Alena Rustic Italian

Heard about Alena from a relative on facebook. It's a great neighbourhood restaurant in Charleswood. Food was great, service was excellent and atmosphere was good as well. We were there on a Sunday afternoon @ 4. We shared a starter, stuffed olives; we each had a house salad; we each had a pasta dish, Chicken + Mushroom Pappardelle and B.T.B. Rigatoni and topped off the evening with a slice of the brunt cheesecake. We will be back to try the wood-fired pizza!

We went with a group of friends for New Year’s Eve. We had the mussels, and the fresh pasta with wild boar. Everything was delicious. My wife had the salmon with lobster. She also enjoyed her dinner. We will have to go back again.

We had a lovely anniversary supper here. We ordered the 16 ounce NY strip and the Tre Carne pizza. Amazing. The wood fired grill really sets this place apart, you could taste the real wood smoke and heat in every bite. I’ve never been so blown away by roasted vegetables, they were so flavourful and cooked to perfection. The service was attentive but not at all overbearing. An excellent dining experience.

I was curious about this place because a friend ordered pizza and their marinated olives regularly for delivery.

On a whim, we figured we would give the restaurant itself a shot. We were fairly late in the evening, and the place was busy. If you go during normal hours I strongly recommend a reservation. It's worth visiting. They managed to seat us after a short wait.

Skipping to the food: it was delicious. We tried a few things, including the famous (to me at least since I heard about them all of the time) marinated olives. So these olives - they are amazing. We had a pasta: top marks. We also had the special that night, which was octopus, and it was so good.

So happy I got to try their famous wood-fired pizza! Service was excellent and the food was reasonably priced. We went for the grilled fish but unfortunately they were all sold out. Pasta was al dente!