Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill

Not the first time at this location, but the service keeps declining. Waited for eggs Benny and an order of regular fried eggs for almost an hour. We did get a brief apology, a tea cookie on the house (really?) and a charge for an extra water!!! I might be wrong, but their food is not that good to be worth an hour wait. And they could have been more attentive, since no welcome appetizers are offered, and at least taken the water off the bill ($ 6.00). That was not the case, so next time I and my friends will choose a further but more decent place.

A good brunch option if you want a slightly better atmosphere and service. The staff was friendly and usually very prompt with taking care of our group. I had the fried chicken french toast, which comes with 3 pieces of fried chicken on a slice of thick french toast. The best part of the meal was the Grand Marnier maple syrup which comes in a little tin cup, it has an almost caramel flavor and adds something special to the dish.
Heads up if you are coming with a group and having cake for a celebration. There is a $ 2.50 cake cutting fee for each person in the group. They present the cake for you, cut it up and plate it for you. They even redistributed the cake decorations so each slice had some fruit and dusted some powder sugar on top, which was a nice touch. Also, for a group they add a 18% tip to your bill automatically.

Saturday night is usually busy in any restaurant but the poor service we received on May 14-​th was not justified. Our servers were only interested in what we should order for drinks. The music was so loud that we could not here each other talk. Finally the server did come to take our orders. I ordered the mushroom soup which had a strange taste, Cesar salad, totally tasteless and pizza fungi. The pizza was just terrible, covered in some strange flavored melted cheese and a few mushrooms soaked in balsamic vinegar. We had to wait at least 30 minutes for coffee.
I spoke to the manager about the less than mediocre dinner and he smiled sweetly not a bit interested to talk about it. Our dinner guests felt the same way, the restaurant has gone way down hill and needs major improvement.
Good luck!

Spring rolls was pretty good, cod was a bit raw/​cold in the middle. Server was too cool… As if he’s doing us a favour.

What happened?
Bring back the seafood salad and the coffee which taste awesome without masking it with a ton of cream and sweetener!
Open the windows and bring back the old setting, menu, and quality of food please!
Food quality has gone down. Just doesn’t match up to what this place used to be. I really miss the awesome setting and the crowd it used to attract. The wonderful brunch in a well light restaurant with awesome service and quality of food. We used to frequent this place, almost most weekends for brunch when chance is given.
Service is still very good. Servers are always polite.

Went here for a typically meal on a Wednesday night around 9. It was a little quiet, since it was a little later on a Wednesday night. We were seated at our seats and was quickly greeted by our server Andrew shortly after. He did a great job introducing the drinks and specials and was fully enthusiastic the whole time. He convinced me to get a curry dish (I forget the name of) from their world inspired curry Wednesday daily special. The curry was alright, wasn’t the best but also wasn’t the worst. I’ve been here a couple times and food was always okay, but this is a good place for larger family gathering to just get together and have a family meal.
Overall food was average, and service was amazing.

This place has really gone downhill over the last 2 years. Went for dinner last night to celebrate an early Easter. 5 of us in total, 3 ordered the special (jerked ribs) and 2 of us ordered pasta. Some notes:
— our dinner came out in about 8 minutes (before our wine even came out)… The ribs were good but the pasta was very undercooked. It was clear they rushed the pasta to match the ribs. They should have just waited the extra 10 minutes to let the pasta cook properly.
— my fettuccini bolognese came out drenched in parmesan cheese. Even the waiter noticed and tried to play it off like it was normal.
— the markup on wine was the highest I’ve ever seen at a restaurant. There’s a Graffinga on the menu that sells at the LCBO for $ 14.95 that O&B was charging $ 55 for. 200% is the norm usually, so it should have been about $ 44-​$ 45
— The restaurant was incredibly loud. I couldn’t hear my siblings sitting across the table from me. It became a point of amusement for us the entire evening.
Despite the food troubles, our service was great and very prompt. Too bad the food and atmosphere couldn’t match that.

Your typical chain experience. Good and predictable but not mind blowing.

Definitely not the place you want to eat. This is my weekend bar, just for drinks!

I always like to come to O&B café and grill just because of the great atmosphere, consistent quality of food and great service.
Came here as part of winterlicious this year where it is still at a great price for dinner. Was seated at some corner table, wasn’t too happy about that. They also offered us a seat outside on the nice and quiet AstroTurf, as if this was a better option.
Ordered the bayou bean and pea fritters (fancy falafel), it was good and hot. The blackened haddock: ingredients were fresh and had great flavour but my only complaint was that it wasn’t blackened at all! Pumpkin & buttermilk cake was good but just the usual.
The only thing is that I don’t recommend any mixed drinks here. The sangria I ordered had almost no alcohol content or fruits and tasted kind of like coolaid «juice».
I admit I wasn’t too impressed this time, the quality and service varies from visits. However, our server was great, the atmosphere was good, it’s always busy here and the prices you really can’t complain about.

Slightly confused about their cuisine. We went for winterlicious but a lot of the items had a lot of Louisiana/​Cajun flare — not what I was expecting. The food didn’t impress me but the décor and service is always good there. I will visit again when their menu changes.

I would come back for the bread and the pizza, but not much else. The bread is amazing — warm and crunchy, we asked for seconds. I started with the grilled calamari which were cooked well but were too greasy. The table shared a mushroom pizza — it was delicious — freshly made, pillowy and great flavour from pickled onions, mushrooms and goat cheese. I had the scallops which came with handkerchief pasta — it was disappointing and expensive at $ 31 — 3 tiny scallops, boring undercooked sheets of pasta. My sister got the crab cake which was pretty good, cheaper and came with more food. Service was slow, our waitress had to constantly be asked to fill our waters. I found it odd that plates were brought out at different times, so that there was a gap of almost 5 minutes where half the table had their food. Our gelato came out long after we had finished our tea and coffee.

Everything was just OK eating here.
Food was fresh and hot but I was expecting a meal with a bit of a wow factor.
Service was very long… very slow.
Food was just average. Expecting more considering the price.

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary at O&B. When I made a reservation I asked if we could get a more quiet or private table as we were going to celebrate our anniversary. They not only sat us at a lovely private booth, but both the host and wait staff greeted us and wished us happy anniversary without us even saying anything. Everyone was so friendly. The food and ambience was great and romantic. We ordered the Saturday BBQ ribs special which was so flavourful and the Octopus entrée was filling and comforting for a cold winter day. The ribs were fall off the bone and had a nice kick to it. Lots of spices and flavours. They surprised us by giving my husband a complimentary cocktail since I am pregnant and when we ordered the yummy white chocolate cheesecake they wrote happy anniversary for us. Our waitress even offered to take a picture of us without me having to ask. I love the way O&B took the time to make our dinner a memorable one and paid attention to details.

Came here for lunch with a friend on the weekend. I had the Mac and Cheese and she had the Breakfast Burrito. Both dishes were fabulous. Breakfast Burrito was tasty and the Mac and Cheese was delicious. They were both perfect portions. We had reservations and the table was ready when we got there. Service was great. Food came in a timely manner. The décor was nice. Would definitely come back!

My uncle lives around this area and thought it would be nice to come for lunch here for something a little nicer.
We had a reservation and got seated quite quickly as the hostess was quick on her feet and friendly. The décor was very nice and modern, with different kinds of lighting throughout the restaurant. Always like seeing retro bulbs as it gives off a nice lighting.
I had the Chiorzo Sausage Hash, and my family got the Chicken Club and Stuffed Croissant.
The hash was quite good with lots of flavour, but I felt the balance of the overall dish was a little off. There was too much potato, making the overall dish feel a bit dry.
The chicken club was massive and quite good. A little harder to eat and a messier lunch option, but not a bad choice.
The criossant was delicious, with lots of strong flavours. Loved it as it had some feta cheese!
The service was what I didn’t particular like about the restaurant. The wait for food seemed longer than it should be and our server didn’t seem like she was all there. She got our orders wrong, missed out on a couple items, and even spilled some water on me. Granted, she said that she was accidentally ‘bumped’ into, but doesn’t change the fact I was still wet. She also seemed a bit aggressive with placing glasses on our table after filling it with water, as well as taking forever to get us our bill and bring the machine over to pay.
She was the only server I did a double-​take for either. I definitely saw another server walk up to a table where a customer had dropped their scarf. Instead of picking it up for them, they just ‘kindly’ stepped around it and didn’t inform them either.
Not exactly an establishment that I would like to go to again, even if the food was quite good.

Arrived 15 minutes earlier than reservation, and I wouldn’t say it was the warmest welcome. Didn’t even get a «hallo» or «welcome to…». Feel more like checking into a lawyer’s office than to a classy restaurant.
Our server, Amanda, on the other hand, was really friendly, and made good suggestions.
Their food were cooked to perfection. Thanks to the Prix Fixe menu for New Year’s Eve, the price was really reasonable. If not for the cold welcome, I would’ve given five stars.

They have $ 5 mimosas which are awesome. For the main i ordered the eggs Benedict with salmon. It tasted amazing. Some of the best i have had. For desert i had the white chocolate cheesecake. Very filling and tasted great.

Came here on a sat night with bf. Didn’t have a reservation. Seated after two minutes.
The baguette served was warm.
We ordered one strip loin, one bowl of mushroom soup, and one daily special which was a BBQ back ribs.
Soup was fair. Bf liked his strip loin. I tried some of the mashed potato beneath and it tasted good.
However, my BBQ back ribs was a total disaster. It’s more like a cancer causing all black piece of hard coal. (See pic) it tasted so strong… Sour… Spicy… So as the corn on the cob. It’s so burnt. I could finish the Coleslaw and the corn bread but not the corn nor the ribs. I wanted some additional Coleslaw to help with the spiciness but was told no.
For a total of $ 90+ for a meal that I didn’t even want to finish… I… Don’t think I’ll visit again.

This is one restaurant that I do tend to favour a lot. It’s great for catching up with old friends or getting to know new ones. Most of the time at restaurants I opt to get steaks but this place seems to push me out of my comfort zone and try something I normally wouldn’t. Being a Friday night I opted to try their fish special of the day: Pan Seared Cod on a bed of Yam mash and what appears to be rapini with some honey glaze truffle butter.
What I really like about the special is how much it reminded me how much I like black cod, the savoury sweet buttery aspect of it all. Was this as great as black cod? no. But I did thoroughly enjoy eating it together with yam. How come I didn’t think of eating fish with yams before? Probably because I am super lazy and can’t cook anything with more than one ingredient. Nevertheless this is why I pay the dollars to try something I wouldn’t have thought of.
Throughout the meal, I also enjoyed one of their freshly squeezed juices: a hot pear cider which hit the spot. At the beginning of the meal I was hoping to finish with an apple pie/​crumble dessert which they do not offer, but this was a good place holder as it carried similar aromas and textures as a mush in my mouth and cinnamon in my nose. I still would have liked to see apple pie on the dessert menu.
This is the first time I chose not to go with a dessert at this location. I typically go with a lava cake, but the last few times I have tried it all I got was half done brownie and nothing that resembled flowing chocolate lava that I see on tv. I almost went with it again this time only to glance over at the table next to me to see if it was what I have wanted to see but sadly it was just more of the same. I passed.
Overall I still enjoyed my time here, great convenient location right off the 401, happy atmosphere with attentive staff in J-​Crew flannel. I have been here with many people and will likely do so again. See you when I have more money Oliver & Bonacini.

Before I can tell you my perspective of what I didn’t care for at this location, I have to emphasize that the staff were very pleasant. So much so that they gave my best friend a congratulations card on his celebratory achievement. Unfortunately that was the only thing about this place that gets a ⁵⁄₅ rating. I was fairly disappointed in this restaurant. First I think my expectations were quite high, seeing that Oliver and Bonnacini’s is in the Bayview Village. I was under the impression that because of its location, it has higher end quality, in fact it almost fell short of just average.
The atmosphere is quite pleasant and the staff work hard, like I said, and there’s no doubt about that. That in itself is a very positive bonus. What concerned me was were the following things.
The décor. It’s quite nice in many regards, a nice layout of wine is displayed on a wall, you can see the open wood oven where pizza is made, it’s dimly and romantically lit, but they have cafeteria like tables. These tables were wobbly, not set right and wiggled too and fro while I attempted to cut up my food and it was not pleasant. I had to either get a napkin and fold it in half under a leg of the table or place my foot under the leg to stabilize it. I chose the latter, to my dismay.
The portions are very small, and overpriced.
The food was average. Dinner was acceptable although my fish was very very dry. Dessert, which is a hot lava cake, was delivered cold.
Drinks. They forgot to get my wife hers, and only brought it after being reminded twice.
Overall. Not great. Won’t recommend it and won’t go back. Friendly staff unfortunately don’t trump poor tables, lack of service and subpar food, that is overpriced.

Yummy brunch location in North York.
Rarely we can find brunch that consists of something other than eggs and sausages up here, but O&B makes it easy! I ordered their Fried Chicken French Toast which had «Grand Marnier spiked caramel sauce & organic maple syrup», which was as delicious as it sounds. It was topped off with mandarin slices that cut through the fat from the fried chicken. I think the price is fair for what we get, but this may not be the case for some other dishes. Great service.
I would come back just for the french toast!

Great Summerlicious experience. We were a large group and some of us decided to order from the regular menu, cause honestly the choices are so limited. The complimentary warm bread basket was quite nice and fresh. We figured it’s better worth it to order wine by the glass than ordering by bottle. Our server was very attentive and the water glasses were filled twice during dinner.
The pork Schnitzel was the least liked. I personally sampled the Schnitzel and found it very salty.
The tenderloin steak was a favourite, which is unfortunately not on the Summerlicious menu. It’s topped with caramelized onion and was cooked to perfection.
Aside from those, here’s my 2 cents on O&B’s Summerlicious menu:
My 3 course dinner: Rose Wine +
Pakora: very spicy, tastes like Falafel with fried eggplant and raita as garnish (⁴⁄₅)
BBQ Jerk chicken: Mildly spicy, great for those who like spicy food, but can’t handle too much spice like me. The dish comes with rice and kidney beans. (⁴⁄₅)
Beaver Tail: Dough topped with Cinnamon sugar with raspberry and melted chocolate. Very sugary and nowhere near top notch quality in my opinion. It was very A-​OK and I give it (³⁄₅)
I’ve become to believe that Summerlicious is just a good excuse to try out food that you’re not familiar with and wouldn’t normally order if it was on the regular menu.

I ventured in with high hopes, after checking out their Summerlicious menu because it is an Oliver & Bonacini restaurant. What a big mistake!
My friend and I ordered the perogies and Papaya salad as our apps. They were pretty good. We ordered the Jambalaya– it was the driest and most flavourless I ever tasted. The fish was fried in hard, heavy batter i could barely taste the fish. My friend is Hungarian so not sure it’s a fair critique about the schnitzel– she said she’s had better. For dessert she ordered cheese and crackers which she loved, and I ordered a microwave– heated peach pie.

Went here for summerlicious 2015. Got the perogies (pretty good), haddock and rice combo (very dry, probably not the best idea to pair two dry sides together) and the apple/​peach pie (not bad, at least it was moist. Too bad it didn’t come with ice cream). All for $ 25. However quite disappointing as I really had high hopes for the food. Wouldn’t order any of them a second time as there are better menu items. The stars are strictly based on the summerlicious menu.
The staff was very attentive once they took our order. Overall a good restaurant.

I frequently go to Oliver & Bonacini around Summerlicious/​Winterlicious season since I pass by the area often. From my previous visits I’m quite satisfied with the service and the food overall. I would recommend booking your reservations online ahead of time to avoid long wait times. I’ve often seen people having to wait outside around peak times, just to keep in mind
Just this past weekend I went back for Summerlicious and one of selections for the main dishes was the Jerk Chicken Quesadilla. It was unexpectedly delicious. So was the Peach and Apple Pie for dessert, it was warm and the little whipped cream on top made it more enjoyable.

We decided to try Oliver&Bonacini on a whim when we saw it in Bayview Village. We were immediately seated in a booth. The dim lighting and candlelit tables gave the place a really great ambience.
We got the 10oz BBQ strip loin ($ 37), which was served with some vegetables and potatoes. The meat itself was cooked to perfection, tender and savory, and the sides topped it off very well – I definitely recommend it.
We also got the Mac & Cheese Pasta ($ 16), which looked very childish. On the menu, it said it would be served with Goldfish crumbs but it was actually served with entire Goldfish crackers. The taste itself was a bit bland after a few bites as well; not worth the money.

I’ve driven by this place numerous times and always kept saying I need to check it out… so on the weekend I did! This place is huge inside — could easily hold 100+ people. They have a section in the back for private parties. The whole restaurant is beautiful inside — if you want to impress a date, your mother in law this is the place to go.
The brunch menu is simple with about 10 or so choices. Which is great because an overwhelming amount of choices makes me wonder about quality. I had the fried chicken and french toast. 3 pieces of the most delicious fried chicken (crispy on the outside… super moist on the inside) served on brioche bread with orange maple syrup. Everything was yum… but unfortunately they had doused the french toast with the syrup… it was swimming in it. To me this ruins the beautiful crispiness of french toast… to the point where you only taste the syrup. This is why I gave it 3 stars and not 4. I figure a great chef should know you can’t douse your meal in sauce (or at least have the sauce in a separate container so the person can pour on themselves)
The service was nice and they have a small patio in the front if you want to get your sun on while eating. A great place for mother’s day brunch/​lunch!

There seems to be mixed review about this place so it could be a hit or miss.
I do have to say their brunch was delicious and I would not mind going again. I ordered the eggs Benedict, and it was pretty good. I still have yet to try their lunch/​dinner menu so that could be a different experience but I would definitely recommend it for brunch.
However, my friend and I arrived on a late Sunday morning (11ish) and it was crowded! It could’ve been because of the Winterlicious crowd, which I completely forgot about but we were lucky enough to get seats since we were only a table of two. We were seated by the atrium, which has narrower pathways for people to walk through.

I would give this place a 3.5. Came here on a Saturday morning at 11am (opens at 11) with one of my favourite people. The 2 of us were seated right away (we made a reservation online). Drink orders were taken promptly and the service was very friendly.
I ordered the shrimp frittata ($ 17) that was made with spinach, brown rice noodles and julienned root vegetables. The presentation was very pretty but it was a little tough to eat the crunchy noodles on top. The flavours didn’t totally jive with me but it was «ok» and was served nice and hot. My friend ordered an orange juice ($ 4), the quiche ($ 16) which also came with a side salad. We would rate the food around a 3 to 3.5 considering the prices as well but understanding it is located in bayview village which is higher end.
Great and fast service and nice ambience. We were actually done our brunch a little after 12 and were able to walk around the mall for a while which was nice. But we didn’t feel rushed.
I have been here for brunch a few times now and have never been wowed. But it is a convenient location to meet up with friends and nice staff.
I’d actually really like to try the origins north that is just next door!

Loved everything about this place except the price. There is great ambiance and nice décor with amazing service.
Cheese pizza $ 16 — tons of cheese topped with arugula leaves. About the size of a dinner plate. Simple but oh so good.
Shrimp spaghetti $ 19 — the noodles were done perfectly with such a bouncy texture to it and accompanied by a bunch of shrimps. Once again it was simple but oh so good.
S’mores $ 8.25 — thin layer of gram cracker with a rich chocolate topped with roasted marshmallows and raspberry sauce. Tasted good but don’t think I would order again. Worth one try.
Vanilla bean crème brule $ 8.25 — loved the burnt sugary flavour it had on the top layer. Perfectly sweet and definitely will give you a nice sugar high.
Overall a great dining experience.