Queen's College

For the longest time, two restaurants faced each other on the edge of Little Italy. Grappa is gone, replaced by trendy Bar Isabel. But Regina Trattoria is still around, and still pulling in families looking for some pasta or pizza. Friday evening, I checked out this old-fashioned spot near College and Shaw.

The restaurant was vintage Italian: white table linen; scenic paintings; plinking guitar playing O Sole Mio and Torna a Sorrento; and full-bellied old Italian men in the kitchen, behind the bar, and at your table. I ordered a house salad ($5.95) and a small Arrabiata ($15.95). Not much to say about the salad: it was a generous portion of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, other greens, and olives. I liked that it was less acidic and more salty and oil-rich.

The pizza that came out was bigger than other places. I actually thought they had misheard me and made a medium. The toppings were generous for a sit-down pizzeria (approaching Pizza Pizza levels) with fresh cherry tomatoes, salty pancetta, and crunchy onions. I would have liked more kick in the hot peppers though. I was a bit on the fence about the crust. The middle was soft and thick, perfect for biting and holding up the cheese and sauce. Sometimes you don't want super-thin, gourmet Neapolitan crusts. But it was too hard and crispy along the edge.

I'll have to come back and try the pasta. But Regina looked like a better candidate for a neighbourhood trat than Terrazza.