The Old Spaghetti Factory

This is a great place to go if you want a good meal at a good price. We usually end up here once or twice a year, and it’s always a good time with very good food. The servers are friendly, and prompt. The bread they bring is hot and fresh. The atmosphere is busy but not overwhelmingly loud.
Last night I had a Manicotti craving, and the Old Spaghetti Factory did not disappoint!

Great value and friendly servers. Food is consistently good — not gourmet by any means — but it is good Italian style food. Always busy so there’s usually a bit of a wait (plan accordingly). Good for families and large groups. If you’re at The Forks and hungry, you can’t go wrong.

Jackson looked after us and did a great job. We had some shrimp & mozzarella triangles for appies. Then lasagna and chicken parm. I’ve quite enjoyed the Spinoni ice cream, every time!

Canadian version of Olive Garden? — really long waits longer than they tell you with inadequate seating for the queue, far-​from-​authentic Italian food, made up for with massive portions that try to convince you that you got a good deal.
Food was fine, but I wouldn’t wait in line for it again.

I had supper tonight at the Old Spaghetti Factory. which is near my hotel. I got there at 8:40pm. Though they close at 9pm, the host still welcomed me and told me to stay as long as I wanted.
Cory was my server and he started me with some hot bread.
I ordered lasagna. So many things come with it … bread, soup or salad (which I passed on), lasagna and ice cream. The lasagna was good! The sauce was chunky with onions and celery.
I wasn’t hungry but had a couple spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream.
Cory was friendly and took good care of me. Though I didn’t leave until 10pm, I never felt rushed.

Always enjoy the managers special when we travel to various OSF. Last nights visit was just ok. The male server was a bit slow. He also did not get my order correct. They did take it off our bill. Could use a good cleaning a bit dirty for me. Hoping for better next time.

Screw the Olive Garden. Save yourself some coin and go the Old Spaghetti Factory instead.
The food is just as good, if not better. Large space, so lots of seating. Nice atmosphere. I’ve always had good experiences here and friendly service.
For fellow parents, it’s quite kid friendly too!

When you’re at the forks and craving a good hearty meal, you go to the Old Spaghetti Factory. I remember going as a kid and even now their food is excellent, not to mention a GREAT price!
For less than $ 20 you get delicious fresh warm bread, soup or salad (my favorite is their minestrone soup… And I don’t even like beans!), a pasta meal, ice cream for dessert (definitely have to try Spumoni???) and coffee/​tea.
My only critique was the patio was not yet open on a super gorgeous day while other restaurants at the forks had their patios open.
Great place for families to go or for a date. Oh heck go here anytime with anyone!

Good service, pretty atmosphere especially if you sit in the room with all the windows. In the winter, people skate past you and it’s all kinds of whimsical. In the summer there are flowers and its conducive to taking a walk before or after.
The main courses aren’t anything special, but you get a full meal for a low price. And all the fresh warm bread you can eat! Splamoni ice cream included and yuuuummmm. Great place to bring kids.

Okay… I have been to The Old Spaghetti Factory in California, but what happened here? Sure the decoration looks similar, but the food was just not in the same level at all. Unfortunately, no taste at all. If you are craving pasta just go to Santa Lucia. Service was good, considering we had an early dinner.

The old spaghetti factory is a classic. It has the distinction of being in a beautiful building in one of Winnipeg’s top tourist attractions. It has a model replica of a street car on the patio. It is filled with antiques and a collection of stain glass that would make a church feel inadequate (although that is an exaggeration) but is certain to make you feel like you are in an old parlour somewhere in the recesses of 1912 (as long as you don’t over think it).
As a bonous they serve a beer that is exclusively made for them by Fort Garry Brewing Company: Cobblestone Lager and Cobblestone Pale Ale. The internet suggests that Cobblestone Lager is made by Granville Island. I couldn’t be 100% sure either way. Regardless, it was citrusy, light, and enjoyable. Nothing special, but it was worth ordering.
Apart from the Cobblestone Lager, my wife and I ordered:
· 1 Mojito
· Veggie Lasagne
· Spaghetti with Browned Butter and Mizithra Cheese, a la Homer
What came along with the order:
· Classic Sourdough Bread (with whipped garlic and plain butter)
· Greek Salad (for an extra 2 $)
· Regular Salad (with raspberry vinaigrette)
· 2 servings Spumoni ice cream
· 2 cups of tea
In other words, it was a whole heck of a lot of food for just about $ 50 (including a 15% tip).
The sourdough was very good, the Greek salad was night and day better than the regular salad, and the ice cream was delightful. Of the two entrées we ordered the Veggie Lasagne was probably the better of the 2 dishes we ordered.
With 7 vegetarian options (which is a little bit intimidating) and even an entrée that looks vegan, as well as gluten free choices, and options for children, it would be pretty hard to find a reason you couldn’t eat here. It’s a good price, the food is pretty good, and you get enough of it to feed an army (or me), and the atmosphere is fabulous

Pretty much the definition of a middle of the road restaurant. Nothing special here. It’s one of those places you go to when you have a big family that wants to eat cheap, or when your treating the in-​laws. Everything is relatively cheap and the atmosphere is neat. The food is acceptable for the price range. You can rest assured that your food is being cooked by someone in their teens, so I highly recommend ordering something that is easy to make. On one visit I dined with someone to actually ordered the the New York Strip steak, and the results were horrible, so you would do well to order something that doesn’t take an actual chef to reliably prepare. That said, the steak preparation was not the only problem, that steak had been frozen and was not fresh to begin with.
Quality control is the biggest concern. Most things seem to have been frozen and reheated, like the the meatballs and the bread doe. This is why the bread seems fresh but doesn’t quite have that fresh bread taste. One time a family member complained about the spaghetti sauce being way to salty and the manager said that sometimes they have a disgruntled employee in the kitchen! Makes you think…
Overall, you end up eating here when you are looking for an okay place to eat for cheap or when you forgot to make reservations. The bread is bottomless, what more could you want: P

The food is usually very average here. The bread they brought was very nice but my meal and dessert could have been warmer. Also the girlfriends lasagna didn’t have much meat in it. Though we had a great a waitress, who always came by quickly and refilled our drinks.

Spaghetti Factory is good, the portions are sizable, and the bread & salad leave me happy each time I go — unfortunately, it just feels like a franchise restaurant at times…
Other than reeking of garlic when I leave there, I always leave happy…

The bread and garlic butter hands down amazing. That’s the main reason to go

There is SO MUCH wrong with Old Spaghetti Factory!
If these are family recipes, I would want to be put up for adoption!!!
Our server very early on in the meal admitted that it was only her second night working, but even still that is no excuse for the onslaught that was about to ensue …
She forgot repeatedly to bring multiple things, she got orders wrong and was all around extremely rude.
But I do not blame her; she was overwhelmed (and probably underpaid by this monster-​dump of a chain). To be honest, I would bet that the blame falls on the management which should have their staff more well trained before throwing them to the lions.
Regardless, none of the service can be blamed for the quality of food that came out. It was awful. Over-​cooked pasta, either flavourless or overly salty; many dishes being cold on one side of the plate. The «chowder» looked like lumpy dog food.
The clincher of the evening was when the waitress brought over an unordered second beer. She awkwardly (and quietly) reported «I punched in the order for the beer twice … this is an extra … I’ll have my manager take it off at the end …»
Okay! Free beer! Hey! Things are looking up here! Maybe this place won’t be so bad after all!
THINK AGAIN!
Sure enough, the extra beer ended up on the bill anyway, and when asked about it, she got even more awkward and defensive saying,“Well, you DID drink it…“
WHAT!!!
I won’t even go into detail about the bill fiasco, except to say that the manager (who was by this time «helping» figure things out) did not even say one word to us to help the situation. Spineless.
If nothing else sums up this experience, maybe the most memorable moment was when the manager was walking through the dining room with a plunger. That about said it all.

I’ve eaten here a few of times in the past — always with a group of friends who were indecisive about what they wanted and somehow we would end up here.
It’s a very large space, and they open quite early for lunch (10:30 if I remember correctly). The menu is the same as other Old Spaghetti Factory restaurants — if you order an entrée (between ($ 12-​$ 15) it will also come with either a minestrone soup or salad, your choice of ice cream, coffee/​tea and all you can eat sourdough bread. I do love the bread here — it’s warm out of the oven, soft and you can slather it with garlic butter.
The food portions were just enough to make me full but not stuffed. I’ve never had a dish here that I didn’t like but everything is fairly average. The staff here are very friendly and attentive.
Food: 2.5 stars
Service: 4 stars

Normally I would not voluntarily dine at a place like this but it was a group event so I figure I should be open minded.
It’s a good place for families and large groups where people prefer «familiar» food. I mean it’s all pasta related so really, nothing too crazy. Also, I think the main sell is that «it’s all included» meaning that all of the dinner entrees come with bread, salad/​soup and vanilla or spumoni ice cream or coffee/​tea” and most meals are between $ 12-​$ 15.
The bread was warm, soft and delicious but it sure didn’t taste like sourdough… good thing as I hate sourdough bread. The only downside is that it wasn’t pre-​cut so I wasn’t a fan of everyone holding onto one end of the bread for support as they cut themselves a slice — germs! The whipped garlic butter was a nice touch.
I had a choice of the minestrone soup or a salad with a plethora of classic dressings like thousand island (how retro), blue cheese, French, Italian… etc. The salad was okay… ice berg lettuce… guess I should’ve upgraded to a caesar for the extra $ 2.75.
I had the chicken parmigiana with a side of spaghetti and tomato sauce for $ 14.75. To my surprise, the dish was quite decent. The chicken was breaded and crisply fried. The meat was tender and juice and not too over seasoned. The tomato sauce and cheese was nice without overwhelming the chicken. But, unfortunately the side spaghetti was not good. That’s disappointing when the place is named after the famed dish! The pasta was cooked properly but the tomato sauce had a strange after taste. The sauce didn’t taste homemade and yeah, Ragu or Prego would have tasted better and that’s not saying much. I should’ve opted for the side of fries instead.
I’m giving it three stars even though I wouldn’t go running back but I think this is a good place families to go to as it’s quite budget friendly for a night out and kids would like this food.

I was here just a few weeks ago after a long absence.
I went with my family including sister and her young kids. The staff were incredibly accomodating and stuck us in our own room and provided colouring supplies (how often do I get to play with crayons?)
The food here was good. Obviously there is a good variety of spaghetti (with chicken livers! mmmm) but also other dishes like lasagna. What shocked me is how inexpensive this place is. The meals we had came with salad and ice cream. Entrees were like $ 12. I was really surprised.
Pleased with service. Value is excellent. Nice location at the forks. Great place for a family meal.