Pasta di Casa Italian Eatery — Restaurant in Winnipeg

Fantastic service from a new restaurant.

This quiet and friendly little restaurant is a welcome addition to Meadowood, directly across from St. Vital Mall.

It was my first time there, but Crystal had already enjoyed it twice before.

While it may not have a huge seating capacity, it provides an enormous amount of genuine, friendly service.

Our waiter, Matt, came around just the right amount for me and was very helpful each time.

We were provided with some lightly toasted bread slices to dip into a blend of balsamic vinegar drizzled onto olive oil.

Next time, I will ask for the bread to be fresh, not toasted, just so that I can soak up a bit more of the olive oil/balsamic mixture.

The Rocket salad was simple, yet delicious. The fresh spring mix arrived with a blend of slightly acidic vinaigrette layered over a bit of sweetness that I was not expecting. The combination seemed to accurately find all of my favourite tastebuds.

The butternut squash ravioli appeared to be an undersized portion, but was full of flavour. It was tender and very good beneath a simple tomato sauce.

I personally like to add a variety of spices into my own pasta sauces, but this was elegant in its simplicity and reminded me of a similar tomato sauce we enjoyed in Rome. We liked that one so much, we went back for more the next day.

Like we did in Rome, we will return to Pasta di Casa for more of this one too.

The chef came out and had a little visit with us, which was a very nice touch. We talked about the sauce and the delicious vinaigrette. A variety of their sauces were available to purchase and take home.

Sadly, not the vinaigrette. If I can't figure out how to make it myself, I will just have to go back there soon to enjoy it some more. It will...

I wouldn't go back for a few reasons:

Atmosphere. A huge Pepsi fridge right at the front, a small little eating area with a TV playing. It's a tiny strip mall location that used to be a Quizno's with basically the same layout except nicer tables. We tried it for an early Valentine's date but had never been inside. It wasn't the right vibe for a date.

Acoustics are REALLY bad. I couldn't hear my partner sitting across the table from him, we had to shout at each other.

Food quality. Nothing tasted outrageously bad, it just wasn't great quality. For what we ate and the price, we could have spent a few more dollars and just gone to Harth for outstanding food. We ordered a "charcuterie board" that literally had grocery store level processed deli meats and cheese... It was not at all to the level of quality I expected for the price and I have never before seen a restaurant put out a charcuterie that bad. Partner's gnocchi wasn't a great texture, maybe not cooked for the right time. My chicken parm had burnt edges.

They did not ask for our vaccination cards, and as of right now it's still required. We were surprised and disappointed to see that they didn't appear to be checking.

I will say that the bread was very fresh and...

Had family visiting from Calgary whom we took here for dinner on Friday evening. We were so impressed by the food, it was still a topic of conversation on Sunday night!

We shared a variety of appetizers (fried ravioli, polpette, bruschetta, cheese toast and calamari) as well as the complimentary bread with oil & vinegar.

Both the rocket and caesar salads received favorable mentions from the family and a variety of pasta dishes were also sampled, including ravioli, fettuccine Alfredo, veal campochiaro and Nonna's lasagna supreme (which was amazing delicate for such an ingredient-laden composition)

If this isn't our new favorite Italian restaurant, it will be after our next visit (we need to indulge in more of this fantastic menu)

The only thing I could offer as a critique is that they seemed to have run out of much of their beer selection by the time we were all seated and ready to order (so hey,.maybe stock a little more of that! lol)

If you love FRESH and FLAVORFUL Italian cuisine without the burden of the traditional dark and woody 80s decor (which still seems to be the norm) then you will LOVE...