Ferrovia Ristorante

Date: April 27

Location: 7355 Bayview Ave., Thornhill (N. of Steeles)

Website: http://www.ferroviaristorante.ca/

Meal: dinner

My thoughts:

I came here with my family and we all agreed it was pretty good, but a little on the pricey side, especially given how the waitress/hostess was dressed. There's more on this after I talk about the food..

Grilled calamari ($12.95) - just okay. I prefer my calamari to be sliced into rings, but this place served ours in 'groups' of about five rings. This isn't a big issue, but considering that we were sharing our appetizers, this made it a tad more difficult. Flavour was on the subtle side, but not bland. Calamari was fresh and came with a side of arugula salad, which was yummy.

Steamed P.E.I. mussels (price stated in online menu is $10.95 but I believe the price at the restaurant is $11.95) - Very generous serving and came with a lot of almost "soupy" (liquidy) sauce, but this went perfect with the complimentary bread. Mussels were quite large but the meat was a little 'fishy' tasting, but it wasn't bad enough to keep me from pretty much devouring the whole dish.

New Zealand rack of lamb ($29.95 for full rack) - Very good. My parents shared the lamb and sea bass. My dad doesn't like to eat meat that is too raw so we ordered it medium-well done. I would have prefered medium or even medium-rare. But the way it was done was still very good. It was apparent that the meat was very good quality.

Grilled sea bass, daily special ($33.95) - Small serving; approximately 4-6 ounces. This was very good and I don't get the privilege of eating sea bass very often, so this was definitely a treat. I really enjoyed the seasonings they used.

Grilled Atlantic salmon ($24.95) - This was probably the best thing we ordered that night. The salmon was made medium-well done and it was very moist and flaky. It came with a lentils dish on the side, which I didn't care too much for, but at least this dish offered an excellent source of protein, healthy fats, carbs and fibre.

Mushroom (fungi) pizza ($14.95) - This was mediocre and I don't think I would order this again. The crust was extremely thin but hard, and there was such a thin layer of cheese that the cheese layer had hardened into the crust. There were a few stray mushrooms on top, which were good, but I need my cheese and for the price, I felt like I was hardly getting my money's worth.

Okay, so now onto the bad part: the waitress, who was wearing skinny faded cargo pants, a ragged drapey top and big hoop earrings; the rest of the staff was dressed in black dress shirts and tailored pants. Did no one tell her that she was severely underdressed? Her attire really brought down the restaurant's class. Further, throughout our dining experience, she was loud, brash and rather unprofessional. For example, when telling us about the daily specials, she didn't take her time to explain everything and rushed through everything. When she was done, she literally jsut turned on her heels and left. My father had to call her back because he wanted to ask a question. Also, she was very pushy with getting people to order more expensive things. For example, after she seated people, she asked people if they wanted something to drink. When people asked for water, she asked, "You want sparkling water?" Maybe you think I'm being sensitive, but her tone was forceful. And there's more. Everytime we asked for her recommendation between two items that were not the same price, she always recommended the more expensive one. Coincidence? I hardly think so.

So, would I come back? Possibly, but I definitely wouldn't be going out of my way to do so. There are so many better restaurants out there with better food *and* service.