For the Love of...: …Via Cibo (Calgary)

Overall - 7.5/10
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Food - 7/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 7/10

You might have driven by this trendy eatery located in the Deerfoot Meadows shopping area just off Deerfoot trail and wondered what it's all about. As the name implies, Via Cibo is the more casual sister restaurant of Cibo on 17th Avenue. The food here still uses the finest and freshest ingredients but the service and style of preparation are much more casual.  Via Cibo offers dine-in or take-out.  Dining in requires you to order your food and drink at the counter and pay before finding a table, where your food is delivered. We arrived right before the rush and found the service to extremely efficient, with our entire meal arriving minutes after we sat down.

We ordered the linguini pomodoro with sausage ($13) and the pollo al pesto pizza ($13). The pasta was perfectly cooked but the tomato sauce was a bit on the watery side, with small bits of sausage that lacked seasoning/flavour. However, no fault could be found with the pizza. The crust was thin and had just the right amount of chewiness while the toppings were very well balanced.  The pesto was flavourful and not too salty, allowing the sweetness of the roasted peppers to come through, complimenting the chicken and goat cheese.

As a side we also ordered the via poutine which was their Italian take on a Canadian classic. Despite being on the pricier side for this type of restaurant ($9), we were quite pleased with this poutine.  The fries were topped with fontina cheese and a deliciously tender braised osso bucco ragu. 

Although the pasta wasn't our favourite, the pizza and poutine more than made up for it.   As it got busier, there were people awkwardly standing around waiting for the next available table, some of whom were noticeably agitated by the lack of seating.  Once we finished our last bite of food, a server swooped in to clear our dishes and not-so-subtly hinted we should be on our way.  Unless they increase seating somehow, Via Cibo is more of a place to grab a quick bite of good quality food, rather than a date night destination.  Next time, we want to try the Italian flatbread and sandwiches which seemed popular with other diners.