The Old Spaghetti Factory

I've seen the Old Spaghetti Factory in the USA, and in Hong Kong.  Seeing how tacky it looked and how it's always filled with tourists with their backpacks and DSLR's around their neck, I have always said that I would never be caught dead in the Old Spaghetti Factory.  I've also been told by the hubby that the food is just ok and we make better pasta at home.

The night before our half marathon, we had to go downtown to pick up our race packets.  We also needed to cargo-load.  My friend suggested we go to the Old Spaghetti Factory to do our carbo-loading.  The pasta is just so-so, but the garlic butter is amazing and you get ice cream included.  So off we went to eat bread and garlic butter.

I stepped in the door and was overwhelmed by how tacky this place was on the inside.  It was like the dumping ground for a carnival, trains and whatever junk you can think of.  We waited maybe 20 minutes for a table and was seated at the corner somewhere.  I was starving at the time and hoped that our server would come by to take our orders fast.  Nope, no where to be seen.  We waited a very long time and got another server to look for our server not once but twice.  It felt like our server was hiding from us.  He finally came over with our bread and garlic butter, which was very yummy by the way (we all had disgusting garlic breath after), and took our order.  I ordered some Mediterranean chicken dish that came on pasta with a side of mushrooms.  Our salads came soon after.  Nothing special, just iceberg lettuce with some strips of carrots and cabbage.  Our mains took like half an hour to come.  I forget if the 3 of us finished 2 or 3 loaves of bread and garlic butter at the time.  Our mains finally came and we all just ate in silence.  Not because the food was good, but because we were starving.  Inhaled my dish even though my whole wheat pasta was salty, dry and undercooked.  Not al-dente, but undercooked.  

After we finished we waited for our ice cream, we left.  I can now safely say, I will NEVER ever visit the Old Spaghetti Factory again.  My gut instinct was right, it's just a crappy tourist trap.  I really don't know why I'm writing this blog since it really wasn't worth mentioning.  Or maybe I feel the need to warn you readers to not to step foot into this place?

The Old Spaghetti Factory

#54 The Esplanade Toronto, Ontario M5E 1A6