La Viena

fave Italian place in town
great staff
great food
great prices
great location with ample parking.

A long standing (but newish location) Italian eatery focused on pastas in sauce. We used to go for the offbeat assortment of sauces (e.g. Cream/​pear/​Brie or anchovy/​tomato), but have found over the last few years that they don’t pop as much as they used to and the pastas aren’t as carefully prepared or plated. An A-​OK spot to take family for Italian, but no longer a date spot and no discount night means it’s off the list for us.

My family and I decided to try La Viena at their new location so we went on an expedition to try and find it. ;)
It turned out the location was easy to find, right off 16^th Avenue NW with lots of parking on the side and back of the restaurant (unlike the Kensington location).
We arrived after the lunch rush around 1pm. The place was pretty empty but it looked clean and comfortable with lots of booths and tables nicely dressed with plates and cutlery. We went on a cold and rainy day and the restaurant was nice and warm.
The waitress was incredibly attentive and sweet. She quickly came to our table and took our drink orders and brought a colouring book and crayons for my son. She told us about the lunch special, all pastas $ 11.25 from 11am to 4pm and the lunch box of the day which was canneloni with ceasar salad for $ 11.25 too.
We ordered the calamari and mixed salad to start. Wow! The amount of food you got was definitely enough to feed three! Tasty too. The calamari came with a tomato based sauce to dip. Yummy!
We then ordered the lunch box, the chicken penne with mushrooms and the pizza.
The food promptly arrived and it was hot and tasty. Just like the awesone taste and quality I remember from the Kensington location. The pizza was made all in-​house with a thin crust with low amounts of salt. Pop refills were free and everyone was happy with the food, the service and location.
They also have a separate lounge area that appeared to have nice seating with lots of windows facing 16^th Avenue but, we didn’t sit there because minors were not allowed.
This restaurant is perfect if you have kids! Lots of room and the atmosphere is laid back and relaxed which is great when you are dinning with little ones.
If you can get past the booths with the western motif fabric, you’ll find this little gem is well worth the trip.

The food at the new location is just as good as it was in Kensington. The pasta is all handmade and the sauces are super flavorful. Meh on the zucchini sticks but awesome Alfredo and Caesar salad. I usually stick to my downtown bubble but was happy I ventured out ! Awesome service by our witty server Kyle.

It is easily the worst italian food I have had in northwest calgary *ever*.
Yes, *ever*.
We came across the relocated La Viena and thought it would be good to go.
My wife and I both agreed to never return. Not because the service was bad, but rather because the food was simply horrible. No italian with any sense of pride would feed food like that to his guests, let alone people who paid for the food.
You would be way better off with the litany of other italian places in the NW NE region (down edmonton trail either way) than going here.
Provolone Cheese arrived in a heavy fish stick like batter (triangle)
The sauce that game with it was like a tartar sauce with some vile tomato mixture added (really poor)
My carbonara had pretty much Raw onions with it. Heavy handed cream sauce and just boring. Oh a sprig of parsley? Really?
My wife had a seafood platter with very sparse amounts of sea food.
She asked for it «not spicy» and she got seafood caccitorre. With a sauce that was simply vile not matter what you added to it. My wife actually ate the seafood on the plate and left everything else.
I hate being a food snob, but compared to the local competition, this place was a waste.

Our server was a sweet lady and she made our experience enjoyable. My mom and I have both liked this restaurant in it’s prior location besides the crowded area, which the new location doesn’t suffer from!
We had calamari to start and it was nice and crispy. I had pasta with a wine sauce and clams and it was tasty too! My mom had (ugh) gorgonzola cream ravioli. I hate gorgonzola, but she loves it and always orders it. Our server raved about it too!
I enjoyed the warm atmosphere but they are begging for a renovation… the booth fabric is western themed!!! Definitely lots of room for more patrons.
Will return!

Food was good, but they need to fix their heating system. It would swap from warm to very cold. Asked multiple times to turn up the heat