Vicio Il Mastro Pastaio

Is the…pandemic…over(ish)? I don’t wanna jinx it, but at least we can go back to enjoying good food, cold drinks and at Vicio Il Mastro Pastaio, live jazz music. Yay!

I have a pretty long list of places to check out, as you can imagine. This wasn’t on it. In fact, I’ve never heard of this restaurant before, but stumbled upon their event on Facebook (yes I’m old enough to still be on Facebook): Aperitivo Siciliano + live jazz concert. Given that I haven’t seen any live music in about 2 years, it was a pretty easy sell.

Hayden and I got there, grabbed a drink and kicked off our first date night out since November. The aperitivo comes with a set menu, so you just sit there, relax, and wait for your food. Perfect.

First course: a giaaant Arancina. Not gonna lie, this is only the second time I try this dish, so I’m not an expert. I found it quite tasty, but couldn’t finish it, knowing there’s more to come. It’s heavy, hearty food.

Around 40 minutes into the aperitivo experience, the jazz band arrived. The 2 guys were really funny and put on a perfect show to add to the mood. I could almost imagine I was in Italy, on a terrace, having local food, wine that costs less than in Amsterdam and is 3 times better…ah. It all ended when I looked out the window. It was raining, obviously.

Next up, we got an even bigger plate! This is called a Mix of Sicilian Food Delicacies. Food was okay, but for a meal that mainly involved bread and cheese, it was just way too much. I’ve seen some empty plates around me though, so maybe it’s me but…Jesus. I think if we would’ve done aperitivo over 5 hours, I could’ve had a chance. Anyway – my favorite thing to here here was mix them up. The Panelle (pancake made with chickpea flour) went on the sweet toast, and the ricotta was mixed with the veggies.

Notice there’s extra nice bread in the middle. All this is per person.

We’re not done though! Next up – a pasta tasting. We got a small portion of delicious, dreamy pasta. Definitely the star of the show. It tasted lemony and sweet, with a biscuit/cookie crumble on top. A perfect desert kind of dish. More of that, please!

Aaaand that’s all the food we got for 17.50 EUR. Yep. A drink was included, by the way. And the concert, of course.

Overall, I definitely don’t think you can beat the value for money here. This may be the most food I’ve ever seen for this amount of money, besides at De Aardige Pers.

The food was good, not exceptional, but the whole experience was well worth it and I’d happily do this again. Personally, I’d prefer to have smaller portions of better quality food, or simply more Sicilian dishes and less bread (on that mix plate, mainly). Since the pasta we’ve had was amazing, I believe the many pasta dishes on their every day menu are also pretty great.

Value for money: 10

Food Quality: 7

Location: 8 (Bilderdijkstraat 192 H)

Service: 9

Website: https://vicioilmastropastaio.com/

Have a suggestion, question, or just want to hola at me? Find me here: sayhello.eatandtell@gmail.com