Garden of Italy — Restaurant in Calgary

“The Softness of Bread” By K.A. Hill’McPherson

Alone, tired, hungry, and—just for good measure—lonely. The old man sat at a table in an Italian restaurant called The Garden of Italy, which sounded vaguely like a travel brochure and exactly like the kind of place that served fettuccine with confidence.

He’d worked hard that day. Not the noble, salt-of-the-earth kind of hard, either—just the slow, dragging kind that makes ten hours feel like sixty years, or maybe the other way around. Either way, the math didn’t matter. The work was done, and he was still standing. Barely.

The staff moved with military precision—waiters and waitresses floating by like they’d trained with ballerinas and espresso machines. Not one of them dropped a fork or gave the wrong smile. He’d never seen such commitment in restaurant folk. They treated the whole operation like a mission from God, or at least Mario Batali.

The hostess, all grace and hustle, seated him in a booth like he was royalty. Tired royalty, maybe a duke of sore joints and thinning patience.

The wine list came first, as it always does in these places, as if to say, Let’s fix your heart before we feed it. One thing caught his eye—a Giusti Merlot from Veneto. Nine ounces. Of course. Just one. He lied to himself so fast it nearly counted as optimism. Just one would be enough. It never was, but the lie helped him feel like he was still in control of something. Health, maybe. Or narrative.

The wine arrived. It was fantastic. Perfect, actually. And he hated that word, but there it was.

The menu followed, along with a little postcard advertising the evening special. Ossobuco. Came with a Caesar salad to start and a beef shank that had apparently been slow-cooked since Mussolini. The description said “hearty tomato and white wine sauce,” and he could practically hear Sinatra warming up in the kitchen.

There was also some drink special—vodka pink lemonade fizz. Ridiculous. Intriguing, but ridiculous. He wasn’t about to start drinking like a cheerleader on a field trip. But maybe.

As he debated, a waitress floated by carrying the Ossobuco special to another table. The plate was massive. It looked like she was hauling an entire cow, bones and all. He figured she must’ve been secretly bench-pressing in the back. Strong girl. Good posture.

Still, he stuck to the plan: spaghetti Bolognese. Comfort is comfort, and that’s comfort.

They brought out a complimentary bun before the meal. Warm. Fresh. Baked to an almost criminal softness. It reminded him of the first time he touched a girl’s skin—her name was Diane, and she smelled like spearmint and trouble. That bun had no business being that tender.

The meal arrived. The old man loved it. Every bite. He ordered another glass of wine and let the hours slip by. The music was just right—some soft, unhurried jazz that made time seem optional—and he watched the staff move, admired their hustle, their grit, the way they didn’t miss a damn thing.

He also peeked at other people’s orders. How could he not? It’s human nature, like rubbernecking at a car crash or checking someone else’s shopping cart in line at the grocery store.

Eventually, it was time. Time to leave The Garden of Italy. Time to get horizontal and pretend sleep came easy. Work would come early, and early, well… early always took its sweet...

I was looking for a nice pasta place to try. I wanted to try this restaurant because of the positive reviews. I got take out because of the pandemic, so the ambiance and service are not part of this review and that might have made up for the food to a certain extent. I did not expect amazing, but still, I was disappointed. We ordered eggplant parmesan and fettuccine Alfredo, as well as tiramisu. Although the sauce for the fettuccine was really creamy, that is where the positive ended. It lacked flavour, there were only very few mushrooms (given that they added mushrooms, more might have helped with the flavour). The greatest disappointment was the pasta. I would think that a restaurant would serve fresh pasta. Also, it would have been nice to have sprinkled the dish with a bit of Italian parsley to give it some flair and colour. As for the eggplant, it came with penne pasta covered in what seemed like pure tomato sauce and nothing else. I did not eat the pasta after trying it. The eggplant itself had a nice cheesy topping and sauce, but the breading, cheese and sauce was all I tasted or even saw. I could not even see any eggplant, let alone taste it. Perhaps they might consider thicker slices? Finally, the tiramisu was not bad. The coffee flavour was great, as were the lady fingers but I have had better. Also, it was packaged with the pasta and the canned whipped cream melted on the way home. I guess I will continue to search for a good pasta...

We arrived and were sat at a small table in the middle of the aisle in front of the kitchean doors there was traffic all around us making our visit uncomfortable. It was definitely lacking comfort . I mentioned to the hostess but she said yah it’s a buzy place . We ordered Caesar salad it was quick and tasty as well as the dinner buns .We ordered the T bone steak and upgraded to fettuccine with it and a baked lasagna . The food came out well presented on the plate . The lasagna was oh so good . The steak however was the wordy cut of meat I’ve endured for the cost . The plate was 34 dollars plus fettuccine 4 dollars for a total of 38 dollars . The fat and grizzle was so heavy I put my fork in the steak as my husband struggled to remove it and it hung on like elastics I literally grabbed a hold of it and hung out as he tried to to remove it . We asked for the pile of fat it was so bad . The server without us even mentioning to her came back saying we had recieved a discount for this .The plate should have been redone. . The steak was also very thin had no seasoning and reminded me of one of those cheap thin pork chops . Absolutely not acceptable I have posted the picture zoom in on the right hand side of this steak how could you serve this for that kind of money once the fat is cut off...