Ruffino's Pasta Bar & Grill

Went here for a girls night out and sat at the Chef’s area where you are able to sit and watch the chefs cook. The chef was an absolute rockstar, talk about lady boss! Our cocktails were delicious- order the margarita!! Gluten free pizza looked so good I had to have them double check it was gluten free! Crust was amazing, dough was delicious, just wish the pizza itself had more flavour to it. Desserts also stellar: panna cotta was refreshing and tangy, and my mum said the tiramisu was one of the best she’s had.

We spent a lot of time reading reviews about Ruffino and was SO excited to be Wow’d. I genuinely think our experience was not the typical experience most guests have when visiting. The restaurant is in a super cute location, love the uniqueness of the patio and very casual yet beautiful atmosphere. On the website they mention being able to accommodate various dietary requirements which was one of the many reasons we chose to dine there. Unfortunately the server who initially took our table was super green, deer in the headlights when asked anything about modifications, suggestions or anything specifically pertaining to what the ingredients were in the various dishes. Water took 20 minutes, cocktails took 40, no recommendations for mocktails (2 of 4 guests were pregnant and the response was “we can make anything a mocktail” Eventually we were assigned a new server after speaking with the manager, understandably the restaurant was understaffed and the staff they did have were new hires and not fully trained. After an hour we had a new server assigned to our table, she was phenomenal. Very knowledgeable and patient, was able to provide recommendations and knew the menu and pairings like the back of her hand. The cocktails we did get were great. Focaccia bread was great, olives were delicious, calamari was not edible. We sent one pasta dish back as the noodles were so over cooked they were disintegrating and the vegan pizza was inedible. Although we sent these meals back and were there for over 2 hours Colleen (our second server) was so lovely and really made our evening. We were patient and tried to be understanding , genuinely think this was a one off situation. We won’t be back but if we do return it will be no question about who we would want as a server, Colleen!! If you are vegan, gluten free or have any other dietary restrictions I would recommend calling ahead of time and speaking with someone instead of relying on the staff when you get there. I found it really uncomfortable to be the only one in our group with dietary restrictions and having a server who was completely unable to answer basic questions or find someone on the team who could answer them for me.