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La Piazza Dario
Categories: Food Specialty Food Restaurants Italian Specialty Food, Italian [Edit]
3075 Slocan StVancouver, BC V5M 3E4
Neighbourhood: Renfrew-Collingwood
(604) 430-2195
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11:30 am - 2:30 pm
Mon-Sat 5:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Sun 5 pm - 10 pm
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
9 reviews for La Piazza Dario
9 reviews in English
-
Review from Pamela L.
3/17/2012 1 photo
Attached to the Italian Cultural Centre, I expected traditional Italian fare and a restaurant full of families enjoying each others' companies and hearty flavourful food. I was right. There were two ;arge family dinners taking place while I was a guest - large gatherings with probably three generations enjoying real Italian food made for people who understand Italian cuisine. Lots of laughter and happiness echoed from each table.
Then, our food came and we responded with the same reactions of happiness and delight. First, the antipasto platter. It was huge. I mean, Shaquille O'Neil huge and each bite of food just blew me away. Then my duck breast. Oh, duck. Because I love you so much and because of you, I could never be a vegetarian. It was slightly crispy on the outside, slightly rare on the inside and oily, tender and fatty. Oh lovely water fowl, thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you, Dario, for creating food that satisfied my palette for savory foods.
The only reason why I am not a regular is because it isn't close to a skytrain and I don't drive so it isn't the easiest place for me to visit. But if you're driving, I'm in! -
Review from Hipster C.
Vancouver, BC
12/31/2011
Mama Mia! [insert cheesy accent] I've just found a decent, authentic Italian place without the downtown prices!
Being a fairly decent homecook, I don't often venture out for Italian as I can very easily toss together a pasta at home with a few fresh and staple ingredients from my kitchen. But once in a while I do enjoy heading out to Italian to become re-inspired :)
On the table: Mushroom risotto, buffalo cheese tomato salad, and fettucine with meat sauce.
-my friend loved her mushroom risotto: buttery, well seasoned and not too earthy as sometimes over-using dried mushrooms can cause
-buffalo cheese was tender, subtle and rich - for $15 as the special, not sure about the value, but it was definitely tastier than the boccocini I've tried before, and it gave me inspiration to try buffalo cheese in my next home-made dish
-fettucine with meat sauce: simple and tasty, meat was tender, sauce was simple and well seasoned and the pasta was either fresh or fresh/dried, had a great chewy texture.
Ambiance: cozy, rustic, classy with a bit of datedness, heat was at the right temperature
Service: had about 6 different staff we interacted with, but service was attentive, warm and entertaining. Only drawback was that water wasn't refilled until the end of our meal and we had to flag down the hostess for the bill. The had at least 3 large parties of 12+ people, near the end of our meal, so go early before they're packed!
Recommended! -
Review from Theresa W.
Vancouver, BC
12/15/2011 1 Check-in Here
I came here for a work team dinner in early December. For someone without a vehicle, I doubt this would be at the top of my go-to places for Italian, but the food was delicious, and it's actually not too far a walk from the Renfrew Skytrain station.
We went with a set menu, so little deciding time was needed from everyone - salmon, veal, or vegetarian was the only choice we had to make for the fantastic 5 course meal. The food is amazing and authentic, and deceptively filling! We had the group dinner set #5, and the owners surprised us with an additional pasta dish free of charge (I've never had a pistachio-sauce pasta before!). The salmon was cooked perfectly, but the veal was not as amazing - it was very soggy and a bit tough. Their St. Honore dessert was so good, I finished it despite being so full.
The service was very good - they kept wine glasses full all night long, and ensured our plates were full of pasta. They also let us stay until very late, we were the last group to leave and they never rushed us out.
Overall a good experience. As a note: it's a family restaurant, so while the setting was perfect for a nice date out, there were customers with crying children and the likes, so it brought the atmosphere down a notch. We noticed that they also hand-make the zabaglione dessert right at your table (from observing some of the other diners around us)! If I ever come back, I'll definitely try that dessert! -
Review from Ryan L.
Vancouver, BC
2/17/2012
Gnocchi and manicotti were pretty decent. Complimentary bread was a bit stale. Went with a groupon and they tried to force a tip of greater than 15% on me. Required tip for a party of two and more than 15%? Probably won't be back, especially when I live next to much more thoughtfully done Italian at similar prices at Campagnola Roma.
-
Review from Kyrsten J.
New Westminster, BC
6/8/2011
I'm so uninspired I'm having a hard time coming up with a funny review!
One of those places you see and think "you know, one day I should go there". For a friend's birthday, she corralled about 30 of us into the restaurant. Since we were such a large party, they arranged fixed meal for us, which seemed like a good idea.
We didn't get anything other than water for the first hour, someone had to be flagged for wine, nor did they take our order for our main meal until much later. Now, yes, we were busy chatting, but quite a few people started to pantomime hunger and some started to wonder if it might be smart to flag someone down. Then we got bread (one basket, no refill), a tiny (but decent) green salad. Our seconds were pre-picked to be a small bowl of penne & an amazing tomato sauce, which was followed by a small bowl of linguine & pesto - linguine cooked perfectly. But neither are particularly difficult pastas - and they could have done so well by bringing some of the interesting Italian regional pasta dishes to light here. Because in Italy, there are just some places where you get only certain pasta shapes or sauces - why not experiment with that here?
If I had stopped here and gotten more pasta, I think I would've been fine... The main dishes were overly salted and seemed to have the same potatoes (which tasted odd to me) and veg - it didn't matter what 'protein' you had. The St. Honore cake was good, but again, not spectacular.
What I would do next time: order off their menu (instead of fixed) as the menu items that passed our table looked good & their pasta was good.
But if they are that close to Bosa Food, and in the same complex as the Italian Cultural Center, how could the food have been so wrong? -
Review from Cheryl H.
Vancouver, BC
4/8/2011
This was my first time at Dario's, although I have heard about this restaurant from various friends, I had never gotten around to going to it. Based on the pasta alone, this will not be my last time at this restaurant :)
The restaurant is quite large with table configurations of many different sizes. So handling groups would not be a problem! A group of four of us arrived at 6:30pm and tonight, the restaurant was not busy, so service was very good. The only minor observation was at the end of our evening, it took a few tries to get our waitress's eye to bring us our bill... but then, we had been there for 3 hours talking up a storm, so it's quite possible she was just leaving us to talk over coffee ;)
The food was fantastic!! I had the calamari for an appetizer. We are talking melt in your mouth calamari! Yes, they were lightly battered and deep-fried, but there was absolutely no sign of greasiness and the calamari itself was so tender!
For a main course, I had the Cannelloni (recommended by one of my friends at the table), stuffed with veal and spinach. The Cannelloni was freshly made on the premises and you could tell... it was so tender and "delicious" doesn't adequately describe it. You can tell a homemade pasta from a commercial one and the difference is like night and day. Based on this one pasta dish, I now want to go back and try them all!!
I highly recommend this restaurant if you are looking for some good, homemade, Italian cooking! -
Review from Christine K.
Vancouver, BC
4/8/2009
Had a business dinner here on Monday night. My boss used to rave about the place and I don't live too far away so I booked it. I haven't been here for at least 10 years when I went with my Italian boyfriend at the time, but I really didn't remember much about it...good or bad...
The restaurant was nice, white linens, big wine bottles on display like Texas Mickeys, but only 2 other tables occupied at 6pm. One of the party was late so the 3 of us started with mineral water...and then house wine which was god awful! CHEAP, CHEAP Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. I didn't order it, but I knew it was going to be bad & it was!
When the 4th arrived we ordered an antipasto platter & mussels for the appy. I enjoyed the olive oil mixture for the bread the most! It had something grainy in it, and parmesan cheese...I enjoyed it. (I found out later from a friend, that it's pesto! Makes sense!) The mussel broth which was with tomatoes was bland & tasteless. The antipasto had a couple of good nibbles...the 3 guys really devoured it. I got a prawn & a piece of salami & one olive...they took care of the rest.
The waiter (new?) very cute, but very stiff & uncomfortable asked if he could tell us about the specials...halibut..blah blah, and then ended with, "Oh, and we have Osso Bucco"...to which I said, "Sold". The others ordered rack of lamb, gnocci special & veal something or other...
Well, I was never so disappointed to find out my osso bucco wasn't veal when it was delivered, it was lamb! It was hard to cut off the bone, really quite chewy & tough, not to mention bland (theme of the night) tasting! It was served with 2 tablespoons of risotto & a couple of pieces of grilled zucchini & 1 piece of broccoli. That was it! Terrible! Shameful really! My boss had 4 skinny minny lamb chops for $30. The veal dish had 2 pieces of scallopini, 2 thin, thin pieces with the same veggies but he had a tablespoon of mashed potatoes. The gnocchi looked o.k. No one commented good or bad, though I did voice my dismay about the osso bucco being lamb and not tender!
Dinner was way over priced! Food was way under-whelming! I think we all agreed that this was the last visit we will make here! Service was very good though...but when the bread & olive oil dip are the highlight of the evening...there's nothing more to say... -
Review from Chloë E.
Vancouver, BC
12/3/2008
Jokes about Mamma aside, this spot does offer a perfect taste of Italy in Vancouver's backyard. The menu items listed in Italian just beg for me to roll out my lame-o fake accent. But the prices are reasonable and the atmosphere something akin to an evening spent on an Italian terrace.
Our manicotti vegetariano ($18) arrived deliciously cheesy, while the sauce on the tortellini cardinale ($14) sang. Like Mamma.
The service was friendly and we quickly got the feeling of being invited into the home of a local. I'd expect that because this restaurant is connected to the Italian Cultural Centre, it keeps the quality control pretty consistent. No substitute for a summer vacanza in Italy, but it's a great low-carbon-footprint alternative. -
Review from Geri S.
10/2/2009
I had dinner here recently with a large party - there were about 15 of us. We got the appetizer sampler, risotto, polenta, crostini - all excellent. I had the Arctic Char special. Several others around me had the gnocchi. All delicious. Not cheap, but not super expensive either. We loved the atmosphere. It reminded me of being in Rome. It may have something to do with the Italian cultural center being next door. Service was attentive and friendly. I will definitely return next time I'm in the area.
