Va Bene bar antipasto — Restaurant in Quebec

Worst service I have ever experienced. When my family and I walked into the restaurant the server looked as if we destroyed her Christmas day. She looked so sour and put upon. We were a large party, but they had 3 empty tables. I even said we could split tables. Serveuse did not like this and said we cannot split the tables. As I was traveling with 4 seniors who were tired and hungry and a child who was also hungry, we stayed as a party of 6 and 4 of the party who were less hungry had to go find food elsewhere. If I had known this attitude would carry through the service, I would have left, but I was more worried about hypoglycemic seniors at the time. We got into a table and I was asking for the menus because, Ms. angry server, too didn't want to take up a lot of time in the restaurant. Yet she is acting like she is having a hard time self- regulating as I make this request. She also gave my child the stink eye the entire time. Alternative choices would have been: tell us children are not allowed in this restaurant, say we cannot accommodate guests without reservation, etc. She didn't say those options, and to our detriment we stayed trying to make the best of it. We ordered and waited, my child was getting antsy and wouldn't sit down properly (have you ever met a child? From her reaction apparently not) she openly and audibly talked smack about my family the entire time to other staff to the extent that at some point another staff member told her "don't judge others." Maybe she thought we don't speak English or French, but she was criticizing my family the entire time. And our crime is having a child who is hungry and having a hard time sitting still. She acted as if he will destroy her banquet. Which was made of vinyl, so not sure that's a real concern. And I wiped that banquet before we left. The grandparents and I were trying to distract the child and manage the behavior because everyone could tell she was angry at us. I was worried she would contaminate our food because of the way she was reacting to our family. I only gave this place 2 stars because the food was edible. We had to eat there because there aren't a lot of options at the bottom of the funiculaire, and 2 of my family are vegetarian. Maybe it's just this one person but she totally destroyed the mood of our day and was...

We were seated at a nice table and enjoyed the quaint, cozy-meets-modern ambiance. Unfortunately, 2 of the 3 pasta dishes we ordered arrived cold (the Bolognese and the Pesto). The Bolognese was not only cold, but also the blandest we’ve ever had, and the pesto had potential but it was wasn’t served hot enough to enjoy (it wasn't even warm).

No one checked on us during the main course, which was disappointing. Had they done so, we would have let them know about the issue. Instead, we ended up eating the food cold, since it was a late night reservation, and we were starving, and we didn’t want to make the evening uncomfortable for the other couple we were dining with.

This was especially disheartening because we had been looking forward to eating here for months, ever since we couldn’t get a reservation on our last trip to Quebec. Sadly, the pasta didn’t live up to the hype.

On a positive note, the flambé Alfredo pasta was good, as was the tiramisu. However, we ran into another frustration with the flambé Alfredo pasta: we requested it without meat or shrimp (due to dietary restrictions 2 people in our party had) but were told the price would be the same regardless. This meant we had to order the proteins on the side, even though no one really wanted them. It would be nice if the restaurant offered a vegan version at a fairer price...or at least provided some form of consideration, like a complimentary dessert, to account for paying for items we couldn’t eat. (We paid $80 for plain Alfredo pasta for 2, definitely wasn't...

Today's carbonara dish (photo on the left) did not meet my expectations. I ordered (to go) the original carbonara dish (photo on the right) from this restaurant on 25 November 2024, which was perfectly splendid, and it was the first time I ever had carbonara in my life. I was so impressed, I raved about it, even told my sister that we have to go back to try this dish when she comes to visit. Now, I think I'll pass.

So, today was a major letdown, especially since I had been craving their carbonara. I just don't understand how one can change the pasta noodles of a signature Italian dish like carbonara and still call it carbonara even if the rest of the ingredients are the same. Different pasta noodles hold pasta sauces (ingredients) differently, which changes the taste of the meal. Maybe it's just me, but I was very disappointed. The two dishes prepared with different noodles are not the same.

The owner/manager did offer to switch out the meal for something else completely different because they didn't have the linguine or spaghetti noodles that are traditionally prepared with carbonara. I declined because I didn't want to be responsible for wasting food. I wish I had known beforehand that the restaurant changed its menu twice a year. I would have also appreciated better advertising for this dish tonight. If I had known it wasn't going to be prepared with the traditional noodles for the carbonara dish, I would have ordered something different from the outset. But when not in Italy - I guess these types of...