Siena

For last night’s dinner (and my 7^th and final dine out of the year), my friends and I went to Siena, a cozy Italian restaurant located on W 12^th and Granville. There were 5 of us and we went for the 6pm seating. When we arrived, the restaurant only had a couple of other groups but as the night went on, the restaurant was packed! There’s not a lot of room here so if you have a big group, it’s best to make a reservation.

I thought their dine out menu was very reasonably priced at $ 30 and it had great selection, with 4 main courses to choose from.
I had the Meatball Piccolo Trio to start. It’s a plate of 3 meatballs, each with a different sauce — basil verde, tomato & onion jam, and roast garlic aioli. The meatballs were very hot inside, which was a plus and they were seasoned well but I think they could be more moist. My favourite sauce was the tomato one because it provided a nice acidity and contrasted the pepperiness of the meatball.
For my main, I tried the Mushroom Truffle Tagliatelle. It came out steaming hot so it was great to eat. The pasta was just a tad overcooked, but the flavours were there — lots of truffle oil and mushrooms. I was quite surprised at how filling this was. It didn’t seem like too much food for me at first but I felt it halfway through and I couldn’t finish it! Must be because of the madeira cream sauce.

There were only 2 options to choose from for dessert — the Double Chocolate Torte and Lemon Polenta Cake. My friend and I shared so we could try both. The chocolate torte was kind of like a hard brownie and it came with a blackberry and chantilly cream on the side. The lemon polenta cake had vanilla crème anglaise and raspberry coulis, which was sweet and refreshing. I preferred the chocolate torte but both were actually quite good. The chocolate torte was a heavier, richer dessert whereas the lemon polenta cake was lighter in both texture and flavour.
Overall, very satisfied with our meal at Siena. The food wasn’t perfect but it was very good and I was happy with the generous portions. Service was great as well. Everyone there was friendly and nice to talk to and they were quick to refill our drinks and clear our plates. My only complaint is that our desserts took quite a bit of time to come out — around 30 minutes but the restaurant was full at that time so it’s understandable. It also gave our group plenty of time to chat so it wasn’t so bad. :) Definitely a great way to finish off my dine out adventures!
Food — ⁸⁄₁₀
Service — 8.5÷10
Ambience — 8.5÷10
Value — 8.5÷10
Would I go back? Yes!

Delicious food but lacklustre service. I was there with 6 friends (women) last week and our waiter was very friendly and attentive but one of our orders must have gotten lost. Six of us got served and our last friend didn’t get hers until about 20 minutes later. That’s pretty bad. Luckily our friend was very cool about it. Good thing it wasn’t me who’d been kept waiting. Or it would have been an entirely different ending to that story. The restaurant was nice enough to to give my friend a glass of wine on the house. I’d try the restaurant again, for sure, but if there was a repeat performance, that would be it.

Beautiful, low key restaurant. Friendly and thoughtful service. Great food and romantic ambience. Would highly recommend.

Très bon Resto. Good wine. Ambiance très décontractée. The menu is Very great. La chef est vraiment exceptionnelle.

I ate here once before and found the food excellent. Service is friendly as well and was looking forward to eating there again.
As before the service was friendly and attentive and I ordered the linguine vongole which was perfectly cooked, had a great sauce and nice portion of clams.
The problem? The food was too salty. Strangely one of my dinner companions also mentioned that there was a lot of salt on her baracha. My other companion had a mushroom rizotto which looked good too but he also noted that it was very salty.
At this point we had a laugh because my first companion noted she’d read reviews saying the food was too salty before coming.
Sure enough I checked reviews on here and a number of people complained about the food being TOO SALTY.
It’s a shame because everything else — the ingredients, the freshness, the other components of the sauces, the service… all good.
But the food is too damn salty. If anybody from Siena is reading this — please… ease up on the salt.

I’ve just moved into the area and this was the first place we tried. My husband is less forgiving than I am, so he won’t go back, but I like to give everyone a second chance.
The food was extremely salty. Not just one thing, but everything.
We ordered some appetizers (some of the specials were already sold out), but we were ok with that, and a main to share, with a bottle of wine.
The first bottle of wine we ordered they were out of, so we went with choice 2, a Barolo, which for the price, let the server know we knew what we were ordering…
Firstly, our appetizers came out randomly, and the server had forgotten one of the 3 dishes we ordered. We waited to be asked if «everything was ok» with our appetizers, but that never happened. Our main (Vongole and a Mushroom Fettuccine), were so salty it was barely edible, but we persisted in eating it because we were starving and needed food with our delicious wine.
Again, no question about our food, so we finally called the server over only to be told that the clams are naturally salty and that the chef doesn’t add any extra salt to the dish.
Hmmmm — that’s weird, Vongole is my favorite dish to order, and I’ve never had that problem before… I felt like asking if he was a spaz, but I refrained.
We finished our wine, and since we were too scared to order dessert (in case it was salty!!), we went with 2 shots of Limoncello to top our night off.
Crazy service, salty food, and the servings are insanely small.
The more I think about it, the more I talk myself out of wanting to give them a second chance. When your bill comes to over $ 200 (with tip, and yes, we still tipped — I shouldn’t have!!) you shouldn’t leave hungry and feeling ripped off.
Bad bad bad. Not sure how long they’ll be in business if they don’t do something about the a) service and b) salty food.
One thing, they have ½ price wine (all bottled wine) on Tuesdays (I think)…but call to check first.
I read another review about salty food here too — so maybe one chef is ruining it for everyone… Other reviews on here seem positive though, so maybe I’ll try it again after all.

Excellent food, good service, nice wine.
We had a special appetizer, a salmon and trout pâté which was excellent: rich and creamy. We then shared the Mushroom & Truffle Tagliatelle and the Braised Pork & Apple Ravioli. The Tagliatelle was very good, not drenched in sauce, but enough to enjoy the flavour. The ravioli was filled with delicious minced pork cheeks. The desert special was espresso cheesecake which was okay. It was a fine cheesecake, but not enough coffee flavour for my palette.

I’ve been to Siena three times now and it has always been a memorable experience. The atmosphere is warm and friendly. Depending on how busy the restaurant is, it can get a bit loud (it is pretty small inside). The food has been consistently delicious. I wouldn’t say spectacular or exceptionally unique, but I’ve always left very satisfied. The prices are decent too. The most recent visit was for dineout and I highly recommend the apple and pork ravioli and the steelhead. I believe the have extended their dineout menu options til mid-​Feb.

Appetizers
My friend ordered a baby arugula salad and while it was well seasoned, she commented that it was a bit too sweet.
I had the polenta fries. The outside was crispy and the texture inside was very mushy but somehow dry and very very bland. I asked the waitress if she could give me some sort of sauce to compliment the fries and she all she said was that she didnt have any. When I asked if perhaps I could get some sort of tomato sauce, she said well… we make all our sauces from scratch… her tone suggesting that it would be an imposition for me insist. So I left it at that… When our entrees came, she dropped off the plates at our table and left without a word. For a restaurant that charges $ 20 a plate per pasta, they are severely lacking in the service department. I had to flag her down later on to get some ground pepper as she never offered it to us and didn’t bother sticking around to see if we would need anything else.
Entrées
My friend had the vongole pasta and it was pretty good! Only complaint she had was that the sauce was a little too oily. I had the tomato and pesto gnudi. It was alright, the flavors were decent but I also felt like my pasta was drenched in oil.
I don’t think either of us will be back.

The food and prosecco were very good, the only thing I can suggest is they serve more crackers with the chicken pâté or serve some bread in addition to the crackers.

Went last night on Boxing Day. It was my 2^nd visit and I had a good experience last time back in 2012.
I went with my bf and hoping we have a nice dinner but it wasn’t. It wasn’t very busy, I say about 65% full max.
Service is good but quality of food went downhill and I didn’t enjoy much of anything there.
Appetizer:
Roasted Potato and Leek Soup– I enjoyed it as its nice and warm and creamy, but my bf doesn’t like too much rosemary flavored in it. Its probably the only dish I enjoy the most.
Carmelized Onion and Tapenade Tartlette– It was too too too salty. The olives are already salty and onions on top as well. All I tasted was salt and it was put on a puff pastry (don’t seem like housemade to me). I can’t even finish 3 bites and had to give it to my bf. He likes the flavor but also agreed it was too salty.
Entrée:
Pork Tenderloin– pork was nothing special but at least its not too salty to eat. the potato torta on the bottom again was too salty that was impossible to finish. I thought I have eaten a week of sodium intake already.
Mushroom Truffle Risotto– I did NOT enjoy it at all. It was too much salty and too much sauce, like the risotto is swimming in the dish, much like a Chinese congee texture. Mushroom was tasteless, cheese didn’t taste good either. They also put some dried spices added on top which just doesn’t compliment the dish at all.
Dessert– We shared Double Chocolate Raspberry Torte
Um…we are both dessert lovers and this is the 1^st time we can’t finish our dessert on the plate. The chocolate part of the torte is very densed yet no chocolate flavor at all. It was borderline almost no chocolate flavored and pretty doughy. The white chocolate ganache on top just tastes like coat of sugar, hardly notice it’s actually chocolate and the most flavorful part of the cake is the very thinned sliced of raspberry jam.
Overall experience:
Service– 3.5 stars. Our waitress and servers are very nice and prompt. Yet I’m surprised she didn’t check with us whether our food was okay or not. She actually asked «how was your dessert?»…I looked unhappy and said «it was okay…».without asking me why… she just said «I know it’s rich». I love rich dessert… but that word no where describe that dessert at all… I wouldn’t call it dessert with that doughy cake either. I somehow thought she knows the food was pretty bad with the price they charged.
Food– 1 star. It’s not up to the standard with the price they charge. I wouldn’t mind paying a little more for good quality food. But charging with $ 20 a dish for risotto that’s almost unedible… no way! Nothing impressed me at all.
I am not coming back again.

nice atmosphere inside this place. Food is delicious & friendly staff. I was really surprised that i had to pay for bread though in an Italian restaurant. Mains came late but i think because it was busy.

This restaurant has changed from being timely, courteous and excellent quality food to a recent very mediocre experience.
Very slow delivery of food (for 3 people).
Sold– out items on menu even though we were there at 7:00pm
Quality of food was no more than adequate and not up to the standard previously experienced.
The owner was not there and maybe there has been a change in the kitchen.
Would not go back (at least 5 previous excellent experiences there.

We really enjoy the food at Siena. One recommendation would be to use very hot plates to serve the pasta /​other entrees on instead of room temperature plates.

This has become our favourite neighbourhood restaurant! The service is always stellar. We are always recognized and made to feel at home. Their Linguine con Vongole is our ultimate favourite dish. We had their daily special of homemade capeletti stuffed with chicken an artichokes in roasted vegetable cream sauce — OMG so good. We have highly recommended this restaurant to our friends. A must try.
— parking in back is convenient
— patio tables outside welcomes our dog (so rare & appreciated)
— ½ price wine on Mondays (can’t go wrong here!)

Lovely place to have dinner! Love the location, the staff, the cozy place and the food. I had Gnudi with Goat cheese (I don’t remember the name of the dish) and it was very tasty! love it! My husband had shrimp ravioli which was pretty good as well. I recommend Double Chocolate Hazelnut Torte as dessert!
I definitely plan to go back to have another double chocolate Torte and also try other dishes.

A simple room. Smallish (but interesting) menu. Small (but clever) wine list. It adds up to a solid dinner experience. Lots of daily specials provides variety, the prices are very reasonable, the 4 dishes we had we all excellent.
Add the friendly efficient service and a good time was had by all.

Went there for a friend’s birthday. The age groups of the restaurant seems a bit older. I guess because we were all Chinese and look younger, we were treated like kids, even though we are all in our late 20’s. We felt a bit uncomfortable but we got over it pretty quickly. The food was not bad, a few of my friends think it’s a bit salty, but I generally eat heavier flavors so it was ok for me. We ordered sides to go with the entrée but the sides all came with the appetizers. Overall I wouldn’t mind going back, but wouldn’t be my first choice.

I reluctantly came back for another try after my friend told me how wonderful it was. When I came the first time with a different group of people, we didn’t like the food nor the service. There were complaints that the food was salty and not hot enough. For me, my food didn’t come out on time. I had to watch my friends eat while I was super hungry. My duck was overcooked. I sent it back but there wasn’t much difference.
Well, this time around, I came with low expectations. For a Saturday night, it wasn’t super busy. Our server was quick and friendly. Food came out at the right time. I shared three appys with my two friends.
Arancine — basically deep fried risotto balls with a bit of filling. It wasn’t greasy and the filling inside wasn’t bad.
Burrata with pear mostarda, arugula & grilled bread — The burrata was really fresh and mild. Too bad the mostarda didn’t have much of a kick to it.
Bruschetta — very standard, nothing memorable
I ordered the bison meatballs with spaghettini — The meatballs were slightly dry and were presented on top of the pasta so lovely presentation but I wish it was mixed it the pasta so it could soak up some of the sauces. Wish there were more pasta because the ratio didn’t seem right…5 big balls on a small bed of pasta. Pasta is very comforting to eat on a chilly night, so I want more of it!
Everyone enjoyed their food. Wine selection was decent.
Before I return for another meal, I’ll ask if the head chef will be around that night to helm the kitchen because when I dined the first time, he wasn’t around. I want to have beautiful memories of my dining experience.

Siena exceeded all my expectations tonight.
I booked Siena about 3 weeks ago for my office Christmas party, party of 20. It was a bit tight because it was a weekday and we were off to see an Arts Club Show at 8PM around the corner.
I sent our menu selection in early and that helped them prepare and they nailed it. Apart from a 15-​person dinner at Le Crocodile downtown nearly ten years ago, this was the best group dinner I’ve ever had. The wine flowed liberally and well. Their wine list was nice and had something for everyone.
The scallops in my meal were seared perfectly. Checking in with others who also had scallops, they concurred. That’s pretty impressive, in my mind, as I’ve never seen scallops nailed so many times in one large group.
My girlfriend had the pork tenderloin, which was cooked perfectly as well.
The dessert, a fig cake, was phenomenal. Combined with greens straight from UBC Farm and fantastic service, there’s not a single complaint to be had. I can’t wait to get back here.

I didn’t feel like to go to downtown for dinner on home game (Hockey) night. Therefore, I searched for any Italian /​Mediterranean nearby and Siena showed on listing with good rating. Ok, let’s try.
We were 15 mins early of our reservation and the server was kind to get the table set up in few mins. I kind of surprise for such a small dining room but it full house on Tue night with majority of customers was seniors.
I rated the service for 3.5 star but food only 2.5 star. For a new place, we usually order simple dish and hope nothing can go wrong.
Food:
Baby Arugula Salad — Arugula was fresh and served ordinary
Beef Carpaccio — It’s not premium grade beef and not tasty.
Free Range chicken — Refreshing of portobello mushroom faro ragu, capers & pine nuts, but a little overcooked for chicken.
Puttanesca Spaghetti — I planned to order the flat iron steak, however, it sold out. Therefore, I just order spaghetti and I found the sauce was a bit too heavy.
We got the coffee on the house coz our server brought it to us 30 mins after we ordered it.