The main thing to note about happy hour at Toronto’s most reliable Italian eatery is that no one seems to know it exists or what to do as it happens around them. It’s a weird experience but it might make those discount pizzas the city’s best kept secret.
I recently found myself in the Adelaide & Church area between events, in need of somewhere to sit, refuel, and safely people watch from behind my laptop. A loyal fan of the popular local chain for birthday dinners and lunches with my mom, I wouldn’t normally just casually pop into a Terroni. Their pasta is unimpeachable but their prices are high and their service rarely particularly friendly so it’s not really a place to take up a table, enjoy the atmosphere, and try not to spend too much. But on this particular day I happened to notice a sign advertising “Terronitivo”, their daily small bites and cocktails offerings between the hours of 3-5. Why not?
The first problem I encountered entering the restaurant at what would normally be considered an off hour was a lobby absolutely packed with beautifully dressed people. I negotiated the crowd to find the host stand on the opposite side of the open entryway in front of a nearly empty dining room. Evidently, the picturesque restaurant was playing host to a wedding in one of their separate spaces but said space clearly wasn’t ready yet (for more on the phenomenon of hoards of guests standing around aimlessly because a high end venue doesn’t have their act together, visit our sister site My Wedding World). Not the most auspicious start, but I was relieved to see that the crowd was an anomaly and there was plenty of room for me in the dining room where I could wait out the full 60min happy hour without being rushed away from my table.
In fact, so few people were present during happy hour that one gets the feeling that the restaurant completely fails to market it. Seemingly new on the job, or perhaps just a deeply frazzled person, my waiter brought up multiple times that “no one comes to happy hour” by way of explaining why he was unfamiliar with menu options or kept making small mistakes. He brought me the wrong cocktail but was 100% convinced he hadn’t because he punched in the Vitaccia but couldn’t tell the difference when the bar clearly made a Violetta (it was literally purple). He had never tasted anything on the stuzzichini (small bites) menu. Nice guy, though. I told him I liked the salmon crocchetta so at least now he knows those are pretty good in case anyone asks.
Having accidentally been served the wrong cocktail, I can’t really comment on the quality of the drinks at happy hour (the tequila one I ordered sounds yummy, the gin one I received was not to my taste) but I can say they’re on average $5 cheaper than what you can get with dinner so that’s a ringing endorsement. More notable I’d say are the food savings with small plates options as low as $6. The plates are true-to-their-name very small (and the arancini somewhat flavourless) but, at these prices, you can luxuriate in the empty dining room with your $12 cocktail and order plate after plate without worry, which feels incredibly indulgent.
The best deal by far is the pizza. Listed as half-size for only $10, the portion is actually pretty large and there are five recipes available, not just Margherita. I ordered the Mangiabun, a white pizza with sharp rapini and delicious homemade sausage, fairly high end ingredients for a discount option (that sausage is the key ingredient of the pasta dish I usually order when going for full price Terroni, though in that case it comes with shaved truffle, very much not a discount ingredient).
Though my waiter was very nice and tried very hard, there was a strange sense of afterthought to the whole Terroni Happy Hour experience. My cutlery was repurposed between courses instead of replaced as if they were hesitant to go through too many forks before the dinner rush- a not uncommon but always irritating policy that felt in line with battling a stranded wedding crowd to even get to the dining room, the sense that the stuzzichini menu was untested ground, the carelessness of the bar staff, and the guy wandering through the dining room carrying a trash can as if it was after-hours.
There’s probably a branding decision behind the company’s hesitation to straighten up their happy hour operation and make sure people actually know about it. If you can get a filling and fairly excellent pizza with artisan ingredients for only $10 to enjoy with a discount cocktail in a beautiful location in downtown Toronto with no crowd on a Saturday afternoon, why would you pay full price to come back when the restaurant is hopping? Terroni Happy Hour is a secret gem if you can tolerate the quirks. You’re welcome; don’t tell anyone I told you.