Old Spaghetti Factory at The Forks delivers straight up, nothing fancy pasta that will satisfy everyone in the crowd.
Old Spaghetti Factory
Address: 110-25 Forks Market
Phone number: 204-957-1391
Website: www.oldspaghettifactory.ca
Neighbourhood: The Forks
Inside Old Spaghetti Factory, you're not going to eat ground-breaking, nouveau cuisine inside a slick, sophisticated room.
But what you will get is a satisfying and reasonably priced meal inside a kitschy dining room replete with old-timey, stained-glass windows; battered and worn tin lamps, a circa-1920s jalopy halved lengthwise and mounted on a wall, and dark wood booths.
The beauty of Old Spaghetti Factory is in the broad strokes. Located at The Forks—Winnipeg's popular tourist destination and a hub for local history, shopping, dining and entertainment—the restaurant is perfectly situated to satisfy everybody on the trip.
The restaurant is located on the first floor inside Johnson Terminal, the two-storey retail building across from the main market.
The large dining room and lounge has views of a small, natural grasslands green space on the Forks site. The patio, meanwhile, overlooks the outdoor Forks Market Plaza, a round skating rink in winter and centre-stage for many concerts and performances throughout the summer.
You can bring your spouse, your kids and parents and everyone will find something on the menu. Kids are very welcome. A kids menu hits all the favourites.
Service is fast, friendly and knowledgeable. (Our server knew the menu inside and out and made some good recommendations.)
The kitchen also boasts daily-made, from-scratch sauces. (All entrées include minestrone soup or tossed salad, a warm loaf of sourdough bread with whipped garlic butter, tea or coffee and spumoni ice cream.)
Insider's tip: As tempting as it is, show some restraint when it comes to the fresh, warm bread. You'll want to save some space in your stomach for the main feature.
We opted for both traditional and modern takes on spaghetti. The spaghetti with brown butter and mizithra cheese (a Greek-style goat cheese) was a simple and unexpected delight. The rich butter sauce was smoothed around the edges with crumbled cheese.
For the 100 per cent factory experience, order the traditional spaghetti with tomato sauce. This straight-forward sauce was fresh and vibrant with lots of robust tomato flavour. The pasta was served al dente with a nice bite, with not a limp noodle in the bowl.
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