Vanellis - Pickering, Ontario

I had the worst experience because of the lady working there. I ordered for Alfredo and I belatedly asked to add broccoli and the lady got annoyed and told me off sarcastically that I should have told her earlier. She also mixed the alfredo sauce with the red sauce even ... if I told her no. She insisted it was good. I asked her for parmesan on the side and she refused, telling me they don’t give out parmesan on the side. She said she already put on my order. She told me to just open the container, put parmesan if I wanted extra. I didn’t like it at all. Read more

The woman working today. She makes the company look very bad. Worst employee I have ever met. My sister ordered the small pasta + milk, with Alfredo, this woman put tomato sauce and my sister politely told her it was the wrong sauce and the lady goes “oh I’ll ... mix both sauce” and mixes them both together, and then she ASKS my sister if she wants garlic bread with her meal, she says yes and after we pay we notice there was no milk… we told her and she goes “yeah I give you garlic bread instead” when that was not what the sign said, nor what she had asked. This lady tried to have a whole argument with my younger sister. Horrible employees. This woman should not have a job. No manners, no respect AND she reached her hand into my sisters bag, took the garlic bread out and tried to replace it with a water bottle. Not to mention, she tried to tell us there was no milk when there was a whole row sitting right there. Read more

This is literally my favourite place to go to at Pickering Town Centre. The manager is such an awesome person to speak to! The food is fantastic also! So glad to hear this Vanellis location is still open despite most of the other locations closing down. Hope this one stays ... open for a long time! Read more

I rarely find myself sufficiently motivated to leave a review for restaurants I eat at. I generally have only left reviews for places that are exceptionally bad or exceptionally good. Vanellis happens to be exceptionally bad in every conceivable way. Where do I begin? For starters, they advertise things on ... their menu that they do not know how to make properly. My girlfriend and I went there and ordered the spaghetti carbonara. To make this dish, the cook is supposed to use water and the pancetta fat to make a creamy sauce; this process is basically what makes spaghetti carbonara, spaghetti carbonara. Instead of making this sauce however, the manager who made the pasta in front of us, decided to neglect this step and instead use tomato sauce, which is literally not supposed to be a part of the dish. The only way in which what we were served resmbled what we ordered, is that the pasta dish he gave us had pancetta in it, which is a key ingredient in spaghetti cabonara. Usually, I wouldn't be too upset over an incident like this. I thought to myself, as long as the pasta tastes fine, I will still eat it; this was far from the case however. My pasta had meat in it that was not cooked all the way through; in fact, some pieces were still cold. Also, the tomato sauce the chef/manager used was tasteless and watery - very unpleasant. And by the way, it didn't help that my Pepsi was flat, or that my girlfriends iced tea tasted funny. After considering that the two spaghetti dishes I was served were replete with these glaring flaws, and that I had spent 30 dollars on the meal all together, I felt that it would be fair to go back up to the managar and ask for some of my money back. This is when I realized that not only was the food horrible, but the service was equally as bad. When I approached the manager and told him about the flaws in my order he tried to maintain a lax demeanor, but he was still radiating anger. Like, he was still wearing a blatantly contrived smile for example, but his intonation changed from cal and amiable to annoyed/aggravated. I understood this, because although the fault was his own, he was still trying to make a profit off of his business, and having to give your customer's a refund is obviously inimical to that. Besides, it seemed like he was trying to make a genuine effort to contain himself, which I respected. However, the manager didn't ultimately restrain himself to just this mild level of frustration. When he was at the register giving me my money back, he mumbled so that I could hear "I can't f****ing believe this." Afterwards he gave me my money back, and rudely said goodbye to me (I forget exactly what he said, but I still remember the rude impression I got from it). I will never return to this establishment, and I would recommend no one else go here either. Read more

My wife got the vege pasta. It was horrible. They literally put 2 pieces of broccoli with a tiny spoon and slivers of onion and called it vege pasta. There was no basil or any taste. Paid almost $10 for a tasteless tomato water with pasta and 2 broccoli pieces. ... Skip this place eat somewhere else in the mall. Just sit there and observe why no one goes there. Read more