Trattoria Juliana - Brantford, Ontario

This is the third time that I have gone to this restaurant and it is the last. This restaurant is on its way out. Food used to be great - service slow - expected because the food was hand made. Fresh pasta takes time. I suppose ... it now also takes time to defrost. My special was special all right - looked freezer burned. We took a couple as a thank you for taking care of our children. Seems we don't like our children very much. Our guest ordered the linguini pescatore - received cut spaghetti with shrimp. My wife ordered chicken ravioli in alfredo sauce - and did not get it. We had finished eating - she insisted that we not wait - before they brought her anything - and what was brought was in a take away container as it was so late. So we were not charged for one meal. Not really a bonus. Had a good wine - Chianti Rufino - enjoyed it and ordered another bottle, but was told that they only kept one of each wine on the menu. The house wine did not cut it. Not sure when it was delivered or if it was home made, but it really was sub-standard - likely old and opened before. After a 3 hour dinner I had to get up to pay - we were never offered dessert or coffee - all of the kitchen staff and wait staff had been sent home, and to top it off, if that was not bad enough, we were never provided with any bread offerings while we waited for our dinner to defrost! Wow! Worst dining experience ever as far as the food was concerned. Good thing good company can laugh together with you. Went home for coffee and M&Ms. Best food of the evening! So save yourself the time - there are some other really great restaurants in the Brantford area - treat yourself to something better and let's put Giuliana out of her misery quickly. Read more

I went to this restaurant a couple of years ago with some co-workers as we were at a conference in Brantford. There were about 6 of us and I recalled enjoying the experience...there was wine involved. Jump forward to August 2014. I had mentioned this place to ... my partner and so on a whim we decided to drive to Brantford for a nice dinner. When we arrived we stood at the entrance waiting to be seated for about 8 minutes (there were only 3 tables with people). We were finally noticed by the waitress who seated us. She gave us the specials and left to get water. She came back a short time later to take our order. I ordered the "special" Chicken parm and my partner the Pollo la Guiliana both which said were $21.95 for an app I ordered the caprese salad. We just stuck with water for drinks. The app came quite quickly, the waitress kept returning to fill our water glass i would say about 5 times for the duration of the almost 2 hour wait for our entree's. It was depressing when the food arrived, my partners entree was dry with some veg (one piece of broccoli) it was insulting. The pasta that came with our meal didn't actually come with our meal it came a short time later in a separate bowl that looked more like cafeteria food. My Chicken Parm was salty and again I had a few sad little vegetables. We ate as fast as we could because we were slowly starting to feel like prisoners in this restaurant. We didn't touch the pasta, one bite... it tasted like vinegar (did I mention I'm Italian). Once the last bite was eaten I immediately went to the cash to ask for my bill as we didn't want to wait another god knows how long for that. She charged us $65+ I was in such a hurry to get out of there, I didn't realize until we left that the bill should have been around $57+ but we live 35 minutes away so not worth the drive back to dispute it. We are people who enjoy dining out and we are faithful tippers...I left 5 bucks and grudgingly. The best we can to do is to never return to this place. Its a shame, we had such a lovely Saturday to be finished off like this...she should not be in business. Don't waste your money or your time. Read more

What a disappointment. We entered the restaurant and it smelled great and thought we were in for a nice evening. The service was slow, waitress's seemed inexperienced and had to ask for bread which was delivered with no butter. The creaser salad was horrible, just some lettuce a ... few crotons and a hint of oil vinegar. One hour later the main dishes came. The lasagna was eatable but not much more. My partners pasta was a disappointment. Cost was $83.00 including a bottle of wine. The wine was the highlight of the meal. Tipped $3.00 and will never go back. LUNCH BAG LET DOWN TO THE HIGHEST ORDER. Read more

Nice little restaurant that was a pleasant surprise. Took my parents (who don't adventure off the traditional restaurant track), my husband and young children. Although not set-up for young children, the waitress did a great job accommodating my children with children sized portions. Considering I just picked a ... phone # off the web to a place my parents hadn't heard off -- it was a nice suprise to have good food tucked away in the middle of a neighbourhood -- friendly staff and nice to know that you can get a nice meal, in a quiet atmosphere right in town. So support a home-grown, local business as it is what brings character to any town! Read more

Quite simply the worst restaurant I have ever been to and I am 45 years old. I wish I were exaggerating or just being mean but I cannot remember a more nightmarish dining experience in recent memory. Even years ago in an Arizona restaurant my daughter found a roach in ... the ice cube of her water at least they gave us the meal for free. Trattoria Giuliana was a bizarre experience. Where do I even begin? It took almost an hour for my children to get their drinks. The meals were inedible and made my oldest son ill. The waitress couldn't remember what we ordered and was bringing meals to the wrong tables. We ordered pasta but had no napkins. When we asked for napkins the waitress dropped mine on the floor, picked it up and gave it to me. They don't have a stock of beverages on site; they purchase them from the store next door. No debit or Mastercard available; cash only from the debit machine next door. Couldn't even get the bill to just pay and get the heck out of there! Told my family to go to the car while I waited alone for the bill. After sitting alone for 15 minutes I just left cash on the table and walked out. I wouldn't normally write a restaurant review but I just don't want anyone else to have to go through what we went through. A total waste of time and money. This experience ruined our Friday evening and made me much more cautious about trying new restaurants! I'm sorry, I honestly don't mean to be mean or vindictive but you really have no business being in business. I wish I had something nice to say but I just don't. Read more