Toscana

3 Reviews on “Toscana”

• Eva Bradshaw-Burnett

  Piccolina Toscana is located in a small strip mall in the Trolley Square area. It is not easy to find. In reality, you would be better off not dining there, especially if you are hungry.My dining companion had suggested trying the restaurant. He had heard some good things about it. But this is Delaware and good food does not make it’s home here. Had I stopped to read the reviews first, this dining experience would never have happened. Piccolina has an open dining room with little to no ambiance to speak of: think cafeteria with linen on the tables and 3 pieces of decorative canvases on the rear wall. The lack of ambiance was accentuated by the almost empty shelves where they open air store the glasses. The restaurant was only populated by one other table when we arrived for lunch. It rarely is a good portent that a restaurant is empty during the lunch hour. We were told that we could not have a table in the back because a large party was coming in shortly. They never arrived in the hour plus that we were there. I had a problem with the rim or my glass of tonic water being dirty, as verified by my server. I am thankful that I was using a straw and did not have much of it. (It was on the bill, despite my server offering a replacement.) There was also another badly cleaned piece of glassware on the table, also verified by our server. Despite this, nothing was done to replace even the dirty water glass(s) on the table.It’s difficult to review the service in a practically empty restaurant. Suffice it to say that we had good service: our server had only our table, but was handling 2 more two top tables by the time we were midway through our meal, which is nothing that a good server cannot handle easily. There were 3 servers on the floor in total and none were handling more tables than our server. Warm breadsticks and olive oil are brought to the table. All 2 of them. While this is always a nice touch, it could be vastly improved by flavouring the olive oil. If it were an exceptional EVO that they were showcasing, this comment wouldn’t be here. It’s not.I ordered the lunch Risotto with Mushrooms and Braised Veal and a Cesare side salad. My friend ordered the Capellini al Pomodoro. Prior to ordering the risotto I had asked my server whether they pre-batched it: I was concerned about it being mushy. I was told that it was made when ordered. Considering that they use Carnaroli rice, (which is a step above the usual Arborio) and local Kennett Square Mushrooms I expected a good dish to be served. I was very disappointed with the meal I was served.The plating on all of the dishes was nothing special, and the portion size was small even considering that these were lunch portions. The Cesare salad was fresh and bright, with lovely large gratings of Parmesan. What I did miss was the Cesare dressing. Whatever bottle it came from wasn’t the correct one.The risotto was over cooked. Not mushy, but not to the tooth, as it should have been. The use of the Canaroli rice can give the dish a more velvety feel than you would have with the more usual Arborio rice. It was well seasoned, but there was definitely some un-mentioned and un-necessary cheese in it. The veal was tender and beautifully cooked, but would have benefited from some seasoning to enhance it. I question why chopped parsley was used as a garnish? It is not only an outdated garnish, but it adds nothing to the eye appeal or to the taste of the dish. My friend had informed our server that I was a chef when we were ordering. I told my server to let the chef know that the risotto was over cooked. Apparently the chef does not even have the decency to come out of the kitchen to discuss or apologise for a poorly cooked meal with a customer, much less a fellow chef.The Capellini al Pomodoro was bland tasting. Factory produced pasta with a sauce that lacked any verve to it. It also had the ubiquitous chopped parsley.While I don’t have a problem with a Risotto costing $18, (given that it is labor intensive) I do have a problem with a minuscule lunch portion at that price. I do recognise that this restaurant is in the wealthier portion of Wilmington: but, this is neither Philadelphia, nor is it NYC. Piccolina Toscana would, in my opinion, benefit from a prix fixe lunch and dinner menu. It would also benefit from having a chef who cared about what he was serving to customers.Piccolina got 1star from me for the quality of some of the ingredients only. Not for the disservice that their chef gave those ingredients.

  February 9, 2014, 6:36 pm

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• Merelan

  Piccolina Toscana is located in a small strip mall in the Trolley Square area. It is not easy to find. In reality, you would be better off not dining there, especially if you are hungry.My dining companion had suggested trying the restaurant. He had heard some good things about it. But this is Delaware and good food does not make it’s home here. Had I stopped to read the reviews first, this dining experience would never have happened. Piccolina has an open dining room with little to no ambiance to speak of: think cafeteria with linen on the tables and 3 pieces of decorative canvases on the rear wall. The lack of ambiance was accentuated by the almost empty shelves where they open air store the glasses. The restaurant was only populated by one other table when we arrived for lunch. It rarely is a good portent that a restaurant is empty during the lunch hour. We were told that we could not have a table in the back because a large party was coming in shortly. They never arrived in the hour plus that we were there. I had a problem with the rim or my glass of tonic water being dirty, as verified by my server. I am thankful that I was using a straw and did not have much of it. (It was on the bill, despite my server offering a replacement.) There was also another badly cleaned piece of glassware on the table, also verified by our server. Despite this, nothing was done to replace even the dirty water glass(s) on the table.It’s difficult to review the service in a practically empty restaurant. Suffice it to say that we had good service: our server had only our table, but was handling 2 more two top tables by the time we were midway through our meal, which is nothing that a good server cannot handle easily. There were 3 servers on the floor in total and none were handling more tables than our server. Warm breadsticks and olive oil are brought to the table. All 2 of them. While this is always a nice touch, it could be vastly improved by flavouring the olive oil. If it were an exceptional EVO that they were showcasing, this comment wouldn’t be here. It’s not.I ordered the lunch Risotto with Mushrooms and Braised Veal and a Cesare side salad. My friend ordered the Capellini al Pomodoro. Prior to ordering the risotto I had asked my server whether they pre-batched it: I was concerned about it being mushy. I was told that it was made when ordered. Considering that they use Carnaroli rice, (which is a step above the usual Arborio) and local Kennett Square Mushrooms I expected a good dish to be served. I was very disappointed with the meal I was served.The plating on all of the dishes was nothing special, and the portion size was small even considering that these were lunch portions. The Cesare salad was fresh and bright, with lovely large gratings of Parmesan. What I did miss was the Cesare dressing. Whatever bottle it came from wasn’t the correct one.The risotto was over cooked. Not mushy, but not to the tooth, as it should have been. The use of the Canaroli rice can give the dish a more velvety feel than you would have with the more usual Arborio rice. It was well seasoned, but there was definitely some un-mentioned and un-necessary cheese in it. The veal was tender and beautifully cooked, but would have benefited from some seasoning to enhance it. I question why chopped parsley was used as a garnish? It is not only an outdated garnish, but it adds nothing to the eye appeal or to the taste of the dish. My friend had informed our server that I was a chef when we were ordering. I told my server to let the chef know that the risotto was over cooked. Apparently the chef does not even have the decency to come out of the kitchen to discuss or apologise for a poorly cooked meal with a customer, much less a fellow chef.The Capellini al Pomodoro was bland tasting. Factory produced pasta with a sauce that lacked any verve to it. It also had the ubiquitous chopped parsley.While I don’t have a problem with a Risotto costing $18, (given that it is labor intensive) I do have a problem with a minuscule lunch portion at that price. I do recognise that this restaurant is in the wealthier portion of Wilmington: but, this is neither Philadelphia, nor is it NYC. Piccolina Toscana would, in my opinion, benefit from a prix fixe lunch and dinner menu. It would also benefit from having a chef who cared about what he was serving to customers.Piccolina got 1star from me for the quality of some of the ingredients only. Not for the disservice that their chef gave those ingredients.

  February 9, 2014, 6:19 pm

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• Sueandpete

  NOT IMPRESSED. What are the owners thinking SO dirty in there! never again!

  March 30, 2010, 1:24 am

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