Review :
DO NOT DINE AT MISS ITALIA!

We had family visiting from overseas for Christmas and decided to travel through the Canadian Rockies with a few stops in beautiful scenic Jasper, Banff, Revelstoke, McBride and Lake Louise along the way. My Mum visiting from overseas was very excited to stay in Jasper for the evening and to have a lovely dinner out. Upon walking around Jasper we decided on Miss Italia upon looking at the menu outside. We went upstairs and were greeted by a server and taken to our table. Upon entering the restaurant we noticed the music was loud, so loud in fact we could not hear one another talk. We were the only patrons in the restaurant (it soon became apparent why!) so we asked politely to have the music turned down. The server did so and we were very grateful. A few minutes later however the music was turned back up, far louder than before and we could not hear a word each other was saying. We asked politely again for it to be turned back down. The server looked worried that she may get in trouble if she asked it to be turned down again and refused. We explained that my Mum had a migraine and that there was no one else in the restaurant. The server walked away and the music was turned down only a tiny bit. We decided to ignore it and get on with what we thought would be a spectacular dinner. We ordered happily and received our soups very promptly. Unfortunately they were extremely watery and oily - very unusual for Minestrone soup! We ignored it and awaited our main meals. My husband and I ordered the ravioli and my Mother ordered the open steak sandwich. Our meals were received within minutes of ordering, which we were very impressed with - however it became apparent why we received them so promptly! The supposed "fresh cooked ravioli" was most definitely store bought! This is obvious as we often cook the exact same type at home (for 1/10th of the price!)! It even has the same pattern on the pasta itself - unique to the store bought variety! The sauce on the pasta had no taste what-so-ever and was barely heated! It was watered down store-bought pasta sauce and was disgusting! What was worse was that my Mum's open steak sandwich was a disaster! The fries looked like yesterdays fries cooked again! They were dark brown in color and so crunchy that one could barely bite in to them. The "open steak sandwich" was far from a "sandwich"! It was the smallest, thinest piece of meat you have ever seen in your life (definitely not 8oz - as advertised), was very pale in pallor and was not in or on an "open sandwich"!!! It sat on two tiny pieces of way too over-toasted minuscule slices of baguette! So overdone and crunchy you could bounce them off the floor! There were no toppings for the "sandwich" - no sauces and no sides! Dry - bland - and utterly disgusting! We each tried one bite of our food and put down our forks - absolutely the worst food I have ever tasted on the planet (I am a flight attendant and have dined all over the world - so that is saying something)!

The server came over and we politely explained that my Mum's meal was not what the menu stated. The server told us "that's how they come" and shrugged. She then went to tell the "chef" who was a middle aged over-weight Italian woman named Toula, who we later found out was the owner. Toula came over to speak to my Mum and my lovely Mum politely explained that she had not touched her meal and that she would like a new one without the stale baggette or would prefer no meal at all. Well, all hell broke loose! The woman started yelling out of nowhere about my Mum insulting her cooking. My Mum - quite possibly the friendliest and politest woman in the world sat back shocked, not saying a word. I explained calmly to the woman that we were not "insulting her cooking" - we just simply wanted what the menu explained, not what my Mum had been served. Well, she went nuts! She went in to a tirade about how we knew "nothing about good food" and that what she served was what the menu stated (oh no, it wasn't!). She started to yell and throw her hands about in the air and leaned down, right in to our faces. I politely explained that we would not be paying for substandard food we hadn't touched and that if she contined to yell we would be leaving. Well she screamed even louder and started telling us to "get [--]", yes, absolutely true. With that we all stood up to leave. We walked towards the door and she said "if you [--] leave I will call the Police. You better [--] pay - you pieces of [--]". We told her to please call the Police as we'd love to speak to them about her terrible service and verbal abuse. My husband being in law enforcement in another province asked the woman to kindly calm down and that he would be happy to speak to a fellow officer about the incident. That is when she lost it! She called an elderly Italian man upstairs who put his hands on my husband blocking his path to leave. My husband informed him that this was illegal and the woman ran towards us screaming at us: "you [--], get the [--] out!". Gladly we left narrowly avoiding Toula's crazy flailing arms and hearing her foul language and verbal abuse even out on the street! We ran across the road in to another restaurant and called the local RCMP. We were advised that we were absolutely in the right and they took a statement from us. The RCMP told us that "no one eats at Miss Italia anyway" and thanked us for our complaint - they told us to come down to the station to file criminal charges against Toula and the Miss Italia Ristorante.

Overall it left a sour taste in my dear Mum's mouth about Canada and Jasper. She was left shaking and emotionally scarred by the experience. Not a good introduction to the wonderful nation I now call home. My husband - a Canadian - was left deeply embarrassed by the whole experience and we are currently laying formal charges against the restaurant!