I bought a group buying coupon back in May and didn’t have the chance to visit this restaurant until recently. It is an upscale Italian restaurant located on the third floor of the River Rock Casino in Richmond, BC. At first I didn’t know there was such a restaurant in Richmond though I live in Richmond, especially rarely visiting the casino. So I went with a friend and my mom. The coupon was a really great deal, I paid $50 for having $100 worth of anything on the menu, including tips as well plus $10 to play the slot machines. We made the reservation just about 30 minutes before arriving (didn’t plan on going until then). We arrived at the restaurant and was greeted and seated promptly. We sat in front of the window, overseeing the Arthur Laing Bridge and the beautiful sunset that day.

Their menu wasn’t too big but still offered a variety of dishes to choose from. I thought the prices were quite high without the coupon. We ordered an entree and two pasta dishes. The service was excellent, our server was very polite and I felt like he was really taking care of us.

They served two kinds of breads – a Rosemary Fococcia and a crusty Baguette with whipped butter. The bread was probably one of freshest I’ve had in a restaurant, we had a second round :D.

I ordered the Kurobuta:

The server reminded that the meat is served a little pink on the inside and I didn’t mind. It was a very high quality piece of meat and prepared quite well – fresh, juicy, tender, and not overcooked. The ravioli was also quite good. For me though, the gnocchi didn’t really stand out. Also, the morel mushrooms seemed overwhelmed by the sauce. I enjoyed the pork chop – seared with a smoky flavour and paired with the apple compote and the sauce. The classic combination of flavours compliment each other very well.

My mom ordered the Linguini:

The seafood on the pasta was exceptionally fresh, the pasta was quite good. The pesto is very fine and smooth – not chunky at all, it was very tasty. I thought it was a bit oily, but it was a pesto afterall.

My friend ordered the Orecchiette:

We asked the server how to say the name of this pasta but I have already forgotten :P. The name in Italian means “small ears”, which is the shape of the pasta. I really liked the sauce of the pasta, it was smooth and rich in tomato flavour, a little sweet and tangy, tasted very delicious with the pasta. The sausage was also good, I didn’t taste a lot of fat in there.

We had the Tiramisu for dessert. The presentation was quite nice. For me, it wasn’t creamy enough and I didn’t taste a lot of Mascarpone cheese.

Overall we had a great experience dining here, the food was delicious and the service was excellent. I would probably go there again but not often because of their expensive prices.