Aprilé Bambina

Best gnocchi I’ve ever had outside of home. That says a lot coming from an Italian who’s only enjoyed homemade.

We popped in for dinner yesterday with no reservation, and despite the place being packed, the staff still managed to find us a table for two. The inside is cozy: exposed brick, fairy lights, and big red leather chairs.
THE GOOD:
— Fresh bread while waiting for our food — yum!
— We had the charcuterie board as our starter, which came with pears, walnuts, olives, and a side of honey to drizzle over everything. This was delicious — my favourite was the blue cheese, which was strong but not overly pungent.
— The star of the show was my entrée: the pear and gorgonzola pizza. It took me forever to decide on what to order — there are so many amazing pizza and pasta choices — but this did not disappoint. It had a thin crust, a very generous amount of cheese, and the pears added a really nice sweetness. They serve it with a pizza cutter, so you can cut the slices to your liking — I thought that was a nice touch (even though I was terrible at cutting it neatly).
— We were in good hands with our server. He was attentive without being overly chatty.
THE BAD:
— My boyfriend had the seafood fettuccine. It was good, but the sauce was a little on the watery side. We would recommend sticking to the pizzas or trying another pasta dish.
Overall, Aprilé Bambina is an awesome spot in a neighbourhood that doesn’t have many Italian options. I would definitely come again.

Wow! A good find in our own neighbourhood! Reasonably priced, great friendly staff, and awesome food. We will definitely be back!

What a lovely restaurant, so homey.
Friendly, attentive and delicious food. Adam was our server — what a delight. The food was not rushed the pasta was served hot and was so tasty.
We orders dessert and Adam brought us Lemoncello. He was reading my mind. I couldn’t decide if I wanted some, then there it was.
We are definitely coming back.
The patio is a nice and quiet. What a great place to enjoy and meal and have a conversation.

Good food and service. Cute little family Italian restaurant. Lasagna was a little salty, but nice portion Also tried the Pear salad and Torte dessert, both were delicious.

Great pizza, thin crust and a decent size. Grilled Caesar salad was delicious but large croûton a bit on the stale side.
We did take out and by the time we got home all was good, food travelled well. Wish they had delivery! While waiting for the order, the staff was absolutely lovely, welcoming and a pleasure to chat with. Will definitely go and enjoy a meal in the restaurant!

Great food. Nice ambiance. Amazing service. Beef cheeks had nice flavor. Will definitely go back!

We got take out. Once of the worst experiences of take-​out we’ve had.
The pizza sounded really good, so we ordered.
Well first off an hour passed (ordered on a wednesday night around 7). Called to see what happened, and the lady was confused and said it had gone out ages ago.
Eventually we did receive the pizza, after another 10 minutes. It was small, dried out a little and cold. The garlic bread we ordered was half a small, soggy baguet cut in half, and they had ordered 4 pops but only 2 arrived. The walnut pizza had like 3 small crumbs of walnut on it.
It was NOT worth what we paid — for the money we paid we had way better expectations than this. Friend did not even want to call back and make a complaint, to spare us from another hour wait and cold food.
To be avoided!

Its a strange combination, the food wasn’t good enough to be great, and the prices weren’t low enough that it could be considered a deal. So I guess I’d describe it as average food for higher than average prices.
The place looks great in and out, I’m hoping it settles in and finds an identity and becomes a solid choice amongst the other newish offerings.

This place is fantastic with authentic Italian food. I’ve been here 4 times already each time ordering different dishes to be pleasantly surprised with the jammed pack flavours each dish provides. Since this place opened around the corner from where I live, whenever my friends come over to visit, I always suggest to come here and they always love it

Happy to see this in our hood! Just tried it today and loved the pasta; and my friend requested an off-​the-​menu salad which they accommodated. I’ll be back often.

This is a little gem on the outskirts of Leslieville. My friend had been wanting to go here for months now, and miraculously there was parking outside… and free to boot! I’m sure it was well worth the wait and he won’t be waiting long to go back, because the food was the kind of comforting Italian that you can just melt into. The menu is simple and concise (just the way I like them because I’m über indecisive), with the usually antipasti, pizzas and pastas. After a long winded debate in my head, I decided on the beef cheek braised with onions and red wine over housemade pasta. My dinnermate had spaghetti and meatballs. I absolutely loved my beef cheeks, tender enough to break apart with a fork, but maintained meaty bite. I could taste every ingredient in the braise from the gently cooked onions to the luscious red wine. I didn’t really want to share my dish, so I didn’t dare ask for some spaghetti. But I hear it’s as good an Italian sister-in-law…which sounds pretty good to me.

When my dad visits me from out of town, he always wants Italian food and outside Little Italy we have had very little luck., but this place is amazing. Pasta was so tender, and sauces balanced well, meat seasoned just right. Plus super super kid friendly without compromising ambiance.

This restaurant is perfect for the area that is trying to rejuvenate the neighbourhood. The food is standard Italian home cooking and I enjoyed my tagliatelle pasta with beef cheeks. It was deliciously comforting. The portions are ample except for the bruschetta. It was delightfully garlicky but just not enough!!! Please put more:(But other than that in a pinch I will go here if I ever find myself jonesing for Italian in the east end.

This place had great ambience and was quiet on a Monday night with a couple of people dropping by. Just one person to serve and manage the bar, which is fine on such a quiet night I suppose.
They brought bread at the start which was meh — didn’t taste fresh or anything. But they pured a decent balsamic vinegar for us, and had an olive oil on the table which I didn’t try.
The food came fairly soon, and was great. My friend had the ravioli which she said was very good. Her portion was quite small though. The fetuccine with wild mushroom and italian sausage was good. The sausage was crumbled and though I didn’t taste a lot of mushroom, the dish was delicious anyway. The portion of the fettucine was quite good. There were three white wines and three red wines if you go by glass. They range from $ 6.5 to $ 12 a glass.
The tiramisu was excellent and probably one of the best I’ve had. It’s a white chocolate tiramisu. Definitely worth a try.
Pricing — I thought personally it’s a tad bit overpriced. For this location and type of restaurant, I’d expect about $ 12 – 14 a pasta. I pay $ 15 – 20 for far more gourmet pastas and experiences. But since the food was really tasty, I’m not complaining about that. If you’re in the neighbourhood, it’s definitely worth dropping by here.

Just moved into the area and we’ve been wanting to try this spot. From the minute we entered it felt like I was at home. Once we were seated our waitress took us through the specials and made some excellent recommendations. We told her our mood and appetite and in a very honest move, told us we were best to have our two apps and share a main. Most places would try to pad the bill but she wanted us to experience the quality.
We had the grilled caesar and the mussels to start. The grilled caesar was something my wife and I never had before and was very unique. Very flavorful and incredible homemade dressing. The mussels were very tender and a great sized portion. The sauce was amazing.
Our main was the seafood fettuccine which like the apps was great. Light sauce that wasn’t too heavy and full of seafood.
We shared a bottle of wine that was reasonably priced and sadly didn’t leave room for dessert. Great service and excellent food. We’ll definitely be back. Thanks for the great date night!

Had our first visit last night and was blown away. Excellent service. We order the daily special of chicken fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli and roasted peppers. It was fantastic. The service was excellent and the food was delivered hot and fresh the way it should be. As for the taste… Wow… I really enjoyed it. Also ordered the bruschetta and the cheesecake desert. Both were good, but the bruschetta is probably the best I have ever had. I would recommend this place for sure

Appetizer was great but entrée was too salty. Would return to try other things but not in a hurry to do so.
Full details here:

This is a cozy place that, from my experience planning to go there and passing it by on the street, fills up quickly. This, of course, is for very good reason as the food is quite splendid.
The portions are ample, but not obscene, which is great for me since it makes it easy to justify having an appetizer and a main course in the same meal. Both are reasonably priced. I think the most expensive thing on the menu was about 22 dollars. Not pricey at all for the ambience and quality of food, its taste and presentation.
I had beef cheeks with paparadelle. The pasta was perfectly cooked; the beef cheeks were tender and the sauce was some bit of creamy heaven. Before that I had a mixed green salad with grilled shrimp and squid. I liked it so much that I silently hated my 2 year old daughter for a minute when she accidentally dropped one of my precious shrimps on the floor. grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Vegetarians have more than enough to choose from here too. My wife had a fantastic veggie pasta with goat cheese and veggies; thankfully her appetite was not large enough to finish it. That forced me to care for it deeply the next day for lunch… IN MY STOMACH.
This strip of Gerrard is the perfect spot for this fantastic place. I wrote this review with the sole intention of helping their success as they deserve it wholeheartedly.
Bravo.

Visited this restaurant with some friends last night. I have been waiting for it to open since we heard it was coming as part of the triad of restaurants on the strip.
The atmosphere is really lovely (aside from the flower piece above the door to go downstairs — it doesn’t fit the décor at all). Beautiful wine display, and very funky and comfortable chairs.
Over all, great atmosphere. I LOVE the lights — just so much fun & very old hollywood like.
Service — wow. yes, the server was VERY new. She came to the table too soon, called us hun and sweetie. Please advise her away from doing that — it felt forced, unprofessional and was just over all annoying.
Food:
Spagetti
Bolognese
Gluten Free Seafood Penne
The girls loved their food, as did I! I was shocked it was GF pasta — kinda odd they only have one kinda and charge you $ 3 more dollars for it. The pasta wasn’t spicy, I am not sure what James up here is talking about. It was a white wine cream sauce… there wasn’t a bit of heat in it unless you add your own, champ. Frankly from your description, it does not sound like we ate at the same dish.
Presentation of the food was lovely. It was beautiful in fact.
The girls had the white chocolate tiramisu. They loved it.
None of us had wine but the wine list looked great — they also had speciality cocktails.
Overall, I am so delighted that this restaurant is a short walk from my house & will certainly be a staple for special events.

Leslieville is a popular hangout! I dropped by the new opening of Aprilé Bambina Cusina. The place is fantastic! You walk in and it’s that feeling of being welcomed into a large Italian family.
The décor is warm and traditional — a lot of red, including the padded leather chairs. There’s even a bicycle hanging from the ceiling.
Things you have to try: grilled caesar salad. There’s that charred smokey flavour that is out of this world. It’s also house made dressing!
Also, I like it spicy so I ordered the spicy Bambina chicken rigatoni. The pasta was a perfect al dente and it was pipping hot, heat and temperature wise.
Make sure to finish the meal with an apple cinnamon sweet pizza and a coffee or espresso.