poco pazzo

still deciding. i went to pocopazzo in late march and had mixed feelings. i was at the big table up on stools. i hate a stool dinner but i didn't organize this party. also the vents were blowing cold air on us and i wished that i had brought a coat to wear. for my antipasti i had the gameri al pepenero - tiger shrimps sautéed with garlic butter - finished in a creamy peppercorn sauce. i quite liked it. i then followed with di cesare - crisp romaine lettuce, herbed croutons, crumbled bacon and shavings of parmigiano tossed with the caesar dressing. i made the mistake of adding chicken. i just didn't need my meal to be that big. not their fault! the salad was okay but didn't wow me. beware, i found it very noisy and hard to have a conversation. a concern since the place was not very full. our waitress was attentive. i would consider going back to see if another time might be more quiet.

pricey, but their fettachini alfredo with chicken keeps me coming back. best pasta dish i've ever had!

eaten here twice and both times the food was excellent.


-----10 feb, 2014-----

great place that my friends recommended. the owner/chef came right to the table and was chatting with us (nice touch). the bread is homemade and to die for!! we ordered the mushroom bruschetta (very nice!) then had the pasta shells with veal and gorgonzola sauce. delicious. just wish they had cannoli for desert. wonderful place.

so so-so. have heard about poco pazzo for a few years now. the reviews for the one in stittsville were good. my husband and i tried the one in kanata last year and were very disappointed. i ordered my favourite italian restaurant go-to, veal gorgonzola. i could not taste the gorgonzola in the sauce which is unlikely given that it's such a strong cheese. i sent it back saying i thought they forgot to put the cheese in the sauce. they came back with the same plate and extra sauce on the side...the same sauce. i was not impressed. the service was good but the food mediocre at best.
last night my husband and i decided to give the stittsville one a chance. we were hopeful because the place was packed. we had the last table in the place. our waitress was prompt and very nice. we ordered one of the most expensive wines on their list and it was just ok. not worth the 80 dollar price tag. had the stuffed eggplant appetizer. not bad. the special, chicken parm...chicken a little overdone, sauce ok but bland and the fettuccine alfredo it came with was only ok as well but though it tasted like no alfredo i've ever had ( i cook for a living) it did have a pleasant butter flavour. i was left wondering why so many people were there and why there were such glowing reviews posted. to sum up. great service. so so food and overpriced.

stittsville's calling all foodies!. there is no better authentic italian food to be had in all of the ottawa valley region! the only thing that would make it more authentic is if the chef could be referred to as nonno emanuele!

the food is freshly made with as many local ingredients as possible - yet still rich and savoury and decadent! the appetizer list will indeed, whet your appetite and make you look forward to "i primi" and "i secondi piatti" (starters and mains). i admit to having tried every pasta dish at least once (strongly recommend the "gemelli alla gorgonzola" - although i think this dish may have been temporarily replaced by "agnolotti gorgonzola et pinoli" - pasta choice aside, the sauce itself is pure heaven!) the portion sizes are quite large, so be prepared to take some home with you if you plan on enjoying some dessert - and i strongly recommend trying the senator puck dessert if you're a chocolate lover or a hockey fan! you can't go wrong!

the wine list is not yet a sommelier's dream come true - but it features all of your known favourites and the servers and waitresses can provide knowledgeable recommendations to pair with your meal. the coffee - i usually have an "espresso" to finish off my meal - is just blissfully rich. this isn't your regular brew, friends - this is the perfect ending to a perfect meal.

i hope you enjoy your experience as much as i do mine - each and every time ;)

everything there is frozen including pasta and seafood. rubber mussels, bland pasta.. fine italian dining? not even close. try napoli or cabotto for the real thing

we have been going to pp in stittsville for the last two years, and its our family favourite.  the food is fabulous, i have tried several dishes and loved everyone. my spouse always orders the fruite de la mare pasta and its a hit every-time with the pasta tender, and the seafood is prepared to perfection. our daughter orders the pasta with a giant meatball and loves that it tastes "real - like home but in a restaurant". we have had michelle as our server on many occasions and she always makes us feel welcome and comfortable.  i frequently recommend this restaurant and encourage people it is worth the drive.

this was a great restaurant! it was my friends birthday and they gave her a wonderful desert and sang happy birthday to her. the food was wonderful! definitely going back!

salty. food was creamy and salty, had to drink a 3 bottles of water after the meal. very nice looking spot, but the food is average at best.

disappointed. after reading all the good reviews we decided to try this restaurant. we made a reservation but the only availability was for 8:00 pm. when we arrived, they didn’t have our reservation (made over the phone), but they had a table available, only that one of the chairs was wet. luckily we noticed before we sat.

the problem was that we felt very rushed. starting with the waitress asking what we would like to drink, even before we had the menu or wine list. then after we got the menu, we had less than 2 minutes and she was back to take our orders. we shared an appetizer calamari. that was really bad - uncooked. it was impossible to chew. then we got the main dishes which were nothing more than ok.
during dinner, our waitress disappeared and another one came. i can only assume that that original waitress finished her shift, as most of the patrons left by then. maybe it explains why we were so rushed with the order.

because we felt so hurried, we didn’t bother with desert. in all we were out of there in less than an hour. maybe it was our mistake to take a late reservation, but we won’t be back.

awesome. good food, excellent service and great atmosphere. downtown feel in the suburbs.

first timers. after having our heart set on another nearby restaurant, and not wanting to wait for a table we looked up poco pazzo on urbanspoon as it was nearby.

we ordered the brushes as a starter, my husband ordered the spaghetti and meatballs i ordered the cannelloni. it was delicious, the meatballs were so tender and the cannelloni was full of flavour.

we will definitely go back on another rare date night!

poco pazzo - fantastic food and service. i have dined a poco pazzo many times and the food is always fantastic! the customer service and servers are some of the best in the business.

i will continue to eat and recommend poco pazzo !

best italian restaurant in ottawa. my family is italian and we come to this location for all family birthdays. yesterday we went and i ordered the principessa dish which is boneless chicken/ ham/ asparagus in a peppercorn sauce. it was to die for. i usually don't order something twice but when i go back i will be getting this again. this place has the friendliest staff and by far the best italian food i've ever had. the portions are so large that you really get what you pay for unlike other high end restaurants that charge you an arm and a leg for two bits of food.

crossed this one of the list!. i was in a large party at this restaurant last night, and there is no way i would ever return. having worked in a few fine-dining restaurants, i know good food, and this was not good food. not by a long stretch. the apps were the best part of - but then, it would take a lot of effort to mess up bruschetta, calamari and fried smelts.

the veal marsala was substandard, according to all three people who had it. i ordered the steak and 5 minutes before the apps came, was told that there was none. great communication there between kitchen and waitstaff...not. ordered the special instead, the veal-stuffed giant pasta shells in gorgonzola sauce. absolutely awful. the so-called child-sized portion was far too much for the child vainly trying to make a dent in it.

the presentation was nonexistent. a few slivers of red pepper atop four bloated pasta shells the size of a baby's fist, stuffed with heavily sauced veal and drowning in gorgonzola sauce - ugh. neither i nor my bf finished our portions. everything was heavy and leaden. only the house red was any good.

but there was one less thing less inspiring and lacklustre than the food, and that was the server. she showed no interest whatsoever in us and was basically as indifferent and bored as could be - never mind that we were the biggest table there of the four occupied ones.

i also watched with horror as another server carried a glass of wine to another table. cradling the bowl of the glass, in her hand. wtf?! uh, trays are at a premium there?

all i know is that the only reason i didn't go off on the server and demand that our entrees be comped was because the dear old 91-year-old lady was treating us. it was her birthday, not that anyone bothered to ask if it was a special occasion.

ah yes, and my bf and in-laws are italian. they know their stuff.

huge thumbs down.