Nook - Vancouver

Yelp reviews stirred my interest for this restaurant that indeed lives up to its name in tablesBut that's the ONLY thing small about Nook.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos here but I will write about my experience.

Nooks a loud seemingly bar/pizzeria place just off Vancouver's primary restaurant area off of Robson on Denman. Atmosphere wise, it's a little too loud and

We've always enjoyed "nook" restaurant, food usually very good. However an unusual incident last night - was it the waiter or changed management policy?!We both ordered pasta with my partner ordered their pasta of the day special (priced at over 30% higher than any other pasta) It was slightly bland and , in our opinion , needed a bit of cheese to perk it up.My partner asked the waiter for a bit of cheese to which the reply was that it would be a surcharge of $3 which was clearly a surprise - an Italian restaurant with a cheese topping surcharge!! Taken aback my partner declined politely.A minute later, the waiter asked us how the pasta was? I replied that mine was good but my partners needed Parmesan cheese.Looking embarrassed he cut a couple of slices of cheese.Even more puzzling in this interaction, about 10 minutes later the waiter brought a small plate of cheese, indicating that he checked with the kitchen and the kitchen confirmed that they likely missed putting the cheese on the pasta before it was served to us.Just an interesting little story to report how an evening out can be ruined! A $3 surcharge for cheese on pasta in an Italian restaurant!!I now regret not having complained to the manager at the time.We paid our money and came away frustrated. ,

My mother was Italian and always cooked from fresh ingredients at home, because of this I'm often disappointed when eating out at Italian restaurants. Not so tonight. We stumbled in by chance and suddenly found ourselves back home; simple dishes with high quality ingredients. Between us we had the rocket salad with shaved parmesan, the special pizza of the day, the pasta with Campenella sausage and fennel seeds and the gnocchi with mini meatballs. Couldn't fault any of it, pasta freshly made and the gnocchi was as good as I've had in a long long time. This is a small cosy restaurent and seating for 5 was difficult so we had to sit at the bar. This is turned out to be fun as we got to watch some of the food being prepared on top of which the staff were engaging and interesting to chat to. Booking ahead seems to be advisable. Can't recommend enough.