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Aldo's is an Italian pasta restaurant in New Westminster.
I have been a regular diner at Aldo's for about 5 years, and I am going to update my review.
DC and AB of Port Moody's review was well titled: "Hidden Gem". Aldo's is indeed just that.
After some hits and misses with servers over the last 5 years or so, Aldo hired a young italian guy about two years ago who has really helped to improve the overall atmosphere of this restaurant. He is a first-rate server, and provides an honest opinion on the daily specials.
Aldo's pasta is home-made, fresh, and always properly al dente - if you get the gnocchi on the day it is made, it is an especially fine treat. There are several dishes that are in my favourites list, in no specific order:
- Gnocchi with marinara sauce: Sometimes very good; sometimes truly superb.
- Gnocchi with putanesca sauce: I find this one just a tad too spicy-hot for my taste, but nonetheless, quite tasty.
- Linguinni with white or red clam sauce: Wonderful.
- Tortellini with calabrese sauce: Excellent (sometimes ravioli with calabrese is available as a special).
- Linguinni with pesto sauce: Very, very good.
- Steelhead fillet in white wine and lemon sauce: Exquisite (although the accompanying penne with bolognese sauce seemed a not particularily well suited side dish).
If you want a traditional italian style pizza, make a special order and have it with no cheese and only one or two strongly flavoured toppings such as garlic and chopped anchovies, or capers and black olives.
Aldo used to make a delicious zabaglione desert (warm, rich, and very filling), but, sadly, this has been removed from the menu; however, I have ordered this great desert and even though it is no longer on the menu, Aldo was willing to make it.
As for negatives, there are a few. Some dishes continue to be rather odd. The minestrone and the primavera sauce have water chestnuts and baby corn, which I think is not only odd, but a mistake. The baby corn in particular adds a strong, and to my taste, inappropriate and somewhat unpleasant tang to this otherwise good dish. I would have given the food a 5 rating, but for these oddities.
The overall atmosphere is, hmm, well, kind of plain, but not unpleasant. The music playing in the background is rather trite and cliche, but not bad. The room is often a bit too cold in the winter, and the red wine is often a bit too warm in the summer.
Lastly, I think the prices, especially for the wine (bottles are often marked up to more than 100% over liquor store prices, and by the glass is sometimes as much as $13), are a tad too high for the value, but not exceptionally so.
All-in-all, Aldo's is definitely one of my favourite New Westminster restaurants, and it is just around the corner from where I live. I drop in at least twice a month.
Aldo's is New Westminster's hidden gem. Located along the main drive through New Westminster's waterfront, serves up amazing dishes. We frequent Aldo's anytime we want to celebrate, indulge or even just relax.
Invariably, my boyfriend and I always order the same thing: gnocchi with carbonara sauce and penne with tre colore sauce (pesto, alfredo and tomato sauce mixed together). Sometimes we go in telling ourselves we'll try something new, but we can never stay away from our favourite dishes.
The tre colore sauce is perfect. It is tangy, smooth and thick with fresh pesto. It is almost a stew in and of itself. The gnocchi carbonara may seem like a small portion, but it's loaded with fresh bacon and has a thick, creamy sauce. The dish avoids being too rich or fatty, but the wonderful bacon flavours entice even the most stringent of vegetarians (I myself am guilty...oops). We always order a half-litre of the house red, which is a delicious compliment to any meal.
We go to Aldo's about once per month, and we've always been confused by the negative reviews we've found on here. It's affordable in comparison to the Keg or Boathouse, and the food, service and the atmosphere far exceed anything in the vicinity. We highly recommend this restaurant
I can't believe reading some of the negative post?? Some people should stick to eating Big Macs. I guess Groupon brings these type of people.
This place is simply amazing. It's owned and operated by an Italian family, the atmosphere is cozy and romantic and the pasta is some of the best I've ever had; the absolute best in New West that's for sure! This time the restaurant was full, and while there were only two servers catering to 10 - 12 busy tables, the service was polite and efficient. We had the veal parmigiano (my husband), fettucine con funghi (20 year old son) and gnocchi carbonara (me), and all three dishes were generously portioned and excellent. The assorted antipasto (cappicolo, salami, mozzarella, olives and pickled vegetables) was also terrific
Bought groupon. Wish i had heard of them before.
So we ordered the Baked Escargot in Garlic Butter as the app, I must say it was really good. It was very flavorful and rich.
The Veal dish was tender and had a unique flavourable marsala sauce. I loved the homemade pasta sauce that came with the entree. It was zesty and full bodied, lots of flavour. It was a creamy tomato.
My wife got the smoked salmon with gnocchi in carbonara sauce. The gnocchi was simply the best I ever had. It has a distinct taste of potato, instead of flour. We asked them why their gnocchi tasted so different, it's because it's home made with almost all potato instead of loaded with flour. As you can see the gnocchi are all irregular shaped, hence it's home made. The carbonara sauce was great.
The Tira Misu also good and it was homemade. But I have had better.
The decor was simple and plain, a very home like feel to it. Overall, this place is great for pasta. Their pasta are either home made of fresh delivered everyday.
We bought the groupon and thought we would try a new resturant. The food was really just average. It would totally have been over priced if we didn't have the groupon deal. The seafood antipasto was blend. Bread was served with butter instead of balsamic vinegarette and the bread was just a regular dinner roll you'd get on the plane. The lasagne was good but then it is difficult to screw that up. The veal was rather tough and blend too. We got the tiramsu for dessert, regularly priced $8, was totally not worth $8. It barely has any flavor and I had to use the berry sauce on top to give it some sweetness, otherwise it just taste like spongecake. There was no coffee flavor at all.
The service was not good either. One server when she was pouring water for us, all I can smell was her heavy perfume trying to cover up cigarette smell! Working in the food industry it is rather important not to smell like cigarette when you are on duty! Thankfully I did not have to pay regular price for the meal!
Mrs. C and I were once again seeking Italian food, and we decided to give this place a try. It is located near the Columbia Skytrain station, amidst the thicket of bridal shops. At night this part of town is a little dodgy, but there were definitely no scruffians at the restaurant.
The restaurant itself was very welcoming and everything was clean including the w/c. We had a reservation and the manager seated us herself. The place does mostly pasta, but they also have pizza and some meat dishes. I selected a veal parmigiana with penne pasta and accompanied it with a Caesar salad and an inexpensive glass of red wine. My beloved dining companion had a fettuccine Alfredo with salmon. She had a very good cafe latte with her meal.
The food was quite good. The salad was great. My veal was tender and the pasta was a perfect al dente. The sauce was flavorful, packed with tomato goodness and not watery. It looked very home made. Mrs. C reported that her Alfredo pasta and sauce was excellent, and the salmon was a perfect complement to the dish. Portion sizes were generous.
Service was good and we found the staff to be friendly and attentive. No attitude here. We also were happy to find it was not expensive. It was a nice meal in a decent restaurant at a good price.
Bravo!
My boyfriend and I went to Aldo's to celebrate his job promotion and thought that this neighbourhood restaurant might fit the bill. We started with the antipasto plate which was average, decent salami and pancetta, good cheese, but some overly pickled vegetables. After finding out from the waiter that the pasta is dry, not fresh, we should have been "tipped off" on our entree...but we went ahead and ordered puttanesca linguine ($14) with meatballs (additional $3) and linguine primavera ($15). The puttanesca was ok and the meatballs were decent.
The real surprise here was the over use of canned vegetables. For example, the primavera had almost all canned vegetables in it, including water chestnuts. Who puts water chestnuts into Italian food?! The mushrooms - canned. Baby corn - canned. Baby corn in primavera?! Everything but the watery, over-cooked broccoli was canned.
In a city full of decent Italian restaurants, whether found on The Drive or downtown, it is a shame to see a neighbourhood family restaurant fail so much with the food. The service was quite good and as others have mentioned, the owner spoke to some customers.
We did use an entertainment coupon and the discount applied to the puttanesca only...and not the meatballs which were in the dish (not a side order) and cost an additional $3.
This is mediocre dining in New West at it's finest!
Great food and a great date location.
The chef even came out and mingled with the diners to see how they enjoyed their meals. We felt like we were in a movie or something!
It's decent pasta with a pretty good wine list too. Not Italy by any means, but a million times better than the Spag. Fact. or Olive Garden.
We'll definitely go back.
I suggested that my family come here for dinner because my fiance and I have come to this place a few times before and enjoyed it. We were a party of 7 and two couples had entertainment cards to use.
In addition to the waiter forgetting a part of my order and the lack of water service, they also would not allow separate bills in order for us to take full advantage of the Entertainment coupons. Instead, they took out 2 salads as a discount. We thought that was wrong because the book clearly states two entrees not appetizers. They said that the salads were considered entrees because it's the only thing they ordered. How stupid! They claimed it's only a $3 difference and we shouldn't be making a big deal... they should listen to themselves because if they made us happy it would've only cost them $3 and we would be returning customers. Instead, we paid the bill in full, did not include a tip, and will not return there again. I won't be spreading good reviews about that place anymore. All because of "$3."
We sat down and our first impression of Aldo's was that we may have finally found a decent restaurant in the Burnaby/New West area. Our server was polite, seemed professional, and new the menu quite well. We had a couple of basic dishes; ones you might think any half decent restaurant could pull off but .......no!
1. Caesar Salad - typical truck stop caesar salad (low quality parm and bland dressing)
2. Marinated Calamari Salad - okay, but poorly presented with lots of brown stumps and terrible olives
3. Chicken Cacciatore- the chicken was obviously past its expiry date and was way over cooked and then served cold. It was disgusting!
4. Penne with meat sauce and cream - noodles were way over-cooked, the "meat" in the meat sauce was a few grinds and flakes at best with no flavor. The sauce was bland.
5. Puttanesca Gnocchi (came with chicken as a side)- pretty good....but once again bad cheap olives
6. 1 litre bottle of San Pellegrino - it's water (can't mess that up)
In summary: after hacking into the chicken twice and sending it back, we left with a $52 bill + a $5 tip.
Our server was very good but unfortunately he obviously couldn't do much to allay our disappointment.
He apologized and took the chicken off the bill but still charged us for half of a Puttanesca.
I think that any place with such crap food should go out of their way to prevent people like me from going out of my way on a Friday night to sign up for a Dinehere account to vent my displeasure.
Restaurants get tired. I'd never been here before the other night but I know this place needs a makeover. If you could imagine the menu and decor of every little unimaginative Italian restaurant you've ever been to ... this is the embodiment of all that. Aldo's specials were interesting, rabbit in wine sauce and seafood angioletti, but only passable and lacking life. This place has lost the ummph it might have had at one time. Too bad, I believe the restaurant is run with the best of intentions and to make the customers happy, but it needs an infusion of youth and imagination to last another 1000 years. I'm going to go once more to try try the house standards to make sure I haven't too hastily misjudged this place. Will report back if different result. Over and out.
Went here in a large group, complete with young children. We all left satisfied.
This place adds to the street scene in downtown New Westminster. Aldo's has a cozy family feel to it, and you are welcomed as you come in. The food is simple, and appears to be fresh.
All of us started with salads. They were on the "safe" side, and generally delivered as described. A good portion with fresh and simple ingredients. I don't know how some places screw up salad, but some really do. You can win friends with salad. The bread and butter was sort of Safewayish though.
Various pasta dishes were all acceptable, and satisfying. Not the best we have had, but none of us were feeling that we could have done better with some fancy brands of sauce and pasta bought at Costco or Urban Fare. The owner came and asked us how things were, which was a nice touch. Server was reasonably attentive.
Good value for the money, but we forgot to bring our Entertainment Coupon. If we did, the evening would have been an incredible value.
I have been here before, and will return.
I wandered in to this place thinking there was an incredible special on including a glass of wine for 12 bucks at about 6:30 PM. Turns out that is the lunch special they leave outside on the sandwich board standing on the sidewalk. I was the only table in the place. I felt a bit duped and almost left but thought what the heck "might as well try it".
I am glad I did. I had homemade Angolotti pasta stuffed with real crab meat and served in a shrimp alfredo sauce. This dish was lovely. The sauce was just right not too heavy and made with real cream and little baby shrimp. A small loaf of hot hot bread was whisked to my table with plenty of butter as well. The price was only 15.99 which still made it very affordable to order a glass of the house red which was just "ok" but adequate.
The service was good and the waiter polite. This was one of the best meals I have enjoyed out in recent memory. I recommend Aldo's for a pasta dinner if you want one. Don't let the "pasta bar" they advertise fool you into thinking it is one of those fast food places. I think they should drop the term as it does not do them justice and it held me back from going for awhile. A great place to go and enjoy and nice Italian dinner. Kudo's to Aldo!
This place has the best pasta that I have ever come across. The owners really care about the food and its preparation. They just quietly keep churning out the best pasta in town and I DO mean quiet! Unfortunately, nobody seems to know about this little gem and if they do, they are keeping the secret to themselves. I believe that the establishment is a victim of bad location.
No matter how empty the place is, they still make the best in town. They have a good variety of sauces (carbonara, red clam sauce, a to-die-for white clam sauce, pesto and probably 10 or so more choices --I've tried them all and, though I have my definite favourites, I can't really say I dislike any of the ones that aren't my favourites) and a nice selection of pastas to put them over (spaghetti, linguine, penne, fusilli, and for an extra charge: gnocchi, tortellini, ravioli). They have really great bread (when it is eaten the moment it arrives at the table) and steamed clams in a garlicy tomato broth (save the broth for dipping with the bread --order more bread if you have to!). Finally, they have a great fried Italian cheese that is breaded and served with lemon (it tastes just like the best grilled cheese sandwich you have ever had!): it's no longer on the menu, but you can still order it if you call ahead.
Yummmyy....went there cuz we had a coupon. Turned out the food was fabulous! The red house wine was to die for! Yummyyyy...
BF had the veal and I had chicken linguine. All very tasty. Desserts overpriced for the size, but the ambiance and decor is magnifico!
Will go back AGAIN, and without a coupon!
Visited this family run Italian restaurant. Very friendly couple and provide outstanding and warm service. We started with a tomato and cheese salad. The dressing was homemade and was excellent. My wife had Rotini in a creamy meat sauce and I had the seafood cannellini. We both felt the food here was great and will be returning soon. I recommend if you still have room to try the Tira Misu it seems the owners make their own dessert. yummy
We have been to this place a few times. The first time we went it was pretty good - nothing to write home about, but solid Italian food. Not as good as some really amazing Italian restaurants, but much better than say the Spaghetti Factory.
The second time we went, it was really delicious. They had a special of chicken ravioli that was amazing. We went with four other people and they all said their food was great.
Since then, they haven't had that particular dish so I haven't had a meal as good. Overall, it's pretty decent but by far not as good as the Heritage Grill next door.
Once a year I use my Entertainment Book coupon and every year it is the same... This is a local place for me, but not worth going to without it being 2 for one. Their antipasto plate is good (with salami, olives etc), pasta just okay - I've never had a meal that I raved about i.e. the food is nothing special - I make better myself. The owner is quite congenial, the rest of the serving staff okay
My office is on Columbia, so I visit Aldo's weekly for lunch and less frequently for dinner.
Never had a bad meal. The Strachiateli is as good as it gets; terrific caesar salad; excellent tiramisu.
I generally lean toward the daily specials (ravioli in particular). My guests tend to have the lasagna or canneloni; always very happy.
The menu, IMO, demonstrates that these folks know their talents and stick to it. Properly prepared pastas and fresh authentic sauces. The Cardinale might be my favourite.
I like having a terrific neighbourhood spot like this where I never need a reservation, know it will be quiet, and great value. But I also want these guys to be successful, so encourage you to drop by.
On Saturday night my husband ad I saw a coupon in the local paper so thought we would give Aldo's a try. Unfortunately, we did not read the fine print on the coupon that excluded Friday's and Saturday's. However, we did order two veal dishes. Our dinner arrived and I could not believe the small portions on the rather large plates....no veggies, nothing but a few pieces of veal soaked in sauce. The veal picatta was so salty I had to wash it down with three glasses of water. The pasta (which came on a separate small side plate) was bland and sticky...much like Chef Boyardee in a can. I was going to send back the veal but it seemed unnecessary since the portion was so small....I was so hungry I ate it in a few bites. When the waitress asked if everything was OK I said I was not happy with the service or the food. The chef/owner(?) overheard and went on to chastise me for not speaking up sooner. It was very uncomfortable having to listen to his rather loud lecture while others in the restaurant looked on. Sorry....Aldo's is off our list....we won't be back.
| 1. | Subway (8 m) | |
| 2. | Fever Night Club (29 m) | |
| 3. | Heritage Grill (37 m) |  |
| 4. | Peter Pan Pizza (51 m) | |
| 5. | Greens Gourmet (71 m) |  |
| 6. | Met Bar & Grill, The (79 m) | |
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| 8. | Good Eats Cafe (89 m) |  |
| 9. | Starbucks (149 m) | |
| 10. | Stefanos Restaurant (163 m) | |
