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• Secret is to eat at the bar UPDATE

UPDATE: Sadly, their vegan lasagna was heavy with fake meat & another defrosted taste of the pasta dough. My friend felt his prawns pasta was pretty heavy as well, Spatzel style. I am use to the American Tiramisu so their authentic Italian style was too bready & heavy. I would have preferred a light fluffy desert. The constant server, staff & busser over checked up on us which would be considered good service but it only means our conversation kept being interrupted. I'm sure culturally, it's natural to engage but not for us. ***** When weekenders or weeknights never put you off even more for this over crowded Little Italy, always request to sit at the bar as you can order & eat there. You get a personal bartender to serve you! Don't be intimidated by their stressed out host & the little Italian grandpy, it's part of being in Italy! Ask to view the separated kitchen for Vegan and non vegan preparations. The mushroom calamari was a direct deep fried version in replacement for fries. Other restaurants would have it slightly breaded & wont leave it fried too long. For civico with no breadedness, I would recommend not over drenching it in the batter. I felt like I was going to leave with high cholesterol and heart attack. Tasted kinda over fried. The Ravioli pasta: the dough outside itself tasted like it had been defrosted. I had amazing Italian food in NYC & in Italy and of course, this did not really come close to the experience. The Penne was mundane. Something we can make ourselves at home. If there's no colour of the rainbow in vegetables, I'm easily unimpressed. All breads are naturally vegan but of course not GF. Bruchetta was different as the bread was served warm rather croutons style where it'll break under you so good on that. I may have been more or less slightly turned off with the host turning me away "No Tables" by one look at me with prejudge eyes in my heavily Inked live canvas and probably redneck crocs compared to the others waiting in their gucci and jimmy choos. I also felt judged by the Grandpa of the House. I know Italian culture is all about the exterior but sometimes, the most affluent beings are those that have nothing to prove. Updated from previous review on Tuesday July 28, 2015