Tasting Journey #10 - Bella Vita

Ciao Bella Vita
703 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC
604-688-5771
www.ciaobellavancouver.ca

We were originally planning on going to The Tea House @ Stanley Park for Dine out today.  We had booked it 2 weeks ago, but right before we made our way to the restaurant, I decided to go online to check the menu. It was then I noticed the fine print on the bottom of the page that Dine Out Lunch is not available on weekends.  Hm... I had said that I wanted to make a reservation for Dine Out, and they had accepted it... Hm... so I called to reconfirm, and needless to say, they don't offer Dine Out menus on Sunday.  We had to find another place quick.  This was when we decided to go try out Ciao Bella Vita, and it was definitely a pleasant find!

Ciao Bella Vita's Dine Out Lunch menu is the same as their dinner menu, with the only different - price.  If dining for lunch, it was $20. If dining for dinner, it was $28.  Perfect.

This Italian restaurant is located near the busy corner of Denman & Georgia.  Though I've driven past it everyday for almost a year (when I was working in N. Van), I have never noticed the restaurant.  It was very low profile in terms of attracting wandering guests, well distracted by the vast bike rental shops in the neighbourhood.

Food was very generous in portion, and well-prepared.   The basa was juicy, and the pickled olives & capers complimented the dish.  The veal was tender and extremely flavourful.  Tiramisu was light, fluffy and not-too-sweet.  The sorbet was quite interesting in the fact that it is coconut flavoured, and I felt that it was more like an "ice-cream", and not the typical light taste of sorbet we would expect. Interesting.

We fully enjoyed the meal. It was still too early in the day to start drinking, else the meal would have been even more perfect if complimented with some wine.  One of us originally had wanted the chocolate mousse cake, but only to find out that they were out.  If I must critique, It would be that it was quite disappointing to see the item on the menu, and not available to try.

   

Did I mention that Ciao Bella Vita is a piano bar?  It has live piano performances every Wed-Sun nights.  I would definitely love to visit this place again at night!