Vivo Pizza+Pasta — Restaurant in Newmarket

I was looking forward to trying Vivo as one is opening up near my house in Bradford. As an Italian I am always looking for good Italian food up in this area.

The decor inside, and benefits from it being a new building. The menu is of ok size. But the prices are where I start to have a hard time. Some items are reasonably priced, while others are quite overpriced in my opinion. For example, $4 for a little 355ml bottle of Pop to me is unreasonable. i decided on the Special which was spaghetti in a White Wine Sauce with Clams. My biggest issue with this dish was that it was $23. This was not a $23 pasta. You can go anywhere from Terroni to Casa Carbone and get pasta dishes with more ingredients than this for the same or less (for example Let's Be Frank just down the street has a pasta special with multiple seafoods in it such as shrimp and mussels for $19). If you like butter, you will love the taste of the sauce here. It is very buttery. There was no bread served with the pasta, which is quite surprising considering how much the pasta dishes cost. My wife got the Carbone pasta and commented that hers was very buttery. She felt her pasta was a touch on the expensive side. Small things like no spoon being served with the pasta should be addressed.

The review by "Tommy Ferrari" had a picture of what appeared to be a seafood pasta with shrimp, mussels, and scallops in it. Had Vivo had that when I was in I would have ordered that, and I would have felt that the price of $23 would be justified (not speaking to the quality of the dish though, merely the ingredients in the dish).

And this presents the challenge of pricing like Vivo uses. Every special is $23. Some days that's a fair price, other days it's not (such as mine). And with all Pasta's priced at $15, there is not much variety in what you can do with ingredients in those pastas.

Overall for 2 pasta dishes and a pop it came to $47.50 + tip. If I were in downtown Toronto I would expect that price. But I'm not. So for that price the food either 1) has to be priced lower, or 2) has to be very, very good. Sadly, Vivo misses on both marks. Levetto would be a better choice for around the same price. If you don't mind spending slightly more money the food at Casa Carbone is much better than here. The service was good, so no complaints there.

I can't speak to the quality of the Pizza, as I have not had it. The Calamari dish that someone ordered looked to be of good size and looked very good.

I have to summarize by saying that I don't think that the food justified the price. Was the food bad, no. Was the food good, no. The food was ok. And to charge a premium price for just ok food, I'm not really game. So would I recommend Vivo, at this point...

I visited newmarket location, I had to constantly ask for utensils, napkins and ice for water, bad service, owner says they are busy but there was only a family of four there when I walked in, I offered to pay for pizza and go somewhere else, he said no don’t pay for it and I walked away without eating. Imagine I was their customer four times a week. After reading owners feed back, I realized that in their point of view is easier to blame the regular customers than knowing the truth. When I arrived at your restaurant I asked for glass of ice water due to being 20 degrees outside and I received a warm water on the table by your waitress, 2.when I ask for the water to be changed your waitress brought glass for me full of ice, 3.when I replied how would I be able to use the ice without having utensils she brought one small spoon and throw it on my table, you have to understand that moment I didn’t have any napkins or other utensils to use for my food. I had to constantly ask for services on my table which any restaurant should provide for a customer. You are right about one thing no amount of money is worth going through being disrespected in your restaurant by your waitresses. Know the truth before blaming others. I am pretty straight shooter guy, if you are good I would say it, if you are not I...

Wow! You gotta'eat here. Food is definitely authentic, made to order, will definitely be back. Try them if in the area without hesitation.

CALAMARI & GAMBERETTI FRITTI: 5/5. A must try if you love calamari. Oil is clean. Calamari tasted fresh and was fried to perfection, not rubbery at all $21 Crispy fried calamari and shrimps served with salsa marinara.

SPAGHETTI POMODORO: 4/5. I ordered it with sausage. Everything was fresh and authentic. Only reason for a 4, I go to a regular Italian restaurant in Keswick called Alfredo's Ristorante, which in comparison has vastly better flavor. $19 Light tomato sauce and fresh basil.

PENNE ARRABBIATA CON SALSICCIA: 3/5. My wife had this, and again, Alfredo's in Keswick just has more flavor. $19 Sausage, leeks, spicy tomato sauce.

This place will not disappoint. The husband and wife duo is outstanding, and if you experienced bad food with this chain elsewhere, this location will earn your business 10 folds. The wife's customer service skills were exceptional and commendable. The restaurant was 60% full, but they also had a private function happening at the same time, and we were cared for nonetheless.

Bathrooms were super clean, always a good sign.

Highly recommend them, will...