Old Spaghetti Factory

I have to give it to them for the generous portion sizes and copious amounts of cheese in their dishes. And their service was excellent.

Alas, the food was less than satisfying.

We were first served bread with garlic butter which was alright. 

Next came my Vegetarian Lasagna (pictured below).

I never thought I would say this but there actually is such a thing as too much cheese! Worse was that the texture of both the pasta and the cheese had a plastic feel and flavour. 

The Spumoni ice cream at the end of was pretty, good. The pistachio flavour was a nice kick.

Cotto Enoteca Pizzeria

Food and service had some good hits and minor misses.

I'll start off with the highlight of our dinner:

(had asked for prosciutto to be left out)

This is something I've never seen or tried anywhere else, so didn't know what to expect, but it sure did look good on paper. It did not fail to exceed my expectations. Crispy on the outside, and full of cheese and goodness on the inside in a pool of a wonderfully flavourful tomato sauce that went really well with the gnocchi. This is definitely not your ordinary gnocchi. If you are looking for something new and different that still gives you a taste of Italian, this is the dish!
Gnocchi Fritto = 4.5/5


Next I will talk about the dish that was a 'miss' in my opinion.

This dish was pretty bad, there was a pretty strong bitter taste in the filling that just totally ruined it for me. It was not at all good.
Cannelloni Spinaci = 0/5

The Pizza Carne was good. Better than pizzas from some of the other traditional pizzerias out there.

It had a nice soft crust and it was nice and cheesy with an egg in the middle. Thing is the traditional style of pizza just doesn't do it for me personally, I need my good old thicker, cheese-filled crust with at least a little tomato sauce in the topping. My friend really liked the pizza, so I let him finish it off, while I dug into the Gnocchi Fritto.

Pizza Carne = 3/5

Great food except for the Cannellonni with its bitter filling. Good service by the waitress serving us, however it would have been nice to have our water refilled. The hostess had a bit of an attitude (no smile/no friendliness) and the bartender made a rude comment at the end of the day when we ordered dessert at 10:40 PM (the restaurant closed at 10:30). The waitress is the one who asked us if we would like anything for dessert. Not only that, but another table was still working on their meal.. The bartender asked the waitress after she took our dessert order, "Why are you still taking orders?" To which she replied that it was just dessert. He didn't even care that he was asking in front of us where we could hear him. I think the if the service staff act just a tad friendlier, it will be great for business.
Service = 3/5

The Foundation

My friend and I came here for the first time and as a Vegetarian, seeing so many appetizing options on one menu, I felt like a kid in a candy store. So I suggested that we order two dishes and split them half and half. I chose the 'mango forte,' which is a pasta made with mango, broccoli, zucchini and jalapenos in coco sauce and comes with a side salad. I was glad that I was only having half of this dish, because it was just mediocre for me, because I like lots of flavor which I thought this pasta was lacking in, and also it was too sweet for me to enjoy as a main dish. It was still satisfying, given that the pasta was cooked just right, and it had plenty of veggies which made me feel good about myself :).

The highlight of the dinner was what my friend chose the - 'persistent pnut burger,' which has a patty made with quinoa, chick peas, roast onion, and spicy peanut, on a bun, comes with a salad and with a small dish strawberries topped with granola. This sandwich is now one of my TOP TWO Veggie Burgers ever!!!! (The other is the Mo-Ca Burger from The Reef made with Tofu). This burger was just so damn good and it is definitely not your typical burger.

This 'persistent pnut burger' is rich, with a lovely chewy texture with slight hints of crunchy, and had the perfect touch of peanut flavor that wasn't over-powering nor lacking. Ooo! I'm so glad I gave this place a try. My only regret is that I only got to eat half a burger. I will definitely be back to order the whole meal for myself. I also would love to try the salad and strawberry dessert that comes with the peanut burger which my friend said was nice.

The ambience/atmosphere: Grungy, although this was fitting to the theme of the joint, but from what I can see everything seemed clean. It was a bit dark in three-quarters of the restaurant, with miss-matched chairs and table, and a bit too cold for my liking. The feel of the restaurant could do with some improvements perhaps by making the chairs and tables more comfortable. I really liked the quotes on the walls, it was nice to read them while waiting for our food. The service was nothing special, the waitress seemed too busy to be into the job, and she didn't refill my water until at the end when I asked for more water. But these things are in no way going to keep me from coming back. As long as the food is great, "I Will Be Back."






(Photo creds go to: http://www.dineouthere.com/restaurants/the-foundation-main-street and http://omnomics.blogspot.ca/2010/08/foundation.html)