After a wildly inauspicious late-1970s period, the Old Spaghetti Factory went on to earn itself a national reputation for Italian spaghetti dishes served up in innovative locations - like this one in Gastown.

While the pasta is neither precious nor prestigious, it is plentiful - there's no way to leave hungry, as your meal includes bread, salad and ice cream for a ludicrously low price. Options include spaghetti with browned butter and grated mizithra, a Greek goat's milk cheese. The peppery, oregano-flecked marinara is another sauce option. An iceberg salad and dish of spumoni are included with each entree.

The menu revolves around spaghetti - sometimes with red sauce and meatballs, sometimes with heavenly departures like butter and cheese - and is rounded out with such must-haves as lasagna and chicken parmigiana.

Predictably, main courses that don't involve spaghetti can be forgotten affairs, an ever-changing selection from the depths of the walk-in freezer. Clearly, it might be best to stick with a simple spaghetti, but the restaurant's warm, welcoming vibe is its M.O. anyway. Just be prepared to wait a while for a table, especially on weekends. - R.B.