588 College St.We went searching high and low for the perfect restaurant to celebrate S's birthday last week. When you live in a city with thousands of delicious restaurants serving every manner of eclectic food from around the globe, deciding on just one is not an easy feat. First you have to think of cuisine, then neighbourhood, ambiance, price, menu, availability. It's enough to make you want to run to Milestones. But Don't. They might have good artichoke dip, but there's no reason to set foot in a chain when you have so so many other options to choose from (unless of course it's Hooters).
So for this very special occasion, the location of choice was Little Italy. Then we went for the mid-range prices ($15-25 a plate), a little fancier ambiance (scratch out the pubs and pizzerias), then we eliminated all of the ones closed on Mondays (lots of places irritatingly take Monday off), and then we started scouring the internet for websites with menus. We looked at over 20 when we saw this one. The old photos, the adorable music, the history! We couldn't resist - Sorriso's website won us over. Well played, Sorriso.
So, decision made, we got gussied up and headed on over with our party hats on. First things I noticed were the giant racy Italian movie posters on the walls, and stern-faced Sophia Lorens looking disapprovingly at us. "How will you look-a like-a me if you eat so much-a pasta?" she said.Our waitor pointed out the Prix-fixe menu and told us the specials, and then brought us some crusty bread. He was a bit of an odd duck. He started out strong, but then this strange attitude poked its head out every so often. For example: "Would you like some pepper?" "Sure. Could you also please take a picture for us?" "Ok, I'm a WAITOR first". Uncomfortable silence.
And then we saw him ignore a little boy who was trying to tell him a story. But then later, he brought out S's birthday tiramisu and helped us distract her while the candles were lit. Bizarre!
So anyway, we all decided to order the Prix Fixe. Between the 5 of us, we ate:
Crostini with Grilled Shrimp
Potato Leek Soup
Mixed Green Salad
Capellini with Shrimp and Arugula
Pan Seared Turbot with Roasted Potatoes and Sauteed Vegetables
Tiramisu
Fig Port Ice Cream
When we ordered the Shrimp Crostini to share between the five of us, he neglected to inform us that it came with 1 crostini. The half a bite I had was very tasty though, with delicious garlicky sauce. The soup, though not much to look at, was very flavourful. The salad was standard.The Capellini pasta was tossed in olive oil and parmesan cheese, and had lots of tomatoes and shrimp. It started out nice and light, but the bottom of the bowl was difficult to eat because of the pool of oil that had gathered.
The turbot fish was a little bland, and the beans and kale weren't sauteed with much flavour either. The whole dish sat in a pool of olive oil, and every bite was drenched in the stuff. Despite the oil, however, the fish was flaky and tender and the potatoes were nice and crunchy.
The turbot fish was a little bland, and the beans and kale weren't sauteed with much flavour either. The whole dish sat in a pool of olive oil, and every bite was drenched in the stuff. Despite the oil, however, the fish was flaky and tender and the potatoes were nice and crunchy.
The Tiramisu was also not very pretty, but it was really tasty and, I was told, quite boozy. The fig port ice cream, on the other hand, was not very boozy. It tasted a little like fig newtons, with a grown-up sweetness that I wasn't sure I was old enough for. It was different, though, which I guess is good.
In general, I'd say the food at Sorriso was pretty good. Solid effort. If they just lay off the oil a bit, it would have been much better. I'd be willing to come back to try some of their saucier pastas (the kids behind us had some tomato sauce that looked really good).
Sorriso gets 3-ish Sophia Lorens swimming in a pool of olive oil out of 5.
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