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Amenities and More
About the Business
Business owner information
Pietro A.
The Italian casual dining and Bottega experience in Toronto. Variety of Charcuterie and Cheese boards, pasta and pizza menu made with authentic Italian products. All enjoyed accompanied by wide selection of Italian wines.
Recommended Reviews
Overall rating
13 reviews
5 stars
4 stars
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1 star
- Nov 4, 2021Updated review
Mulino is the latest incarnation of this wonderful spot in Little Italy - same owners, different concept.
They have done a great job in adapting to the COVID era by switching from fine dining Italian seafood (Ballaro) to a lasagna-centric menu (Mission Lasagna) to the current marketplace style (Mulino), offering more upscale casual foods, Italian wines, and a shopping experience featuring great products from Italy.
On this visit, our group of six started with a Mulino Board, basically a charcuterie platter with great tasting ingredients. This opened our appetites!
Next, we had an assortment of Pizzetinos. They're kinda like gourmet style pizza pockets but kicked up a few notches. They were all delicious!
Of course, we had to have some pasta and they were all deliciously excellent! The Tartufissima, apparently Oprah's favourite, could also be my new favourite, especially with its slices of fresh Black Italian Truffles! Yummy! The Rigatoni Slow Food had artichoke cream and pancetta. Who doesn't love pancetta?!? The Homemade Ravioli and Barolo Wine Tagliolini were equally delicious! The presentation was unique, being served in thin crispy bread bowls, edible of course. Try them all!
Our evening ended with Panna Cotta and Tiramisu, all light and perfectly delicious!
Of course, dining on Italian food, we had to have some wine! A nice bottle of Nebbiolo d'Alba hit the spot quite nicely!
We really enjoyed the food from this new menu, and the new concept. Everything was excellent, including the service!
Give this place a try!
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Oh no 0Apr 29, 2020Previous reviewBallarò has adapted quite well to the changing restaurant scene, due to COVID-19 concerns. With all dining rooms closed, their seafood-centric menu didn't translate very well to takeout. Mission Lasagna was created to feed the community and keep the business alive during the shutdown.
They have come up with a menu centered around lasagna, nineteen varieties to be exact! I never knew there could be so many different types! Prices range from $11 and go up to $19 for a 19oz portion. Varieties include vegetarian, meat, and seafood options, with green, white, red, and even squid ink pasta. They also have very cool names!
I tried the Sara (white pasta, tomato sauce, veal and beef ragu, mozarella, parmigiano, bechamel), Tina (white pasta, broccoli, pork sausage, bechamel), and Rita (green pasta, asparagus, chicken, parmigiano, mozarella, bechamel). They were all delicious! I need to try others now!
My favourite item, however, was the TotoBurger (lettuce, Sicilian sauce, pancetta, provola cheese, beef burger). This was a hefty and very delicious, juicy burger, one of the best I've had in a very long time!
I also tried some of their other offerings, including the Lasagna Sticks, Lasagna Rose, Bomba Cream (filled with custard cream), and Bomba Nutella (filed with Nutella). The Bombas are like filled donuts, excellent!
I also picked up and delivered to several friends, making it a productive trip. Overall, everything I had tasted really good! I'll have to do this again!Mar 13, 2020Previous reviewBefore I begin, full disclosure, I was invited randomly by Ballarò to a tasting of their food. I was not paid or coerced into writing a positive review. In fact, the food and service spoke for themselves. Esperienza eccellente!
From the moment I walked in, I could tell this was going to be a special evening. From the sliding glass entrance door, to the wall of wine at the entrance, to the intimate lighting throughout the dining room, this place has a nice ambiance.
Throughout our visit, we enjoyed their 7-course seafood-centric tasting menu, plus a couple of other dishes, and freshly shucked oysters to start. The rest of the menu included an octopus and eggplant stew, a trio of raw fish, bruschetta with mussels, pasta stuffed with broccoli and squid, rissoto in squid ink, king fish, spaghetti carbonara with seafood, sea bass flambe, and crepes flambe. Every dish was presented very attractively and tasted even better than it sounds!
If I had to pick favourites, it would have to be the risotto, sea bass, spaghetti, and the crepes. The spaghetti was prepared and presented tableside, as were the sea bass flambe and crepes flambe. Nice show!
Besides the great tasting food, the service was also outstanding! The staff were all friendly, professional, and very accommodating.
In my very unbiased opinion, Balaro is definitely worth experiencing! - Apr 11, 2021
A pleasant find in these days of takeouts. Not wanting to make Lasagna at home as not many folks to share with anymore this spot stood out as they even had a promo on uber eats that made trying them out a no brainer.
I opted for the classic and vegetarian version. Both were decent. Good sauce to meet/vegetable/pasta strips ratio. Not as cheesy as I would have preferred but at this price point better than any fancy grocery take out for sure. They have a lot of options to pick and try so if you like lasagna you are bound to find one to your liking. Good for take out and if you want something substantial you can always offer two portions ;)
Helpful 2Thanks 0Love this 2Oh no 0 - Aug 26, 2020
Mission Lasagna features creative lasagna dishes suitable for dining in, patio dining, and takeout. Each lasagna dish is named after a nurse working in Italy during the pandemic to honour them. The slogan is "To Serve and Provide".
All dishes are made in-house with prime ingredients. All vegetables are organic from local farms.
Their wines are imported from Italy so are not available at the LCBO.
A group of us had a big feast.
1) Taburno, bottle $45
2) Lasagna Rose Pepperoni, $5.00. Spicy red noolde, tomato sauce, pepperoni spicy salami, provola cheese, bechamel. Nut free.
3) Calamari, $9.75. Calamari in flour, semolino, fried with Sicilian sauce.
4) Polpo e Patate, $22.00. Octopus, baby potatoes and Sicilian sauce.
5) Lasagna Lucia, $19.00. Spicy crispy red noodles, smoked salmon, cream cheese, zucchini, mint leaves. Nut free.
6) Lasagna Nadia, $18.00. Spinach green noodles, mushrooms, parimigiano cheese, pancetta, mozzarella and truffle bechamel. Nut free.
There is an interesting history. On 2020-03-07, they opened as Ballaro, a fine dining Sicilian restaurant focusing on seafood. The owners also own a Ballaro restaurant in Italy. The interior definitively had an atmosphere of a fine dining restaurant. Unfortunately they had to close on 2020-03-17 due to the pandemic lockdown. They reopened for takeout and delivery but fresh seafood doesn't translate well for takeout as well fine indoor dining.
Their focus had to change and they decided on gourmet lasagna, starting with 19 varieties of lasagna but now reduced to 10 varieties. Thus they are changing their name to Mission Lasagna, away from Ballaro. Even the interior will be renovated to a casual atmosphere in late 2020.
During pandemic reopening Stage 2, they have tables outside on an extended sidewalk (taking up one lane of the road). In reopening Stage 3, indoor dining is allowed where the tables are quite far apart.
They have separate male/female washrooms downstairs. Of course these washrooms are not accessible. The entrance to the restaurant is a little tricky for a wheelchair.Helpful 3Thanks 0Love this 2Oh no 0 
164673359427May 31, 2020Thanks so much for offering comfort food during this uncertain time. I never realize that there are so many different varieties of Lasagna till now.
It is not easy to just pick one from a selection of 19? I ended up getting 4of them. I enjoyed every one but especially MARGO: seafood with squid ink noodle.
Bomba is a nice finish to end my meal! Nutella or Custard Cream and even both.
Thanks for being here to support the community and hopefully we will come out stronger. Can't wait to actually come in and another full dine in experience soon.Helpful 12Thanks 0Love this 12Oh no 0
113241889Jun 17, 2020I love small businesses like Ballaro. Situated in Little Italy this place offers great hospitality and yummy savoury and sweet items. I got to try Bomba gelato (gelato sandwich/burger) and the Bomba Nutella which were both delicious. The gelato flavours I tried are the hazelnut and biscotti. This restaurant has Sicilian roots and it was great talking to the staff about how they present their roots in their cooking. Check them out if your in Little Italy.
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Dejan B.Yonge and Eglinton, Toronto, ON1926Feb 17, 2020First to ReviewGreat fine dining place specialized in see food, very elegant and modern. Excellent food, atmosphere and service. Truly fine dining experience with side table preparation option on selected entrees.
Will definitely go back to try more from their exceptionally refreshing and wide menu.
Also they have wast vine list to choose from that goes just perfect with the food served.
I would definitely recommend this place for anyone who enjoy fine dining seafood, pasta, risotto.....Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 1Oh no 0
Toronto D.Toronto, ON023134Jul 20, 2020Tried the Lasagna Roses for takeout! So delicious & pretty! My favourite was the spinach rose!
Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0- Anela M.Toronto, ON073Feb 7, 2021
I got a takeout vegetarian lasagna (I believe it's called "Christina") and it's the BEST lasagna I've EVER had! The pasta was a perfect texture and the sauce was to die for! Even with the amount of veggies in it, the consistency was perfect, not at all soggy or mushy as some veggies lasagna tend to be. Had a nice chat with the friendly owner too and he mentioned that they make their pastas fresh from scratch (so no wonder it's so good!). Will be back for sure to try their classic lasagna and people also say their desserts are amazing. #supportLocalBusiness
Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - Daisy K.Toronto, ON028Oct 25, 2020
Their bolognese pasta was pretty good - they're probably best at pastas.
Their tiramisu however was nasty. Do not reco. Never knew tiramisu could taste that way. I think their recipe includes egg yolk but it's blended in a way that makes the cheese/cream layer into a really rough texture with a terrible egg taste and NOTHING like the creamy smooth mascarpone that you get with typical tiramisu.
Also got the taking which was a flop - soggy overcooked and sour???Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0
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