Had a great night out with the girls last weekend! From warm and friendly service to great food – the evening was fantastic.
The food was great – start to finish. We started with an antipasti platter and some warm foccacia bread. Our server recommended this as something to nibble on while we were chating and deciding on dinner. The antipasti included delicious grilled mushrooms, house made pepperronatta and this amazing tomato fonduta – a rich, tomato paset with capers and olives that was perfect to spread on the warm bread.
Then, we moved onto starters. The king crab salad was outstanding. As was the grilled asparagus. Topped with a perfectly poached egg – it was my favorite starter. We also tried a half order of tortellini in brodo which was a lovely blend of savory flavors.
For main courses I had the fish of the day – which was halibut. It was served with a shellfish broth and was cooked to perfection. The fazzoletti with osso buco ragu was rich and delicious. It was sort of like an open faced lasagna but better than anything I’ve ever made at home! My friend had the veal scallopine with mushroom risotto. The marsala gravy was so good and the veal super tender.
We weren’t planning dessert but our server convinced us to try the crème fraiche cheesecake. It was so creamy and was served with the most fantastic balsamic syrup.
The service was lovely from the moment we walked in the door. We were promptly greeted and had to wait a few minutes for our table – so we had a round of prosecco at the bar. Once seated, our server brought water and told us about the fish of the day and about the menu in general. She was very knowledgeable about all the dishes.
I think that my biggest disappointment with the evening was that there were no specials other than the fish. I remember hearing that this place always has many great specials and there was only one. Our server explained that any pasta could be served as a half size for a starter and this did give us a few more options.
Our server was efficient and helped us make some excellent wine decisions. It seemed that every front staff member came by our table at some point in the evening – to fill our water, bring our tasty dishes, top wine – and each of them were polite and friendly.
The ambiance was great. The room was full and had a pleasant buzz. Dim lights and candles on every table made it very romantic. I can’t wait to come back on a date!
Overall, I thought that L’Altro Buca offered great value. The portion sizes were generous and the prices reasonable. There were wines in every price range. The kitchen and front staff obviously take pride in their work – and with good reason. The room, the food, the drinks and the people were great.
Keep up the good work!

I took my fiancee here for a special birthday dinner and we had a fantastic time.

We went on a Sunday night, so it was a little quieter than usual which worked in our favour i believe. When making the booking i mentioned it was for my fiancee's birthday and we were treated to some of the best service we have received in Vancouver in the 3 years we have lived here. 2 free glasses of champagne and a free dessert were nice touches that made the evening all the more enjoyable.

Don't be fooled by the small menu online, they have at least 3 times more choices than that with the specials and daily fresh plates. The choice was quite difficult actually but we were overwhelmed with the quality of the food.

I could go on, but suffice to say this was a top-shelf experience that I would definatley recommend.

Enjoy.

My husband and I dined there last night. We had a read a great review by Alexandra Gill in the globe and mail so were expecting it to be pretty good. We ordered cocktails, starters, entrees and dessert.

For starters my husband ordered the special, which was cauliflower soup. It was good, tasted like it had been garnished wih truffle oil and had a mixture of nuts on top. I had the the bufalo mozzarella which was ok. The tomato was a canned tomato consistency. It was supposed to be that way I guess but I prefer fresh tomatoes and the cheese was not as good as what you would find at Cioppino's or even La Terrazza.

For our entree, my husband had a pasta dish of garganelli with scallops. It was not very good and arrived lukewarm. The dish lacked flavor and tasted like something you could get at cheapo italian restaurant (not that cheap isn't good-you know what I mean). I had high hopes for my king crab risotto. The crab was generous BUT the dish was lacking in that I think they forgot to add cream and cheese to it. The consistency was not creamy but was more like steamed rice with too much parlsey. Alll I could taste was rice, crab, and parsely. I have ordered risotto in many restaurants and it has never tasted this way so I definitely think they must have dropped the ball somewhere as I don't think they even meant it to taste like this.

Dessert was panacotta for my husband and flourless chocolate cake for me. We both enjoyed our desserts and they were taken off the bill as we had experienced a 45 min delay between getting our starters and entrees which was nice gesture.

Ambience was of a neighbourhood restaurant. Very nice and warm feeling to it. The service was warm and freindly also. My husband would like to go and try one more time in a few months in case it was just a bad night.