Allegro Italian Kitchen

This place, aside from being simply adorable, is also incredibly tasty! We started the evening with an appetizer – deep fried boccacini cheese smothered in a tomato marinara sauce. It was a great introduction, and the fresh bread and Italian beer that accompanied it didn’t hurt either. My husband ordered the Pollo Marsala and I had the Canelloni Di Casa. Both were large portions that unfortunately left no room for dessert. We ended up taking a big amount of it home. Id also love to point out that the service is flawless. Our waiter was fantastic, and I only wish I remembered his name for a recommendation. He was a true Italian gentleman, with the right amount of attentiveness. We’ll definitely be back!

I love Allegro. Great food, atmosphere and service. Many favourites here and a great neighbourhood restaurant. The staff are excellent.

Allegro is a perfect place to grab lunch on the West End. During the day, it has a café feel to it, with the food of an Italian bistro. It is quite and quaint over the lunch hours, with career servers that are very attentive.
If you like garlic and I mean a LOT of garlic, then order the garlic prawns to start. They are big a juicy and smothered in garlic butter with roasted lemons (which BTW is one of my favourites, I could eat slice after slice of roasted lemon) and there is always a ton of crusty buns on the table to soak up the sauce. The pasta is good and the dishes well thought out. I am a big fan of the Cannelloni, but when they ask you which sauce you want, tell them both! I tried the ziti this time and really liked it. The pasta wasn’t homemade, but in Edmonton it rarely is… I am not a big fan of artichoke hearts, so I was surprised when I heard myself order a ziti full of it. Wow, my inner food psychic must have known something, because they were delicious. Still, I am surprised, for the first time in my life I loved artichoke heart. Que choir music and harps, it’s a miracle! Oh, I should note the I find the prices a bit steep, a full ziti was $ 22, however they do half orders of all pasta, and $ 14 for the dish with was full of chicken, mushroom, sun dried tomatoes and the infamous artichokes was a great deal. Especially considering I couldn’t finish it and had enough to wrap up. Oh, and a very nice touch, my server put a crusty bun in with the pasta in the to-​go bag.
We finished the meal with a tiramisu that was light, airy, and a perfect end to a very nice lunch.

The disinterested spacey guy from Café Rista told me that I should go to Allegro because they have «very good pasta.» I thought since he looked all hipster and trendy, he must know where the local hot spots are.
Well, his recommendation wasn’t that good. The pasta was OK, but it wasn’t great. I ordered the cannelloni which was stuffed with veal, and I chose the tomato marinara sauce to go with it. I was expecting something spectacular, but it was just $ 22 of mediocre pasta. I sat there picking at my cannelloni for a while wondering if the stuffing was actually veal. I decided after I finished it that it probably was veal. The parmesan they brought out with the pasta was already grated and looked like parmesan that you get from a container at your regular grocery deli. I was hoping for freshly grated parmigiano reggiano, but I wasn’t sure what I was getting.
Overall, the food was not bad but not worth $ 22. I found that to be a little steep for pasta at lunch.
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