Il Caminetto: Upscale Italian dining in Whistler

Il Caminetto is an upscale Italian restaurant in Whistler village. They boast an impressive wine list and focus on modern contemporary Italian cuisine.

We dined at Il Caminetto during the August long weekend as part of a birthday dinner. It was our first time at Il Caminetto and the birthday boy had made reservations for a table of 6. If you are visiting Whistler village during a long weekend, I highly recommend you to make reservations, even if you are only a table for 2. Otherwise, you might find yourself dining after 9pm.

Interior

The inside of Il Caminetto is very stylish and sleek – black and white and lighted accents. We were seated at a round table next to a pillar. The ambience is romantic and in general, the restaurant is kind of dark or dim.

Food

We’ve been drinking a lot so we didn’t order any cocktails or wines. My friend did order 5 tequila shots and that costed him around $80. Lesson learned here: don’t order shots at nice restaurants in Whistler. Just spend the extra money on a nice cocktail instead.

Appetizers / Antipasti

Polpettine ($13)

We are very excited for this item because it is described to be crispy wagyu beef meatballs and we are suckers for anything wagyu. Also, wagyu meatballs just seem like a great idea?

The wagyu meatballs (5) have a green tomato sauce at the bottom. Portion size and the crispiness of the meatballs all fare very positive for us. My boyfriend thinks the green tomato sauce is a bit too salty, but I like it.

One thing I am disappointed in is that the wagyu meatballs – while very delicious and are simply well made meatballs – are just not that juicy. I’m comparing it to the wagyu croquette I ate at Raisu, and it is nowhere as juicy as that. It almost makes me wonder if it is a good use of wagyu. Perhaps if they use a different cut of meat, it will be just as good.

Related: Read my review of Raisu, a Japanese restaurant in Kitsilano.

Mozzarella di bufala caprese ($19.50)

Disclosure: I have a hard time knowing what most menu items are in Italian restaurants. If I just read “mozzarella di bufala caprese”, I understand nothing except that mozzarella is a type of cheese.

This appetizer dish uses heirloom tomatoes, globe basil, balsamic pearls and gnocchi fritto to create a salad-type dish. We choose to order this dish because of the words “gnocchi fritto”. We like gnocchi and we like fritters.

The dish arrives and it is not what we are expecting. It looks like a tomato sandwich with cheese in the middle, decorated with goldfish cracker-looking things (FYI these are the gnocchi fritters).

From that paragraph, it sounds like the appetizer is a bleh but it actually isn’t. I am actually very pleasantly surprised by how nice this dish is.

The tomatoes are fresh and juicy and I don’t even like tomatoes! The cheese goes along well with it and also tastes very refreshing. The balsamic pearls I take to be similar to bubble tea pearls, which gives it a very interesting twist. The gnocchi fritters – slight disappointment – are empty inside. Not sure what I am expecting but I don’t find a lot of resemblance between gnocchi and this type of empty pasta puff.

In general, a great tomato salad.

Entree / Secondi

In Italian courses, there is usually a pasta course (primi), but we skip this because our main is a pasta dish.

Salmon and seafood risotto ($45)

This is actually the daily seafood addition (market price MP), so you might not be able to order it if it’s not the daily special.

The entree has a chinook salmon sitting on top of a bed of seafood risotto, which includes clams, muscles, scallops and more. We love risotto and salmon so we choose this dish right away.

The salmon is cooked so that it is very soft and falling apart when your fork touches it. They don’t do too much to the salmon, which I like since it brings out its natural great flavour.

The risotto is cooked in a red tomato sauce but as you can see in the photo, it’s not swimming in the sauce. If you’re into really creamy and saucy risottos, you might find this “dry”. We didn’t have any problems with the amount of sauce on the plate. Bits of seafood are chopped up and mixed into it. The risotto is cooked well.

Portion size can be considered small, but if you are doing the full 3 courses, this is actually a large size.

Dessert

Panna cotta ($12)

My boyfriend loves panna cotta, so we order it. Il Caminetto’s panna cotta is decorated with blueberries and a raspberry and lemon gel.

We enjoy the panna cotta and blueberries (it’s blueberry season!). I like the raspberry gel but I’m not a super big fan of the lemon gel, which tastes more strong and sour when the panna cotta is already not very sweet to begin with.

Final thoughts

My boyfriend and I enjoyed our experience at Il Caminetto. We find their quality of food to be on par to what they brand themselves to be. Plating is modern and not difficult to actually eat. Portion sizes for pastas are large.

Our total bill was around $120-130 without drinks, but we also paid for the birthday boy’s entree. So we are really looking at around $100 for 2 people based off of 2 appetizers, 1 entree and 1 dessert.

Service is above average. The restaurant was very busy on the Saturday night we were there. It did take awhile for our friends to get their food (45mins +) and that’s because they are serving in traditional Italian style where you finish one course before you start the next one. My boyfriend and I were the only ones to order appetizers, so the servers were waiting until we finished our appetizers before the entrees could be made and sent out. If your table is not participating in the full 3-course (i.e. if you are going to order only one thing, basically), you should let your server know.

Sincerely, Loewe