Canada’s award-winning restaurant Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto weathers pandemic storm with new location and bright future

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After recently closing its temporary location in Toronto’s Casa Loma, Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto — just named Best Italian Restaurant in the World (outside of Italy) by 50 Top Italy — found a new castle to settle in: The award-winning eatery recently opened its new North American location on the 38th floor of Toronto’s famous Westin Harbour Castle Hotel.

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With much curiosity, I’ve been following this upscale restaurant for a few years now, since opening in Toronto back in 2018 to rave reviews and jaw-dropping cuisine and ambiance. Enter a global pandemic and restaurants postponing, shuttering and just reinventing themselves, and the Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto experience was sidelined for a while.

But not for very long. It came back to life temporarily in Toronto’s iconic Casa Loma – Canada’s only real-life castle. Today, its latest location is on the city’s waterfront, where the restaurant high above the clouds shines with a sleekness and sensuality in a room brimming with gorgeous artwork, elegant tables and chairs. And an open kitchen, where executive chef Daniele Corona, and his team produce such stellar plates as agnolotti del plin stuffed with Ontario lamb in a Genovese ragu sauce finished with fresh black truffle to fresh vermicelli noodles in silky-smooth sauce finished with carpione-style mackerel slivers, Sicilian pine nuts, caramelized onions and a tuna puree, to name just a few.

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The attention to detail is staggering – from the various artwork and sculptures (including artist Damien Hirst and wire mesh sculptures by artist Randy Cooper) to the unique plates especially designed for the restaurant’s offerings to the fact there are several Japanese toilets for clients to utilize (I found this addition rather exciting, to be honest)…it truly is a magnificent affair.

Yet, the restaurant’s atmosphere is light and refreshing – much like the desserts – an interior created by well-known designer Nadia Di Donato, whose works have won her awards on a global scale.

And she designed and executed the new restaurant in just three months. “We closed Don Alfonso 1890 at the end of April, and we started work immediately on the new restaurant,” said Nadia excitedly during a recent tour. “Lots of work! But so happy with the end result.”

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Di Donato said the restaurant reflects “two distinct personalities: One for the daytime and one for the night,” where the walls create a special illusion with multi-hued lighting “that has a bit of a magical effect on the room.” It really is breathtaking.

In the midst of all the excitement sat the Michelin-star chef Don Alfonso Iaccarino, in which the restaurant is named after. Toronto is the first eatery bearing his name in North America, and he was brought here by Nick and Nadia Di Donato of Canada’s Liberty Entertainment Group, who literally travelled the world to find the perfect food fit for their enterprise. They settled on the world renown chef and his son, Ernesto Iaccarino, having delighted in the chefs’ menus that showcase the cuisine of their Amalfi coast home.

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Sitting quietly, there was a gentle benevolence to the seasoned chef, who greeted everyone with a shy smile and a warm handshake. Decades ago, when he first started out, Don Alfonso was rigorous in putting his farm-to-table philosophy on the menu, something that is instilled in all his restaurants to this day.

Did he ever envision that his name would grace such a splendor in Canada? “Everything happens for a reason,” he smiled. “and Canada, and in particular Toronto, understands this.” It’s all about quality, “cibo” (food) – and location, added the famed chef.

Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto (donalfonsotoronto.com) certainly helped put the word out Canada is home to a stellar food scene. And then the pandemic came along, shuttering an industry and bringing it to its knees. Today, times are tough, interest rates are going up and people are taking a longer look at their bottom lines.

Yet famed eateries across the country have persevered and reinvented themselves. The Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto experience wasn’t shelved for very long, and today it stands proudly as a shining light to an industry that may have been bowed, but was never out.