Back in the days, this pizza shop had line-ups almost every night. The pizza bar right in the front window so everyone can see. Above the Capri lies the infamous Blue Grotto. The ceilings and walls were transformed into concrete stalactites. Food, dancing and live entertainment was on the menu. The head cook at the time, Anna Fiorino started working in the kitchen in the late 60's.
She was just a teenager but needed the money and really loved to cook. Most of the dishes you see today were inspired by her family back home in Calabria, Italy. Even today you will see Mamma in the back cooking and her husband Genaro, Pappa helping out. Since 2004, the Fiorino family now own and run the restaurant.
She was just a teenager but needed the money and really loved to cook. Most of the dishes you see today were inspired by her family back home in Calabria, Italy. Even today you will see Mamma in the back cooking and her husband Genaro, Pappa helping out. Since 2004, the Fiorino family now own and run the restaurant.
Reviews (29)
Noura Soliman
Jan 11, 2022
Report
Meh...
Food was okkkkkk.... Service was extremely slow. I understand many restaurants are under staffed right now and I would completely understand if they were busy... But they weren't.. 2 tables and they didn't even take our drink order for about 15 minutes
Every time the waitress (who was extremely nice and friendly) would leave our table, we knew she wouldn't be back for a very long time.
The food was kinda not that good, and a little over priced. 😕
Food was okkkkkk.... Service was extremely slow. I understand many restaurants are under staffed right now and I would completely understand if they were busy... But they weren't.. 2 tables and they didn't even take our drink order for about 15 minutes
Every time the waitress (who was extremely nice and friendly) would leave our table, we knew she wouldn't be back for a very long time.
The food was kinda not that good, and a little over priced. 😕
Patrick Kelley
Jan 10, 2022
Report
Mike Webster
Jan 08, 2022
Report
I've been to this restaurant a few times, both to dine in and take out. I'd describe it as an old school Italian restaurant with the expected traditional and classic dishes. Be prepared for potentially slow but polite service...I feel the servers and/or kitchen get overwhelmed quickly if things get busy and everything collapses to a snail's pace. That said, this restaurant is a Hamilton institution and worth a visit...food is exceptional.
Tavis McGlashan
Dec 28, 2021
Report
Glenda Bennett
Dec 19, 2021
Report
Angelo
Oct 31, 2021
Report
Beth Tilbury
Sep 11, 2021
Report
TheKodester
Sep 08, 2021
Report
Tyler Chabot
Jul 09, 2021
Report
Wary of the negative reviews my family and I decided to give Capri a try after not visiting for the past 6 years.
We celebrated a birthday here with my in-laws. Nicky(Nicki?) was our server and she was fantastic. Very attentive and courteous. If anything Capri might want to have another busser/server for the dinner hours during the week as she seemed a bit overwhelmed handling drinks, Ubers, bussing and taking orders by herself.
The food was the real star here though. I had the home made tomato sauce with their home made noodles, Arrabiata sauce as well as the eggplant parmesan. Very good combination
We celebrated a birthday here with my in-laws. Nicky(Nicki?) was our server and she was fantastic. Very attentive and courteous. If anything Capri might want to have another busser/server for the dinner hours during the week as she seemed a bit overwhelmed handling drinks, Ubers, bussing and taking orders by herself.
The food was the real star here though. I had the home made tomato sauce with their home made noodles, Arrabiata sauce as well as the eggplant parmesan. Very good combination
Janette S.
May 11, 2021
Report
Have Dined in, in the past and food was relatively good. During the Pandemic decided to order to help support this establishment. Ordered Meat Lasagna and Caesar Salad. How totally disappointing! The Caesar consisted of chopped up iceberg lettuce with a few impossible to chew hard croutons and literally a few pieces of fat (were these supposed to be bacon?). The dressing was tasty. The lasagna was bland, bland, bland with hard to find meat. What an utter disappointment and waste of money that was. This restaurant needs to pull up their socks or lose their customer base.
Richard G.
Dec 10, 2020
Report
This revue is from pre-covid times in 2019.
I have dined at the Capri going back about 40 years. In earlier days they had a fountain in the front entrance causing us to name the Capri the wishing well restaurant. This has been our family's goto for many years and WAS my grand daughter's favorite place. All that has changed with the latest ownership change. On our last visit the service was more than painfully slow, especially with a small child.The servers were clueless and to top things off, after we eventually got our bill (another painful long wait) it arrived in a folio with an
I have dined at the Capri going back about 40 years. In earlier days they had a fountain in the front entrance causing us to name the Capri the wishing well restaurant. This has been our family's goto for many years and WAS my grand daughter's favorite place. All that has changed with the latest ownership change. On our last visit the service was more than painfully slow, especially with a small child.The servers were clueless and to top things off, after we eventually got our bill (another painful long wait) it arrived in a folio with an
Stefanie Seiler
Apr 02, 2020
Report
Sandra Chisholm Divers
Mar 05, 2020
Report
Anna V.
Jan 02, 2020
Report
Came here with a bunch of friends. It had been many, many years since the last time and of course the place has been updated and changed. I'd say the food was pretty good and after a serving incident, the staff was wonderful in making amends. Bent over backwards to make sure we were happy. We even got a tour of the Grotto upstairs, which brought back many memories.
Xavier Kataquapit
Oct 27, 2019
Report
When we met one of the owners of the Capri Ristorante here today, we were pleasantly surprised that this legendary restaurant had reopened. We had tried to visit a couple of times over the year but it had been… closed for renovations. We had assumed that it had slipped into history. We had supper here tonight and we left it up to Mama, the chef to decide on what to serve us. We have not eaten calamari in Canada for many years because too often it tastes like rubber. This time we were very surprised to be served a roasted calamari topped salad and the seafood was served in perfection. To
Rebecca Sargeant
Aug 24, 2019
Report
Service was friendly and helpful. The owner took the time to stopped by to check on us too. The Clam pizza was just like the ones I get at home in New York. Nice to finally find a place so close to were I… live where I can get a taste of home. We are looking forward to going back to an event at the Blue Grotto upstairs. Thanks for a great evening.
Brenda M.
Jan 14, 2019
Report
I had been to this restaurant before it closed for renovation and always enjoyed my food and service. I was really looking forward to dinner.
This past Saturday night we arrived at 5:30 pm for dinner, the restaurant was 1/3 full. We had our drinks served fairly quickly and placed our orders for dinner, one person ordered a pizza and two of us ordered the veal with penne, also a Caesar salad and garlic bread.
The first thing we received was the garlic bread (maybe 15 minutes) the Caesar salad was so washed out tasting blah, that took 25 minutes to receive. We waited another 25 minutes for the
This past Saturday night we arrived at 5:30 pm for dinner, the restaurant was 1/3 full. We had our drinks served fairly quickly and placed our orders for dinner, one person ordered a pizza and two of us ordered the veal with penne, also a Caesar salad and garlic bread.
The first thing we received was the garlic bread (maybe 15 minutes) the Caesar salad was so washed out tasting blah, that took 25 minutes to receive. We waited another 25 minutes for the
Lo C.
Oct 23, 2017
Report
Capri is located in the somewhat sketchy area of John & King Williams where parking is limited. I miraculously got one of the parking meter spots in front of the store.
I came on a Monday afternoon around 4PM and it was completely empty. That didn't really raise any flags as it was between lunch and dinner time.
The lady who took my order for pickup was sweet and knew her menu. I ordered
- Spaghetti with meat sauce + meatballs
- Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken
The timing for pick up was perfect as I was in and out of the resto with the food still hot.
I got back to my boyfriend
I came on a Monday afternoon around 4PM and it was completely empty. That didn't really raise any flags as it was between lunch and dinner time.
The lady who took my order for pickup was sweet and knew her menu. I ordered
- Spaghetti with meat sauce + meatballs
- Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken
The timing for pick up was perfect as I was in and out of the resto with the food still hot.
I got back to my boyfriend
Anonymous X.
Sep 24, 2017
Report
Decided to finally check this place after my friend had been raving about it for a year or more. Made a reservation on a Saturday night to celebrate my grandmothers 75th birthday, they were very accommodating for a larger party (7). When we arrived our hostess sat us down and provided us with menus and filled our water glasses. Our server then came over 15 minutes later asking if we wanted anything else to drink. We thought they may have been understaffed but it turns our server was the only non-attentive one. We waited 30 minutes to get our order taken and had to wait 45 minutes for bread which
Kara G.
Apr 08, 2017
Report
Defintely DO NOT recommend ever eating here unless you're ordering the pizza. If so, have it delivered! Our party of four had the following experience: one of our beers was half frozen, the bruschetta was literally cold and inedible. (it's like they made a huge batch beforehand and put it in the fridge) Our pasta dishes were lukewarm and surprisingly different from what we thought we ordered. The waitress asked us how everything was and left before we could reply.......NEVER going back!
Darlene M.
Mar 08, 2017
Report
Sorry, I don't understand why this place has such a good reputation. I've been here a couple of times and both were disappointing.
Table for two at lunch, only one server on with 7+ tables. Not cool. She did a great job, but obviously it was slow.
My partner had the Ravioli and I had the Pasta Caruso. His tasted (literally) like Chef Boyardi (sp?) and mine... (the description said sausage, mushrooms and green peppers) and it came with red peppers (fine) and... sliced salami? Like, pizza style, thin slices of salami. It looked like pizza toppings on top of pasta that was drowning is
Table for two at lunch, only one server on with 7+ tables. Not cool. She did a great job, but obviously it was slow.
My partner had the Ravioli and I had the Pasta Caruso. His tasted (literally) like Chef Boyardi (sp?) and mine... (the description said sausage, mushrooms and green peppers) and it came with red peppers (fine) and... sliced salami? Like, pizza style, thin slices of salami. It looked like pizza toppings on top of pasta that was drowning is
Verissimo C.
Feb 12, 2017
Report
I had walked by this place a few times and liked the look. So when trying to deciding where to eat, I made the executive decision to come try this place out. I had never looked up the website, never looked up any reviews, never done any research; so I was walking in blind and expecting nothing.
When we walked in, the brick façade of the bar was extremely easy on the eyes and the rows of perfectly aligned alcohol bottles made the bar a backdrop to a wonderful picture. In the main dining room, tables were set up evenly and neat, not a single thing out of place. The ceiling have the nice dark blue
When we walked in, the brick façade of the bar was extremely easy on the eyes and the rows of perfectly aligned alcohol bottles made the bar a backdrop to a wonderful picture. In the main dining room, tables were set up evenly and neat, not a single thing out of place. The ceiling have the nice dark blue
Drew H.
Nov 20, 2016
Report
Lauren A.
Aug 25, 2016
Report
Bianca Pizza is my favourite. It's delicious, homemade and with quality ingredients. The dining room is dated but in a good way - like as if you walked into a time capsule from the 60's which also adds to that feeling of eating authentic Italian food. The prices are reasonable and I feel good supporting a long standing part of downtown Hamilton. So much better than the cheap and quick pizza places I've tried here. Service is great, authentic and prompt. Yum! Eat in or Take-Out.
Carli H.
Feb 15, 2016
Report
Despite losing my reservation twice I had an amazing night out! The atmosphere was old school Italian so lots of decor but gave a really authentic Italian feel. We started out with wine and beer and was happy to see how inexpensive they were. Our appetizer was calamari which we enjoyed: good quantity and the batter was perfect and didn't flake off. We split the chicken Parmesan with Rose sauce as well as ordered a pizza. The chicken parm was absolutely perfect and the Rose sauce complimented the meal excellently. The pizza came out late due to a mix up in the kitchen (which is fine, stuff
Jordan B.
Feb 15, 2016
Report
Just had valentine's dinner at Capri. The service was great, as well as the food. One of the best Italian restaurants in Hamilton and I've been to most. The chicken parm and pizza were home made and delicious. Everything was very reasonably priced. The one downfall was they lost our reservations..twice. Calamari was also delicious and you receive a good amount. It didn't come with enough seafood sauce but we got extra, free of charge. Will definitely be one of my go-to's for Italian.
Amanda C.
Dec 30, 2015
Report
Came here in a pinch after we found out it was an hour wait at another restaurant. We were seated right away and then had to wait 30 minutes to place our order. A table of 4 came in just after us and left about a good 30-40 minutes before us. We advised the waitress and hostess that we were catching a show at 7:30PM...that was at 6PM...it's and at 7:10PM we were still waiting for the food. Our drinks were finished well before the food arrived and we weren't offered refills.
Finally at 7:20PM the food arrived. Kind of. Missing a pizza but a majority of everyone's food did get there
Finally at 7:20PM the food arrived. Kind of. Missing a pizza but a majority of everyone's food did get there
Christine C.
Apr 11, 2015
Report
God Awful!!
Stay away. First of all the place was dirty. Took 45 minutes to get served appetizer and was already cold. Then the food came. I had lasagna - some bites tasted freezer burnt. Hubby had gnoccis - they were like the kind you get in the frozen section of Walmart. Was offered Parmesan cheese - and the waitress plunked down a shaker of Kraft!! Omg was one of the worst meals I've had in my life!!
Stay away. First of all the place was dirty. Took 45 minutes to get served appetizer and was already cold. Then the food came. I had lasagna - some bites tasted freezer burnt. Hubby had gnoccis - they were like the kind you get in the frozen section of Walmart. Was offered Parmesan cheese - and the waitress plunked down a shaker of Kraft!! Omg was one of the worst meals I've had in my life!!
Rachel M.
Sep 25, 2014
Report
So disappointed not only did we not get our food for an hour but we were also seved after a table of the same size who ordered after us. There were 6 people at our table ans not one of us enjoyed our meal. Personally I was very confused as to why there was the option to add an item to your pasta when it was served on the side. I ordered alfredo and added veal. The veal came on a side place in a completely different sauce. If that's what you mean when you say add you should realy say add a side off to avoid confusion and disappointment.
