Dante’s Pizza Vino and Pasta

Went to Dantes yesterday for my daughters graduation lunch and had EXCELLENT service and the manager Sergio was a doll… AN extra order of pasta was ordered by accident and he gave that to us to take home and then gave us a nice treat for dessert for my kiddo for her celebration (WONDERFUL Tiramisu by the way LOL)… We accidentally forgot her grad cap at the table and he ran and followed us to our car to bring it to us. FOOD was EXCELLENT-​portions are generous and we will be back for sure! This is how customer service should be ALWAYS!!! Great experience :)

What a lovely dining room. The service is always good. The food is consistently excellent. This would be my go to place for a special dinner out with the family or just a date. It is a bit pricey but remember you also get what you pay for. Enjoy

For faith
I will say Dantes had the best there was
And the new dining room is great for gatherings or parties
I have faith they will live up to their reputation and learn from changes that don’t work
Peoples taste buds are a serious business !
Best wishes

Where do I Start. First I’ll say something nice. The waitress was sweet. Now about the food. Mushy cold rice balls served with tomato paste sauce and peas. Yum… NOT. When the waitress asked how they were I told her the truth. Over cooked gnocchi store bought. The kind in an air tight package. They taste sour from the preservatives. When I go out for gnocchi I expect fresh made not grocery store quality. The pizza was sized generously in name but priced for its physical size. Don’t order prosciutto or salami on your pizza. They tasted old and the prosciutto wasn’t recognizable. Thank god we ordered thin because it was pretty thick. All in all it was horrible. I ended upsetting sick and my son did too. I wish I could get my money back. Sore and Sad

Had the pizza here today. The crust was soft and gooey. The pizza was quite oiled and the sauce had zero appeal it was a step above ketchup. Sorry but I can not recommend this place. It used to be so good years ago what happen?

It has been said, you can have a good meal with bad company, and your overall experience will not be good.
Also, a mediocre meal with great company is a great meal.
My experience at this restaurant was perfect.
I met up with a great friend and his wife. We shared the supreme deluxe pizza. This pizza was delicious. I found the atmosphere to be just perfect. The waitress must have been good. As I don’t really remember her, I know she brought us food and drinks. But she was there when we needed her, yet she wasn’t annoying.
I must say, I will definitely be back.

This place is done.
Nothing but bland pasta and tick pizza.
Was an amazing place.
The only thing that they had going for them is the large portions.
Otherwise find a real Italian restaurant in the area.
I won’t be back.

My experience is mixed. Things started off poorly. We ordered drinks and someone got a cup of hot water. Waitress said it cost 1.50 but she’s not going to charge us. Why even day that. While ordering food she was quite abrupt. We had brushetta appetizer. It was bad (taste, toppings and bread).
The meal turned around when the pizza came. I chose the make your own and it was decent. Nothing special. My friend said he’s tasted like it was under the heat lamp while the other meals were being finished.
Will I go back? No.

Sung to the tune of «Peppers and roasted mushrooms with no substitutes».
FULL DISCLOSURE: (1) This review is based our experience last summer — (exactly 364 days prior to today Aug ¹⁸⁄₂₀₁₄) when it had the new and current menu; and (2) this rating does *NOT* necessarily reflect the pizza quality which, in the past, has been stellar.
For decades we went to their location in Thornhill south of Hwy ⁷⁄₄₀₄ along Yonge. Then they moved and we have only picked up a pizza once a couple of years ago — just not convenient. Their pizza has always been expensive but you do get your money’s worth (as they say). Extremely filling and you would always get the best of toppings. Where we could easily eat ½ or more of a Pizza Nova party size with 5 toppings — with barely enough for another meal, with Dante’s the pizza (party/​5 toppings) could easily last 3 or 4 full meals. The cadillac of pizzas IMO.
**Preamble
For a number of years we have been going to their new Bathurst (South of Rutherford) location every so often for their «Giant Italian Sandwiches» — mostly the steak and chicken and once the veal — they were fantastic.
**This visit
We visited the location for my son’s birthday, his choice, and discovered changes in the air overall — but most importantly the menu.
They have gone from providing an excellent sandwich — with what you want — a big one with lots of meat and the toppings of your choice, to one that is probably ¾s — 4/​5ths the size with fixed toppings and fries (how original). The toppings is where we had a major issue and why I am posting this late review. I had proof in the home but couldn’t find the original menu — 99.9% of me remembered choosing the toppings but I couldn’t force myself to post something without 100% confidence. So skewer me! (But yes I found it).
OLD MENU:
Veal/​Steak were $ 12.49 and Chicken was 11.99
«Served with ***YOUR*** choice of TWO toppings».
My son would choose — mozzarella and onions; wife would choose mozzarella and green peppers
NEW MENU:
Veal/​Steak/​Chicken $ 14.99 with Insalata Dante (?) or Fries (or another subt +$ 2.69)
Steak «Panini» — comes with «peppers and roasted mushrooms»
Chicken — Roasted mushrooms and mozzarella/​Parmigiano-​Reggiano cheeses.
Don’t like those toppings? Sure you can pay the same amount and have them «not» put the toppings stated on but — «so sorry — NO SUBSTITUTIONS» (and my wife/​son *HATE* mushrooms).
For the steak … onions +$ 1.95 Mozzarella +$ 3.45 … or $ 20.39 for something that cost $ 12.49 before (and was bigger). Love the fries. (how original — NOT). They couldn’t justify $ 14.99 with a smaller sandwich so they had to add the fries.
That was enough for my wife to give this place a 1 star and never to return. Meanwhile — what about me? Huh? Well I chose not to get a sandwich that night and ended up with shrimp linguine.
NEW MENU:
Black tiger shrimp pan seared, tossed with linguine and Dante’s authentic tomato sauce.
For the first time in my life I said to the waitress to tell the chef «I could do better myself». (!!) What? Me a chef? No. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist or someone like me who could burn water, to OVERCOOK SHRIMP SO THAT THEY ARE AS HARD AS ROCK. I’ve done that. Who hasn’t? But not for the then price of $ 15.99. The sauce was also nothing to write home about — authentic? Classico tastes better. The waitress asked if I wanted something else, when I complained, but I choose to keep it and suffer. In hindsight (²⁰⁄₂₀) I should have flipped it out for something else like a crappy reinvented high priced low value steak panini with «roasted mushrooms». Yummy.
This is why I gave this restaurant a big 1 star.
Décor was nice and bathrooms clean. (I never saw a change in these areas between old and new menu; I suspect that is how the Bathurst location opened). The waitress, this visit, was so/​so — always somewhere in a not so busy restaurant that evening. Whatever.
I won’t go into the details of the bread was changed or the removal of the other things they brought out. From what I have read (per the reviews and lowered ratings) there appears to be a shift in management — which is a big shame. Smells like a Kitchen Nightmare episode where the new owners somehow don’t know why the restaurant has lost it’s lustre.
We haven’t been back since (never will) and probably won’t be getting a pizza again there either. So sad. «Peppers and Roasted mushrooms with no substitutes» indeed.
Ciao

Modern décor, spacious, don’t have to wait for a table, great service, great food at a reasonable price. Would recommend!

The bloom is officially off the rose. I was a regular at this place back in Thornhill when apparently the owners (and staff) gave a sh&t. I’m giving it one star mainly because of my history with the place… otherwise it would be 0.
The reduced menu, without their signature Italian Sausage is like opening an ice cream store and forgetting Vanilla. It’s also on a laminated placard, which really screams class.
The service has horrendous. Wait staff had too many tables (partially not their fault) and were inexperienced at taking care of people in a restaurant environment.
The food was just ok… really nothing special. And that was the biggest disappointment as I would have considered more stars if the food delivered as it used to.
Reading the comments below it’s clear this place is under new (and less engaged) management. What a shame for a place that used to deliver so much for a reasonable price.
Bums me out…

Finally they lowered their prices!
For several years now Dante was the pizza Nazi and had crazy high prices that kept going up.
It wasn’t until the original owner defected and moved across the street with an identical but cheaper menu did they realize they needed to change.
With Paolettis pizza offering the same great menu at a cheaper price, Dante’s had to concede.
Not the cheapest in town but better than before.
Still quality food and excellent pizza!

Having been to Dante’s several times now, I know that this is a place to come to when you want a salty and very filling pizza experience. The pizza’s here may not be gourmet or «authentic» Italian-​style pizza’s — what they are, are heavy, toppings-​riddled, and tasty American-​style pizza’s that will leave you feeling full and satisfied. Even Dante’s «thin crust» pizza is not very thin at all!
The Meat-​Lovers and Super Deluxe pizza’s here have a special place in my heart, but the service the most recent time I came here, was disappointing. Our party had to wait nearly an hour to receive our food. When asked for an update, the waitress claimed that the kitchen was backed up with orders (despite their being only one or two other filled tables in the restaurant at the time). On prior occasions, the wait-​times for the food to arrive have also been quite long — rating drops because of this.
SUMMARY:
Good place to check out if you wish to be full of salty, artery-​clogging goodness. Just make sure you have plenty of time to wait around for the sluggish/​inattentive service.

I went for a UYE with fellow Unilocalers. We arrived late after everyone else in the group had already placed an order. However, no one came to check in on us. We had to go and seek out the waitress ourselves in order to place our orders. I also had to get them to get us some drinks. While it is understandable that they were busy and we were a big group but that is no excuse for ignoring us.
After placing our order we had to wait almost an hour until they got our food. Everybody was starving by now and almost anything would have tasted good to us I guess. We ordered a small Meatlovers pizza to share between me and my +1. The pizza was loaded with toppings and I liked some of the toppings but it was way too salty. When we placed our order no one told us we could choose a crust, so we ended up getting a thick crust. It was too much dough for me. I could hardly finish one slice. Personally, I would prefer Pizzaiolo’s Sicilian pizza to this. We asked our waitress for chilli flakes to add some flavour (other than salt) to our pizza but we never got any.
I had high expectations after hearing good reviews about the place but the food and the service did leave a lot to be desired.

Split review
Meat Lover pizza, thin crust — 4 stars
Waiting time for food — 2 stars
We came for an unofficial Unilocal event to sink our teeth in Dante’s famous pizza. I heard great things about them before, so I was pretty excited. Upon entry, the venue was beautiful. Dante’s doesn’t look like a pizza joint; it looks like a casual fine dining restaurant. We had a party room at the back all by ourselves, too. We ordered a medium Meat Lover Pizza with thin crust. The pizza was drown in toppings. It was loaded with bacon and sausage, from rim to rim, edge to edge. The flavours was intense. Intensively salty it was. I love sodium so I love this pizza.
Some people at the UYE ordered the Super Deluxe pizza. We bartered a slice, and I liked my meat lover pizza more because of the sodium. If you are not sodium lover, meat lover can easily overwhelm you, then you are advised to opt for the super deluxe instead. I take down 1 star on the food rating due to its sodium level.
Someone ordered a pizza of regular crust. I tell you that the regular crust is rather filling. 2 slices can be a meal to most.
We enjoyed the companionship immensely, but the long wait time dampened the experience. It took over 40 minutes for the food to arrive. During the wait, we had 1 refill of our drinks already. We wondered out loud what had happened to our orders.

I came here for a UYE quest for perfect pizza with some elites and their +1s. Overall it was a great night but mainly due to the company and not the food.
2 stars = Meh I have had better (to be fair I used to live in Chicago). Pizza selections were very minimal, pretty much basic, deluxe, and meat lovers. But then you can custom build your own pizza. Pizza was served on a pizza stand. Portions were American! Crust and toppings were fresh but the recipe was just ordinary and nothing special.
I did order a pint & wings and honestly sports bars have cheaper and way better wings. I was really disappointed. 1 star for wings.
Overall I think the quest for perfect pizza is going to take a while. We might have to take a trip to Chicago!

We held a UYE here for almost a dozen fellow Unilocalers to continue on our quest for the Perfect Pizza iteration #4. This time it was held in Vaughan in the Thornhill section near Hwy 7 and Dufferin St at Dante’s Pizza.
We had what could be considered a private room in the back of the restaurant.
I had ordered an Okanagan pale ale while another person ordered a Creemore Springs. I had noticed which I thought was kind of nice is that whatever you ordered on tap, the glass would be of that beer. This was evident when others ordered different beers and everything came in the appropriate glass for whatever brand it was. This really helps when wanting another drink!
We were there for pizza so almost everybody had ordered that. The size and what we were going to order was the question. Most every couple went with medium. I went with large knowing I’d want left overs for lunch which is what I usually do when I order pizza.
The pizza took a while to make but they were in fact huge. Pretty much each couple ordered either the super deluxe or meat lovers and we swapped slices around so everybody got to try both.
I found the pizza to be really a lot of food and the servings were huge. The toppings were really very good but overall the pizza was salty, the crust was very crunchy. The food was good still but to me it was just good, not great. I did enjoy it though but for the price it’s sort of expensive. The large 18″ pizza run about 35 dollars.
The meat is especially salty but I still liked it. What would you expect as it has 5 different meats!
Overall the evening was really fun. It’s never a bad time getting together with fellow Unilocalers. The food was good too but if I had to only judge it on the pizza, the bang for the buck is about average.

Well… last time I was here was 7 – 8 yrs ago.
The service
–pretty slow
–wait staff was very junior and inexperienced
— they charge 3 for more bread!
–female staff inappropriately dresses
Food
–selection is typical old school Italian
–veal parmesan, spaghetti was good
Pricing
–avg main is 21 – 24. So I would say pricey for what you get.

I’ve been eating Dante’s for 20 years. I moved to Thornhill Woods the same year they did. Since the move and since they sold out after bankruptcy, the quality has been hit or miss.
I rarely get the pizza any more, since the quality just is not consistent, which for those prices, you should at least know what to expect. Same for the sandwiches. There was a time during university years that I ordered a steak sandwich every week, but now it’s not the same. Undercooked vegetables or hardened bun.
What is good 1) the gravy (tomato sauce) and 2) most of the pasta dishes. This delivers well. The short rib ravioli is really good, bright red sauce, tender shredded beef.
Also since they moved, the restaurant is done up nice and it’s worth a visit.

Three colleagues and I had lunch at Danta’s Pizza today.
All four of us ordered sandwiches. I ordered a meatball sandwich with cheese and roasted red peppers. It was delicious! The bun was crusty on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. I tried to pick it up to eat it but there was just too much stuff inside … so we ended up eating them with forks and knives. I hadn’t had breakfast and was hungry and ate it all … it was filling!