Abruzzi Restaurant

Wonderful 5 star lunch!

We opted to have lunch downtown at Abruzzi on a beautiful Friday afternoon. We got to park right out in front and loved the location on King St without the fight for a spot, traffic,crowds. We were seated promptly and treated very well the entire time we were there. (was our first time) We opted to go big as it was our "meal of the day" and we did NOT leave dissapointed! The water comes in a cool tall bottle you may see on the tables of Italy. Similarly, the wine glasses were simple and reminded me of being somewhere in Tuscany. My partner had a couple of beers which were served at the proper temperature. The name of the red wine I had suggested to me by the server escapes me but it was delicious. (It was Italian tough) For apps, we had a mixture of classy cheeses and cured meats. Also came with some extras like almonds and yummy olives. We also had the mussels which were large and juicy, the broth unbelievable! We had 2 loaves of bread to sop up the bottom of the bowl! The bread is made on site I was told and was to die for. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and was served with delectable first press olive oil I will not soon forget. Mains - we had the fish halibut 'special' on a bed of gnocchi. Each bite was refreshing and awakening. The crust on that fish and the seasonal veggies...wow! We also had the whole wheat cappellini with scallops and spinach. I could eat that everyday. Very light, surprisingly, and I was pleased with the sauteeing of the scallops and the consistency of the pasta. We skipped dessert as we usually do. Even the washrooms were clean, a big deal to me really. It is the little things. I am a foodie and can be the first to criticize but there was nothing bad I could say about this restaurant. We will be back sooner than later. Bravo to the female chef who outdid herself! The meal was not cheap but you get what you pay for!

Loved it

A beautiful restaurant inside with modern, stylish decor -- very sleek and upscale details. You can't beat the location, right across from the JLC. We were wowed by the attentive service and incredibly inventive menu. Service timing was on cue. It's definitely pricey, so for us, it would be a destination dinner for a special occasion.

We decided to visit this restaurant due to londonlicious, weren't expecting the highest quality. Menu was ok for choice, the gazpacho was puree cold tomatoe soup with maybe a tbsp spoon of bruoise of cucumber, usually gazpacho is all diced veg in a tom brooth. Bread was cold and hard to pull apart, but tasted well. Had the lamb rigatoni with very undercooked noodles, but good flavor on the sauce. The biggest downfall of all is they don't make there own desserts, lemon cheesecake was very artifically flavored. Service was horrible served by Carla, very impersonalbe not very attentive to our table.

Abruzzi is most definitely a great addition to the London restaurant scene, and also fills a gap in providing a high-end authentic Italian restaurant in the city. The first thing to mention would be that this can be a higher priced meal, especially if you want to have the full experience (antipasto, pasta, meat dish, dessert, wine). Between two of us we easily hit $100 without any alcohol. On with the food. The restaurant has a wide variety of artisan cured meats - we had the bresaola, which was fantastic. The homemade sourdough bread that comes with the meal is also wonderful. All of our mains were solid, although the osso buco stands out: the meat was incredibly tender and the beans that accompanied it were perfect. The gnocchi was decent, although was not as tender as some other places in town We all had the cheesecake for dessert...another great choice. Very little crust, and perfect amount of richness. The only complaint was that our waitress was a bit aggressive in up-selling one of our party in her wine choice. This is always a bit of a turn-off when dining out.

Great restaurant experience. The food was fresh...

Great restaurant experience. The food was fresh and flavourful and the atmosphere was fun. We think this new restaurant will do very well in London.