed it. Both our starters were generous in size.
My daughter's pizza came next and the crust was light and pillowy. She usually leaves her crust but on this night she was dipping the crust into the olive oil mix and enjoying it.
Next came my wife's osso bucco and my pasta dish. The osso bucco came with rissotto and the osso bucco sauce. The osso bucco took up about 1/3 of the plate (quite generous) and it fell off the bone. She really enjoyed it, but could only finish half of it (yay for me, now I've got a snack!). My pasta was one of the most enjoyable meals I've had this year. The home made spaghetti, the fresh mussels and clams and the wine sauce was beautifully done.
For dessert I had the home made tiramisu and my daughter had a blue berry tart (which we were told was made by the owners' mother!). The tart had this lemony short bread crust which was not too sweet and my tiramisu was great. All together our bill with tip and tax (we also had 1 pinot griggio, 1 coke and 1 orange soda) came to $83. It was well worth it.
I truly hope the neighbourhood embraces this new addition as it is a food haven in an otherwise desolate foodie landscape. We are definitely going to make this our go to place for Italian. We had enjoyed Fratelli's but we just found the food at Belfiero... better.
Belfiero Trattoria&Pizzeria
Phone: (416) 724-0970
4637 Kingston Rd, U 1
Scarborough, ON, M1E2P8
(main intersection is Kingston Rd and Manse Rd - on the south east corner)
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This is just up the road from us.The hubby and I have been there three times now since they opened and the food is def. good.
We went their on their second day of business and even though they were about to close , Chef Amato (or is it Amado? I am sorry if I have it wrong) came over and offered to make us Veal Parmesan (around $18) and Ossu Bucco (around $24?, sorry I can't recall as this was a few days ago). He brought out some bruschetta on the house for us to have. Dennis (the one who is always out front) brought out freshly-made bread as well for have with our main dishes.
The bruschetta was tasty as was the bread which juct came out of the oven.When our food arrived, we were very pleasantly surprised at how generous the servings were. The Veal Parmesen was moist and cooked just right. The Ossu Bucco was the star though - as scarberian mentioned it took up more than half the plate and the meat just melted in your mouth. It came with a side of pasta (not risotto that night) with vegetables which were very nicely done.
We knew we had to go back - and we did a few days later just before the long weekend. They were very busy that night and we had to wait to be served. In fact most of the customers including us, waitied for more than an hour to be served that night. Amato came and explained that they simply had run out of pizza dough and other ingredients as they had more than expected number of customers that evening. There seemed to be a lot of confusion and miscommunication between the serving staff, our order and what was actually passed on to the kitchen. As I said everyone was kept waiting for a long time while the small staff tried to sort things out - it was fairly chaotic.
But in the end we got our orders with lots apologies from the staff as well as Dennis and Amado. We eneded up with the Bucatini all'Amatriciana($18) and Seafood pasta special ($18). My pasta was simply delicious , but my husband's Seagood pasta was superb. There were a VERY generous number of mussles, clams, shrimp in it - in fact there were probably more seafood than pasta LOL
Amado came out time and again and made sure all the customers were happy with the orders even though they couldn't be served the items they originally ordered. He then made sure we received an very, very generous portion of the Tiramisu compliments of the house. The Tiramisu is divine - you have to go and try it.
He also insisted my husband have some coffee and once he found out I don't drink coffee, he sent over a huge selection of tea for me to choose from - again everything on the house because of the delay that night in serving us.
We were there again last night and I am happy to say there were no significant delays. I had the Chicken Belfiero (chicken stuffed with spinach and feta, $25) and the hubby had the NY Striploin ($28). Both the items came with delish and significant serving of vegetables - red peppers, carrots, peas, asparagus, lovely roasted potatoes. We finished off with Tiramisu (had have more of it) garnished with blueberries.
In short the food tastes and looks great. The portions are very generous, the flavours are great, everything is freshly made and prices are just right for the quality and quantity being served. The bread as mentioned previously is baked on the premises. They don't have a very extensive wine or beer menu but most of what we had so far compliments the food very well.
The decor is fine - it doesn't have a lot of flair, but its passable, it needs just maybe a tad more personilaztion but I don't think thats a huge issue. I have been to Worbly Pops or whatever the previous place was called once, very briefly, and trust me, the current layout is a vast improvement.
The only critisim I have is for the servers and service in general - they still seem a bit out of sorts, hesitant and there is still a lingering hint of lack of communication between the staff. I am really hoping that they can improve in that regards. It is still very early and if they can sort out this, I can't see why this place can't make a go of it.
After all, the food is great. The staff and owners are polite, friendly and just so darned nice, you have to root for them!
And I really hope everyone in the neighbourhood supports them fully - I am sick of the chain restos around our place where they have absolutely no idea how to treat customers. I love that I can get great Italian food without driving around for miles and that I am treated well every time I go and they try their best to make sure the customer is leaving happy. What more can you ask for?
›17 Replies-
re: jfromscarberia
scarberian
May 8, 2011 06:53 PM
If you want a slight change to Belfiero every now and then try Fratelli's in Highland Creek. It's also a family owned and operated Italian resto that's been serving the community for several years. They have a great grilled calamari. The pizza crusts are different between the two establishments... not saying one is better than the other, just different. I'm not sure if Belfiero uses a wood burning oven, but Fratelli's does and it gives the pizza a different flavour. The menus are different between the two places so you great Italian food in any case.
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re: jfromscarberia
I decided to try it after reading your reviews. First of all, if you're a fan of this place you might want to get back there soon as they were hurting for customers both times I went. It wasn't a pretty sight.
The pizzas were fine and were a welcome change from the chain-style (Pizza Pizza, Pizzaville, et al). Came out crispy the way I like, with a decent sized crust. Dough was perfect. I don't like super-thin-crust "pizza crackers" and these guys do not make it that way. They nailed it.
Where they failed was in pastas and desserts. For what they charge I expected larger portions AND quality to impress. They did neither. Tiramisu was served in an Irish Coffee mug, pasta dishes did not fill us up and made us ask, "we paid how much for this?".
Shoot me for saying it but I get better value at Carrabba's or Macaroni Grill when I'm in the U.S. on business, and I am treated well every time I go to those places too. Independent doesn't always mean better than chain. Certainly not here.
They also need to take down their Christmas decorations and work on the spelling of the items written on the specials board.
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re: TexSquared
scarberian
Jan 18, 2012 07:27 PM
It sounds like the hurting is already affecting their bottom line and service. When we went last year the portions were generous and the food tasted fresh. The tiramisu was served on a plate not a mug. It's too bad that it sounds like they are struggling and with that the quality suffers. The locations doesn't help as much of the traffic speeds right by aching to get home.
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re: scarberian
All I can say is I gave them two chances to win my business and they failed huge. For those prices I should be leaving full. A $7 order of Tiramisu should not be served in an Irish Coffee mug (tall and narrow).
I haven't been to Fratelli's but would you say Belfiero made a mistake trying to open right across the street (almost) from them?
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re: TexSquared
We went back in Dec last year with a group - the cook has changed and it shows. The food was nothing like the first few times we've been there and the service has not improved.
The hubby and I ordered calamari which was simply delicious from our previous visits but we were served a sub-par dish that was looked haphazardly thrown on the plate.
Our server either forgot to put in one our orders or the kitchen messed up big time because everyone save one person had our mains after a lonnnng wait.
The dish when it finally came was nothing at all like what was ordered (and I knew it wasn't the same since I had the dish before). I expected them not to charge us for the dish or be given a free dessert but all we got was a lukewarm apology,
The Tiramisu (at that time) was still great, and not served in a mug, but it wasn't as good as the previous times we've been there - another let down since I love Tiramisu and was looking forward to their version.
Needless to say the hubby and I were very disappointed and will not go back - previously the food was great enough to sort of overlook the bad servers, but now that seems to be gone as well.
Its a shame, because I really wanted them to do well :(-
re: jfromscarberia
I didn't mention it but since you did - yes, the service was ridiculously slow. Given how hot that oven is and how simple the pizzas are, it shouldn't have taken 20 minutes to make them. It looked like the owner was still closely supervising the new cook... and 10 minutes to make that tiny tiramisu? There were two tables occupied that evening, with 2 people at each. They were NOT busy at all.
Pasta is cheap. They should have heaped our plates but did not. They were serving lunch sized portions during dinner.
Given what I saw I will be surprised if they last through February. It did not look good.
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re: TexSquared
scarberian
Jan 22, 2012 02:20 PM
"I haven't been to Fratelli's but would you say Belfiero made a mistake trying to open right across the street (almost) from them?" - TexSquared
I wouldn't say right across the street or even the next neighbourhood. There isn't any competition for them at all considering what they are offering. Fratelli's further east and north past the Highland Creek Overpass. Also the menus were different enough that even if Fratellis was quite close both restos could exist side by side with enough customers. Wow, what a difference 9 months makes. I and others in the neighbourhood were so optimistic about this place. If and when they do pack it up, it would be really nice to get an authentic bbq joint in it's place. Now that would really garner business in that spot. Mmmm... real pulled pork and brisket right out of the smoker... (drool, drool).
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re: scarberian
Googs
Jan 22, 2012 04:37 PM
scarberian, a la peanut butter sandwiches, Poof!
Okay, not in the nabe, but not hours away either.
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re: Googs
scarberian
Feb 8, 2012 05:18 PM
Interesting... O'Connor and Sunrise? I used to live at the Sunrise apartments. I'm trying to picture where it would be situated. I gotta drive by and see. As I recall the neighbourhood wasn't the friendliest when I left. In fact a friend of mine was almost car jacked in that area, but that was 15 years ago. I'm guessing it's changed? Hopefully gentrified in some aspects?
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re: scarberian
Googs
Feb 9, 2012 07:30 AM
LOL. I'm gonna guess this won't look "gentrified" to you:
http://g.co/maps/t8rkuIt hasn't changed much and has even less of a chance of doing so now that they've decided to put those damn ugly LRT's in the neighbourhood.
As for the real point, the food, Rally's still pretty uneven. On the same day that friends had a terrific lunch there, Beau and I had a fairly mediocre, you-expect-that-kind-of-thing-from-a-chain-restaurant dinner. The dinner Beau and I had before that was terrific. I'd say wait a while before trying Rally. I'll keep reporting from the Eastern Front (or western front to you).
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re: Googs
scarberian
Feb 10, 2012 05:41 PM
Taking one for the team. That's just like you Googs =D. Now what's piqued my interest recently is another BBQ joint but the name escapes me! It's on the seedy side of the Danforth (think east of Victoria Park and even east of Pharmacy, yeah that seedy section). I remember their sign was all black with while letters.
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re: TexSquared
scarberian
Feb 11, 2012 03:36 AM
Don't know Tex, I drove past it so I don't know if they were still in business or not. I never saw the place before so I assumed they were new. Well if they did close down then oh well.
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re: scarberian
Googs
Feb 11, 2012 06:45 AM
That is the restaurant that dare not speak it's name. Yes, they've closed. It didn't help that they spammed us to the point that, despite being of the quality to rival the Big Two of BBQ, reviews by regular Hounds were expunged immediately.
scarberian, if you wanted to test Rally with a low level of commitment, I'd suggest their $9 lunch available daily. They'd need to score a hat trick with me before I'd get behind them enough to recommend a night out with the missus to you. You're a man of good taste who also cooks so I know you understand quality and the work behind it when it hits your mouth.
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