Reviews of Pacini Banff (Catering)

Rodney Smith

Good server, but the food is - charitably - nothing special. To be fair, they cater well for food allergies / sensitivities. Good portions. Dog-friendly patio.

Maxwood

Super tasty breakfast with a good selection. Prices are fairly reasonable and staff were professional. Highly recommend.

Kelly

Food and drinks were excellent, food came out hot. The young lady serving us (I think her name was Kennedy) took her time to explain a couple details about the menu before we ordered. The ambiance is really nice. Would recommend to a friend, and will definitely be back again.

Richard Lyall

Meal type

Annie Drysdale

Great meals -- refreshing flavors for the pasta without weighing you down, filling, veggies that are more than just decorations (unlike other places where the veggies mentioned in the menu are used just as a garnish) -- I would describe these meals as soulful. I'm attaching pictured of the Pasta Primavera (I added extra broccoli and grilled chicken), frittata Primavera and Grilled Chicken Rosmarino, and the Tiramisu. My favorite was the Primavera Pasta (the one on the menu was Penne but I asked for Spaghetti -- I think it holds the flavor better). Most of the staff were also really friendly and they always checked in and wanted to know if you're enjoying your meal. What I didn't like was that one server had her thumb in my dish when bringing it out to me, almost touching the food. The dish had two handles, I don't understand the need to hold the dish that way. Another server, when offering me a spoon held it near the eating side. When I asked for another one, she did the exact same thing and plonked it down on the table, not on a napkin, directly on the table. These practices are unhygienic. So much for all the spraying that they keep doing (sometimes carelessly without regard to proximity to a guest's face/eyes). I still tipped these servers generously but was disappointed. I hope the restaurant gives them the appropriate training. I had almost all my meals here because the food was so good and it was convenient since I was staying at the Moose hotel. Would recommend to anyone in the Banff area. The "coffee tiramisu" though was terrible. I've had great tiramisu and this was not one of them -- you couldn't taste any flavor of the expresso and it tasted stale. It just had a lot of whipped cream, and looked pretty. But I'm not taking away any stars because the rest of the food made up for that. I just wouldn't recommend the tiramisu.

Kriselle Malbog

Hostess got us in right away for walk in breakfast. Breakfast potatoes were so good. Awesome atmosphere. A picture out front with Mr. Moose is a must!

Judy Yu

One star for the drinks, they were the only good thing we had. Service was very sub par, which- I’ll give them a break, we’re in a pandemic and servers haven’t been able to work consistently for over a year so I get it. But regardless, basic service or even saying “I’ll be right with you” goes a long way. I ordered the Mediterranean chicken sandwich which was absolutely horrendous. The chicken was so rubbery and bland, the sandwich wasn’t even edible. I choked down the dry rubbery chicken with some of my husbands sauce from his pasta dish. The “bread” that came with the meal was literal $2.00 a loaf discount bread that you can buy at the grocery store toasted so crispy it almost would be her way to dip in the luke warm water they provided to the table- that I had to put myself.... come on... are you serious? This is Banff. Not some side of the road dive restaurant. Step it up guys..

Erin Sesak

I have a difficult time giving this restaurant even two stars. However, because I understand that the service industry greatly suffered due to Covid, I can justify a couple sympathy stars. The food and service were just bad. Our server was slow and generally unprofessional. She didn’t pour our wine when our ($40) bottle arrived. We were accommodated with gluten free bread, but she didn’t bring it to us for 20 minutes, then the food arrived seconds after. The bread bar felt really dirty and grimy. The food was downright gross: boiled chicken with painted on grill marks and heavy, tasteless pasta sauce. The garlic butter from the bread bar was the only thing that salvaged it. Generally, very disappointed. As a lover of Italian food—rather, food in general, I would never recommend this place to anyone.

Adam Lo

Really disappointed with this place. Servers were friendly and that’s about it. The food was simply not good. I ordered an Italian sausage sandwich (something I’ve not heard of before) and it was not even a sandwich. It was some pita bread or something wrapped in half, stuffed with bland ingredients. The atmosphere is not great either.

Stan Dworkowski

Got the arancini balls and calamari for apps + the seafood linguini to share as a main. Very very delicious!!! Priced well for its quality

Meena A

Great pasta and breakfast. Bread bar. Very nice service. Underground parking. Enjoyable ambiance.

Ryan Osburn

It's 4/5 breakfast and 2/5 lunch. We would come back in the mornings, reasonable portions and good options, the all'italiana benedict eggs were awesome. At the same time we tried some pasta and pizza for lunch and it was underwhelming.

Method Gui (Method)

Friendly staff, delicious &amazing food we had a great experience there.

Leandro Pacca

Lovely new place with a delicious menu and warm environment! Reviews are spot on. The servers could step up their game and check in more often and thats that. GREAT food! Beautiful views and awesome bread bar. Take a look for yourself.

Ross Mann

Amazing experience from walking in, to ordering to finishing. Classy and amazingly tasty. Highly recommended!

TM G

Pacini was recommended and they really did a lot of the little things well to elevate our dinning experience. The resturant layout is spacious, I would love to try their patio out on a nice day.???? Our waiter was polite and respectful even after they burnt one of our pizzas before any of our food arrived. I liked the replica Italian newspaper used in the plating, and the pizza cutter to size my own slice????. Gluten Free Smoked Duck ???? Pizza was my meal and it was definitely a personal pizza size. The duck was great! I wish there was more. Goat cheese was added and I believe that was a necessity.

K A

Standard food selection for this type of restaurant. Drink menu limited but decent for kids. The desert selection was fun

Vanessa Ayala

The only reason why I'm giving it 1 star is because I can't go any lower. For starters, we ordered the bruschetta and it was nothing more than some flat bread with what looked and tasted like warmed up tostito salsa. We should have left then, but my husband and I were hungry as we had just finished a very long hike so we decided to stay. My husband and I both got the duetto as our mains. He didn't finish his mushroom pizza because it was oily and said that the truffle oil tasted weird, however he said his kale salad was "alright". I had the duck pizza with a side of gnocchi. The gnocchi were hard and seemed to be crunchy (as if they were fried before being tossed in sauce). The sauce was also sour/tangy and my pizza was extremely oily. In my opinion, as an Italian, this was a far stretch from Italian food - if you want pizza, you're better off going to Boston Pizza down the road.

Ken Maeland

This large restaurant has a very nice ambiance. Nice place for a date but also handled kids fine. A little pricey but the portions should fill you. Not overly large portions like many Italian dishes but enough. All entrées include the bread bar. It has fancy butters and pestos, and a grill for roasting. Nice concept but disappointing that the bread itself is pretty average. Thoroughly enjoyed all the food we had.

Mikaela & Rick

What an awesome Italian restaurant in Banff, so glad we decided to try it out! The restaurant itself is located within the Moose Hotel, but has it's own street entrance. Your best bet is to walk here or try to find street parking. The drinks were great, along with the pizzas. One unique feature was the ability for us to grill our own toast with a variety of bread options and spreads. Definitely worth checking out!

Trish R

Was able to take advantage of patio dining. The service was good, friendly staff attentive but not overbearing. The food was good, very reasonable portions for the menu prices. When other patios are packed along Banff Ave make your way down here.

Amy Mc

The atmosphere was nice however the front receptionist…I think she was from the uk, was not too friendly. We ordered the linguini and were very disappointed. The sauce was thin and watery and the pasta overcooked.

Megan -Nicole

The server was so friendly and attentive and the food was amazing 100% will come back when I'm in town.

Abigail Larson

Dinner

Dave Miedema

We dined in for a quick dinner, my husband is craving pizza, so we came here. He ordered all meat pizza, the crust and cheese are good but not the toppings, Italian sausage aren't that authentic. I ordered bolognese, I don't like it either, plain tasting sauce too much herb spices. Service is quick for us despite it's short staffing, the complimentary slice bread is ok with selections of different flavor of butter, warm buns is ideal, instead of grilled slice bread.

Hiba A

Good food - food service Beautiful place

Olivia Crutchfield

Great food and service. You will be full all day. Went there 2 days in a row.

Peter Beaton

Had breakfast, lunch and dinner here and was very pleased. I like the atmosphere, the staff are very friendly, and they have a variety of breads that you can toast yourself on a flat top grill, which was a nice touch. Would definitely recommend!

Aleah Francisco

This restaurant was very accommodating of my Gluten free allergy. They have a bread and butter bar for their guests and when the server saw me watching my wife he offered to get me my own butter that was not contaminated and toast me my own gluten-free bread. I ordered one of their pizzas on gluten free crust and it was great!!

Paskal S

Delicious food, good price. Super friendly staff. Best place to have breakfast!

Sara Land

Smaller bar/lounge yet surprisingly roomy! Several big screen TV'S for us sports fans. And, of course, the staff are always very friendly and helpful

Malissa S

We came on a Saturday at 2pm just after we checked in at the Moose and waited for our room to be ready. Service was incredibly slow despite having only 1 other table in the lounge area, the food itself was alright, we ordered an appetizer and two meals to share - we did take a sandwich to go as it did not look very appetizing when it was served but did not want to waste it and then ended up not eating it at all.

Hind Fawz

I ordered the meat lovers and the pasta sauce was extremely bland. The crust was nearly burnt and was like chewing on cardboard. And who puts onions on a meat lovers? Also the girlfriend got one of the ravioli and it was one of the blandest things I have ever tasted. I suggest not to go here for pasta or pizza. Lil caesers is way better and it's 5$

Ine

I went there with my family! We all loved the food and the ambiance! I recommend it ???? and looking forward to visiting there location in Calgary… Waitresses should avoid asking personal questions such as where are you from( what are your origins)…

Nick Harris

After reading the reviews I was a little afraid to visit this place. But the food was “lekker” and they have gluten-free options. It takes some time for the bread, but I am used to it. The kale-salad was delicious. The shrimp risotto was nice. And the bonus was Luke who explained everything well. My husband liked the dessert very much.

krissy miranda

We stayed at the Moose Hotel in Banff where this restaurant is located. Decided to get some takeaway and were pleasantly surprised at the quality of food. Really delicious pizza. Their atmosphere in the restaurant looked really cute and cozy. Great spot if you're staying close by!

Cera Z

Unreal, had to have dessert and coffee even though we were all full after our delicious entrees. Great service.

DIY Vacation

My wife and I visited 3 times when we visited Banff in August 2019, for lunch, drinks and dinner. The staff were very friendly, polite and attentive. The food was good with the personal favourite being the make your own garlic bread area that was available for dinner. We got to choose our bread, spread and then cooked it on a grill. There is plenty space, with an outside seating area, a main dining area as well as bar/lounge area.

Jehezkiel Eugene

Truly the best Italian restaurant in Banff. The prosciutto and arugula pizza is amazing. Thought it was pricey for lunch at first but turns out it's worth every penny. The carbonara is great, that portion is insane.

Brittany Gagne

Are here for breakfast. The waitress was very attentive and friendly. The cassoulet was pretty good but needed a little pepper. The eggs Benny were also tasty, but the eggs were hard poached when medium was requested. Overall It was good, my only hesitation with coming back during COVID would be the communal toast station with communal spreads and utensils.

Taylor MacLeod

The food is amazing, but the service :(!

Linda Ng Thomson

I wish I could give this place negative stars but unfortunately this is the lowest I can go. Frankly as an Italian I’m insulted that this place even exists. I’ve had better meals on plane flights, or even hospital food has looked better than the garbage this place serves. We ordered a “bruschetta” in their view and it was petty dog food to say the least. Then the mains made my stomach turn, and my wife actually got sick. Folks save your time and money, if you’re really hungry you’re better off going to a convenience store and buy a bag of chips, or hell, you’re even better off eating gas station food as opposed to this sorry excuse for an Italian restaurant that btw serves toast bread as a “table bread”. Highly disgusted and extremely disappointed, and this is me being nice. This restaurant belongs on kitchen nightmares cause it’s an absolute disgusting embarrassment to Italian food. Shame on you Pacini for charging premium dollar for the lowest quality food possible ????????????????????????????????????????

Wesley Littke

Ordered the carbonara. Food was terrible, bland, so bad I couldn’t take it home. Only good thing was the bread. Would not recommend

Ishan Kaul

We enjoyed great coffee and views with our breakfast. Benny was great, nicely poached eggs

Nach J

Service is a 5. Luke was great. Ranking what we ordered; 5 (what I would recommend) Mille-Feuilles Lasagna, 4 - Meat Lover's Pizza, 4 Seafood Linguine (My daughter actually liked this better than Mille-Feuilles) and 3 Penne Alfredo (Penne is my daughter's Fave but she didn't like this one and so did I) -- you can barely taste the Penne.

Matt Simpson

Full of flavor, the spinach artichoke dip was just out of this world. The pasta was also very good, creamy and the chicken was well seasoned and soft. Worth the extra walk to the end of downtown.

Proxemus

Perfect atmosphere and setting for dinner! Delicious pastas with FREE UNLIMITED self-serve bread appetizers ???? Dish was well prepared and plated, the dimly-lit setting was exquisitely elegant, staffs were friendly and allowed us to pick our seat. The free self-serve bread was awesome too. You got four different butters to choose from. A grill is provided so you can grill your bread the way you want to. My Alfrédo pasta tasted superb: great texture and perfect melt-on-the-inside sunny-side-up egg. Everything was so good despite being a little bit on the expensive side. TL;DR Pacini is highly recommended!

Christine McCabe

Nice, cozy place. It's close to downtown Banff and has a variety of desserts!

Mike B

Love this restaurant. Second time going and the food is Great! Awesome atmosphere, and the staff is very friendly and confident. I recommend it to all my friends.

Tosin O.

This was the biggest, actually the only disappointment on our trip to Banf. We loved the Moose hotel that we stayed in (connected inside of the Hotel), but the mistake we made was this Pacini restaurant. 3 out of 6 meals tanked, couldn't even take 2 bites it was so bad. Their version of bread table isn't anything they should be advertising or offer outright. Toast isn't a bread table, any "real" Italian restaurant will let you know. Then there was the horrible wait staff that didn't take our order in time, was too hung up on or drink order, that also took too long, so we asked for apps at the same time, which he didn't like. Then once the meals were about to come out, he had the nerve to let us know that he was cut for the night (which we know wasn't true) then he seats himself at the bar to open himself a bottle of red, let down his hair and order himself a meal and to hang out with other Servers? Moose Hotel should have a word with Pacini Management to get them up to speed on many levels. How is that every night when we came in from other restaurants, we couldn't order a few espresso's to cap our night, even though the bartender is there with all the other kitchen staff and servers hanging out? Really? Once they figure this out, maybe things will i move for even the Moose Hotel. Too bad it wasn't as amazing as the rest of our trip!

C Pex

Really good pizza. My husband had spaghetti, said it was good but not amazing. They have a cool toast bar that is a fun idea. My teen loved it. Staff was really friendly. Nice decor. The service was pretty slow but very hospitable. We thought the portion sizes were big.

Boris Boykiw

Loved the bread bar!! Great service, great place for a family with kids cause they have a kids menu!!

Chris Noble

Great place for lunch. Excellent tomato soup and wings. Also had a lunch pizza. A great feature was their grill your own bread with 4 different spreads and assorted types of bread. FANTASTIC IDEA!

Michelle

We stayed at The Moose and had breakfast. It was OK. Good not great. Nothing special. Convenient.

Teresa A

Just went here for a drink, place wasn't busy and we didnt try any of the food. Surprised with the number of local breweries, there wasnt any local beer offerings on the menu.

Mark T

Ordered out for the first time with your restaurant. Our pizza was very good. We really enjoyed them. I would definitely order from your restaurant again and recommend.

Polina

I came here with my boyfriend last week during our visit to banff and it was so good we went back!! The garlic bread table is genius and the food was phenomenal. 10/10 recommend. Servers were very friendly, too!

Drew Lewis

Went there for dinner. Food tastes like Spaghetti Factory but with a really nice decor and expansive price tag. The bread they serve is sliced wonderbread. Not terrible but nothing to write home about. Service was attentive but if you're looking for authentic Italian experience... This is not it.

Samantha H

My trip to Banff recently involved a stop at the beautiful Moose Hotel & Suites. What a pleasant surprise to find heated underground parking and a Pacini Restaurant on the main floor. I believe this Canadian company hails from Montreal and there are now 3 locations in Alberta. Service was attentive but not over-bearing, I discovered their Bread & Butter bar was included with my order of Minestrone. The soup as well as Blueberry Tea and Chocolate Brownie for dessert were all delightful. The interiors for this particular location were lovely as the designer or architect paid special attention in providing secluded areas thankfully without television screens. The stylish chairs and seating had the functional combination of beauty combined with practicality. Not sure if the elaborate glass light fixtures on the ceiling were made in Murano, Italy, but they certainly add artistic style to an interior which reminds me of Italy. I would return to try other items on their menu and have certainly never been disappointed in the Pacini just off Blackfoot Trail in Calgary. Lovely restaurant, good food and charming interior.

John

Eatin a few restaurants where we were in Banff for four days. Hands down this was the best service and the best food it is a must and Banff. Thank you will see you next time

Namratha

Food is tasty and cooked well. It's a nice Italian-American style restaurant and the ambience and service are really excellent. It is a little pricey for what you get, but that is to be expected.

Wendy

Great service... Food is good but not outstanding... Good spot for a casual dinner!!!

Crystal Thorpe

Our server was amazing. His wine knowledge was great! Food was good!

Craigy301991

Went in, beautiful place, nice smiles everywhere. Sat outside, our waiter helped and was friendly at first. Then he left and a waitress came out and just destroyed the whole experience. The entire time, she was extremely aggressive as if she was annoyed at us or something, she just gave us weird looks. When the food got here, it had no salt and we had someone else bring it by as she didn’t even check on us. Later, she came out, I asked for the bill and a box to go for the pizza and pasta, she went in, came out, gave me a bill. She was extremely aggressive and when we saw the cost, we decided to split it, we asked to split 2/3 she said it was impossible (it’s not, I’ve worked at a restaurant) and made it such a massive deal that we’re splitting the bill. She threw my pasta out and brought out a box a few minutes later for my pizza. When I told her there were bees and bugs annoying us, her response was “just ignore them”. I’ve never not tipped before, but her service made me so furious so I didn’t tip for the first time in my life. Banff is a beautiful place with many restaurants, if you’re trying to enjoy your time, there’s many other places with better food (that comes salted). I’m sure the restaurant is ok, the service from our waitress though was completely garbage.

Arina Rodionova

Enjoyed a filling, tasty breakfast on the patio under gorgeous sunshine. The Frittata Calabrese was scrumptious.

Ro Bo

If I could rate less than 1 star, I would. Upon going for lunch I was told with my party of 2 that there would be a 20 minute wait. Inside the restaurant there were MULTIPLE empty tables including an entire bar side that had nobody seated, that we were told "we can't" upon us asking to be sat at the bar. The hostess was rude, and seemed like she didn't really understand what the capacity of the restaurant was because it was WELL below the maximum. They signed us up for some wait list and then I was texted 45 minutes later saying my party of 2 table was ready. Coming from the service industry, this is definitely the worst service I've had.

Bernadette Geronazzo

Service

Ary Babajafari

The food was amazing but there didn't seem to be enough staff. We had to wait a while to pay, for our order to be taken. Was never offered refills. Our poor server seemed run off his feet. The restaurant is GORGEOUS though with an amazing atmosphere otherwise.

Catherine Fraser

Our server was very friendly and helpful and the restaurant is beautiful. The Italian feast for two was very, very good, and my son quite enjoyed the spaghetti with meatballs and sausage. Would definitely recommend!

Darren Fong

Stayed in Banff 4 nights went to Pacini’s twice LOL, it was delicious, wait staff were great! Highly recommend the gnocchi and spinach dip as appetizers, can’t wait to go back and visit!

Manny Cicchetti

Went for breakfast. Bread bar is a great experience. Classico Benny was awesome. Sausage and hash browns were awesome. Over easy eggs were a little more like over hard. Bacon was disappointing. Service was great. Will come back.

Darren R

Insane shrimp risotto, best I’ve ever had. Their space is large so will have room when the rest of Banff is full for weekend dinners.

Katie Frost

Great food. Bread bar was sweet! Staff was all amazing and friendly.

Anna

Ugh what an experience! Boyfriend and I tried to go next door, at the farm and fire, waited 30 minutes just for drinks (no one even asked us if we wanted coffee) still no service so we left and came here . And man what a great place this was ! We walked in got sat and coffee in our system the first 5 minutes ! Food came out looking fantastic and tasted amazing . And they have a unlimited toast station . The services was fantastic, and server was even better ! Honestly stop by here and check them out . It was sooooo good

Megan

I loved this restaurant! Our server was very friendly and kind. I especially loved their self serve bread toasting area! This place was beautiful and clean. Our food was delicious and was more than enough to fill our bellies after a long hike in the mountains. We would definitely come back again and in fact we have already recommended this place to our family and friends who also had a good experience here!

r

Food was decent but portions were pretty small for the price. Another very weird thing was that the waitress would bring the wine out with the foil already unwrapped and half uncorked. Did this for multiple tables. Wine was good (or we would have sent it back) but very suspicious if they were refilling bottles with different wine.

Anna Goryunova

Dine in

Hay Hod

The restaurant experience was wonderful all thanks to our amazing sever Alex from the UK. He was super charming, and helpful in answering all our questions and making sure we got our food on time since we were really hungry.

Sebastián Castellanos Duque

Great hospitality and amazing food.