Popular Burnaby spot for loyal carb-crazed fans.

4260 East Hastings St, Burnaby, BC    [View Map]
604-299-6636
  $$

It doesn't matter where you live in British Columbia; any true pasta lover has to visit this age old institute of gluttony and fun. The customers I spoke to while waiting in line outside of Anton's came from all residences, some even from Australia! Anton's is located in the heart of Burnaby, on a busy, commercial street on East Hastings. The majority of customers leaving the restaurant on both nights I went looked content and overfed, each carrying their leftover pasta home with them in a white Styrofoam box.

Anton's offers a great beverage menu, listing bottomless sodas and different drink specials all week, as well as inexpensive wines and beer. I asked the server what types of house wines they were offering that night. The music and customers were so loud I could only catch a fragment of something Cabernet-Merlot, another something Merlot, and possibly another choice. I shouted a desire for something fruity and red, and she pleasantly nodded and brought me a glass of something fruity and red ($4.99). My friend ordered the potent sangria ($5.99), a favorite with many of the female clientele.

The menu is extremely descriptive and varied. While we navigated through the appetizers, specialty dishes, and pasta entrees, we nibbled on the fresh, soft house bread buns with butter. On my first visit I tried the fusilli New Orleans, a large plate of curly pasta with scallops, sausages, prawns, chicken, and red peppers. The spicy Cajun sauce was too light for my preference; I found the pasta a little bland. To be fair, it is more likely due to the fact I don?t really care for light, tomato based sauces, and was merely paying for my desire to be healthy that night. ($13.95)

The second time I visited, I tried the conchiglioni pasta, one of Anton's specialty dishes. Six extra large shells filled with seafood were baked in a creamy white sauce. I couldn't tell what seafood was in the shells, but the shells were perfectly al dente, and it was delicious. The white sauce was rich and smooth; it did a nice job bringing the seafood and pasta together.

My friend's favourite dish was the fusilli Al Indiana ($13.95), a fusilli pasta dish with chicken and peas tossed in a curry sauce. The curry wasn?t overpowering, similar to the creamy texture and tastes of butter chicken served at Indian restaurants.

The Fusilli Alla Toscana, another dish that scored high on taste, was a pasta dish of chicken, mushrooms and white wine in a savory pesto cream sauce. ($13.95) The chunks of chicken and slices of mushroom were the perfect size to blend into the fusilli pasta, and the pesto in the sauce was very appetizing.

For dessert, the tiramisu arrived in a huge cake-like square, surrounded by piped whip cream ($6.99). I found this version tasting more like cake than the traditional tiramisu I was expecting. Anton's version was very fresh, light, and large enough for three people. It resembled tiramisu from the cocoa dusted on top, to the many layers of cake and filling. But I didn't detect any rum in the sponge cake, or espresso; nor did I taste any mascarpone. Also, this version used fresh whip cream instead of the rich, heavy custard like fillings typical of traditional tiramisus.

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