Bar Toto, Peter and Kristen Sclafani's Italian Bar and Cafe in Park Slope

[Jimmy Chandler]

Met a friend here for lunch today at her recommendation, she visits regularly. I had the linguine with mushrooms and light cream sauce, plus I tried my friend's side of roasted cauliflower. Also ordered a lemonade which was how I like it -- very lemony/tart. The food was tasty, though I felt the pasta could use a little pepper or spice to it. If they had a pepper grinder I would've been happier. My friend was happy with her food (besides the cauliflower she ordered polenta and mushrooms with gorgonzola, which I didn't taste).

 

Unfortunately one hiccup with the food combined with slow service and an inadequate response (IMO) to my complaint ruined the meal for me and I doubt I will ever return. Whomever cooked my pasta left a bay leaf in there by mistake, of which I believe I swallowed a part. I believe this because I swallowed something that didn't feel right, like prickly. A few minutes later I found a partially torn (or chewed?) bay leaf. When I brought this to our server's attention, he didn't seem to care one bit. I asked him to tell the chef, and never heard another word about this. In addition, we were dining outside, our waiter was also the bartender and slow to respond to our requests at the end of the meal for the check, which IMO is quite unacceptable at lunch time.