Old Spaghetti Factory – Gastown

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Old Spaghetti Factory – Gastown

January 19, 2009 by Joyce

The second Dine Out ’09 experience was at a family restaurant, the Old Spaghetti Factory at Gastown. I went to the one in Whistler in Feb 2008, and honestly, I wasn’t impressed by its food and service at all. However, the $18 menu seems rather decent and I wanted to give it another shot. With a little hope that it could redeem itself, I walked into the dinner without much expectation.

Food

Although it’s listed as a three-course dinner, each dinner actually came with its classic Sourdough Bread, a green salad or minestrone soup, and coffee or tea. That’s on top of the clam chowder, pasta and Ice-cream that I ordered – all for $18!! And the food was actually alright. The Green Salad and Clam Chowder was not too bad. What worried me was the pasta. I remembered the pasta I had in Whistler was dry and lukewarm. Perhaps it’s the sauce, or the cook, or something else, but this time around the Linguine was much much better. I mean, the food didn’t blow me away or anything, but it’s definitely at a standard where I would consider returning to the restaurant at a later time.

Service

Great service, I must say. The server greeted us with a loaf of sour dough and garlic butter and plain butter as soon as we sat down. Then came back with our order of drinks and took our dinner order. In addition to the attentive server, there was a bus boy who came and collected our dishes as soon as we finished them. It’s not in a rushing way, but showing you that he had paid attention to the table and got them out of your way as soon as you’re done.

Ambiance

It’s very cozy in the restaurant. And I really liked the Trolley car in the middle of the restaurant. I wish I had dined in the car!! While I was there, two groups of diners were to celebrate a birthday. I enjoyed listening to the staff sing “happy birthday” and how everyone in the dining room would clap for the birthday boy/girl afterwards.