Restaurant review - Incendio Pizzeria

Finding good Italian food in Vancouver is a challenge. Not for lack of restaurants, but sometimes for lack of consistency. Nevertheless, I've been very lucky in that I always end up finding good Italian restaurants. Incendio is one of the best, and it has two locations that I know of: Incendio West on Burrard and 6th and Incendio in Gastown (on Columbia near Water).

Truth be told I have only had pasta here. The name Pizzeria means that it sells pizza, but I've never had it here. Shame on me, yeah. But hey if I am going Italian, I might as well have pasta! Anyhow, I have read some mixed reviews, but I'm going to have to say that this is a solid place. Every time I've had dinner at Incendio (both locations), the food has been great.

Pasta is hard to do well because sometimes it may be overcooked or undercooked. I find that Incendio's pasta is consistently good. Their portions are generous. Furthermore, they seem to be willing to experiment with flavours. More recently I've sampled some non-traditional pasta, like penne with curry. And I've got to say I like it a lot. Incendio likes to experiment with these non-traditional flavors too, which I appreciate. The Dragon's Breath pasta is unbelievably good. And their Puttanesca is very good, a worthy rival to that of Water Street Cafe. Their Pancetta pasta is excellent too.

Again, I admit I have nothing to say about their pizza because I have never had pizza there. But the service (bread and water refills) is top-notch. Many people like this place for dinner and a movie at 5th Avenue Cinemas.