If you, like many, find yourself at Eaton Centre hungry after a session of heavy shopping pop over to Trattoria Mercatto. We’ve been here a couple times and are constantly impressed by the cocktails and meals. The menu is constantly changing with the seasons so there’s always something new to sample. Given the tiny space you’d think it wasn’t very baby friendly but the staff are always accommodating.
I recall when we first visited for lunch when the Little Monkey was just 4 months and we brought in our heavy duty stroller. The aisles are narrow so the server pushed the stroller through the kitchen aisle! We’ve since learned our lesson and either walk the little one over or bring our umbrella stroller. They have highchairs and booster seats and in true Italian fashion it’s always loud so it’s perfect for a good meal with a toddler.
Given that summer is here their patio is in full swing and on a Friday evening when we met up with some friends for a quick meal it wasn’t busy at all (surprisingly). If you’re with a toddler who would want to take a quick stroll the patio is perfect since it opens to a courtyard and if you get a table by the window there will be some space for a toddler to roam around! On this occasion our server was a bit loopy but given the great calibre of our dishes I dismissed his odd nature. I mean who doesn’t come up with a mocktail solution for a pregnant lady instead of saying just have water? I’d have settled for juice and soda for goodness sakes! Apparently one table ate all the bread too! Funny eh? He did bring us some bread once we paid the bill though!
Oh well..what followed was deliciousness. The Antipasti platter was filled with cured meats, spicy olives, buttery pickled yellow beets, sweet walnuts and the tiniest pieces of some delicious formaggi. The hubs had the Orecchiette which came with a simple mix of rapini and sausage and the Little Monkey loved having helping herself to the ‘nooni” (noodles”). As for me, I had a pizza. It was spicy. The Diavola had spicy sopressata and velvety marzano. As you can see, authentic ingredients and a quality meal which is much better than the regular food courts we tend to visit after a shopping spree!
