Does anyone still buy the entertainment book anymore?
Well, Meko did. There were many 'buy one entree, get the second entree free'
coupons. Meko gave me a choice of two neighbouring restaurants: La Rocca
Ristorante Italiano and Arriva Ristorante Italiano. I've actually been to La
Rocca a few times; their food and service are quite inconsistent, but we will
leave that for another foodprint. I chose Arriva tonight. They were both on Commercial
Drive and we all know that is the renown Italian street. I love Commercial
Drive, each shop and restaurants are unique in their own way.
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| Interior of the restaurant. House of the kitchen |
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| Bread basket |
The exterior this restaurant is does not capture any
attention. It is very easy to miss if you are driving on Commercial Drive. The
interior, on the other hand, had a fun design. The kitchen was a little house
in the middle of the inside. It has a dimly lit, laid back atmosphere, so not a
bad place to bring dates. Near the front of the restaurant, there is a
separated area of the restaurant that can be used for party of 30.
The main selection in the menu is 10% appetizer, 80%
pastas, 10% entrees.
Pennette al Salmone Offumicato: smoked salmon, vodka,
cream, tomato sauce ($16.95)
When the menu said smoked salmon, I automatically thought
it was the thinly sliced smoked salmon. The chef of Arriva actually chose to
use salmon filet. The portion of the pasta was set for an average individual,
but the amount of salmon they have added was very generous; approximately 25%
of the pasta dish was the smoked salmon. The pennette was cooked in a creamy
vodka sauce. Please not that it is not a red sauce, even though it is indicated
tomato sauce. I will consider it a more creamy rose sauce. It tasted very
delicious; the sauce wasn't too thick nor too heavy, and the pasta was cooked
just right. However, the smoked salmon was not flavourful enough for my taste
buds. I prefer a more smoked aroma, but it was only lightly smoked.
Risotto con Salsiccia: risotto with Italian sausages,
white wine sauce ($16.95)
I've had amazing risottos; I've had horrible risottos.
This risotto was just good. Does not impress me, but it will not let you down. There
is an option of white wine or tomato sauce. The waiter recommended the white
wine sauce, which would have been my choice as well. Flavour was good, but maybe
a little too strong (suggesting too much MSG?). Don’t get me wrong, I really
enjoyed my risotto. Did I mention I love cheese?! The parmigiano cheese they
usually offer with the pasta was wonderful. Even if you don’t like cheese with
pasta, get some to just try on the side. As for me, I usually have my cheese on
the side anyways. This is because I would like to give credit to the food
before needing to add extra flavour. This risotto did not need any more cheese.
Adding more cheese actually makes it more heavy, so I just ate the cheese by
itself. The risotto had great taste and texture without it.
After our server had taken away our dishes, I spotted a
dessert on another table that caught my attention. I thought it was a panna cotta!
I was so excited; it is one of my favourite Italian desserts. When our server
came back, offering us the dessert menu, I interrupted him asking him whether the
other table have ordered a panna cotta. He looked very confused and started to
list out the dessert they have. One of them was the crème caramel, which was
what looked like a panna cotta from a far. In the end we didn’t order any
desserts. I found it slightly humourous that he didn’t know what a panna cotta
was, but I explained to him what it was. Hopefully this knowledge will be of
good use to him for his future days of work in the restaurant industry.
Arriva Ristorante Italiano is a casual restaurant located
in the heart of Vancouver’s Italian street. If you are down for some pasta with
high quality of ingredients, give Arriva a visit. I definitely prefer Arriva
over La Rocca, which is next door. Unlike Anton’s, which is a complete plate of
carbohydrates, Arriva will provide more meat/seafood to go along with the
wonderful pasta.
Location: On Commercial drive. It can be difficult to
find parking. Occasionally will walk by a few homeless individual who will make
random remarks.
Food: Standard pasta with high quality ingredients. Will
not be disappointed.
Service: Our server was very friendly, but his knowledge
of the food and restaurant was minimal.
Price: The total came to $38 with taxes. Including the
entertainment coupon, total came to $21 for two people.
Will I come back? Maybe. It will be listed in the
mid-rank of my list.
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Hippo
Arriva Ristorante Italiano
1537 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, B.C.
Phone: 604-251-1177
