Zefferelli's- Italian Food and Service

I met my good friend Sohee for dinner the other night as she has just returned from her exchange in Italy. It was a fun night of gossip- on italian (and local) boys, food and fashion- and just catching up in general, all over good, hearty italian food! Despite having just returned to Vancouver, she was saying how she already missed italian food. I'm not surprised. 

We headed over to Zeferelli's on Robson St. I was pretty excited as I have been wanting to try this eatery for quite a while now.

Review Snippet

Overall: Good, hearty italian fare. Suitable for all kinds of dates- platonic,romantic and the like.

Food: Italian- quite a good range of pastas

Price: $20 per person (incl tax and tip)
Service: Slow (to the point of slight irritation)

1136 Robson St
Vancouver, BC V6E

(604) 687-0655

We were seated at a nice table by the window, overlooking Robson St. This was perfect given the cool evening breeze that came through the huge windows. Looking at the menu and hearing the specials, I was honestly spoilt for choice. Unfortunately, with similar taste-buds, we settled for pastas that were nearly the same. 

I had the Linguini Putnesca. The noodles were perfectly enveloped in just the right amount of spicy tomato sauce, and were topped with succulent (although slightly dwarfed) prawns. Capers and olives finished off the dish nicely, adding the extra sour zing that I appreciate.

Sohee had the Linguini, one of the alternatives I was debating between. This dish had an ample portion of crab meat, some roasted peppers, artichokes and cream. It had a good combination of flavours and what I liked most about the dish was the right proportion of cream to pasta. I often find some places engulf their cream-basted pastas with far too much sauce. Noodles were served al dente. 


All in all, I would recommend this place for hearty, traditional italian fare. It is a little on the expensive side, but there is quality in the food, portions are huge (definitely enough to take home!) and the ambience is nice. Sharing would have been a good option for us, given our small tummy space, but as usual my eyes were bigger than by gut. 


My only complaint was the incredibly slow service. This was place was really Italian- right down to their service.  Being a slightly impatient person, I could not stand how they took close to 15-20 mins to settle our bill. It was not even that busy a night, nor did they look particularly understaffed so I honestly did not understand their inefficiency. Zefferelli's is a good alternative to Italian Kitchen a couple of blocks down the road, apart from their service. -Sara