Pepino’s Spaghetti House: Dine Out Vancouver 2023
Dine Out Vancouver is a food festival where participating restaurants offer 3-course menus at a set price. This year it is running from January 20 – February 5 and menus range from $30 – $65.
For my 3rd Dine Out this year, I took my fiancée to Pepino’s Spaghetti House on Commercial. As the name suggests, they serve spaghetti and other classic Italian dishes and is a sister restaurant to Savio Volpe, a more upscale Italian restaurant we will be going to for Valentine’s Day this year! They also have a wine bar connected/right next door called La Tana, which we stopped by for a drink since we arrived 30 mins earlier than our reservation time.
This review focuses on the Dine Out Vancouver 2023 menu, but I also want to include my previous visit to Pepino’s with my friends, so you can see the difference between their Dine Out menu and their regular menu.
Interior – La Tana
We arrived earlier than our reservation so we decided to drop by La Tana to grab a drink. La Tana is also a sister restaurant to Pepino’s and Savio Volpe but it is literally right beside and kinda connected to Pepino’s Spaghetti House. We had no reservation but they were able to seat us at the bar, which was fine by us and they even checked in our reservation for us since they seem to use the same system.
They are a wine bar so no surprise they have a huge selection of wines as well as food. The food is more tapas/small plates style, designed to pair with wine.
We both order one of their cocktail specials of the day – I don’t remember the name but it was described to me as a plum collins for $14. It was fruity and the cherry garnish was yummy as well. These cocktails were added onto our final bill at Pepino’s so we didn’t have to pay at La Tana, we just walked back outside and through the other door when our reservation time came up – a seamless experience!
Interior – Pepino’s Spaghetti House
We were seated at the very back of the restaurant, which was nice and intimate. One side was a booth seating so I was quite comfy and the other side was a wooden chair (side note I don’t think Kelvin has sat in a booth seating in a long time because he always needs to give it up for me hahaha).
The inside of Pepino’s Spaghetti House has no windows, so everything is lit up warmly by lighting. There are a lot of art on the walls and it has a very speakeasy vibe to it. The design is modelled deled after 1950’s Italian glamour, but overall I found the atmosphere to be very cozy, romantic and European.
Drinks
Blue Airplane ($14) + Plum 75 ($15)
We order another cocktail before we start dinner – the cocktail list is the same as La Tana’s. Kelvin ordered one of the specials called Blue Airplane or something like that? It is supposed to taste similar as a whiskey sour but it is a little more fruity than the regular whiskey sour. I order the Plum 75, which is a vodka-based cocktail with lemon and plum.
Food – regular menu
Here is everything I have ever tried at Pepino’s! First, here are the items that are on their regular menu that I tried with my friends on a previous occasion.
Mushroom arancini ($6)
My fiancé is a sucker for arancini so we always have to try it when we see it on the menu. Think of arancini as a deep fried ball of risotto. This one has mushroom, pecorino cheese and served in a plate of marinara sauce.
It is actually quite a large arancini so good to share with 2 people. Inside it is cheesy, complimented by the slightly sour marinara sauce.
Prosciutto, fior di latte, focaccia – ($20)
We ordered this appetizer to share between 6 adults. They give you quite a bit of proscuitto so I think the $20 is not too bad actually since everyone at least got one piece at our table. You can sub the cheese for burrata for +$10.
Mushroom gnocchi ($27)
Our vegetarian friend ordered the mushroom gnocchi, which is covered in marsala sauce. I actually really liked this pasta because the sauce was creamy and there was a nice mushroom flavour to it. The gnocchi itself was fluffy!
Tagliatelle pomodoro & burrata ($28)
We order this pasta mostly because we see the burrata on here for $28 so we think it’s a good deal (if you sub burrata for the caprese salad, it’s $30!). It is kind of a plain pasta because it’s mostly tomato based and then we have the burrata, which was really delicious and milky, but there is no protein in this pasta if that is what you are looking for.
Pappardelle alla bolognese ($30)
If I haven’t mentioned this already… can we please talk about HOW BIG these plates of pastas are? We ordered 3 pastas to share between 6 people and I was shocked at the plates. I think for every 2 pastas (except the gnocchi one – that was more regular plating), 2 people can share.
Anyways, the bolognese pasta was delicious, the pappardelle had big chunks of sauce and meat covered in them so it was great.
Food – Dine Out Vancouver 2023
Here is everything we tried during their Dine Out menu, priced at $45 per person.
First course: Mozzarella sticks
These are fun and remind me of my childhood. The plate looks small but there is actually like 6 pieces of mozza sticks in there and the inside is DENSE with mozza so way more filling than you might think. It is fried well and served with marinara sauce.
First course: Caesar salad
For my first course, I select the caesar salad, which surprises my fiance because I usually hate caesar salad. I mostly don’t like caesar salad because of how much dressing is in it – it tastes overly salty to me. But I love the caesar salad at Pepino’s because I’ve tried it before.
It tastes much lighter than other caesar salads I’ve tried – it’s not drenched in dressing. The croutons are amazing and have a very savoury crunch to them, and it’s very lemony and refreshing. The Dine Out version has a smaller portion, but below here is a photo of their regular sized caesar salad ($15 for small/$19 for large).
Second course: Spaghetti & meatball
My fiancé calls himself a meatball connoisseur but the reality is that I haven’t seen him eat a lot of meatballs lol (I think this is because I am not a big fan of meatballs). Anyways, he got his meatball fix by ordering this spaghetti as his main and it is Pepino’s most classic Italian dish.
Again, the Dine Out version is a smaller portion size as it only comes with 1 meatball. Their regular spaghetti & meatballs comes in those huge oval plates with 2 giant meatballs on top! Enough to share with 2 people.
Kelvin really liked the meatball, it was pink and inside and very meaty and fluffy. The rest of the pasta is quite simple, tomato based with spaghetti.
Second course: Rigatoni vodka
For my main, I choose the rigatoni vodka. I also tried this at my last visit and it has since then become one of my favourite pastas in Vancouver! This pasta does use vodka in it and also has heavy cream, crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce (making it almost like a rose sauce). The pasta itself doesn’t come with any proteins, but it is sooo yummy and cooked al dente.
Here is what it looks like regular size for $25:
Third course: Tiramisu
Last but not least, dessert! We each have a cup of tiramisu – lovely coffee flavour and a good balance with the mascarpone cheese.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I’ve had a really delicious dinner both times at Pepino’s Spaghetti House, whether it as their regular menu or Dine Out Vancouver.
For the Dine Out Vancouver menu, I think $45 per person is a pretty good deal because we were stuffed at the end of our meal. However, since their regular portion size is so generous, a regular dinner here probably wouldn’t cost you $45 per person (ex. if you split a $25 pasta between 2 people).
All the food is delicious but I still need to give a star to the rigatoni vodka because it is just so delicious. Tiramisu was also great and their regular portion size is also much bigger so just imagine everything larger when you order off their regular menu.
Service is excellent and our water glasses were never empty. We let them know we were celebrating our engagement as well and they offered free sparkling wine!
I see Pepino’s Spaghetti House as a no-bullshit Italian restaurant serving up authentic and classic pastas with family-style sharing portions. We will definitely be back again to try some of their other things like their pizzas!
Sincerely, Loewe