Toto's Italian, York

Anyone who frequents the number 4 bus route between York city centre and the university campus will have noticed Toto's Italian restaurant at some point. For me, it was back in first year, a whole two years ago. From the outside it looks quaint but quirky, and certainly characterful, and my inner foodie was instantly attracted. Finally, last night, I fulfilled the ambition of going.

Lasagne

 Walking in, the atmosphere hits you immediately, a feeling I imagine to be akin to walking into Mama Dolmio's kitchen. In the downstairs part of the restaurant, families dined alongside couples on dinner dates.  Going upstairs to the toilets later, a much nicer part of the restaurant awaited. Set in a fairy light bedecked conservatory, overlooking the city walls, it was the perfect setting for a romantic date (provided you could ignore the bizarre slideshow being projected onto one of the walls, showing photos of all things Italian from the Colosseum to a Vespa - y'know, in case you were unsure of the origins of the cuisine).

We were seated immediately and ordered our drinks, although eventually had to grab the waiter's attention to place our food orders.

Cannelonni

The cannelonni and lasagne which we had for our main courses were both delicious. Although the portions looked a bit stingy when served up, they turned out to be perfectly filling.

The returned Creme Brulee

Moving onto dessert, I ordered the tiramisu, which was disappointingly flavourless. My mum ordered the creme brulee, which she ended up returning because it was too cold to eat. After the waiter agreed to warm it up for her, he then returned to say that he couldn't, due to health and safety reasons.

The disappointing Tiramisu

 Conclusion:  A great ambience and setting, and delicious main course, but the desserts were disappointing (an understatement), and the service was slow.