One of the benefits of the move has been the ability to offer outdoor seating. At the old location one of the most sought after spots was at a table inside the replica Winnipeg streetcar that sat in the middle of the restaurant. This seating is still available at the new location, where the streetcar has been installed outside on the patio overlooking the river. Of course, kids love the idea of dining on the rails, especially in a former railyard where you can still hear the freight and passenger trains thundering by. But if the streetcar is full, the wooden deck that surrounds it offers lots of seating with a view of The Forks plaza and the walking bridge that crosses the Assiniboine River connecting to the South Point.

As much as its kitschy décor is quite catchy, the real appeal of the Old Spaghetti Factory is the way an al dente noodle can be twirled onto a fork. In other words, it’s okay to play with your food here. Heaping platters of spaghetti are fun to eat for both kids and adults. It is a time-tested formula that has served the Old Spaghetti Factory well.

The all-inclusive spaghetti dinners come with your choice of six different sauces: tomato, rich meat sauce, spicy meat sauce, mushroom, herbed clam, and browned butter with mizithra cheese. The sauces are made fresh each day and served over thick round noodles that nicely absorb the flavour of your selection. You can also add small, succulent meatballs to the mix, or order specialty pastas like stuffed manicotti and lasagne. Chicken and veal are breaded parmagiana-style with mozzarella and red sauce, or served with hunters sauce, a piquant red wine-accented gravy. The meat is moist and tender, which, atop a mound of pasta, absorbs the sauce that surrounds it.

With every supermarket now selling organic mixed greens in a bag, it feels quite retro to get iceberg lettuce in a salad, but that is part of OSF’s appeal. This classic salad starts each meal, generously doused with chilled house-made dressing. Another flashback occurs when the energetic wait staff gathers to serenade a nearby group celebrating a special occasion, and there seem to be lots of these.

The Old Spaghetti Factory is open Sun-Thu 11:30 am-10 pm, Fri-Sat 11:30 am-11 pm. Entrées: $8.99-$13.99.