BIAGIO ITALIAN 

St. Lawrence Market, Old Town, 155 King Street East, Toronto, On., M5C 1G9, (416) 366-4040

Five of us decided to book another winterlicious restaurant - we tried several but they where booked.  Upon calling Biagio we were able to secure a reservation for the five of us.  So we arrived on Saturday evening at 7:00 and were promptly seated - the restaurant was almost empty, except for a large group in the back room celebrating something.  

St Lawrence Hall - King Street

We began by ordering a litre of the house red (montepulciano - a rather ordinary wine but still $49) because I had read that their wine list was rather on the expensive side.  The waiter poured wine in our glasses and as I lifted mine I could smell b.o. on the glass.  My son Thomas had the same experience - it was not a good start.

Since we were here for the winterlicious and the appetizers were not going to be filling, I ordered an extra two appetizers from the menu.  It was the antipasto Italiano ($15.95) and when it was served they decided to place both appetizers on the same plate - saving dishes I guess.  The two appetizers were delicious and we did have to spread them around to five people, but they were not worth $32.

Next came the bread, they were definitely not stingy with the bread and it just kept coming every time the basket was near empty a new one would arrive.  

For our winterlicious menu four of us chose the lobster bisque.  It was rich and tasty, but there were absolutely no pieces of lobster in it, it was just soup (glad we ordered the $32 app. before).

One of us, Katie, had another app choice on the menu, she had the caprino in sfoglia, which was baked goat cheese in phyllo pastry with mushroom and sweet pepper coulis.

For our mains three of us chose the risotto a la zucca, which consisted of risotto with butternut squash and parmigiano cheese.  It was a large portion, quite good and all three that had it took the leftover home.

Thomas and I had the arrosto di maiale farcito, which was roasted pork loin stuffed with wild rice, raisins and almonds.  It tasted like the rice had marzipan in it and was not very appetizing.  Both of us agreed it was not what we expected.

For desert four of us chose the zuppa inglese, which consisted of layers of sponge cake, fruit, and Bavarese creme.  It was disgusting.  None of us could finish it. The fruit was in some kind of mushy liquid.  It looked good when it arrived but as we dug deeper it tasted awful.

Katie had a different desert, she chose the migliaccio napolitano, which consisted of sweet ricotta cheese and semolina pudding.  She did like her desert. 

All in all it was a disappointing winterlicious dinner.  We have had many good ones over the last couple of years (including summerlicious).  The house wine was over priced, the desert was awful, the small portion of pork roast had a strong marzipan flavour that overwhelmed the taste of the meat, and the glasses smelled of b. o.. The final bill with tip was $362 for a mediocre meal (outrageous). The fact that the restaurant was very nice, and the waiters very professional, and the fact that it was in St. Lawrence Hall saved it from being a total disaster.  We will not go back to this establishment again.


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