La Cantina Di Mona Lisa — Restaurant in Winnipeg

Dry tasting pasta, bland boring sauce and an atrociously salted appetizer all but ruined my date night, thank god for great company and amazing wine.

I had high hopes for a nostalgic date night dinner, but unfortunately, Mona Lisa fell short on nearly every front.

The restaurant was not busy but the service dragged, our server who also appeared to be the bartender, took drink orders and food orders at a snails pace (water was eventually delivered by another server). That said, the wine list was excellent, and the décor was warm and inviting, which raised expectations.

We ordered the pane fritto for an appetizer which is lightly fried dough, usually a simple and delicious dish, ours was hard and extremely salty.

Shortly after the appetizer was delivered our pasta arrived, crowding the table and not letting us have a chance to enjoy the appetizer which did not matter due to how salty it was. I ordered the pescatore linguini and the wife had fettuccini con ragu. My dish was served in this weird star shaped dish (seen in the picture) and featured dry pasta with a boring plum tomato sauce with all the sea food your heart could desire (mussels, shrimp, calamari and clams) but over cooked. The wife’s con ragu suffered from the same boring sauce and dry pasta.

The pros; wine selection was good, servers were nice and pleasant but slow, the decor was lovely.

The cons; slow service, food was slow, poorly timed and over salted or bland.

The bill came to $131 before tax and tip for four glasses of wine, one appetizer, and two pasta dishes. While not unreasonable for a date night out, the quality of food and service simply didn’t justify the cost. I left wishing I had chosen Frankie’s or Alena instead.

Mona Lisa had all the ingredients for a lovely evening ambiance, wine, and company but failed where it mattered...

My first experience about a decade ago was great! Ten years later- very, very disappointed… we made a reservation for 7 pm on a Thursday. Ordered food fairly promptly and did not get out main entrees until 8:45pm. I wish I was kidding. But unfortunately I am not.

Not all appetizers were brought all at once. Part of our party had to inquire about their appetizers, while others were already half done. Mistake was made on one dish- asked to eliminate cheese from their entree and received with cheese. Absolutely no explanation on why it took so long for our meals. No apology either. We were a party of 15, so thank goodness we had good company to pass the time. Was not offered dessert either.

Food was “just okay”. Nothing I would rave about to others. Definitely not what I remembered years ago. I have definitely had better meals at other local Italian restaurants. Alfredo was okay. Pizza was also just okay, something seemed off with the consistency of the dough when baked. Some parts nice and crunchy, some bites seem almost doughy. Salad was good- but it shouldn’t be the best thing eaten at an Italian restaurant. Calamari was good as well. Very pricey food for portions given.

Our waitress was lovely, we were offered lots of water during our almost 2 hour wait for our main entrees!

Late night for the kids and adults on a weekday. Atmosphere was comforting, minus the obnoxiously loud table next to us (not the restaurants fault at all).

Unfortunately overall, not a great experience. Memorable experience, all for the wrong reasons.

Sorry, Mona Lisa Ristorante Italiano Restaurant.

… too hungry and upset to...

For a Valentine's Day dinner with my wife I made a reservation several days in advance but was told that the only time available for dinner was 5:00 pm due to later bookings all being taken. Upon arriving we were required to park across a busy street (Corydon) due to only limited on-street parking being available nearby. The hostesses were pleasant and amicable and they showed us to our table where another restaurant employee took our coats and provided us with claim checks for our coats. The atmosphere in the restaurant was very nice with subdued lighting, real cloth tablecloths, a rose in a vase, a lit candle on the table and Italian opera music playing in the background, although the music was a little on the loud side. Our waitress was pleasant yet impersonal. Our drink orders, appetizers, and main courses were brought to our table at a non-rushed yet timely pace. In general, the food was well-prepared and presented attractively. The Italian salad appetizers that both my wife and I had however, seemed to to have been prepared with very little, almost no, dressing. It was nice to get an ample basket of bread with our meals. Upon leaving, our waitress had our coats brought to our table. All in all, it was a pleasant evening with room for improvement as...