Joe Badali’s Ristorante Italiano & Bar

I organized a team lunch for 12 at this restaurant for winterlicious. The person on the phone when I made reservations was really friendly and flexible. I told them we might end up having plus/​minus 1 or 2 people and she said no problem at all. They also emailed me a coupon for free bruschetta. We arrived and got seated immediately. The décor of the restaurant was very nice. They gave us 3 platters of bruschetta for the table to share from the coupon, which tasted amazing! I ordered the butternut squash soup, salmon and cheesecake. The soup was perfectly flavoured and had amazing texture. The salmon was cooked perfectly and was bedded on spinach and tomatoes. Everyone enjoyed their meals. I would definitely come back to this restaurant. The whole experience was great!

Dropped by here for the lunch buffet. Don’t bother with that, seriously.
I honestly don’t even know how you can even try to pass off that pathetic spread of food as a buffet. There were like 3 – 4 salad options, even less pasta options, and then turkey. There were a few thin crust pizzas available as well, which was perhaps the only redeeming quality of the buffet.
Really? How can you even call that a buffet in this day and age? No lasagna, no dessert, no soup, nothing. Lame, really.
Service was friendly and attentive, but the buffet really sucked.

Less than average food for the buck. Staff have no enthusiasm. Service less than average too. Big meatball appetizer is actually three small meatballs, golf ball size, that don’t fill up the small serving dish. The meatballs were also smothered in what appears to be tomatoe sauce from a shipping container. Shaved cheese for the meatballs was instead grated soft cheese of some type.
The carbonara pasta was again what appeared to and tasted like some sauce from a container. so enhanced one could not even taste the bacon/​pancheta. Wrap it up with a big bill and some indigestion. Passsssssssss.

The app (salad) was basic — not bad but nothing outstanding. Presentation could have been better for the Caesar (which my friend got). The main was okay, I little bland but not horrible. The dessert was actually really, really good. Best part of the meal. The biggest complaint though was HOW HOT IT WAS in the restaurant! It was actually extremely uncomfortable, and took away from our experience because we just wanted to get out of there and get some cool air! The management told us it was out of their control as it was the building, but I can’t believe there’s nothing they can do about this. He was sweating while telling us! The poor waiters were dying!

The worst experience you can have. We were a party of twenty. Most of us didn’t finished our dishes. I had a veal parmigiana escalope, it was just horrible: overcooked, too salty, fatty… The last time I ate so badly was in Poland eight years ago… I let you imagine.

Great environment and food. Everyone was super nice, especially our waitress, Jennifer! Plus, the pizza crust was amazing!

My bf and I came to Badali’s for dinner last night and we had a good time. The staff, particularly our waiter, was very friendly and attentive. My bf ordered the veal parmesan and I ordered the meatballs with gluten-​free pasta. Both dishes were delicious. The blood orange juice was yummy too. Surprisingly, the restaurant was not crowded for a Saturday night but we attributed it to the hockey game going on at the same time. But hey, no complaints here!

I have eaten twice at Joe Badali’s (because others picked the place) and it is okay, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat at this restaurant. The food is very good, but its is expensive and the portion sizes are small. The restaurant is very large and nice. The staff are nice. Again it is good food, but pricey, so just keep that mind especially since there are numerous other options in the area that will give you more food for less.

Hold on to your forks. It’s going to be a bumpy service. After having been sat by a very nice woman, we had a different waiter come to our table and argue with her. He was fighting over our table, and apparently he won. Which is too bad because he was the worst waiter. After regaling us with tales of behind-​the-​scenes waiter and management intrigue, he tried to get us to change our appetizer order and then proceeded to disappear for the majority of the meal. Food was boring and rote Italian family fare. Finally got a glass of wine halfway through my meal. Other customers seemed to have the same problems we did. One couple showed up and sat for 15 minutes with menus. After no one came to take their order, they got up and left. Wish that had been us.

The food was simply spectacular. Place and service were great. Recommend the mussels — just 11 dollars got us like 40 mussels with an amazing sauce. Also had spaghetti with veal meatballs — perfectly cooked with very good sauce and perfect meatballs. Amazing experience

Edit: 8÷30÷15 — just got my credit card bill for this restaurant. I had used a new credit card so couldn’t put in my pin. Joe Badali’s decided to add to their tip above and beyond what I gave them. I gave a 15% tip! I can’t stand restaurants that do this. Lowering my review from 3 stars to 1. Congratulations Joe Badali’s. You suck.
Original Review: Having been here a few years ago, I remember thinking it was mediocre and hadn’t been back until this week, where I was reminded how mediocre it is.
I was here for lunch, where this restaurant has a fixed price menu (outside of Summer/​Winterlicious). I tried this and had a Cesar salad which had nice and creamy dressing, the pappardelle alfredo which was pretty bland, and then a scoop of gelato. The gelato was vanilla and pretty good, however I wasn’t allowed to choose what flavour I wanted. Is vanilla the only flavour they have? Overall, a pretty blasé meal.
Service was ok, nothing special. I like the design of this restaurant though, it’s pretty cool, if you don’t mind the subway rumbling below your feet every few minutes.

Joe Badali’s is one of my parent’s favourite restaurants in the city, and we go just about every time they’re in town. The food is fresh, and delicious, and the prices are reasonable. The service is good, and the restaurant is absolutely huge, much bigger than you might expect. It’s maybe not the trendiest place in the city, but their spaghetti and meatballs are outstanding, and I always look forward to a visit.

Stopped in here before Shania concert June 24, had some calamari, two different soups and two different pizzas. All the food was very tasty and portions where very big. If you need a place to eat before a show or event at the ACC or Rogers Centre I would totally recommend this place.

Meh. Food was average. Service was acceptable. Staff was friendly. Served its purpose to provide fuel after long day of venturing through the city. There are plenty of more unique and flavorful spots around, but this place is serviceable in a pinch; choice of convenience.

This place is as «mainstream» and «large format» as they come. It’s very large and busy. Don’t expect haute cuisine. But the food is OK. The skirt steak dinner was good. The lamb shank was just OK.
Unfortunately, this place is a victim of its own success. Because of the location, they get bombarded with after-​game crowds. This means that the service leaves something to be desired. We were here with several kids, but the kitchen «forgot» to put in the kids meals. The poor kids were starving before they saw food. One kid did get his food rather quickly, but that just made the other kids salivate even more. To make things worse, the kids meals cost $ 10-​$ 14! Those are whopping prices for kids meals.
Other requests that were made of the kitchen were simply not followed on. The manager did apologize, and offered deserts on the house. Too bad the deserts looked better than they tasted.
At the end, the bill was inflated by 10% with additional fictitious charges (like extra charge for salads, that were included with the meal.)
P. S. When a game is on, don’t bother trying to get a seat without reservations.

We were in Toronto for a show and went here for dinner. The veal marsala was amazing! It melted in my mouth. My son had the venison and it was also amazing good! We were disappointed they were out of the wild boar lasagna. I assume it’s because it is also very good. The restaurant is very big inside and decorated like an old Italian piazza. The wait staff was friendly and attentive. Our water glasses were never empty. I love Italian and was blown away with the food here.

For the price, the food is not all that great. Even the atmosphere isn’t that impressive for a place that looks like they are aiming for fancy. Certain strong flavors seem to over power other bland ones in the dishes we had.

Much bigger in size than I thought from the outside. More casual bar in the front, more formal table-​cloth restaurant in the back. Long & narrow. Tons of tables but I think reservations are recommended for the formal side, especially with larger groups.
Quick and efficient service. Friendly without being annoying. Food arrived within minutes it seemed.
Quite good Caesar salad with no bacon (good that again, I always forget to request no bacon as a recent vegetarian).
Enjoyable cheese tortellini. Not too bland like at many places.
The Winterlicious menu was on when I was there and the other three in my party ordered it for the value of getting the full meal for $ 25. The California steak was said to be pretty good taste, quality & size-​wise.
Afterwards, went downstairs to drink at the Overdraught Pub — so Joe’s is convenient for that. Many other restaurants and bars on the strip.

Before Gord and I went to the Toronto Rock game this evening, we had supper at Joe Badali’s.
Joe Badali’s is the official pre– and post-​game venue for the Rock (you get 15% off your food).
Gord ordered the Classic New York pizza … he said it was good.
I ordered a pepperoni pizza … it was delicious and I ate it all!
Laura was our server and she took good care of us.

end of the year work function, Joe Badali’s was the venue.
the place is quaint, filled with european décor finishing. The location is conveniently accessible via GO and TTC.
the service was fast, efficient and most of all friendly.
Based on a fix menu,
for starters I had their salad, and Butternut squash purée soup, just lovely, perfect balance of freshness, thickness, texture, you name it! and most of all it wasnt overly sweet. ⁴⁄₅
Entrée was their lamb shank on a bed of mash potatoes and veggies, perfect cooked, fall off the bone delight!!! ⁴⁄₅
Cheesecake was about a 4.5 perfect portion, and not too sweet.
Overall this place is a 4, and it was a nice work function food experience!