Why Not Italian - Calgary, Alberta

Decent spot with freshly made Italian meals. A little on the pricey side, but still quite good.

We moved to the neighbourhood and tried Why Not Italian for the first time. Walked in the restaurant was clean, not a lot of customers but it was pretty early. This is a family ran business which is great but they need work on there professionalism. When they waitress (I ... think the daughter) ask me how my food was. (Now in all fairness I am Italian and spent some time in Italy so I’m pretty familiar with Italian cooking and food) so when I did point out that I was disappointed in. (eg the carbonara being cooked in a Alfredo cream-based) She became extremely defensive and then went to talk to the chef (I think her father) and from the dinning room to the kitchens started arguing about my order. There weren’t many people in the restaurant so we could hear everything that was said about my order. Honestly that made me feel so uncomfortable that I just was to leave. But my family was still eating there meal, which their food was way better then mine. If it was just the food I would have gone back. But the arguing so loud in front of my family makes me never want to try this place again. Read more

NEIGHBOURHOOD GEM TAKES A PLUNGE!! I have lived my entire life in the neighbourhood of Why Not Italian. I remember taking my kids there for regular weekend dinners and now they are in their 30’s. Even last year my neighborhood friends and I enjoyed great food, good service and a ... friendly atmosphere, as always. Over the past few decades I have considered it to be a dependable, friendly neighbourhood restaurant with great food for reasonable prices. Tonight was an unrecognizable evening at Why Not Italian. The prices remain unchanged, but both the quality of the food that we have become accustomed to and noteably the portions were dramatically different. When brought to the attention of our server, in a polite and constructive manner, we were met with an attitude of arrogance and haughty disdain. When brought to the attention of the young female manager, also in a polite and constructive manner, making it clear we expected no monetary remuneration, the attitude was defensive and dissmissive of our feedback. We sat for 10-15 minutes after the bill was hastily slapped on our table and our dishes were cleared to pay our bill. No one came to take our money. We finally left the table and stood at the front door for another five minutes and had to ask for someone to come and take our money. Finally the original waiter came with his machine and we paid our bill. On our exit he commented “ I hope you have a better day”. Needless to say, we will be looking for other for a nice place to relax with a good atmosphere, great prices and good food in the neighbourhood. In my opinion Why Not Italian has had its better day. Read more

I took my wife to Why Not Italian for the first time on her birthday this year and unfortunately it will likely be our last. She was very pregnant at the time so I didn't dive into the wine menu right away - we ordered water to start instead. Immediately, ... the waiter went from having a mildly attentive manner to completely brushing us off. We ordered our starters and our mains which he barely listened to and then headed towards another table. He ended up returning 10 minutes later to confirm what I ordered (which was not correct) and then seemingly went to the kitchen to fire the order. I ordered a glass of wine once my wife had her starter to dive into but apparently this didn't seem to appease him. After the meal, he also passed us up twice when trying to pay. Overall, the service was terrible, the food was ok, not great, and the whole meal was more expensive than it should have been, given the lack of quality. I'm not sure how these guys stay in business but any success can't be attributed to our waiter. Read more

Have been several times. I stick to the standard Itallion offers in this menu. That said, the food is pretty good. My wife has tried other type dishes and they are just ok. Can find a wine in most places but list is not that great. Is quick little spot ... for me. Could be cleaner. Read more