I remember coming here as a kid, dining in the train car, and I just had to try it again.

Ambiance: It's like someone turned on a high pressure hose and blasted "ITALIAN" all over the place. It's not exactly a bad thing, as their manufactured decor of jarred tomatoes and olive oil cans on shelves in random places is actually quite nice.

Service: Our server was quite adept, so nothing to complain about - he obviously had a lot of people on his hands though, as he took away my pasta dish before I wanted him to (I wanted to dunk my bread in the sauce.). I find it odd that they have a section of the restaurant where there is a service station (where they keep cutlery and refill water) right next to everything. No screen or separation, just up against the wall - which we happened to be right next to. It was a little distracting having servers clunk around with ice and glasses just an arms length away. The servers also use this wooden stool to place trays of food on, then distribute them to the tables. I get that it's to help take the load off, but it was right next to the hallway that connects to the other part of the restaurant, and aside from the possibility of a clumsy person tipping it over while walking in, I kept thinking how easy it would be for someone just passing by (like a kid) to do something to the unattended food...

Value: It's a family restaurant, first and foremost, so the prices will be good. Almost everything is a combo, that comes with unlimited bread and butter, soup or salad, your main, ice cream and coffee or tea.

Food: We started with the mussels in a white wine sauce cream sauce. Not great quality mussels, but okay. We also had the deep fried shrimp that came with a dipping sauce. The shrimp were TINY. We could hardly taste it all, it was mostly just breading. They did deep fry it well though. The sourdough bread was fine, and it came with packaged butter and garlic butter. I had the salad, which was a sad affair, as it was mostly some very tired iceberg lettuce. I was afraid I would get a stomach ache from eating it. The Italian dressing seemed packaged to me, though they claim in their ads they make it from scratch. My sister had the minestrone soup - it wasn't to her taste. I had the lasagna, which was alright. Pretty boring, and not a whole lot of flavor, but fine nonetheless. My sister's stuffed rigatoni was reported to be gross though. The ice cream at the end was good. It was part chocolate, and part - blue. I think it was vanilla colored blue, though it might have been bubblegum or even pistachio. The blue part had a flavor I just couldn't put my finger on.

The summary of it is that, for a kid, getting ice cream and plain spaghetti with tomato sauce is pretty awesome for a meal. Though most of the menu is a good price, it's boring and uninspired food. Worth a visit maybe for the decor, history, or to eat in that train car, but you don't need to come back. I know I won't.

You can always count on great value when eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Where else can you find a deal like it these days? For the cost of your entree (under $20), you get all the sourdough bread you can stuff, an appetizer of salad or soup, your entree, ice cream and tea or coffee! Everytime I come here, I always get so full on the yummy fresh bread that when it comes to my entree, I can never finish it. It's another meal the next day!I came here with my boyfriend 2 weeks ago. I never expect top-quality pasta as my manicotti was just so-so, but it's a quick meal that you get really full on and the decor is just somethin else. The have an original trolley from back in the day in the middle of the restaurant. Many love to sit there.
My boyfriend had the spaghetti and meatballs with the spicy sauce. He loved it. Like I said, it's a great value for your meal, especially when dining with your family.
A friend of my brother in law used to be the manager here, and he said late at night when the restaurant is closed, there are "guests" that like to make appearances. This fact is well-known by many.

I remember as a teen, the Spaghetti Factory was the place to be. My mouth would water just thinking of it! I'm a huge pasta fan & I believe you can't really wreck the sauce - or can you? Apparently it can be done! The Spaghetti Factory ain't what it used to be!

One year ago we visited the one in Victoria. When our pasta came, the sauce looked kinda funky. Somebody accidentally spilled the basil was my opinion. But it wasn't just the color, it was the TASTE too. I really thought it was just me, but as I looked over at my dinner companions I noticed they were salting, peppering & dumping the cheese on like I was doing, trying to get some sort of flavor out of it! I never use salt, and believe me I was using it! What was going on here? I figured it to be a bad day in the kitchen and left it at that.

One year later back in Gastown, we sit down for dinner. AND there was that damn sauce again, same color, same tasteless sauce!!! Coincidence? Can't be. To my dismay, there it was! What is going on here?

So after complaining on facebook, I got the same "yuk, yeah I know" response from other fb users and then, I got the real story from someone who delivers the sauce [ yep you heard me "he DELIVERS the sauce"]. This driver works in the food delivery service industry. Uh huh, now I know why the Spaghetti Factory restaurant on Vancouver Island has the same sauce as one on the mainland!

So it wasn't a bad day for the cook after all ~ it was a bad judgement from the franchise (?) owners! Please don't waste your time and hard earned money on CANNED SAUCE. Fresh is the only way to go! No more Spaghetti Factory for us, the word "FACTORY" is the biggest clue!

Apparently OSF has been around since the 70's. My first trip here was about 10 years ago and I've gone a generous dozen or so times till now. It's remained the same during my time.

Decor doesn't look like it changed much the last decade. The character remains intact and its warm ambience is quite the welcoming attraction.

Food has also remained the same, a bit too rustic and spartan for modern dining. Someone galavanting through the kitchen for the first time could probably whip up something with equal quality. Pastas (especially their Spaghetti) is bland (think pasta with a can of sauce) and sometimes oily and their steaks are often improperly seasoned. Prices the last time I went doesn't look to have changed in quite a while either. I suppose with quality like that they would be robbing customers if they charged much higher.

Servers fortunately make up for the primitive tasting menu. For larger dining groups I've been apart of in the past here I would have preferred that they had scrambled together another server to split the duties but otherwise nothing I would complain about.

Any future visits here will likely be at the choice of others. I doubt I'd come here for the nostalgia.

This food is always good when you want a quick and cheap meal. It is a chain and from what I gather they're the same everywhere but the service and value is always good. You can get a salad, entree and icecream for around $12. I don't have kids but if you're with a family it is family friendly, if you don't have kids then you needn't worry about families getting in your face.

I moved by this place just a week ago and decided to finally give this place a shot. I went on a saturday so i wasnt expecting much service wise (I never expect fast service in a crowded restaurant on a saturday, if you ask me thats a pretty big wish to get served fast when there at max capacity) Although our drinks came promptly and so did our appies so i was thrilled with my cesar salad. Not the best or anything but certainly on my top 5 cesars. I love there drink list, its very nice and very big. The ambiance and servcie blew me away. As soon as you walk in beside the door there is an old school weight scale and the mast of a boat as you walk in to the lobby plus a giant train cart that had travelled hundreds of miles through gas town. Im sure some people would find that unimpressive but it sure blew me away. Our waitress was just great and we got served in a timely friendly manner. The pasta was good not the best but again on the top five. I thought for what it was, it was very fairly priced food i mean it doesn't pretend to be a five star restauarant its really a family oriented / young group hang out place. They never rush you at the end of your meal no matter how full they are. Ive been there twice already back to back and my new fav drink is there aztec sunset with ice cream and kahlua! Definitly worth a try the only downside is at night all the weird hastings people wonder the streets pan handling but that cant be helped.

I wasn't expecting much from the old spaghetti factory. The last time I was there, the food and service was average. This time though, the service was great! We were a party of 30 and the server was right on the ball! Quick, friendly and didn't miss a beat. Although some of our dinner guests didn't enjoy their food (the pesto linguini was dry) I loved my entree. We had the chicken strips to start. A little greasy but good. The veggie lasagne was great! Soooo cheesy. I was so full by the end of my meal I couldn't have the ice cream.

The only reason I seem to go here, is that every once and a while, I am with a large group downtown. Service is their strength, and the key to their longevity.

The food…. it has not changed in years, and unfortunately, it has never really been “comfort food” for anyone over 12… well maybe for a few still weaning themselves off of Chef Boyardee. Mind you, Chef Boyardee provides more flavor - and Boiardi was a real person! I strongly suspect that the OSF is not a real factory. Who wants to eat at a factory anyway?

Hit and miss with the salad and bread… pasta and sauce is bland, so bland that you foolishly are tempted to pepper and parmesan your meal to at least give it some artistic quality.

Not particularly that great of a deal cost wise for large groups when you consider the quality, but it is simple and those whose palates will not tolerate Japanese, Chinese, or Greek, will find something “safe” on the menu for them to order. Those crunched for time can rely on good, quick, service.

Will I be back? Sadly, yes, and unfortunately I will be eating.

The atmosphere is nice, I like saying the name aloud, and I like my childhood memories. The train is neat, carving into the hot fresh sourdough bread, spreading on all that whipped butter. I like the combos with a mini individual salad and ice cream for dessert. And that's all.

The pasta is pretty much terrible here, laughable sauce portion to pasta portion ratio, the alfredo linguine is so dry, it's embarrassing to have to ask for more. Now it'd be alright, I woudln't complain if the sauce was amazing but it's far from it. So bland, tastless and not creamy. The alfredo sauce I buy in a jar far surpasses it, shame on them. The seafood pasta bowl is almost $20, the portion is too small and again not enough sauce.

Spaghetti and meatball is a blasphemy, everything is just so bland and there is nothing italian about it. Better just to open a can of Ragu (yah that's right, the worst supermarket pasta sauce you can buy) and cook some spaghetti and (dry) meatballs at home

Come here ONCE for the atmosphere, order maybe a lasagna, take some pictures and don't expect much of the food

i decided to celebrate my 23th birthday at the old spaghetti factory in gas-town......unfortunately it did not go too well. i called in to make a reservation a week ahead and was given terrible seats, barely any room to move in or out. secondly, the service was even worst....after ordering we waited almost 1 hour and 30 minutes for our entrees. i felt pity for our waitress because she was the only server serving us (party of 18 people) so u could imagine how slow the service was.
the food was good and the value was totally affordable but i had a really bad experience there and i hope no one experience the same as i do.