Address: City Center Sofia, Arsenalski Boulevard
Tel: 02/ 866 77 80
Open: 11.30am to 11.30pm

After my third and most recent visit to Pastarito, it has ascended in my estimation.

In the spectrum of “Italian” restaurants in Sofia, which vary wildly in quantity, Pastarito rates among the relatively more expensive and among those which take their business a little bit more seriously. It is, after all, part of a chain that spans a number of countries in Europe.

For all that, on my previous visits, the second being several months ago, I had found the cuisine not much more than adequate, and even some of the basics such as spaghetti bolognaise a touch on the dry side and the portions slightly less than one might reasonably expect. For whatever reason, with the passage of time, matters have improved.

A mark of this is the fact that it was a good thing that we had phoned ahead to make a reservation. I did so because we went on March 8, International Women’s Day, when it is usually difficult to find anywhere to eat – some years, I have struggled even to find a seat in a coffee shop. Elsewhere, I might muse on the somewhat sexist interpretation of Women’s Day in this country – that it is a day to present flowers, rather than, as is done in other countries, hold special events to consider profound gender issues such as domestic violence, rape and workplace discrimination – but that would be seeking to weave much too serious issues among the strands of spaghetti.

We arrived at 2.30pm for a late lunch, to find menus already laid out on our table and did not have to wait unduly for the waiter to appear to take our order. Apart from the normal menu, there was a separate “chef’s menu” of specialities. We did have to ask for the wine list, which literally is that – beers, spirits and soft drinks are listed at the back of the food menu. I did not ask for a menu in English (I don’t need one, and my apologies to readers who might need to know whether one is available) but the wine list was bilingual. And impressive enough, too, with a reasonable selection of Bulgarian wines and a representative list of wines imported variously from, among others, Italy, Argentina, Chile, Australia and South Africa.

From the chef’s menu, I ordered a Pastichio alla bolognaise (400g, 9.50 leva) to be preceded by a Paezena salad (tomato, sheep’s cheese, garlic and so forth, 300g and 7.80 leva); my wife ordered a vegetable pasta; to accompany, I chose an Italian Cabernet Cornaro ’05 (17.70) while my wife, who was still feeling a unwell after a trip to Brussels, stuck to soda water.

Notes: the serving staff are polite even if the organisation is not entirely efficient (why I say this will become clear later on); the narrow balcony could be a tempting prospect on a summer’s day, with its view over the adjoining park; the word “bio” occurs a number of times on the menu because the restaurant offers a wide variety, illustrated with pictures, of specialty pastas; and finally, so that I may preserve my anonymity as a reviewer, next time I should not be taking notes on Sofia Echo stationery with a Sofia Echo pen.

Our pastas arrived in reasonable time and were wonderfully tasty and filling without being unduly onerous. Half way through, I realised, given that I am no glutton, I would not be ordering the item that I had noted among the desserts, the mascarpone with mango (350g, 5.90 leva). Nor was it really a tragedy that my salad never arrived. An organisational issue: while one waiter took the order, my wife’s pasta arrived borne by a different waitress; mine by another; and somewhere there had been a breakdown in communication, hence I cannot pronounce judgment on the salad. This would be my only carp, apart from the place being quite noisy and thus a slightly difficult environment for those of us who are softly-spoken. But in this case, unlike in many others, it was not a problem of over-loud music but of music in combination with the din of animated conversations around the restaurant.

Our bill was about 43 leva, and when we pointed out that we had been billed for a salad that never came, it was reduced to about 36, meaning in all, with a tip, an excursion costing 40 leva.