Taverna Mercatto is the latest addition to the Mercatto brand. It opened earlier this February 2015 in the SouthCore Financial Centre. Similarly to all of their other locations, Taverna Mercatto serves Italian food from pastas to pizzas. I was familiar with their food, as I attended an event at their Eaton's Center location last summer. Walking into the restaurant, I was immediately taken by the interior. It was a nice mix of rustic, and trendy decor with an open kitchen. The high ceiling, and lights make it a lovely location for either business matters, or even special occasions. As for the menu, it was small, and I liked that it was, as it shows that they rather keep it simple.

As a starter, I opted for the calamari ($14), and it was one of the best that I have had in years. The calamari was lightly battered, yet it was super crispy, and well-seasoned. Lastly, it was simply garnished with fennel with some garlic crema, which tasted great with the squid.

The Spiedini ($14) - grilled octopus, fregola, panna fresca, tomato, olive tapenade was another appetizer that was ordered. The grilled octopus was tender, but it was slightly lacking some flavor.

All of the pizza sounded tempting, but I opted for the Pepperoni ($19). It was a thin crust pizza topped with fior, padano, red onion, san marzano. There was a generous portion of large slices of pepperoni, and I liked the crispiness of the crust. I'd return to try one of the other pizzas on their menu, as they sounded pretty good.

Address: 120 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON M5J 0A1