I was craving a new local when Danny’s first appeared on College street in a location that had for years been considered “cursed”. I had been frequenting my other favourite spots too… frequently – it was getting awkward. I needed a new go-to and a pizza tavern sounded like it would fit the bill; I like pizza and I like taverns. Danny’s is a creative salon, art gallery and living room pizza party, all rolled into one. The art on the walls is curated and pulled directly from co-owners Anna Hopkins and Danny Barna’s personal collection—every time I go a new artwork seems to be up. Artsy vibes notwithstanding, Chef Jonathan Pde’s menu is of course tavern-style; that means gooey mozz sticks, half chuck/half brisket burger with american cheese, dessert specials like a neapolitan banana split and of course, pizza cut into squares (party style!) – it’s everything you want.
So what’s not to like? Apparently a lot. I love reading bad reviews, it takes a lot to write a negative review, you need to be really upset to care the next day. People will leave bad reviews of national parks, gorgeous beaches, you name it… If there’s something universally loved out there, you can bet there is someone who feels otherwise. Lucky for me, I get some perverse pleasure from reading these, so one night, after a particularly fun evening and my fair share of spritzes, I decided to go down that rabbit hole.
BORAN ÖZER
★☆☆☆☆ 4 months ago
The worst restaurant I have ever seen in my life, the most disgusting Restaurant, the Restaurant that cannot deliver the order within 10 hours, I do not recommend you to go here. Disgrace, disgrace, disgrace, I have never seen such a ridiculous business, all the employees there need to quit this job. Because they are not pizza places. They are builders. They can only carry rubble. They are no good for anything else.
SEAN PERCY
★☆☆☆☆ 2 months ago
Pizza was burned. Service was slow and tables were way too close together. Need to reduce the number of tables so the staff have somewhere to walk and the customers aren’t bumping into staff and each other.
We expect to have a table with personal space for each guest when making a reservation but was not provided here.
NATHANIEL B
★☆☆☆☆ a year ago
Terrible service, took extremely long for everything which is completely understandable especially if busy, but the waitress wasn’t welcoming at all and seemed like she’d rather be elsewhere. Was very unpleasant and rude. Service from her was so bad I wasn’t even able to get her name. Food was pretty good no complaints there. Not sure if they add tip already onto the bill, but mine was well over what we had ordered, which is disappointing considering the horrible service.
MARK HINNAWI
★☆☆☆☆ a year ago
Showed up early for our 5pm reservation by 5 min because the bus was early and we needed the washroom. Instead of just saying no problem come on in, his answer was I won’t serve you unit 5… Like common over rated
SARBJIT SINGH
★☆☆☆☆ a year ago
No way to order the pizza online. I don’t know why they open the restaurant. Such a waste of time. I went there and they said you can order on the ritual but still I can’t able to order the pizza . I am very disappointed by their service. 👎👎👎
GABRIELLA E
★☆☆☆☆ 3 months ago
Met a friend here last Friday, We waited 25 minutes post reservation for our table; no worries, I get its Friday night, its busy + things happen.
Moving on to the food: I found the margherita pizza to be heavily overpriced for what you recieve… lacking any substance or flavour – sauce tasted like discount ragu. The mozza sticks were decent, ill give them that.
What really made me never want to return wasn’t the lack of accountability for our missed reservation nor the overpriced dough, but the NOISE. I am no stranger to loud venues, but I had expected to at least hear my friend speak, nevermind yell, across from the minuscule tables they provide over their obscure music choices.
If conversation alongside dinner, decent service and adequately priced food is something your looking for, I would avoid Danny’s.
PAULO
★☆☆☆☆ a year ago
I don’t normally do this, but here I am leaving a review before I’ve even left the table!
Sat on the patio, and within a couple of minutes a friendly server [Alex] took our order; a cider, a pint, and a pizza.
Then we waited. And we waited. And waited.
Eventually, about 15 minuted later, someone came out [Chantelle], to inform us that the cider we’d ordered, was out of stock, and would we like something else. Ok, sure, we ordered the same draft pint [Moretti], as the replacement, then waited another 5-7 minutes for them, which would have been fine as a regular expected time to get a a couple of draft pints, if we hadn’t already been at the table for about 20 minutes. And important side note, there was no apology for the delay, even though I did [nicely], mention it.
The pizza finally arrived, about 30 minutes after ordering it, again, a super protracted time delay, especially for a thin crust, pizza oven ‘za, which I myself have some experience in making, so I know how long it should take. This time, when I told the server [now it was Anna], about how slow everything seemed to be tonight [despite it being nearly empty in the restaurant], she gave a half-hearted “sorry” [the only staff person to do so, incidentally], and said “That’s what it is tonight”.
What? Really?!? Full disclosure, I’ve personally worked back of house, and front of house, and I would never have been so glib, or dismissive, of a customer issue.
At this point, we were pretty much gobsmacked at the lack of customer care, so when Chantelle came back out we told her we’d like to settle up [even though we were still eating]. Regardless, still had to ask the other server [Alex], for the bill, and Chantelle came out a couple.of minutes later with it.
Pizza was o.k. Not bad, but also nothing to write home about, and at $3 per extra topping [mushrooms and onions], we would have expected a little more of the onions, although, to be fair, there was a good amount of mushrooms on it. Also, we weren’t offered the olive oil or the chili pepper shaker [by Chantelle], until we’d already finished over 95% of the pizza! Yeah, that’s really “too little, too late”!
Disappointed, as it was our second time there, the first being two days prior, for drinks. That was a good time, so we figured we’d try it for food, but are sorry we did.
I tipped 15%, after tax [I usually do 20% for a good experience], and explained that to Chantelle in the light of the service issues, but that still didn’t elicit any kind of apology from her. Actually, it was more of a subtle “who cares?”, attitude, as if they were annoyed that we’d complained [and we did so super nicely, I might add], and were somehow annoying them!
Unbelievable, especially as we eat and drink out A LOT, and usually have great experiences, so this was definitely a step down from that.
Add to this all that my partner just informed me that a Google search just turned up that “Anna” is apparently part-owner of the place, and we are even more so mystified, at the lack of follow-up service from her.
So bizarre, and needless to say, we won’t be going back.
We didn’t ask to have anything “comped”, but I’ve spent enough time within, and around, the industry to know what should have been done in this instance.
Again, very disappointing.
DANNY’S PIZZA TAVERN
611 COLLEGE ST
TORONTO, ON
DANNYSPIZZATAVERN.COM
Lambrusco Spritz
[MAKES 1]
INGREDIENTS
- 1.5 OZ. MONTENEGRO
- 1 OZ. GRAPEFRUIT JUICE
- 3 OZ. LAMBRUSCO
- ICE
- OLIVE
- ORANGE SLICE
DIRECTIONS
- Fill a glass of your choosing with ice [we recommend a lowball glass
or wine glass]. - Pour Montenegro, grapefruit juice and Lambrusco into the glass and stir.
- Garnish with olives and orange slice.
- Start sipping!
INTRO & PHOTOS: DANIEL NEUHAUS
REVIEWS: ASSORTED CUSTOMERS
