Whenever we go to Gastown or New West, Grayson and I have to go to Old Spaghetti Factory. It’s a comfortable place to eat, the meals are at great values and they’re all inclusive what more can a diner ask for?
Sourdough bread
As with all Italian restaurants, they start you off with bread! The signature one at the old spaghetti factory is the sour dough loaf which comes with both whipped butter and whipped garlic butter. I absolutely love the bread here because well, it’s sourdough, two, it’s so fluffy and it comes to your table warm, and three, it’s unlimited! Grayson said he wasn’t going to have any but he couldn’t resist and ended up having a slice or two.
Salad
I chose to have the salad with sesame dressing for my starter, pretty standard greenery, nothing to really say here.
Minestrone soup
Grayson got the minestrone soup, and it was his first time having it for himself after all too many times watching me have mine. He completely fell in love with it, and said it reminded him of borsht. I like that there’s little pieces of shell pasta in there, they’re so cute!
Spaghetti with mushroom sauce
For my main I got the spaghetti with mushroom sauce which came with button mushrooms, and tomato sauce ($10.95). I also chose to get it with multigrain pasta to feel a little better about indulging in it all (+$1.50). The tomatoes shine through the sauce, but I never really think that the sauce is too seasoned here though. I like my tomato sauces to be full of nice Italian herbs, but this one just didn’t get there for me.
The mushrooms were fine, but even though on the menu it said they were fresh, they tasted a little like the brown button mushrooms from a can to me. Although I didn’t enjoy this dish all that much, despite not being chorizo fan, I do enjoy their spicy chorizo penne pasta ($12.95) quite a bit when I get it. I didn’t choose that one this visit because I didn’t feel like making Grayson eat all the chorizo for me again.
Roasted garlic grilled chicken
Grayson usually gets the parmesan crusted chicken ($14.95), but today he decided to get the roasted garlic grilled chicken ($14.95) instead since he never tried this one before. It was a chicken breast marinated with garlic and lemon with garlic parmesan linguine and a side of grilled grape tomatoes. I swear Grayson gets every version of “lemon chicken” out there…Vietnamese, Thai…and now Italian. He said that the chicken wasn’t try and even though he doesn’t like cheese, the pasta was made so well that he didn’t mind it too much.
Spumoni ice cream
At the end of your meal they offer you their signature spumoni ice cream which is chocolate, vanilla and pistachio. Yumm! They also offer you coffee or tea, I usually pick hot water with honey and lemon while Grayson chooses black tea.
Oh, I forgot to mention, my plate was so big that I had to bring some of it home! It’s okay though, lil’ bun sure didn’t mind having the left overs from Old Spaghetti Factory the next day for lunch!
