PROP

Customer service is brutal, food is mediocre to bad, and the owner is just a horrible mean human being, treats customers like garbage. Avoid.

There was nothing overtly horrifying about my experience at PROP, but I can definitely say the entire experience was very «meh».
The food was tasty, but pretty pricey for items that you can get at most Italian places. The service was very slow and inattentive — we had to ask to order and to get a dessert menu. Our waitress also never asked how things were or if we needed anything.
Not a horrible experience, but to sum it up in a few words PROP WAS NOTHING SPECIAL.
***they do have a bring your own wine night on Tuesdays, which I thought was cool. $ 5.00 corking fee!

In my opinion, even the world’s greatest food cannot offset terrible service.
So, imagine how I felt when terrible service is combined with pricey mediocre food.
From the moment we walked through the door to the moment we left the restaurant, we were made to feel very unwelcome, almost as if we were being intrusive. And that feeling began even before I showed our server a gift certificate I got from a work raffle.
Our server didn’t bother doing a quality check for any of our dishes. Although for our mains, I saw that he thought about doing one, but then decided not to. We were not asked if we wanted to order any more drinks. Nobody said thank you when we left the restaurant.
I hope that doesn’t make me sound picky and whiny. I don’t always expect above-​and-​beyond service whenever I dine out (although that would be nice), but I do expect standard service with a side of friendliness. We definitely did not receive that at PROP.
Finally, given the name of the restaurant and the prices, I was very surprised that they didn’t serve fresh pasta.

My favourite restaurant in the neighbourhood. Great food, wines. My favourite appetizer is their Caesar salad, which is the best I’ve ever had, anywhere.
Huge wine list, not too pricey, unless you want.
As for mains, everything I’ve ordered I like. I moved into the area last year, and I’ve been to Prop probably 20 – 25 times. Service is a little hot and cold, but they bring you good food and that’s enough for me.
Solid Italian.

I’ve been to PROP about a dozen times now. I’ve had a great deal of the menu, and enjoyed everything, but especially like the white bean and sausage risotto and the shrimp crostini. The desserts are all homemade and really delicious as well as fresh. These aren’t fancy dishes, they’re simpler dishes done well.
The atmosphere is pleasant, it feels like a nice place without feeling uptight. Service has always been polite and pleasant. There’s a summer patio as well!

Absolutely delicious food and really great service.
Everything here was great. We arrived just as they opened and scored a spot right by the window. Our server was incredibly friendly, professional and helpful.
The Hubster started off with a caesar salad which was their special version with whole romaine leaves and a disappointing dearth of croutons and bacon. I had the white salad which had fennel, pear, frisee and possibly something else. I loved it. It was the perfect balance of sweet, salty, bitter and sour. It was literally all white, which made every bite a crunchy flavour surprise.
The Hubster had the meatball rigatoni ragu which was the daily special and I had the pancetta bucatini. I tried some of his rigatoni before it got cheesed and it was AMAZING. My pasta was also very good, but on the salty side. The sauce and pasta were perfect. I think they may actually use the same brand of pasta we eat at home, and I’m not inspired to cook it just a tiny bit less to make it more al dente.
Pastas are roughly $ 16 – 18 each, and they are perfectly portioned. I think we’ll definitely be back next time we’re craving delicious pasta. I had an incredibly tough time deciding what to order on the menu, and I can’t wait to go back and try some of their other offerings.

Yesterday, my husband and I took possession of our first, ever, house. After a brief, dewy-​eyed walk through — touching all the walls and grinning from ear to ear, we decided to explore the neighbourhood. We are steps from St. Clair and so we walked along the strip in search of our first meal as home owners.
Prop seemed to fit the bill. It was nice but not excessively expensive and had an interesting menu that included truffle risotto (yum!) and spaghetti with ginger, black mission figs and peppercorn (ooh!).
The waitress sat us quickly and took our drink order. Unfortunately, the wine we wanted wasn’t available by the glass (we were saving ourselves for the bottle of champagne that waited in our fridge back home). In fact, no wine was available by the glass other than their house wine — quite a disappointment.
Appetizers were quite good and just the right size. Orange and fresh fennel salad had a lovely salt/​sweet balance with some italian black olives. The mushroom polenta was homey and flavourful.
Mains were more disappointing. I had salmon with vegetables and, while the waitress promised a pink middle, my fish was overcooked, as were the veggies. My husband ordered a simple penne and tomato sauce, but asked the waitress if the kitchen could make it spicy. His pasta was good (yummy, but not mind-​blowing) but when we got the bill, they had charged him $ 3 extra for giving him the spicy sauce. This took his simple penne and sauce up to $ 17. Bad karma (and bad business), we thought.
Our meals were okay, but I’m not sure we’ll be back. There are just so many great places to explore on the St. Clair strip…
Vegetarian score: ⁷⁄₁₀. Like most italian places, there are some good pasta options. Non-​pasta/​risotto mains are all meat.