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| - Attended La Vecchia for a birthday dinner on a busy Friday night. We had a late 9pm reservation, but the place was still packed when we arrived. They couldn't seat us until most of our party had arrived, but our table was ready when we met that requirement. No problem.
The restaurant space itself is fairly small and cramped. You really have to squeeze by on a busy night as tables take up all the available space. The website describes the restaurant as "cozy and romantic". Cozy, yes, very much so. Romantic, not so much. The place is very, very loud. Maybe they mistook "dark" for "romantic".
Service was okay. We had time to peruse the menu for drinks and food before ordering and our waiter was generally around to take care of our needs. A couple of "hmm" moments did occur, though. The bottle of wine I ordered came in a bucket with only an inch or two of ice in it. Uh, okay? A friend who had already eaten dinner ordered the mussels to split and was met with, "On Friday nights, we usually ORDER FOOD" from the waiter. Meow! It's the details that take service from adequate to great, and the details need some polish here.
The menu is quite varied and has all your Italian favourites. I informally quizzed my tablemates about their dishes, and the common response was "good". I had the minestrone and penne alla vodka. On both counts, the cook seemed to be a bit too heavy handed with the salt as it overpowered the delicate taste of the vegetables in the soup and took over the pasta dish. Other than the seasoning issue, both dishes were "good". The pasta itself was perfectly cooked.
All in all, La Vecchia is okay. A few quibbles with the service and food, but you could do worse. Just don't take your date on a busy Friday night.
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