In a previous post, I detailed the intentions of myself and a co-worker in patronizing The Old Spaghetti Factory, a restaurant that we wanted to see if it was as bad as our memory served us. On Friday evenings, most people want to have a good meal, instead we going for the culinary equivalent of a kick to the berries.
The timing seemed right, we’d been working late the last two nights for a milestone, so George and I were just happy to survived that. Plus, I’d had a few beers at beer and cake, so a lot of things seemed like a good idea at the time. On our way down to the studio lobby, we ran into Simon, one of the engineering leads. We convinced him to come with us to TOSF. We may have given him the wrong impression about the place. I think he believed we were actually going to a decent place, not to an experiment.
Anyways, unlike last time, there was no wait to be seated. So if you want to know, going to TOSF in Gastown is fine after 8pm on Friday nights. Once seated, I decided to order one of their complete pasta meals, which includes bread, a starter, a pasta dish, ice cream, and after dinner tea or coffee. It’s a good deal that ranges between $10-14.
Because I wasn’t really thinking, I ordered NE clam chowder to start and then spaghetti with clam sauce. It wasn’t until I was chowing down on the chowder that I realized a significant portion of my meal constituted heavy, rich cream. The bread was fresh and the addition of whipped garlic butter was a nice touch. I love whipped butter. The chowder itself was very thick but only so-so in terms of heartiness. Nothing still compares to the chowder I had in Boston in 1999.
The actual pasta dish I had was fair to middling. It wasn’t horrible but it was nothing spectacular either. It was however, quite heavy in terms of the cream sauce and would have much preferred a white wine sauce. I didn’t even it eat it all but I sat there feeling pretty stuffed. It took effort to eat my ice cream but I did it anyways.
George went the proper route by avoiding the chowder and choosing to have the meat sauce. I probably would have done better by doing the same. George thought his meal was not horrible but it did not impress him either. Simon had some chicken wings which were quite good actually but I’m a sucker for wings anywhere.
After dinner, George went home and Simon decided to go find a movie theatre. I had to go back to the studio to get my cell phone. On the way back, I was intercepted by a few people and forced to go to a bar. Nothing eventful happened there.