Nicli’s Next Door

Nicli’s Next Door is a definitely must-​visit. Led by one of my favorite chefs in Vancouver. The ambiance is nice and relaxed. Conchiglie Pasta (maybe in my top 5 pasta dishes), Brussels Sprout and the Nicli’s Meatball appetizer were amazing and the Havana Sogni cocktail was also one of the best I’ve had in a while.

Pasta made to perfection at Nicli’s Next Door! I can’t wait to return to try the rest of the menu. Our six dishes (see below) really impressed our tastebuds.
Nicli’s meatballs — the meatballs had the perfect texture and was complimented by a hearty sauce.
North Arm Farm Beets with mascarpone and hazelnut vinaigrette — the dish was beautifully plated with tasty surprises in flavour and texture with every bite.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Heirloom Carrots with pear mostarda glaze and bagna cauda — the rich caramelized flavour of the vegetables were brightened by the slightly tart glaze.
Spaghetti with fennel sausage, Calabrian chili, and garlic cream — the creamy sauce really accentuated the flavours of the garlic and fennel sausage, which was a pleasant surprise.
Conchiglie with smoked pork ragu, san marzano tomato, and parmigiano — the smokiness of the pork ragu was very pronounced in a tasteful way.
Torchietti with arugula & walnut pesto, and topped with smoked ricotta — the fresh pesto had an incredibly vibrant flavour and colour.

Went here for a birthday gathering over the weekend and was happy with the atmosphere, wait staff and food. I had the meatballs for an appetizer and a few of their signature cocktails, bonus for the beer they give you whilst you wait for them to fix your old-​fashioned, ensuring that your hand isn’t empty while everyone toasts.
The space is small and clean and while we were hosting a larger group, they were happy to accommodate us. Pasta portions are quite large and better for sharing plates if you do decide to have an appetizer.
Thank you for adding to a lovely evening!

Nicli Next Door has been open for quite some time at Gastown now. We ate here first time and liked causal eatery. They make fresh pasta and pizzas daily.
We had mushroom ragu crostino with ricotta to start with. It’s a bit greasy and heavy as appetizer, but, it’s tasty and filled up my hubby’s stomach.
Nicli’s meatballs were good, 4 big meatballs were tender and juicy but the sauce was a bit salty.
Fennel sausage in garlic cream spaghetti and smoked pork ragu conchiglie shell in tomatoes sauce also tasted good.
Overall, the service and food was ok. I will be back if I’m craving for causal pasta when I’m at Gastown.

Finally got to try this restaurant and it was fantastic. They take reservations, unlike next door and I appreciate that. Our table ordered a host of plates and everything was phenomenal: meatballs, fresh made pasta with rabbit ragù, spaghetti with fennel sausage and cream sauce, salumi board, homemade sour dough bread, roasted beets with rich piped marscapone and toasted hazelnuts; for dessert, panna cotta with pistachios and apple sorbet and little hot fried doughnuts… phenomenal. Yes, I ate too much again. If you haven’t been here, I would encourage you to give NND a try. Had a really nice time and the service was perfect. BTW, the small plates were quite filling. A starter and a pasta is a lot of food but the courses come quickly if you decide to order more.

I have been dying to try this place ever since reading Ada. L’s enticing review. Tonight’s «Friends Next Door: An Autumn Dinner» provided the perfect opportunity.
The dinner was a collaboration between: Masterchef’s Josh Gale — the head chef at Nicli’s, Juno Kim of the Underground Dinner Series and Sean MacDonald the executive chef at Market Calgary.
Local purveyors included: 33 Acres Brewing and North Arm Farm.
I expected a clear winner but each of the 6 courses provided their own supreme textures, tastes and sensory delights. I found myself cooing «mmmmm» under my breath rapturously whilst eating some dishes. I fully expected to hear «I’ll have what she’s having», if it wasn’t for the fact that we were already partaking of the same menu.
Started with scallops in burnt cream (caramel flavour without the sweetness, swoon) with apple jewels. The apple had been infused with apple juice and ‘popped’ vibrantly. I finally understood all the fuss about scallops, which were topped with arctic char caviar.
Next up were fingerling potatoes in duck fat and parmigiano reggiano. No further explanation needed. Then, rabbit in beet purée with pistachio and house made pasta that melted in the mouth.
Followed by deep fried brussel sprouts with smoked pork shoulder in a yogurt sauce with a nice kick to it. Then, ale braised brisket with a pumpkin cream and mustard. So tender! Dessert was cake with burnt carrot ice cream, white chocolate and chestnut. A perfect ending note.
I highly recommend attending the next #fnddinnner. My dining companion and I plan to.
I also want to return to sample Nicli’s regular menu. The staff is engaging and kind. I thoughtlessly asked a server a question about her glasses while they were trying to get the plates out in a timely fashion. I quickly realized my mistake, but the server never made me feel I was bothering Her, and took the time to reply to me with grace.
If the pasta tonight was an indication of what is available here, it may replace my current favourite!

BEST HOUSEMADE PASTA IN VANCOUVER!!!
I am in love with their menu. It’s not a long listed menu but it’s enough. Their housemade pasta is freaking awesome! Came here with some friends and we all ordered different dishes to share and we left with a very satisfied tummy. Their house wine is a super good deal as well $ 5/​glass. I have nothing bad to say at all. The best part along with delicious food is their customer service is excellent and they take reservations!!! Bonus points from me for reservations.
We ordered:
— Spaghetti, fennel sausage, calabrian chili, garlic cream
— Reginette noodle, rabbit ragu, crispy capers, grana padano
— Torchietti noodle, arugula & walnut pesto, smoked ricotta
— Daily Special: Beef ragu
— Daily Special: Beef brisket (to die for)
I can’t wait to come back again!!!

**4.5 stars** (leaving room for improvement!)
I had no idea where I was going to be taken for date night and this turned out to be the perfect choice for a top notch meal in a trendy but cozy atmosphere. From beginning to end the meal was extremely tasty and each course was just as good as the last.
Their famous meatballs were simple yet terrific. The texture and fresh ingredients stood out. I couldn’t stop dipping the sauce! With four large meatballs and crostini on the side it was a fair portion for an antipasti.
The roasted brussel sprouts and carrots were beautiful in presentation but it was the tastiness of this dish that blew me away. The accompanying mustard sauce was a great complement to the slightly sweet reduction. Excellent portion size.
The two pastas dishes were very different and it’s hard to choose a favourite. The conchiglie shell pasta with pork ragu was rich and smoky. The torchietti noodle with pesto and fresh ricotta was subtle on the nuttiness but big on creaminess. The pastas were full entrée sizes.
The classic cocktails weren’t what I was used to but they had their own twists which made them a touch unique.
Every dish was excellent to share and left me wanting more. If only my stomach were as big as my eyes!

After coming back from a two-​week trip in Asia, we we’re in need of some excellent quality home-​made Italian cooking. On a Tuesday evening, we we’re pleasantly surprised and greeted politely by the staff at Nicli’s, explaining that they we’re the same owner as the famous pizzeria next-​door.
The server shared some of their best suggestions, and recommended we order family-​style. We ordered the fresh bread + olives, plus two pasta dishes — one of which had rabbit in it and it was absolutely delicious.
We tried the house red and at $ 5 a glass, it was surprisingly delicious and of great value, which is rare to find in Vancouver these days!
Overall, the experience was great and we will be back. It’s a cozy little restaurant, with an old-​world feel and it’s perfect for a low-​key date night.
Quality, service and value are ⁵⁄₅.

My favourite pasta place is Vancouver at the moment! Everything is so yum. I’ve tried most of their noodles on the menu now. The only one that wasn’t extremely impressive was the pesto one, but maybe that’s just because I’m a meat lover. Their gnocchi is great! So are the ragus and the spaghetti with the sausage. That’s gotta be the tastiest sausage I’ve ever eaten in my life. Their salumi plate was a very generous portion and their meatballs also an A+. I only wish they were open for lunch on weekends too!

Homemade pasta! Yum! Had the arroncini balls and the shell pasta with pork ragu. So good! Great service, too!

Hello, my new lunch-​meeting-​go-​to. The prix fixe menu is small but accommodating — choose from one of three pastas, each served with their wonderful house salad (watermelon radish! so pretty), for $ 15. Vegetarian? No problem; they’ll sub out the meat for sautéed mushrooms.
We got a table right away, the service was amazing (attentive and knowledgeable), and the spaghetti… oh my god the spaghetti! Perfect al dente noodles, delicious creamy garlic sauce, flavourful fennel sausage… all topped with a generous heap of reggiano. Swoon.
Big shout-​out to the staff and ownership at both locations for also supporting community initiatives; this is what a neighbourhood restaurant should be.

Wine and Beer Very good Food terrible
We got an appetizer with our drinks it wasn’t something you could eat, we didnt order because of it, I would even say I wouldnt feel comfortable feeding it to a racoon
³⁄₅

Now open for lunch service, Chef Josh Gale has made a basic prix fixe lunch menu of salad and pasta available for easy dining at Nicli’s Next Door (conveniently next door to sister restaurant, Nicli Antica Pizzeria). The evolving menu is focused on authentic, rustic Italian flavours using fresh and seasonal ingredients with freshly made, in-​house pastas.
Of the trio of choices, I had the signature pappardelle (with braised pork ragu and kale) paired with a tasty, simple salad of beets and greens.
The plate was small but substantial and quite filling and delicious in its rich, meaty flavours and overall taste. It certainly was the heartier, meaty option.
Alternatively, the spaghetti (with fennel sausage, Calabrian chili, and garlic cream sauce) is also available and delectable. For vegetarians, you have a tomato-​basil sauce with your choice of pasta.
There’s not much to say about the quality and satisfyingly simple prix fixe lunch menu. It does the trick and does it well. NND is full of delicious, authentically Italian pastas and dishes. Now you can enjoy them earlier in the day.

I just ate the best pasta I’ve ever had, no exaggeration. The spaghetti with fennel sausage, Calabrian chili, and garlic cream is unreal. Awesome staff and interior design too. My wife and I had one of our first dates at Nicli Antica, which we love for their pizza, but this was out first time ‘next door’. It will be hard to choose sides next time, I guess we will have to alternate.

Service was great, food was tasty.
This review is more based on a pet peeve.
Please do not bring the main course to my table before we have finished the appies.
Please do not make excuses when I ask for the food to be taken away since I do not want my main course to grow cold while I’m finishing my first course.
I would go back however.

The food. Really good. No complaints, that’s why I added an extra star. The rest of the experience, horrific is the only word that comes to mind.
WITH a reservation we got sat at a makeshift in a hallway, service was spotty but friendly (no cutlery, asking twice for dessert menus etc.) But the real kicker was when they turned off half the restaurant lights to support Earth Hour. And it happened to put our table in darkness, everyone else’s table still had bar lights but since we were put in the hallway…
Anyway, we did bring it to our servers attention when she asked how everything was… she told us that yeah… she understood the situation but. well too bad so sad. No discount, nothing.
Unbelievable, if we had at least been told about this little stunt we could have at least been prepared or decided to go somewhere else.
Bullcrap move that a second rate joint would pull. I would not go back and will be sure to provide our cautionary tale to others.

Selfishly, I am hesitant to write a review to this place… I do NOT want this place to be overrun with so many people that my wife and I cannot get a seat!
We have been here several times and it has become our go-​to place for pre-​drinks/​bites, after-​drinks/​bites, during-​drinks/​bites, whatever-​time drinks/​bites! Not only is the room sleek and intimate (Next door to Nicli’s Pizzeria… duh!), it serves some of the best small plates (at the best value) in the city. And with the $ 5 house Italian white and red, you cannot complain.
Unlike their mother restaurant next door, NND offers dishes OTHER than pizza and salad. The pizzette is just as good as the big ones you’ll find next door, the pasta dishes are delicate and tasty, and the bruchettas are on point. My only complaint is that the «Not scotch egg» is a little too rich for my taste.
With both intimate small tables and casual long-​tables, this place is wicked for date night or group date night. As for the service, all 4 times we have been there we have been treated as if we were the only ones in the place and the servers were great.
So while NND is now officially our go to place for small plates and drinks, PLEASE finish your meal quickly so that my wife and I can get a seat!

Definitely a new favorite, and if you like shared plates of simple tasty Italian fares then this is a must try. I the menu is simple and to the point.
The drinks are also just as delicious.
We recommend the meatballs and the small fried pizza.
Great thing is you can order 6 dishes for 2 so the variety is great.

I created a Unilocal account just so I could review Nicli’s. I am kicking myself for not getting the server’s name, but she was amazing. Very friendly and knowledgeable.
[EDIT: Ended up at Nicli’s Antica Pizzeria for cocktails the following evening and found out that the server’s name is Katie. Also, the Italian Manhattan and Maple Whiskey Sour are amazing — as is the service at the Pizzeria.]
I started with a Gin Gin Mule, which was a great value due to the size of the cocktail and the refreshing taste.
My friend and I split the capocollo bruschetta — tasty! For my entrée I chose the aged duck. The server warned me that it was a small plate, but because we had a big lunch and ate bruschetta, it was the perfect size.
For the quality of the food, this restaurant is a great deal. I was really happy we stopped in even though they only had one other review. It’s a relatively new restaurant, and I’d recommending giving them a try.