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!