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Chianti Cafe & Restaurant
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 11:30 am - 10 pm
Fri 11:30 am - 11 pm
Sat-Sun 4 pm - 10 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
About This Business:
Our Melinzano Salata, Tiramisu, secret recipe for our Pizza Sauce, bread, and pizza dough among other things are made fresh in house. Come see what you… read more »
18 reviews for Chianti Cafe & Restaurant
18 reviews in English
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Review from Wendy P.
5/19/2012 1 Check-in Here
I've stayed away from Chianti's the last couple of years because, quite frankly, I considered it and it's cheap pasta menu the epitome of mediocre Italian food in town. I was prepares for a two star lunch today when a colleague suggested it as our lunch spot.
Well, colour me yelped to be admitting that it was actually a 3 star lunch... Maybe even 3.5! I avoided the pasta options and opted instead for a salmon dish listed as a lunch special. It cane with my choice of soup or one of three salads- spinach, Caesar or house greens. The salmon was as long as my hand (I have big hands) and had a creamy cucumber like dip on the side. It was good, I'd also give it a 3.5.
The service gets a 4. It may not have been busy, but our server was on the ball with drinks, food specials and being sure to check in on us throughout the meal.
All in all, not a regrettable lunch choice. -
Review from Thomas M.
1/25/2012
I used to go to this Chianti's for 'cheap pasta night' every sunday night between 2004 and 2007 . Although the food isn't authentic, it was a decent deal at $6.99 or $7.99 or whatever it cost back then.
I moved south and haven't been since about 2007, but recently we bought a couple of the voucher offers they had so we went back. what a mistake - this location has gone downhill BIG TIME. on our first visit we each had a veal dish, both of which were totally tough and dry. we also shared the Italian Salad, which was utterly TERRIBLE... the lettuce was swiming in water, which caused the dressing to not adhere, so basically we were eating plain lettuce. to top it off, they put 2 or 3 WHOLE anchovies on there - not chopped, but whole. anyone who has eaten anchovies knows that they are far to rich to be served whole in a salad like that. they need to be chopped.
we went back for a second visit. since we had such a bad experience with the veal dishes last time, we decided to both get pastas this time. The pastas were passable, but certianly not excellent. however, the downer this time was the Caesar Salads that we also ordered. while the lettuce was (for the most part) fresh, the dressing had a strange BANANA flavor to it.... not sure how you get a caesar dressing to taste like banannas, but they did it.
needless to say we won't be going back. boo!
EDIT: I even too the time to email management about my recent experiences at their restaurant, hoping that my comments might help them to improve... Frank customer feedback is VERY valuable, and hard to get, so managers should be extremely grateful when someone takes the time to write. I DIDN'T EVEN GET REPLY saying "thank you." Talk about bad management!!! No worries, I won't be going back to this location again.
SECOND EDIT: About 2 weeks after sending the email to management, I finally received a response. They apologized for the tough meat, but with regards to the weird-tasting Caesar dressing, they claimed "For Caesar dressing, we actually took same batch we served on July 27 and tested with all Chianti staffs and some of our customers. Nobody felt any bananas flavor. Until now, we still can't conclude anything we did wrong to Caesar dressing, again, we didn't make any changes to recipes." LOL, so essentially they are telling me that I'm stupid, or making this whole thing up. I'm sorry, but I've lived in north america my whole life and have eaten hundreds of Caesar salads, I know what the dressing tastes like and what you served me on your caesar salad certainly wasn't normal. I also find it interesting that either: 1) the salad dressing isn't made fresh and is kept for days on end, or 2) they save the dressing from each day for 2 weeks... and THEN use customers as guinea pigs to see if it tastes normal. LOL. Are you kidding me?
They also claimed " In addition, our chiefs and prep team have worked for Chianti for 26 years." Interesting. Can you explain what happened to your food when the new management took over then? Read the many, many other comments in this thread about how the food went way downhill after that... Are you trying to say that we're all just making this up for some reason? GIMME A BREAK.
Instead of denying that your food sucks, and trying to tell the customer they are wrong, perhaps you should use this invaluable feedback to fix the many problems your restaurant has. because in the meantime, it looks like a lot of us long-time customers won't be coming back anytime soon. -
Review from Natalia G.
Calgary, AB
1/1/2012
My husband and I always go to the Chianti's on Macleod Trail but this time we found ourselves close to DT so we went to this location on 17th Ave. I always order the chicken cacciatore since it's tasty and a big portion.
When our food arrived, I thought the color of the food was a little off but didn't think much of it. When I started eating it, the taste was also odd, I started digging through the pile of vegetables on top and noticed the big sticks of celery and carrots (wow, they didn't even bother chopping these), the long onions I pulled out were burnt to the crisp, this was making the rest of the meal taste way off. Then I began to inspect the chicken, turned it over and this was also burnt! The pasta on the plate was not even pasta, it was more like chinese noodles!!! My husband order the chicken parm
which also had chinese noodles, these had no taste at all!
Needles to say I sent the plate back with all my findings left on top, pointed then out to the waitress so she could show the chef what quality of food he was letting out of his kitchen, not too much pride in his work, that's for sure.
We did receive plenty of apologies from the waitress and manager but we will definitely not be back nor will we encourage our friends to do so.
Italian restaurant? Far from it! -
Review from T S.
Calgary, AB
5/24/2012
Worst Italian foood ever...Stay away! Cheap, Cheap, and really cheap. You better spend your $9 somewhere else.
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Review from Ali Z.
5/21/2012 1 Check-in Here
I had visited the Chianti's on 32nd Ave NE several times over the past few years for lunch. Each visit was similar, slightly down market décor, good service, good food and always quick. The downtown 17th Ave location is similar except that the number of patrons is far smaller. During a Wednesday afternoon the lunch rush consisted of three tables all adequately served by one waitress who doubled as the bartender. She was prompt, professional and didn't make any glaring errors (a drastic improvement over our trip to Moxie's yesterday). The food was classic Italian, Canadian style. Plenty of sauce, baked with cheese and the lunch sized portion could have served as dinner without complaint. The pasta lunch special included a variety of dishes and was for less than $10. The combination of good food and good prices makes Chianti's, which ever location you prefer, a good choice.
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Review from Terrence L.
Calgary, AB
1/1/2012
Chianti is one of those places where if what you're looking for is a decent simple plate of pasta or reasonably good value, but not exactly elegance. In fact, while they do claim to be a restaurant, I would say that the food reminds me a lot of what I found in tourist trap street cafes in Venice. Inexpensive, simple, filling, but not a place I would ever consider for a special event.
If nice and simple, and reasonably fast is what you're looking for, then I would go to Chianti, but if you want something of elegance and better quality, there are quite a few better places all over town, including their sister restaurant, the Fiore on 17th Ave. -
Review from Lindy H.
Calgary, AB
5/20/2012
I recently went there with my boyfriend on cheap night and we have been trying to go vegan, so we asked that our pasta dish be served without chicken or any type of meat, so the waitress announced that that would be an extra $2 to 'take away' the meat! Wow, that really makes sense! The meat is the thing that's the most expensive part of the pasta! Anyway, at the end of the meal (very mediocre food by the way!) I refused to pay the $2 so she said, "well just this time and if you 'did' this again, you'd have to pay"! Anyway, a couple of days later I talked to the Manager here and they said I could go back (by myself) and get the meal replaced! I was so mad at the 'treatment', I sent my mom cause I didn't want to go by myself either! She's not vegan/vegetarian so I thought she could get a better deal! When I talked with her later, she said the pasta and chicken were both tough and dry, and that she was offered only one serving of the chibatta bread and never offered water by the bus boy or waitress, so she finally had to ask, at which time she just asked to for a container to take the food out and an extra bread a little more water for the road, and she walked out! Don't think we'd go there again!
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Review from Kate B.
10/19/2011 1 Check-in Here
You get what you pay for, that's the way I feel about this place. I went on a Monday night, the place was dead and the pasta was cheap. I think the atmosphere would be better when this resto is in full swing, as it was I didn't much care for it - in particular, I would hope that the too loud muzak would be drowned out by dining customers.
The meal starts out with foccacia bread accompanied by oil and balsamic vinegar - and this is probably the best part of the experience. The bread was warm and the balsamic was tangy.
I decided on veggie penne pasta with tomato sauce. Basically it came out as a bed of penne with a sort of "chili" like veggies n' sauce pile on top. The veggies were inconsistently cooked, raw carrot and zuchini are the only textures that I recall when I think of the dish.
If cheap eats that will fill the void are what you are looking for, then look no further and head on down to Chianti's for their budget pasta nights. -
Review from Natasha K.
Calgary, AB
11/30/2010
Normally I wouldn't write a review so long after I have eaten at the place, but this time it was quite memorable. I will note that the experience took place in the summer of 2010.
I've eaten here twice, and both times disappointed. The last time, it was a bit later than usual (about 8pm) and there were 3 other tables in there. About 2 servers, so expected normal service.
Our food was simply okay, hit the carb load I was craving but in terms of flavour was bland. Service was poor, and no quality check. For me, it is really important to have a quality check, because about 30% of the time, there is something wrong/missing/etc. In this case, the server hadn't offered parmesan or fresh ground pepper... so I waited... and nothing, so I ate. After we were finished, we had to wait about 10 minutes and our server was talking on his cell phone at the bar. Staring, staring, nothing. How annoying! I guess he couldn't wait to finish his shift. Eventually we went up to the bar and another guy helped. I think this is the last time I would go back to this location. I do enjoy their South location near Southcentre, though.
Oh, and their bruschetta is bland! -
Review from Shannon M.
North Vancouver, BC
7/21/2010
This is my go-to place when I'm in Calgary for cheap, decent pasta (on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday when it's $7.99!). I've even found myself craving it on occasion since moving away. Yes, there are better places out there, but my tastes aren't fancy and I've found everything I've tasted to be delicious (personal favourite would be the Supremo - scallops and smoked salmon in creamy curry sauce, change the fettuccini for whole wheat fusilli and add spinach... mmm... delish).
If you're heading there for cheap pasta night, I would recommend going early as it does get quite busy. The servers have always been really nice and the service decent though it definitely slows down when busy. Oh! And the fresh buns pre-meal? Yep. Awesome. -
Review from Mike M.
Calgary, AB
7/18/2010
I'm going to preface this review with a little context: Chianti's was my very first job when I moved to Calgary five years ago!
I loved the food when I worked there and I love it even more now that I don't have to work for it. Sure I miss the discount, but when their Pasta Special (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday) is so cheap, it doesn't really matter.
The restaurant seems small, but it fits a ton of people. It kinda reminds me of a European dinner, especially when it feels like you are sharing your meal with the strangers who are practically sitting beside you!
There are probably better italian restaurants in the city, but who can afford them. When the average price of a huge plate of pasta is only $10, you can't really go wrong. And with fairly reasonable prices, this becomes a great place to go out with your friends or go on a first date! -
Review from Jason G.
Calgary, AB
4/30/2010 1 photo
If you're looking for fine Italian cuisine on the cheap, then look no further than Chianti on 17th.
This dark and cozy Italian eatery offers up an extensive menu and wine list sure to please any gastronome.
I'm particularly fond of the Pasta Frenzy, offered all day Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, when $7,99 will buy any one of the 40 pasta choices they have available. As for the atmosphere, well let's just say that "chaotic" probably covers it. At least when the Frenzy is raging!
But really, when you consider the paltry prices, a little chaos is likely inevitable.
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's Chianti! -
Review from Chad W.
Calgary, AB
10/15/2008
Chianti Cafe & Restaurant provides their customers with delightful and spirited service and decent (but not altogether adventurous) Italian cuisine. The good news is the place is cheap and pasta specials occur frequently.
Their wine selection is top-notch and will please any veteran restaurateur. Whatever you do, don't order the mussels. -
Review from Mike M.
9/28/2010
What a horrible, watery plated, flavorless, crap serviced place this is. I always like to give places a couple of tries...So I did. Each time it got worse. I have a sneaking suspicion that this place freezes and then defrosts the pasta and sauces. Not even worth the money on the half priced days. This is the equivalent of McDonalds of the pasta world Just not as tasty as McDonalds.
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Review from Cornelius V.
Calgary, AB
3/18/2009
Uninspired and bland. You will get the usual Italian pasta dishes, veal, etc. This isn't Italian, this is the teenaged rebel son of the Mario from the East Side. This is good if you're in the block and want a carbo load. If you want a real meal, put a bit more effort in. Maybe the head chef should, too.
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Review from Patrick P.
Calgary, AB
7/4/2010
You can't have 40 pasta choices on a menu and say the pasta is fresh. This isn't authentic italian - it's more like fast food. Food is decent - but you could make it at home with a jar of pasta sauce and a box of dried noodles. I think that's how they make it in the back at Chiantis, at least.
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Review from Joel B.
Calgary, AB
2/2/2009
Very mediocre bland Italian food.
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Review from David H.
Calgary, AB
4/15/2011
2.5 STARS. B - List Overall. The food is very good. The ambiance is pleasant. The service on this night was, and I am being generous, desperate. Just returned from a Friday night sitting, the house is perhaps 1/3rd full. We order. The waiter asks the wrong person if they would prefer a particular sauce. Strike 1. The dinner rolls come out hot and unsatisfying. You now pour your own oil and vinegar. I guess life is busy there. Strike 2. The glass vinegar bottle is leaking. The waiter says he will get another one. So nice of him. A new bottle never reveals itself. Strike 3. The food appears after 35 minutes. Strike 4. After dinner, the waiter offers to package the remainder and return. The bill arrives but not the food. Strike 5. We had a enough and could not muster the energy to tell him he needs an organizational and recall system to be truly successful in his profession. It will be a long while before stepping foot again. There is better elsewhere downtown. Hope for the best when you visit. PS... Best service of the night came from the guy with a nice smile and filled up the water.
