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Curiously Carmen

Ragazzi Pizza

May 9, 2022

Ragazzi Pizza has been a childhood favourite for the husband’s family, and I have always heard good things about it throughout the years! We have driven by so many times, but for some reason, never got it. After my work had a catering order with them, I decided to get some for the family try. Cheeseburger loved it and it is now his go-to pizza restaurant!

Ragazzi is a small, family owned pizza restaurant in East Vancouver by the corner of Renfrew and 22nd.

Since the pandemic, they have been doing only takeout or delivery. The tables are gone and the washroom area is blocked off too.

This was our first order, unfortunately I don’t remember the names of the pizzas anymore. All of the pizzas were delicious and enjoyed by everyone. The pizza dough tasted fresh and homemade, doughy and soft.

The toppings, such as the veggies, tasted very fresh and good quality too. Ragazzi has more of a thin crust style pizza.

I’m not sure why I haven’t tried Ragazzi earlier, but it has not disappointed! Ragazzi is a local gem with fresh pizza that has been around for decades. Since this visit, we have ordered takeout multiple times!

.

Ragazzi Pizza Co Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: food & drink, italian

Sopra Sotto – Commercial Drive

September 24, 2021

I have been hearing good things about Sopra Sotto for awhile now! There are currently two locations – the original location on Commercial Drive, and a second location in North Burnaby. Martini and I went to the location on Commercial Drive.

Walking in, I was not expecting the restaurant to be this nice! I really liked the decor inside, and how spacious and airy it felt.

We came on a nice summer evening, so the entire front of the restaurant opened up into a spacious patio. I wish I took a photo of the patio!

Rucola e prosciutto: After making sure they had dairy free options for the pizza, I ordered the prosciutto and arugula pizza. Our server couldn’t guarantee that the usual sauce for this pizza was dairy free, so she suggested I change it to a tomato sauce, which was fine with me. The pizza was delicious and came packed with prosciutto and arugula.

My only complaint was that this pizza was overpriced. As I’m currently writing this, the price was $22 (maybe my blog will still be around in 10 years and this is considered a reasonable price lol but in 2021 this is high). The vegan cheese was an additional $2.00 which I don’t understand because I assume the mozzarella and grana cheese normally used is the same, but whatever, many places charge an additional for vegan.

As mentioned above, the server suggested replacing the sauce with a tomato sauce. She did not say that there was also an additional charge, so I was surprised to see it on the bill. If I knew, I probably would have just asked for no sauce. I wished that she would have told me before putting the order in, I didn’t think that tomato sauce would be extra.

After tip and tax, this pizza was $30+!

Diavola: Martini ordered the diavola pizza, which came with tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy Italian salami, and basil. Compared to my pizza, it looked pretty measly and could have used more toppings. She found it to be okay but thought there could be more toppings.

We also ordered a couple of drinks, but I forgot what they were now since we came in July.

Overall, I enjoyed the vibe of Sopra Sotto, although we found it to be overpriced. Our server was nice, but I wish she would have gave a heads up about the extra cost for tomato sauce (Normally tomato sauce on pizza is not extra?). I would still come back occasionally mostly only for the ambiance, especially in the summer with their patio.

Sopra Sotto Pizzeria Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: food & drink, italian

MILA

November 8, 2020

MILA is the newest addition to Vancouver’s vegan food scene that opened a couple months ago in early September. After hearing about it, Avocado and I knew that we had to check it out! I predict that this place will be very popular for vegans and non-vegans alike. Or should I say plant-based because that is the new trendy term for vegan these days? ?

MILA is located in Chinatown. The restaurant was easy to miss because there weren’t any signs except for a small one on their door. I recommend making a reservation because they are quite busy and have limited seating due to the pandemic. Despite it being busy inside, the tables were spaced out and we felt clean and safe in there.

While writing this review, I also found out that they are the sister restaurant to Virtuous Pie, a vegan pizza joint a few blocks away. Avocado and I also tried Virtuous Pie almost 3 years ago and we enjoyed it.

Walking in, we were greeted with loud music (not in an obnoxious way, they had some good lo-fi beats going on) and it was bumpin’ in there for a Sunday evening. It was not what we were both expecting with the dark lighting, music and all. We both thought it’d be a quiet, low-key place. To quote Avocado, it felt like a vegan Cactus Club!

The atmosphere could have easily been seen as hipster, pretentious and snobby (like our experience at Heirloom a few years ago).

If I sense that a place is pretentious, I likely won’t go back. However, that wasn’t the case with MILA. The staff were very friendly and there were no pretentious, hipster vibes detected which was a relief.

Aburi lox: This was one of the most popular items online, so we decided to give it a try. It ended up being our favourite of the evening! I wasn’t sure how I’d feel with carrot being a replacement of salmon, but this roll was delicious for a non-vegan like myself.

Admittedly, the carrot did not replace the texture of real salmon because it lacked the fleshiness of salmon meat (why does that sound morbid?). However, what it didn’t lack was taste. The aburi lox was an explosion of delicious flavour. The sauce on top was incredibly creamy and rich with a nice grilled flavour to it.

There was also more sauce in the middle with shiso leaf, which elevated the flavour even more. I didn’t even mind that this was carrot, that was easily forgotten because of how delicious everything else was.

Bao buns: The bao buns came with hoisin tempeh, pickled onion + cucumber, sambal aioli, cilantro, and crispy shallots. The buns themselves were warm, thick and puffy. I found that some of the bun stuck to the wooden bowl though, so I’d recommend removing the lid and letting it cool down before eating.

The bao buns were not bad either and we both enjoyed it. The sambal aioli and fresh veggies gave the bao buns a lot of flavour, but not enough for me to forget that it was vegan (unlike the aburi lox).

Mushroom and sausage tagliatelle: This dish was also highly recommended online, and I was super excited to try it! Avocado and I appreciated how they split the dish for us already when we told them that we’d be sharing everything.

The tagliatelle was cooked perfectly. The vegan sauce was made up of pistachio pesto cream. The flavours were great, and I also asked for some freshly cracked black pepper which elevated the dish more. My only complaint would be that they could have added more sauce because I didn’t find it creamy or saucy enough for a pasta.


All in all, we left really satisfied with Mila. The ingredients were high quality, and we enjoyed all of the dishes. Service was also friendly and attentive too.

I would definitely recommend this place for vegans! If you’re like Avocado and I who enjoy eating vegan food every so often, you’d probably enjoy it too.

If you’re a die-hard meat lover who refuses to eat vegan food, I would not recommend it because you could still tell that some dishes are vegan.

MILA Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: chinese, food & drink, fusion, italian, japanese, vegetarian/vegan

Emilio Finatti Pizzeria

September 7, 2020

Emilio Finatti Pizzeria in White Rock came highly recommend by some old co-workers, Latte, and online reviews. Latte and I had plans to get takeout for a picnic, but the weather was cloudy so we went to Pho Sunrise and Mink Chocolate Cafe instead. We tried to come again a month later (with the fiance as well because it sounded delicious to him too) and it was a success!

Emilio Finatti Pizzeria is located in White Rock, a few minutes drive from the beach (but it would be a hard walk due to the steep hills!). The restaurant itself is very small and a bit hole in the wall inside.

Mr Chu Tea and Coffee is across the street too, so you could also get some bubble tea while you’re here. Review coming soon!

They usually have a couple small tables but due to the pandemic, no customers were allowed in. There were a couple tables outside but you’d be better off enjoying the pizza at the beach instead.

While writing this review, I wasn’t too sure what Silician pizza was. After looking it up, I learned that Silician pizza is usually thick crusted and prepared in a rectangular fashion. However, Emilio’s advertises themselves as thin crust. Not that I’m complaining though, everything was delicious as you’ll soon find out!

Roma pizza: The 3 of us shared 3 small pizzas, which proved later to be too much but leftover pizza in the air fryer is delicious! The Roma pizza came with marinara, cheese, genoa salami, red onion, green bell pepper, roasted red bell pepper finished with parmesan.

It was love at first bite! All of the ingredients in the pizza were extremely fresh and great quality. The perfect thin crust pizza. They were quite generous with the toppings too.

Mama mia: The second pizza we ordered was the mamma mia. This pizza came with marinara, cheese, meatballs, green olive, green bell pepper, hot banana peppers, finished with cheddar cheese, parmesan and herbs, Italian parsley.

This pizza was delicious as well! The thin crust was perfect too and the ingredients on top were very fresh. I haven’t seen a pizza with a whole banana pepper before. My only complaint for the Mamma Mia was the olives, because I’m not a fan of olives. 

The meatballs on top of the pizza were seasoned well and tender too. You could really taste the quality of the meatballs!

Pepperoni primo: Last but not least, the pepperoni primo! The pepperoni primo came with marinara, cheese, ham, pepperoni, genoa salami, mushroom, artichoke, finished with roma tomato, parmesan, greek pepper garnish.

This was my favourite of the day! The pizza was full of such fresh ingredients and was so good. There were so many toppings on top. I really liked the fresh sliced tomato that was added after. The parmesan dusting rounded out the pizza and elevated the deliciousness even more.

We all really enjoyed Emilio Finatti. The quality of the pizza and the toppings were top notch. A lot of reviews mentioned that the prices are a bit higher than usual, but it’s no mystery why when you taste the quality ingredients and freshness. I would love to come back here during my next trip to White Rock.

Emilio Finatti Sicilian Pizzeria Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: food & drink, italian

Water Street Cafe

July 19, 2020

Water Street Cafe is a cute restaurant located in the heart of Gastown, right across from the famous steam clock. We came here with Sangria and Lager for a much needed catch up dinner!

Walking in, I really enjoyed the ambiance of Water Street Cafe. There was a romantic, classic New York City feel to it… as if you were stepping into the crisp pages of a chick lit novel and the protagonist was about to have their first date. The ambiance was spectacular but the food was lacking unfortunately, as you’ll soon find out.

Social distancing and sanitation protocol were at place here, and it felt clean and safe. Although, we did tell them that we would be sharing, our server didn’t bring out serving utensils and plates until we asked.

Bison carpaccio: To start, we ordered the bison carpaccio to share (we had serving forks and knives). No complaints about this dish. The parmesan and capers went really well with the bison.

Mushroom gnocchi: After finding out that they make their gnocchi in-house, we decided to share this as well. Personally, I found it to be underwhelming. Truffle butter was advertised but there was no taste or scent of truffle at all.

It was also made with goat cheese so there was a strong gamey taste, which the fiance was not a fan of. We would not get this again.

Pappardelle bolognese: After a great experience at Ask For Luigi, I decided to order the same thing to see how it compared since Water St. Cafe is also a fancier restaurant. Again, this was underwhelming and disappointing.

Lager noted that the tomato sauce tasted like grocery store canned pasta sauce, which I agreed with. In addition, there were strange pools of oil at the bottom of my plate.

I could have made better pasta at home for 1/4th of the price since this tasted like canned pasta sauce anyways.

Meatballs and pappardelle: The fiance’s pasta sauce was the same as mine, and he also found it to be lackluster and disappointing.

The meatballs were very tender, but he found the dish to be pretty forgettable and meh.

Seafood pasta special: Lager ordered the daily special, which was a seafood pasta in a lemon butter dill sauce. This was far more delicious than the fiance and my pasta dishes. The sauce was buttery, while the dill gave it a nice aroma.

However, the seafood was extremely overcooked. The clams were rubbery and the scallop had shrunk and was overcooked.

Braised beef short rib: Sangria had perhaps the most satisfying dish out of all of us. The braised beef short rib was tender and fell off the bone nicely. It was marinated in hoisin sauce which was unexpected for a Western restaurant, but it worked well.

There was live music playing on the patio right next to us which was nice, but the singer was belting out ballads and it was too loud and hard to hear our own conversation at times. It was nice when he was singing softly or just playing instrumentals though.

All in all, the dishes left little to be desired and was disappointing. While the ambiance and service was great, the same can not be said about the food.

Water Street Café Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: food & drink, italian

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Hello!

Hi and welcome to Curiously Carmen! I am Carmen, the girl behind the blog. You can read more about me here!

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