LA BETTOLA DI TERRONI 

106 Victoria Street (at Richmond) (416) 504-9998 Toronto On. 

We had dinner at La Bettola Di Terroni on a beautiful Saturday night in January.  My son Mark was at the Terroni on Adelaide and was told by the hostess there was a one hour wait (even though he saw a lot of tables empty).  Myself and my son Thomas decided to try our luck at La Bettola, which is only a couple of blocks away at the corner of Victoria and Richmond.

We got lucky - one of the hostesses here at Bettola actually made a real effort to have us seated in a packed house (unlike the hostesses at the original Terroni on Adelaide, which seem to treat customers like crap). She found us a table for four by doing some juggling of tables.
We were greeted by a friendly waiter who was patient with us, since three of us were waiting for Mark, who left the Adelaide Terroni (not very happy), to join us here.  The hostesses at the original Terroni should be given lessons in customer service!!  I have been there many times and found them very pretentious and uncooperative.

We began by ordering a bottle of Refosco.

A rustic bag of bread arrived at our table with olive oil for dipping.  

Mark and I decided to order appetizers so he ordered crab cakes (polpette di granchio) and I ordered Sicilian deep fried rice cones with mozzarella, peas and veal ragu (arancini di modica). The arancini were delicious, but I have had better crab cakes.  The appetizers were very small for the price and in the future I would stay away from them - they were not worth the price.

crab cakes

Sicilian rice cones (arancini)

Mark, Thomas and I decide on Agnolotti filled with shredded beef, we have had them before.  They were delicious, very rich and just filled with wonderful tasty shredded beef.  This time it appeared to be a larger portion than in the past (we all agreed).  

Katie had the cavatelli alla norma (hand made cavatelli with fried eggplant and ricotta salata) it was delicious and filling.

We were so satisfied there was no room for dessert, although we saw many going by our table that looked fabulous.  It was extremely noisy in the restaurant, which needs some noise reducing materials that are softer.  We have been here before and will probably return again.

http://labettola.ca/