Toscana Italian Grill & Bar
Restaurant Name: Toscana Italian Grill & Bar
Location: 515 South St, Lafayette, IN (map it)
Phone: (765) 423-1000
Cuisine: Italian
Review: I am having trouble mustering enough enthusiasm to write this review. I think I’ll just start by saying how very disappointed I was in my visit to Toscana. I’d heard that it had replaced Sarge Oaks at the Holiday Inn Select downtown and was really excited to try it out.
When my party arrived, the restaurant was pretty empty and we were seated immediately. The restaurant was lovely in appearance, and I had high hopes for dinner. I was excited about the drink special, $5 pomegranate martinis, and I can honestly say that was the highlight of dinner.
We perused the menu and made our choices. One appetizer sounded so good our table ordered two of them to share among five people. It was a tomato and Gorgonzola dip served with bread. I had really high hopes, but was horribly disappointed. What appeared at our table were dishes that appeared to be filled with seasoned tomato paste, topped with crumbled Gorgonzola. I am not someone who is all that particular about my food – I’ve been known to clean my plate even if I don’t like something, but I really couldn’t eat this. And neither could the rest of my table.
I ordered Ravioli and chose the Caesar salad to go with it. My salad arrived with the appetizer, and it was almost all completely iceberg lettuce with a few croutons, liberally coated throughout with Caesar dressing. Every piece of lettuce was covered with dressing. I like dressing on my salad, but it’s not an absolute necessity that every inch of it be covered.
When my dinner arrived, I was sad to see what appeared to be the same thick tomato paste on top. I pushed off most of that and ate the raviolis, which were nothing special. However, for the price of $13.00, I could have bought a package of ravioli and a jar of Prego and served the whole table – and it would have tasted better and saved us all a lot of money.
The rest of my dining companions had pizza, and while none were as disappointed as I was with my meal, no one was excited about their meal either. One friend ordered a pesto pizza, and the crust was so soggy that she couldn’t even pick up her slices. She had to eat it with a fork, which is a shame because it was actually the best tasting pizza at the table.
As for service, I don’t have any complaints. Our waiter was friendly and fairly attentive, even if he didn’t get our jokes. The music being played during our dining was a little retro. I like retro, but we’re talking early 80′s songs including, but not limited to, “Island’s in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, some early Madonna, and even “Kyrie” by Mr. Mister. Not exactly what you’d expect at a fine Italian eatery.
My advice: Skip this one; you can get a better meal at the Olive Garden.
Kid friendly: Yes. They had high chairs and the tables were covered with white paper and there were crayons on the table.
Methods of payment: Cash or credit.
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After leaving Bluefin Bistro tonight because of a rude experience, I went to Toscana. The staff was friendly and helpful. I ordered calamari and found it to be quite good. The aiole sauce was tastier than the marinara. I also thought that the paprika sprinkled around the plate and on the calamari was not necessary. The trout almondine was quite good. I really liked the balsamic vinegar/basil butter sauce that was poured over it. The cippolini was fairly tasteless but I had grated fresh parmesan added and it made it much better (along with a little salt).
16 Feb 09 at 6:02 am #I will return to Toscana but will NEVER go back to Bluefin Bistro.
I am not sure what happen to this place since it open a few months ago but it has really changed ALOT, and not for the better. I was there a few nights ago with 2 other guests from out of town and wasshocked to see that there was only 1 person working in the entire place, there was not even a bartender, I ended up having to get up and go to the bar to wait on the lady serving us to give me our drinks. I understand that Purdue is not in regular session, but come on! Once the food arrived I thought things would get better, but no way the food was tasteless, the lasagna was luke warm at best and my pasta dish was so over cooked the the noodles were falling apart.
I will think twice before I ever experience this place again
10 Jul 09 at 4:45 pm #Joined friends who were staying at the hotel for dinner. Seated by a short snippy woman, who turned out to be the manager. Dining room was empty at 6:30 First Clue. Limited wine selection. Caesar salads drowned in dressing. Food took forever to come out. Waitress had disappeared. Finally showed up with the food (she had obviously been somewhere smoking).
22 Jul 09 at 4:52 pm #She said the food had taken so long because there was a banquet upstairs and everyone in the kitchen was working on it.
The food was not worth the wait. The lasagna was an enormous portion but way overcook and the meat had been pureed for some reason. The spaghetti and meatballs were no better.
The snippy manager stopped by and asked how we were enjoying the food. We were honest with her about the salad and the food. It obviously pissed her off. She mumbled an apology and stomped off.
Bottom line go to LaScala or Olive Garden
[...] but I ate as much as I could. As far as pasta, I can say that it’s head and shoulders above Toscana’s pasta and that’s a place that claims to be an Italian [...]
15 Apr 10 at 8:32 pm #