About a year or two ago, the bf and I decided to try some new restaurants out instead of going to our usual food joints. Amateur food critics we are at best (at least, I am :)), but we love eating. After eating at a number of restaurants, I really wanted to write about my awesome/sub-par experiences. Yes, there's restaurantica and chowhound but I guess I wanted something different. Too lazy to create a site for it so I guess I'll just blog about it for now then c-p it over :)
Belaggios Gelato
705 Kingston Rd
Pickering, Ontario
Cuisine(s): Deli, gelato
Date visited: April 2010
Hoping for a small lunch to hold us over for dinner, bf and I decided to see if there was something in the vicinity of Pickering TC. Tucked in a corner of a plaza at 705 Kingston was Belaggios Gelato that advertised Italian deli sandwiches. Walking in I sensed a very homey and clean atmosphere, suspecting a family run business.
Food: 5/5
The menu was a bit limited but that didn't bother me. We were planning on sharing a sandwich and salad but got stumped between the veal on a bun and roast beef sandwich. Asked for an opinion, the cashier suggested the veal. Also asked for a side Italian salad (never heard of "i-talian salad" previous to this). We had a choice of a "topping" on our bun - I wanted sweet peppers and he wanted eggplant. No problem, the cashier replied, they can put half and half. NICE. Sat down for a few minutes and she brought out each of our half sandwiches on nice plates, followed by the salad. The bun was a nice texture (not sure if there was whole wheat available), veal and topping very delicious. A good portion, given it was only half the sandwich. The "i-talian" salad was simple greens tossed together, but with sauteed peppers, sliced button mushrooms and onions in a light vinaigrette. Also very tasty. I glanced behind me and hinted to the gelato. Bf had no choice. We got a small cup of ferrero rocher and stracciatella, with lil whee spoons that I always want to keep. It was FANTASTICALLY MIND BLOWING. I was very satisfied with our selection.
Service: 5/5
There were only two people in the little deli at the time - the cashier and the "cook". The cashier was a pretty young woman who was extremely nice. When our food was ready she even brought it out to us - I had fully expected the cook just to shout out our order and to go fetch it. She gave us her opinion on what was good, and even suggested we could do half/half toppings on our sandwich.
Atmosphere: 4.5/5
The deli was very small, with 3 small tables and a bar counter on the side to seat another few. Had a simple decor. The floors were nice and clean, as were the tables, plates and cutlery. Most important - the chairs and tables weren't rickety!! (big beef of mine). I didn't get a chance to use the bathroom tho (also a biggie), so N/A on that.
Price/Value: 4.5/5
Veal on a bun was ~$6 and a small salad was $4 (bottle of water was $1) + tax. Average priced, and the portions were decent. At first I thought the salad was pricey but after finding out there was delicious sauteed veggies in there I retracted that opinion. For two people for a small lunch, $13 was a pretty good bang for our buck.
Overall dining experience: 5/5
I really can't find anything bad to rant about this place. Food was delicious, service was nice and the atmosphere was pleasant. The only thing I'm worried about is eating here at a busy lunch hour (we went around 3pm) and how busy it will be and the wait for food. Will definitely come back.
