Anton's Pasta Bar — Restaurant in Burnaby

This place is popular for its huge portions, which attract both visitors and locals; however, it’s not the same as it used to be.

I am comparing my visit experience in this restaurant between August 2023 and Dec 2024.

Some things have stayed the same:

-Reservations: This place doesn’t take reservations and operates on a first-come, first-served basis, which I agree with. They only seat parties when everyone has arrived—even if you tell them someone is just in the parking lot, they won’t budge. I understand their reasoning; maybe many people have claimed someone is “on the way” only for it to take much longer than expected. I’m okay with that policy.

-Portion sizes: The portions are still the same or very similar.

-Customer service: The customer service is still just “okay.” I’ve been here many times, and I’ve never been particularly impressed. That’s why, when I bring friends or family, I always warn them not to expect much. The staff are often in a rush to take your order within few minutes of seating you, which can feel stressful, especially for first-time visitors where they need more time. However, after that initial rush, they won’t come back unless you call them over. I’ve gotten used to this, but it doesn’t mean it’s good service—it’s just how it is here. On one occasion, they even forgot the order of seating. Last time, my group was seated first, but the server took the orders of a group seated after us, served them their drinks, and left us waiting until we had to call her over. It seems like servers are assigned specific sections, because when we called a different staff member, they said they’d inform “our” server instead of helping directly.

-soft drinks came with one free refill.

Some things have changed:

-Flavours: The flavours have definitely changed, and not for the better. I can’t explain exactly how, but it’s not the same as before.

-Payment: They still don’t accept debit cards. In the past, tips were calculated manually on a piece of paper where you’d write the percentage or amount, which I found a bit annoying. Now, the tipping process is integrated into the payment machine, which is much better.

-Complimentary items: THIS IS A BIG CHANGE. They no longer offer complimentary items like butter and bread. When I came in August 2023, they still provided them for free. However, my last visit , they had started charging $0.50 per bread. I commented to my friend who came in Sep 2024, he noticed it, so they change at beginning of 2024?? This is insane—most restaurants offer these items for free and this restaurant used to have for FREE too. Why start charging?

I understand that everything in Vancouver is becoming more expensive, but the prices on your menu have already increased too. Charging for something that used to be free feels unnecessary.

As regular customer this is big change and for those are new customers won’t see the big different.

Won’t come for a while…..

Let see new changes...

Disappointing Anniversary Experience After Years of Loyalty

If you’re like me and used to frequent Anton’s Pasta Bar before the pandemic, prepare to be DISAPPOINTED. My wife and I took my parents here for their anniversary, hoping for the same great food and service we had enjoyed for years. We arrived early, anticipating the infamous long line, but the line wasn’t as long as expected when the doors opened at 3:30 PM on Sunday.

Once inside, it was warm and cozy, but things quickly went downhill. Within 10 minutes, they started blasting the AC, leaving my family shivering while waiting for our food. Service was understandably slow, as they had just opened, but things didn’t improve. We ordered two appetizers: the Calamari Alla Marinara, which we’ve always loved, and the Focaccia Bread Basket. When they arrived 20 minutes later, the calamari portion was noticeably smaller than before, drowned in far too much sauce to hide how little calamari there was. As for the focaccia, it wasn’t a basket at all—just five small slices on a plate, which was surprising since we remembered getting complimentary bread in the past.

The real issue came with the pasta. We ordered three Frutti di Mare dishes and one Fusilli New Orleans, and waited an hour for them. One Frutti di Mare had a decent amount of sauce, but the other two were dry, as if they’d run out. Worse, two of them were excessively salty, to the point that it was hard to eat. There was barely any seafood, a far cry from what we used to get. My wife’s Fusilli New Orleans was also overly salty, with less chicken and sausage than before. The portions were still large, but only because they switched to larger pasta shells, likely to mask the lack of seafood and quality ingredients.

To make things worse, prices have increased drastically—from $18 to $28 per plate—for food that is clearly sub-par to what we were used to at Anton's. We could barely finish our meals and took the rest home, but even the leftovers weren’t worth it.

The cherry on top of this disappointing experience was when we left. As we got to our car, the waiter gave my wife a dirty look and shook his head in disapproval for not tipping. After everything, that was the final straw.

We won’t be...

Before our meal, our feelings were absolutely genuine. We waited for over an hour, only to see other groups who arrived later being seated before us. When we asked about it, the staff’s attitude was not only cold but also very forceful, which left us extremely disappointed. These reactions are based on our real experience — nothing was exaggerated.

Even more concerning, there were three other families waiting behind us who witnessed how we were treated. After seeing the situation, they chose to leave and dine elsewhere. That speaks volumes about the kind of service being offered.

Later, the food was actually quite good, but that does not erase the frustration and unfair treatment we experienced. What made matters worse was that the restaurant clearly saw our review, but instead of addressing the issue professionally, they chose to name and insult us directly, calling us “crazy” and “obnoxious.” That kind of response is not only unacceptable, it is deeply disrespectful to customers and a clear attempt to suppress fair criticism.

At the end of our meal, the restaurant mentioned that they had seen our review, but throughout the entire communication process, they showed no willingness to acknowledge or take responsibility for their mistakes. They kept insisting that we simply didn’t understand how their system works. Yet during our wait, no staff came to ask whether we needed alternate seating arrangements. We even specifically mentioned we were happy to sit separately, but our suggestion was completely ignored while later-arriving groups continued to be seated before us.

I also noticed there are security cameras at the restaurant entrance. If the staff review the footage, they’ll see that both the adults and children in our group were cheerful and excited throughout the wait — we truly wanted to dine here.

This kind of service and attitude is extremely disappointing. We hope this restaurant can take honest customer feedback seriously instead of trying to discredit people who speak up. The food may be good, but the service and how they treat their customers absolutely need serious...