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F'Amelia
Categories: Restaurants Pizza Restaurants Italian Pizza, Italian [Edit]
12 Amelia StToronto, ON M4X 1P7
Neighbourhood: Cabbagetown
(416) 323-0666
- Hours:
Tue-Sun 5 pm - 11 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
19 reviews for F'Amelia
19 reviews in English
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Review from Melanie W.
Toronto, ON
4/30/2012 1 Check-in Here
This place was really nice. Lovely space, knowledgeable and friendly staff and a solid wine list. Do yourself a favour and try the Ugozanier Primitivo.
The beef carpaccio was really delicious. A classic that I had been craving for weeks and finally got to indulge in.
I had the goat cheese and potato tortelloni with roasted leeks and beets. It was good... didn't knock my socks off though. It was beautifully presented but to be honest I found myself looking for a salt shaker (nte to be found) and it was small; only five tortellonis and I felt I had to eat really slowly so I wouldn't finish well before my dinner mate who got the Diavola pizza, which was amazing!
For dessert we split the orange and gianduia semifreddo and the brûlée lemon tart with rhubarb compote. Both were really tasty. My tea was from the "Irresistible" brand... a no name brand of tea seemed out of place. I thought Mighty Leaf or some other brand would have been a better fit.
Good place overall, although I would have liked a little more attention to some of the details. I'll be getting pizza the next I go, and there will be a next time. -
Review from Pumpkin E.
Ottawa, ON
4/9/2012
One of Toronto's best new restaurants? Not based on my experience, but OK Toronto Life. F'Amelia is acceptable, but it's nothing special. Toronto has so much better to offer.
THE GOOD:
The focaccia our server gave us soon after we sat down was delicious. I would have been perfectly happy to fill up on that rosemary focaccia instead of ordering.
THE BAD:
The kitchen closes at 10. Since my reservation was for 9:45, our server was quick to point out we had to make up our minds soon. I thought this was a bit gauche. It's cool if a restaurant prefers to shut its kitchen early, but it shouldn't seat people 15 minutes before closing time.
Also, there were still three tables eating when staff began taking out garbage through the dining room. That's kinda gross. Isn't that what back exits are for?
THE PAINFULLY AVERAGE:
The pizza was nicely charred, but the toppings were bland (I had the 4 stagioni). The only pop of flavour I remember is the basil. The pizza was not hot when it came out.
The salumi/cheese board was good at the time, but didn't wow me in any way. I don't remember any of its elements in the way I've salivated over memories of other cheese boards past. -
Review from Frankie K.
Toronto, ON
4/6/2012
We ordered seafood risotto and the potato gnocci as well as the pizza with salami.
The food was pretty good- but not outstanding as I hoped being one of Toronto Life's Best New restaurant of 2012
I like more excitement in my dishes!
The decor is cute- kinda looks like a nice little French place...that serves Italian
The servers were very nice! -
Review from Amanda L.
Toronto, ON
5/4/2012
Quaint restaurant. Food was decent. Service was not amazing, but decent. Probably wouldn't return.
-
Review from Evelyn W.
2/18/2012
This place has a really warm atmosphere and a lovely and knowledgeable staff.
I got the '4 seasons' pizza which is a great choice, because each of the 4 slices are different, and who doesn't love variety?
The crust from their crazy certified pizza oven from Naples is divine... though I'm no expert on pizza, as I love ALL pizza, including the hut. Judge away.
The wine list is pricey, but the food pricing is extremely reasonable.
PS: Matt M - I loved your Mel C joke, unfortunately it fell flat as she is SPORTY spice. We should discuss further over pizza... at F'Amelia. -
Review from Matt M.
Toronto, ON
1/5/2012
Get yo ass here for a pizza. It's the only thing I've eaten here but it is like eating the food that the gods refer to as 'The food of the gods'.
They have a Napoli style oven with ingredients flown in from the same so yes it is a traditional Naples pizza. The only downside to the restaurant is that the wine is fairly expensive (but delish).
PLUS - If you notice the below review from Precilla C - Mel C has also eaten here. If its good enough for Scary Spice it's good enough for me. -
Review from Karen W.
Toronto, ON
2/16/2012
Me and my husband are freshly back from a three week honeymoon in Italy, where we ate like kings. Our dinner at F'Amelia was a lovely reminder of our travels and definitely held up against some of our the best meals of the trip.
We headed over for dinner at 8:00pm on a Wednesday and there wasn't an empty table in the place. It still felt quiet and intimate, and service was very attentive and friendly.
We had cocktails to start: Aperol Spritz for me, a Dark and Stormy for him, and my Mom had Prosecco. Yes: my mom was with us so it wasn't a romantic dinner, but she picked up the tab. Moms are the best! Then we ordered a bottle of 2010 Chianti that was bright, fruity and food friendly.
Starters were a salad of Beets, Fingerling Potatoes & Arugula and Scallops with Mushrooms & Jerusalem Artichokes. The scallops were well cooked and nicely complimented by the sunchokes, but the salad was the real standout.
For mains, we had Pork and Cabbage Canneloni, Goat Cheese and Potato-stuffed Tortelloni with Beets and Leeks, and a Pizza Diavola with spicy Soppressata. Holy shit, everything was amazing! Especially the pizza: the dough is made in a traditional 72 hour process by their "Italian Master". Mastery indeed!
Dessert was a lemon tart: the custard was a bit on the runny side but I didn't give a crap because the lemon flavour was so intense and awesome. I had a glass of chamomile-infused grappa to finish off the meal that was a dessert unto itself.
I'd say this was the best meal I've had in Toronto in a long time, but I just went to that hipster taco place Grand Electric last week so it's a tough call.
Long story short: A+++ would eat again. -
Review from Precilla C.
Scarborough, ON
I came here with Mel C and another friend to try F'Amelia's pumpkin menu items (there was a pasta and a dessert). Honestly, I don't even think I love pumpkin that much, but Mel C has brainwashed me into thinking that I do. And of course, free parking around the neighbourhood is always a bonus!
The decor was rustic and charming, reminicsent of a cozy traditional Italian kitchen. I would love to dine here during the day, when sunlight can flood into the room.
We started off with two kinds of bread, served with olive oil. We all particularly loved the flatbread, which was reminiscent of pizza dough. Lucky that the bread was not served individually and not by the basket. Otherwise I would've eaten a lot more of it.
Now onto the food:
Pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter and sage, topped with amaretti crumble. The gnocchi had a really nice texture- soft and pillowy, just the way I like it. I could definitely taste the pumpkin, but I would've liked a little more of it. What I found strange was the sweetness of the dish. I expected a savoury pasta, but instead, the flavour combination was closer to the dessert end, particularly with the addition of amaretti crumble. However, the dish was undoubtedly unique, and I don't regret my choice.
Crespelle stuffed with prosciutto, 1608 cheese and spinach. This was my favourite of the night! The pasta was so soft that it seemingly fused with the cheese. The whole time, I felt like I was eating ham and spinach au gratin. The cheese was rich, creamy and absolutely delicious! The portion looks small, but the abundance of cheese made it very filling.
We bullied our other friend James into ordering a pizza, and he went with our server's recommendation- Di Parma with fior di latte, tomato sauce, prosciutto di Parma D.O.P., and extra virgin olive oil. I had a small slice and enjoyed it. The crust was very thin, which I liked.
Desserts...
Brûlée pumpkin tart with lavender chantilly cream. I found the lavendar bizarre and interesting, but luckily, it was quite subtle and not overwhelming. I wasn't overly impressed with the tart because the pastry was too thick and dry. With tarts, I really prefer the rustic ones that are more gooey and buttery.
F'Amelia offers a foursquare sign-in special in which you can get your second dessert 50% off. With that in mind, we coerced James into ordering a dessert as well (we're just wonderful friends!). He went with a more innovative dessert- wood oven baked apple and cinnamon pizza with vanilla ice cream. I love the concept of a dessert pizza, even though I didn't love the actual execution. There was just too much dough, and I'm not sure I want to be eating more carbs for dessert after indulging in a meal of bread, pasta and pizza. I also found it to be a little dry overall. Maybe adding more of that delicious vanilla ice cream would have helped. A word of warning: this dessert pizza is huge! I definitely recommend sharing this between at least 4 people if you don't want to be stuffed.
Despite the slightly disappointing desserts, I quite enjoyed our meal as a whole at F'Amelia. The menu changes seasonally, so I would definitely come back and try other items in the future. All in all, it's a great place for a cozy, heartwarming meal. -
Review from Mel C.
11/12/2011
Came here with two friends on a Friday to basically try anything pumpkin on their menu.
They offered us homemade bread with olive oil. I love bread and I think their homemade bread was delicious.
The pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter and sage topped with amaretti crumble was good. It was a bit too sweet for my liking but I thought that the gnocchi was cooked nicely. I also like the amaretti crumble but it made the gnocchi too sweet.
The crespelle stuffed with prosciutto, 1608 cheese and spinach was something I've never had before. This is Italian's version of crepe and I really enjoyed it. It just melts in your mouth and it's very rich. It seems like a small portion when you see it but it's actually very filling.
The Di Parma pizza which is stuffed crust with fresh ricotta, fior di latte, cherry tomatoes, arugula, extra virgin olive oil was also good. The dough was very thin which I like. I don't like buying pizza when I'm at a restaurant even if it's an Italian restaurant because I honestly love grocery store pizza. However, I think their pizza is much better than other restaurants such as Briscola so I'll probably try their other pizza the next time I visit them.
We got two desserts for dinner - the brulee pumpkin tart with lavender chantilly cream and wood oven baked apple and cinnamon pizza with vanilla ice cream. I was excited to try the pumpkin tart when it arrived at our table since I could smell the pumpkin aroma. However, it was a disappointment because the crust was way too thick and there wasn't enough pumpkin filling. I knew I wasn't going to enjoy the apple pizza but I was interested in how it looks. As I anticipated I didn't enjoy the apple pizza but I loved the vanilla ice cream on top! Also, this is a huge dessert so it's something you would want to share between 4 people.
The service here was good, I love the atmosphere/decors and I will definitely come back here once they have a new menu up for next season.
Just a few tips: parking here is free and if you check into foursquare, you can get your second dessert for half price. -
Review from d r.
Toronto, ON
3/12/2012
The place was unexpectedly slammed which definitely had an effect on the decent but kind of absent/vacant service.
Excellent Italian food. I worked in the restaurant business for decades and, while not a trained chef or a veritable supertaster, I maintain an analytical stance during every restaurant experience... F'Amelia offers a tantalizing menu that utilizes an interesting variety of ingredients. For instance, many of the offerings (including the special of the eve, a wild mushroom risotto) included rarely featured exotic fungi. My entree, tagliatelli with a venison and hen-of-the-woods ragout, was excellent. The fresh-made pasta was a fine ribbon of delectability which stood up to it's rather sparse but delicious savoury accompaniment (while my American palate might have preferred a meatier/mushroomier dish, I absolutely appreciated the faultless pasta as the star of the dish...).
Some of the things I appreciated most were the supporting details of the meal. The balsamic reduction on my arugula salad was divine as was the grated parm (which had an earthy romano or pecorrino flavour mixed in). The bread was baked in house (in the same wood-fired ovens they use for their pizzas) served individually and consisted of a cube of a dense lemon scented concoction with an almost cakey crumb alongside a few squares of bubbly oven-seared flatbread and, of course, some lovely olive oil on the plate.
There were a number of exciting dessert options (including a bruleed lemon tart with rhubarb compote, fig and olive oil cake with caramel sauce, gelato+truffle selections etc.) but to test the mettle I had to order tiramisu (I know it's old hat but I love a good tiramisu) which was absolutely first class...
Then I picked up the bowl to scrape up the last bits of delicious dessert and inhaled the sharp nauseating tang of mouldy un-changed hobart water radiating off the plate. FAIL.
The smell was so strong the friend seated next to me took note of it and it permeated my tastebuds. Disgusting.
Many restaurants and bars neglect their dishwashing machines in the heat of service and it can really ruin a dining experience.
Even so, I would've given this place five stars if they'd had a conscientious dishwasher. -
Review from Sandy W.
Toronto, ON
9/11/2011 7 Check-ins Here
Amazing thin crust pizzas, fantastic house red (a sangiovese), great staff and 14 wines by the glass. Now that is a start to a great restaurant not to mention a perfect addition to Cabbagetown.
My favorite pizza is the diavolo, which is a spicy little number that goes really well with their house red. And the table next to us loved their margarita pizza!
Last but not least, their patio is quite big and nicely situated viewing distrance from Parliament on the quiet street of Ameila. -
Review from pat a.
Toronto, ON
11/18/2011 3 photos
I ate at F'Amelia tonight, after following them on Twitter since prior to opening. I was thrilled. All the people I met: Todd (one of the owners), the manager (I missed writing her name down) and Maurizio, the executive chef, were all concerned, caring people, and you just know they love what they're doing.
The focaccia and rustic bread brought at the beginning of the meal are beautiful examples of in-house crafted product. Actually, I'm very jealous of the focaccia, having failed at it twice this year.
Tonight I ate the warm mackerel salad as an appetizer. The fish was firm and fresh, fried from the skin side, so nice crispy skin on top, with some frizzled lettuce greens. Definitely less oily than what I have produced at home! Underneath lay ingredients that complemented the fish beautifully. Grilled radicchio was superb, providing charry bitterness against the fish's richness, and then potatoes and sunchokes to provide sweetness. Highly recommended!
Next, I had the seafood risotto.
One perfectly seared sweet scallop surmounting a seafood risotto that included shrimp, clams, and impossibly tender squid. Really. I was wondering if I was mistaken, or if it was something else, like some stem of a mushroom that I wasn't familiar with. Executive chef Maurizio Verga dropped by, and I had the opportunity to ask him about it. He cooks his squid sous vide! It gets added to the risotto at the last moment. Very tasty risotto.
To finish, I had the polenta with osso buco. This was my third polenta dish of the last three weeks. I thought the polenta I had at Rose's Cafe in San Francisco was tasty. This was measurably better. Creamy perfect polenta, with osso buco and marrow butter. There's rosemary in the polenta, giving it a strong herby oil that stands up to the richness of the veal shank. Sometimes polenta has so much cheese in it that the flavour of the corn is lost. Not the case here.
With the stew on top...the brunoise was perfectly cubed and tender, not mushy. The meat is so perfectly exquisitely rich, tender, braised long enough to be almost reduced to strands, but not overcooked to complete denaturing (which makes a meat taste dried-out). This dish deserves a revisit. I had the small one: I can see coming back and having the full size on a cold day. It's very much a cold weather comfort food.
It turns out that Chef Maurizio is from Bergamo, just north of Milan, in the heart of polenta region. He really cares about his polenta, and it shows. Todd brought me a taste of a new wine he has brought in that goes really well with this dish. He knows his pairings!
I finished off with a small glass of a liqueur the Chef prepared. Similar to a limoncello, but greener, and more herbal notes. Worked well to finish the evening.
I'll be back. -
Review from b r.
Toronto, ON
3/2/2012
Visited F'Amelia last night for the first time. The reviews below basically say it all - very lovely atmosphere and wait staff (friendly and attentive), good food, somewhat expensive wine list. We had the roasted beet salad, pasta special (tagliatelle, venison bolognese, hen of the woods mushrooms), the venison and polenta off the regular menu, tiramisu, and fig & olive oil cake (total was about $150 with a cocktail, beer, and bottle of house red). The food was all good but I wouldn't say anything was outstanding. I think next time I'd definitely try the pizza.
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Review from Conor O.
Toronto, ON
10/29/2011
My wife and I just enjoyed an excellent dinner here. Bruschetta and antipasti starters were fantastic. The bread is extremely light and each antipasta was delicious. Olives, olive oil, meats and cheese all excellent.
The main courses were to the same standard. I had the lamb sausages which were delicious, and served on a perfect mix of roast vegetables.
The truffles, as mentioned in another review, were perfect especially the white chocolate chai truffle. Coffee WAS a little weak but i would take off half a star for this at most, if possible. Service, atmosphere, food and drink were all 5/5. I've found my favourite Italian, and it's 5 minutes from home!
We will be back for pizzas, which looked excellent. Owned by local Cabbagetowners with a head chef who's ex-Black-Hoof, you can't go wrong. -
Review from Kenny T.
Toronto, ON
11/17/2011 1 Check-in Here
What to say - I was excited to try this place...but left feeling very underwhelmed. The space is unfinished and uninspired...Very noisy because of the tile floor and we were crammed in to a ridiculous table. Service was spotty - you know you are desperate when you are shouting in to the open kitchen to ask the prep guy to flag down your waitress who you can see chatting away at the bar. Nothing special about the cocktails, deserts looked like they had come from Presidents Choice frozen section and while everyone was fine with their food, not one of our group of 10 raved. I won't go back, but hope they add a bit of oomph so that my friends in Cabbagetown have an alternative to HOP.
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Review from E H.
Toronto, ON
3/10/2012
Don't waste your time here. The food is overpriced and nothing special-so is the wine. The ambience is crowded and brightly lit. They sat us facing the kitchen and in the corner. The waitress was pushy.
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Review from Michael g.
Thornhill, ON
Great wood burning oven pizza. The Norcini pizza was delicious. Time for tiramisu.
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Review from fred f.
ON
10/16/2011
sunday early dinner.
no bread offered. q water is a bad idea until tap water is not free.
lots of salt on the menu. ate calimari which was kinda' a slimy or undercooked or something strange, but not charred as liked.
large plate and ergonomic bowl did not disquise small portion of squash soup.
tagliatelle w. rabbit needed flavour....ricotta?broth?herbs?
pizza was great.
obviously needed as place for monied locals spoiling and talking in adult manner to two year olds.
waiter seemed in a hurry to stand still elsewhere in newly decorated horizontal planked confines.
tofffee puddin' would benefit from heat.
feeling the toronto life net-hype at 170. for three, w. no different thrill for the price of gas to dine out.
new pizza is the old pizza without sysco.
hi -
Review from Allie D.
Toronto, ON
10/7/2011
Couldn't have been happier with my experience at dinner last night. The food was excellent! I went with a group of 5 people and was able to try a ton of different menu items and they were all fantastic. Try the pizza! This is a great spot for a small group dinner party or for date night. The lemon tart was an amazing way to finish the meal. Plus they have Bastianach wine! You sure can't find that at the LCBO... Can't wait for my next visit.
