Located along Burrard Street between West 5th and 6th Ave, Novo did not appear to stand out in the quiet neighbourhood. The movie theatre next door had a much more enticing popcorn aroma which caught my attention :P Frankly, I've never been in this neighbourhood as I usually travel along 4th Ave.
We went in and it was a good thing one of our friends arrived early and got a table. After we sat down, we saw numerous people standing by the door waiting for a table, so I guess we were lucky to have made reservations.
The layout of the restaurant was very interesting, with the kitchen along the walls and most of the space was dining tables surrounding a downward staircase leading to the washrooms.
There were a variety of booth seats, high tables with bar stools and regular dining tables. I kind of like this shot of happy diners that show the bar at the other side of the restaurant as well.
The bar looked like a relaxing place, with two big screens showing sports. The restaurant had some upbeat music and everyone was chattering over the noise. It was a casual setting despite the fancy tableware with candles and the low-light atmosphere.
We quickly decided on an appetizer, a pizza and a pasta to share. The food was super fast and came within 10 minutes!
We got the proscuitto and arugula pizza as one of our mains. The crust was thin and fluffy, and resembled the texture of naan, very well done. The tomato sauce base had an amazingly fresh taste of tomatoes but was not too sour and overpowering like some others. There was excellent-quality mozarella, thin silky proscuitto, shavings of parmesan cheese and crisp arugula topping the already-wonderful crust.
For another main, we got the Sausage Orecchiette. Topped with Swiss chard, fennel pollen, toasted bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, this dish was an absolute delight! The orecchiette (which means 'little ears' in Italian) were carefully handcrafted and cooked to perfection, a little more than al dente which gave it a nice chewy texture to it. The sausage was juicy and flavourful and the saltiness of the Swiss chard went well with it. I would have liked a little more sauce to this dish as the little ears pasta had such good potential to soak up more sauce.
A closer look at the serving of pasta and pizza I had.. This was before the appetizer came. Honestly, it didn't matter that the appetizer came last, since the pasta and pizza came so quickly we all dug right in.
We ordered the calamari (fried squid) from the appetizer menu as a snack. When the dish came, I was a little disappointed to see the some of the batter falling off the squid. But when I took a bite, I was taken aback by how fresh the squid was! Tender and juicy, not tough to chew at all. I would have liked this dish to be a little less greasy even though it IS a fried dish after all.
A generous dish of tartar sauce sat beside the calamari, waiting to be dipped into. The tartar sauce was also homemade, I could taste the fresh lemon, dill and parsley that cut the richness of the sauce. It was creamy yet refreshing.
An interesting incident happened while we were munching on the calamari. I noticed a strand of dark red string/fluff amongst the pieces of calamari. Knowing it was not a human hair, I picked it up nonchalantly and flicked it away. A few minutes later, I saw another piece of fluff and it was bigger this time. My friend noticed me picking away at the dish and asked what was going on, and I told her, it's just fluff. She said we should tell the waiter, but there wasn't anymore fluff I could find.
Just as we were reaching the last bits of the calamari, I noticed another piece of fluff. So when a server came to take away our plates, I pointed it out to her. She professionally said that she will go to get our waiter. Our waiter, a lovely chap, came by and we explained to him about the fluff. He took away the plate and said he will look into it.
A few minutes later, he returned with a red cloth in his hand and 1) reassured us it was not human hair, 2) explained that the chef had used the red cloth to clean the side of the plate after plating and 3) said that he had taken the calamari off our bill.
I was truly impressed. This is the top-notch service that I wish more places have. Very professional and polite, our waiter did everything on the checklist: Made menu recommendations, filled our water glasses, checked in with us after we started eating, investigated the tiniest strand of fluff on our calamari dish, and took a lovely picture of us even though the restaurant was bustling at its peak. Here's a shoutout to JACOB, one of the best waiters I have encountered!
Here's the picture he took for us!
Novo has everything I want in a restaurant: quality food, amazing service, great staff! It was pretty busy around dinnertime when we were there, so I'd suggest you make reservations before you go! They also have a Monday date night deal where a couple can enjoy a three-course dinner meal and a pair of movie tickets (for the movie theatre next door) for just $49!
Two thumbs up for this lovely restaurant hidden in a quiet neighbourhood away from the busy 4th Ave! Definitely going there again someday!
♥ Nikki
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