vesuvio ristorante

Brampton, land of contrasts! Before J moved to Toronto, she lived in the land of cheap real estate & Michael Cera. Although plenty of people will tell you there are no decent restaurants in Brampton, plenty of people will also tell you that aliens are already here among us, their real form that of 6 foot lizards & that they slake their thirst with the blood of blonde haired children. Our point being that J has always found Mt. Vesuvio’s to be reliably decent Italian 

J’s father never expresses any strong opinions on food, restaurants or family entertainment; in fact his strong opinions are restricted solely to waiting times to see the doctor & Van Morrison's jazzy direction on Moondance. However he recently shocked the whole family by requesting we visit Mt. Vesuvio’s in Brampton as part of his birthday celebrations

The décor is quite dated and the music isn’t very well thought out (endless Beatles cover versions) but J’s family is usually pleased with the specials and regular menu items on offer. Everyone but L liked their free appetizer of bruschetta. L enjoyed the free aspect, but found the rest of it too busy, not dissimilar to Jack Astors'. 





J ordered her old staple of manicotti filled with ricotta and spinach. She really enjoyed the sweet tomato sauce and creamy ricotta. But after having the fortune of spending the last few years tasting her way around Toronto, she found that her palette had moved beyond Mt. Vesuvio’s basic fare.




L found the menu resembled some sort of devilishly tricky thought experiment, wherein the author had been asked to list as many different dishes as possible without allowing any of them to sound in the least bit appetizing. As a last resort, L applied the blue cheese rule which states then when it doubt about what to order, just pick the first thing that involves blue cheese & luckily(?) for him, there was a gnochi in gorgonzola sauce. However any relationship the sauce had to gorgonzola was platonic at best, & the gnochi was such a travesty of stodginess that it was undeserving of its silent "g".

J’s father and brother both ordered the special of sea bass. Both seemed quite delighted with the results. Although J’s father felt one of the pieces was a little oily, but raved about the rest of the food on his plate.


J’s mom had the Veal tenderloin with a mushroom peppercorn sauce. She doesn’t get along with most technology so we didn’t stress her with the request of taking a photo. She really seemed to enjoy it, although it seemed a bit peppery for her British palette.

Desert options were very limited. J’s mom inhaled the white chocolate cream cake. J had the chocolate and raspberry tartufo which she thought tasted like standard supermarket ice cream and wasn’t up to snuff with the rest of the meal.

So is it worth the drive to Brampton? Christ no! But then to justify a drive to Brampton you may feel you would need the ambrosia of the gods themselves, or at least a Moxie's or something. Having said that if you do find yourself in Brampton, this is definitely one of the safer bets out there if you aren't unbearably precious.


check out their menu