October 2014

Located on the minor suburban strip a few blocks away from our very comfortable guesthouse, this place was recommended by the owners and definitely didn’t disappoint. We were expecting a Mexico-level experience in keeping with what little we had seen in our first night in this big chaotic city but instead we found an international-quality little trattoria, but for prices that wouldn’t keep Pedro’s in Mazatlan afloat.

A gentle polite black male server made sure we were looked after, and help us select a good South African cabernet franc for the almost unbelievable restaurant price of about C$20. The wine was very young but still gave a serious austere lightly empyromatic aroma and a little bit tannic-deficient and short experience in the mouth but hey, for the money…

Dinner was an unremarkable but not at all disappointing antipasto, followed by a couple of dishes of penne, one with portobello mushrooms which we were shown before they were cooked, and the other with delicious deboned quail. Both perfectly respectable pastas lining up nicely with the wine.

The big surprise: less than $60 Canadian. We were there early and only another six people or so showed up by the time we left. Generally an all-around pleasant surprise considering the reputation of the city. Food 7.9, ambience 7.5, service 8.2, value 9.6.