The Old Spaghetti Factory

I asked not to be put near disruptive kids. I get placed where they park the strollers and then a family is sat next to us with a boy that is popping his head over the barrier, staring at me. Yelling and kicking the seat back. Stop worrying about bullying when your little brats are ruining things for everyone around them. Restaurants should separate people. What you do is not rocket science. I complained to the idiot of a manager who only said «fair enough» and «it’s a family restaurant.» Took my payment and 15%tip but did nothing in return. Thanks for ruining my evening stupid jerks!
All restaurants are getting very weak in their service. I’m sick of cinemas and restaurants that can’t sympathize with the people they claim to «serve».
I was there friday the 13^th of May 2016 around 7. Manager kept my comment card which led to this posting.
As to the response from Graham H — a couple on a date is not out for a community experience. The manager’s tone of voice was insulting. He was basically laughing at me. There was nothing apologetic in his demeanor at all.
Disregarding my request was disrespectful. I was not disappointed when I left. I was furious. Your people mismanaged the whole thing.

Used to frequent this quaint place fairly often back in the day, and enjoyed my recent return just as much. They offer a great selection of pastas, which come in healthy portions (or perhaps not so healthy!). Most meals are also accompanied by a decent salad and a wonderful spumoni ice-​cream.
On this recent visit I went with the «Tuscan lasagna,» which did not disappoint — chicken was tender, just enough spinach and red peppers, ricotta, all slathered in mozzarella mmm…
You will leave this place filled, and hopefully satisfied, especially if you enjoy the old-​school but still classy vibe. Make sure to take a picture with the over-​sized gumball machine!

Love this place, that atmosphere is amazing and the food is fantastic! My only issue is that they do not take reservations between 4 and 8 making it difficult to plan if you can eat there or if you need to choose another restaurant!

I’ve heard about this place enough times for it to be a tourist attraction — and, well, it essentially is. The interior is super lively, filled to the brim with interesting décor and the overall restaurant just exudes a fun and comfortable atmosphere.
The food however is very mediocre, although the prices are fair. I had the spaghetti and meat sauce from the lunch menu so my bill came up just under $ 10 after tax and tips. There was nothing special about the dish itself and it resembled a lot like a homemade meal — not something on par with the quality that you would normally consider «restaurant food». I did appreciate the unlimited dinner roll breads + freshly grated cheese though, and the waiter that served us was great. The best part of the meal was the spumoni ice cream which cost $ 1.99 as a side order. It’s basically neapolitan ice cream except the three flavours are vanilla, chocolate, and pistachio. It was delicious!
I feel that most people come here for the experience and I have no regrets for having tried it, but it’s unlikely that I’d come back again. I wouldn’t be inclined to recommend this place unless someone specifically told me they wanted this type of environment.

We got seated right away and our waiter Simon was very friendly and speedy. Frequently came to make sure we had everything we needed. The décor was neat .I had the chicken parmigana. The chicken was juicy and very delicious. The sauce on the pasta was very tasty as well I quite enjoyed it. The only down side was the penne (I got instead of the spaghetti noodles) were undercooked and crunchy. Next time I come back I hope that they are a bit more cooked (not too cooked either) Don’t mean to sound like a mean customer because I really did love everything else. That was the only thing. Other than that I’ll defd come back :):)

Sometimes you just need an uncomplicated plate of spaghetti, and this is the place to go. I usually get the Manager’s Favourite ($ 15.75) so I can try a couple of sauces, and I particularly like the spicy meat sauce and the brown butter with mizithra cheese. The décor is interesting, and one day I’d like to sit where the carousel is. The servers are not only friendly to the customers but also with each other, which is nice to see. I’ll probably be back in the summer when it’s nicer to walk around the area.

I’ve been here once while on a New Years eve trip. The restaurant itself is nice, it is very clean with cool amusement park/​merry go round themed décor. There is a lot of space/​tables there so the wait times aren’t bad at all.
For the prices, the food was average, nothing special and nothing that you couldn’t make at home. It could possibly be that the food that my friend and I ordered was bland so if I ever get an opportunity to go back I will order something different.

The old spaghetti factory sounds like an amazing place to be, but don’t let the name fool you at all.
The food was horrible, even worse than canned spaghetti sauce or frozen spaghetti entrée. In fact it was so bad, I felt like barfing the spaghetti back out. I ordered the spaghetti parmigiana and my partner ordered the penne sausage. The spaghetti was revolting, for a place that is called the spaghetti factory, some of the spaghetti was hard and not cooked at all. I would have expected more because of its name. The sausage penne was a joke, $ 20 for 7 thin slices of sausage, not even one whole sausage and the penne tasted like canned sauce.
I was expecting a lot more and it was really disappointing. Our meal came to $ 60 and it was definitely not worth it. I would not recommend any poor soul to venture into this ‘nostalgic’ restaurant.

The last time I was here, I found a hair in my food. That is all.

We like to hit up this place every once and awhile if we’re in the area for an event. We like it because it’s always consistent and we know what we’ll get.
Bluntly, the Old Spaghetti Factory is definitely a casual, niche market restaurant. They cater to large groups and families, while also serving couples such as ourselves. I would by no means classify their food as amazing Italian but it is tasty and contrary to some reviews on here, extremely good value.
Most of the their meals come with bread, salad, ice cream and coffee/​tea — which for $ 15-​$ 17 is a good price. The best value on the menu in my opinion is the Managers Favorite, which allows you to combine two sauces in one dish.
Overall, if you have a family — this is probably one of the best places to go in downtown Toronto. The kids will love the interior and it’s very child friendly. If you are looking for romance — maybe not. But as a couple, we do enjoy coming here from time to time, especially if we are hungry. And the service is always good.
Be prepared to wait sometimes — it can be very busy here or fairly quiet, which means not all the tables are open.

The Old Spaghetti Factory has a beautiful interior with amusement park designed interior, but not so great and expensive pasta.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time here because it brought out the childhood in me again. I mean, there were cable cars, carousels, etc to sit and dine in a normal restaurant.
I tried the meatballs with spaghetti, haha yes, the classic for $ 17.50. HOLEY MOLEY, $ 17.50 just for spaghetti and meatballs?! Get this, plain spaghetti with NO meat, just sauce is $ 14.50. If you want a salad, that’s over $ 10 as well. The baby back ribs seem more worth it for $ 23.
The pasta alone wasn’t that great tbh, it tasted like normal pasta that you can make at home for less than $ 1. The only thing attractive about this place was the décor, other than that, a tourist trap.

The last time I went here it was in 2003. Prices have naturally gone up since then. I ordered the Goat Cheese Agnolotti (Goat cheese stuffed agnolotti, sauteed red onion, sun dried tomato and mushrooms tossed in a pesto cream sauce). It was delish. Love pesto sauce. Not the best pasta I’ve ever had but it was good. I wish it had more goat cheese in the pasta but it was alright. It also came with a salad, drink and ice cream. Portions for the Agnolotti was wasn’t very big as I was able to finish the entire thing. Usually I need to pack things home. I’d forgotten we get free garlic bread! Food ³⁄₅
Service was excellent. Our server Tim was very personable and handled everything well. ⁵⁄₅ He’s definitely an asset to the restaurant.
Would definitely be back again. This is a nice family restaurant. Great for groups.

I’ve been here twice and the first time I came I wasn’t a fan however. everybody deserves a second chance right?! I ordered both times the Spaghetti with Browned Butter And Mizithra Cheese and the second time around I could not stop eating the spaghetti after my first bite.
It had the right amount of cheese, the brown butter sauce was so buttery and melted in my mouth at each bite. I could not get enough of this dish and have tried numerous times since to recreate it at home however I always fail! How is such a simple dish done so well? It doesn’t hurt that they offer you garlic bread and butter with your dish that was so delicious!
Because our entrees came with Spumoni ice cream I wasn’t a fan and therefore gave mine to my friend who loved it and said it reminded her of her childhood when she would eat it.
I can’t wait to go back to the Old Spaghetti Factory and have my Spaghetti with Browned Butter And Mizithra Cheese again!

I am giving this place only 3 stars, not because of the food but because of the manager that was on duty tonight.
First off, the food was great and the server that we had was really nice. I have no complain about the food at all as we all enjoyed it. This place is also good for gatherings as the ambiance was amazing, it was not very loud and music selection was good.
However, we were disappointed with how the manager handled our situation. We understand that we had reservation and some of us were late but she did not give us our seat since our group was not complete yet. She could have sent us to the dining as we waited for our entire group to arrive as 90% of us were already there. We were not informed about their policy that if your group is not complete, your entire group will not be seated and you would be asked that your reservation will be given to other group. The place was not 100% full that night and if they have that policy, which is by the way not common and not the best service to guests, they should inform us when we book our reservation.
Overall, like I said, food was great but the manager that night could have served us better.

Let me preface this review by saying this place is cheap!
Went here like an hour before closing on a Saturday night and had a combo meal. You get bread, soup or salad, entrée, dessert, and tea for one price. We even had a drink and our bill was still quite reasonable. The salad honestly looked like it came out of a bag. I made the best of it and drizzled some dressing over it. The bread was pretty good, it was warm and came with garlic butter. I ordered chicken lasagna and was surprised that it was in fact ground up teeny bits of chicken nothing like the slices of breast I was expecting.
We had to call for our server a few times to come back which I get because they were closing. He was still really nice and gave us our ice cream and tea. The washroom was kind of dirty. Also probably the most jarring thing was the live band somewhere on the other side of the dining area playing and then a radio station on full blast also playing in direct contradiction with one another. Anyways, we paid for our meal and ask for to go containers for our leftovers. The waiter insisted he would do it, so we agreed. Unfortunately, my friend found a hair in her pasta after placed in the to go container. We didn’t say anything just threw it out after we left but I’m pretty sure I’ll never go back here. Once I find hair I am too disgusted to return and to be frank there was absolutely nothing memorable about the place just a little quirky with some Toronto memorabilia (there’s an old streetcar and a phone booth).

We had battered shrimp for appetizer, and chicken alfredo and baby back ribs with spaghetti for main course.
their battered shrimp was very crispy and blend well with the sauce provided. it’s the best dish that we had of the night.
the chicken alfredo was good, though it doesn’t mindblowing. baby back ribs was too dry and didn’t mix well with spaghetti that accompany it. the spaghetti was very tasty though it shouldn’t have been used as side to baby back ribs.
the service was very nice and we got to wait in their bar area until a table in dining area opens. the setting was very classic that lived up to its name.

I was craving chicken parmesan and we were heading downtown for a night out so I figured I would give this place a try. it wasn’t bad! there was a bit of a wait on a Saturday night but after one drink at the bar a table was ready.
I had the chicken parmesan with alfredo sauce instead of tomato on the pasta and the bf had penne arrabiata. both came with salads-​I had Caesar and he upgraded (lol) to a mixed green salad with cranberries and goat cheese. both salads and mains were good we were satisfied.
not sure if I would come back again though-​its a big busy resto with screaming kids and scattered looking waiters. I feel like there are much better options in the area

Had small children with me as I had supper here tonight. One was a screamer. Didn’t help that it was particularly busy tonight (we kept having to ply kiddies with food, so that they wouldn’t belt out too much. Kids were basically full, by the time the entrées arrived). However, it was nice that the background noise was so family-​friendly that heads didn’t turn around when there were any screams. Finally, we felt like we could eat in public!
Overall, I think the experience was… A-​OK. Food was decent. Portions were on the smaller than average size, despite prices being around $ 15 – 20 per dish, and under $ 9 for a kid’s meal.
I like service. Attention to our bread, water, etc… levels. People coming by at least once to ask us to confirm that all’s going well. Instead we had to ask for whipped garlic butter, extra napkins, extra drinks… I know they were all busy there, but I know I like ‘service’ if I’m out at a restaurant. We ended up not being offered a part of the meal deal — nobody was asked if they wanted tea/​coffee, at the end of the meal.
Waiter was otherwise nice, just not available enough.
Waited 40 min. to get a table (you should call ahead to make RSVPs). You may want to request a table in the… caboose, or… merry-​go-​round.
Food took some time to arrive, as well. Again, heard this was because it was pretty busy this Sat. evening.
All combos, and ages, were there. Couples on dates, family dinners, many Blue Jays’ fans.
Total came out to a bit around $ 60 for 2 adults, 1 child. Two adult mains, one child main dish, one drink. All dishes come with soup or salad, an ice cream dessert, a milk for the kids or a tea/​coffee for adults.

Came on a Sunday late afternoon — in a nutshell — whacky décor, friendly waiters, decent value.
The value — decent. Kids meals were about $ 8 including a drink, an appy, and bottomless garlic bread. Pretty standard though I didn’t find the pasta to be that phenomenal (then again, it’s a kids meal). The adult meals are pricier (we opted for the $ 20 seafood linguine) and some spaghetti with Mizithra cheese ($ 15), but again with bread, appy, and coffee/​tea included.
The food — quality was mixed. Minestrone soup appy was nice and not overly salty, whereas the side salad was drenched in running dressing. The garlic bread was incredible. The seafood linguine also was a nice surprise — I’m not a pasta person but this really hit the spot. However, the spaghetti with Mizithra cheese was insanely salty and not edible — that thing should come with a warning label. In fairness, we were offered a couple of times to swap for something else if anything wasn’t to our liking, so that was nice.
The service was also touch and go. The waitress was friendly but very obviously overloaded — she came by rarely and when she did it was to very quickly throw down some food before jumping away to cater to another table. I sense she had too many tables on the go. Not bad, but not great.
The kids loved it though — so we’ll probably come back for a birthday or other occasion. Not a place I would probably visit again if it wasn’t for the kids though.

Today was my first time visiting the factor. Below are my impressions.
Environment: lots of seating, so the place is great for groups. Very wacky décor which I imagine kids would enjoy.
Service: a bit slow. We were waiting a while for our server to show up and eventually resorted to flagging down another server to reach our own server.
Prices: prices are reasonable given that entrees come with soup/​salad, unlimited bread, ice cream and coffee.
Food: decent selection of items particularly for vegetarians. I ordered the chicken lasanga and enjoyed it very much. I also loved the spomoni ice-​cream at the end .
Overall the place was pretty good minus the service at the beginning.
Tip — spomoni ice-​cream is delicious. Avoid the bruschetta if you want to avoid a mess… it falls apart very easily. A lot of food comes with the entrée so there really isn’t much point of ordering apps.

Restaurant intéressant grand mais un peu brillant. Le service est moyen, il faut faire attention quand arrive l’addition il peut malheureusement se tromper. Sinon le repas dans l’ensemble s’est bien passée.Donc aucun regret

Auch wenn die Factory offensichtlich zu einer Kette gehört, wer nach langen Streifzügen durch Toronto Hunger und dann auch noch Lust auf Pasta & Co. hat, ist hier richtig. & Jugendstil und weniger an ein italienisches Restaurant, aber das stört in diesem Falle nur wenig