Cin Cin

GreenHippo

Best Italian in Vancouver? 29th March 2007

4 found this helpful

This business-casual Italian restaurant is based on the trendy Robson Street. The entrance to the restaurant is quite hard to find - since the restaurant is upstairs and there is a small doorway with some steps leading to the upstairs entrance.

The bar is in the middle of the restaurant and is quite well-stocked with a small but inventive range of cocktails. I had a French 75, which is a gin-based martini and found it to be good but pretty strong.

The kitchen is semi-open so it is possible to see the staff hard at work at preparing your food. Decor is Italian (which is what you would expect in an Italian restaurant!) but is quite sophisticated and trendy.

I had a small green salad (I was trying to watch my calories!) but the special house dressing was very tasty and the leaves were fresh and full of flavour. Throwing caution to the wind, I then progressed onto a wild mushroom and truffle pizza, which was thin crust and delicious.

Passing up the dessert, I instead had a glass of port - Dow's 1985 - which was one of the best glasses of port I have ever had. At CDN $18 per glass it was by far the most expensive on the menu but was worth every cent. I am very fussy about my cappuccino - this was excellent even though I ordered the decaf version.

Cin Cin's is quite loud and not really a romantic restaurant. It is perfect for a group of 4 or 6 people and the atmosphere is buzzing.

The menu came with a list of accolades that this restaurant has received - including best italian in Vancouver. I have been to a few Italian restaurants in the city and agree that this is the best that I have experienced. This does come at a price - tonight's experience cost about CDN $220 including service, two courses each, port, coffee and three cocktails each.