For $15, today's side deal gets you $35 worth of Italian fare and drinks at Café Il Nido on Thurlow Street. Café Il Nido blends traditional Italian fare with exotic spices such as ginger and saffron to excite palates, even as customers are lulled to relaxation by the warm and intimate décor. Accent the lunch hour with the trota, a ruby trout pan-seared in caper-lemon butter and chaperoned by pomme gratin and fresh vegetables ($22), or canoodle with the puttanesca, a spaghettini dish with calamari, anchovies, and olives in a spicy tomato sauce ($14). The dinner menu satisfies herbivores with the sweet potato gnocchi ($15), and carnivorous appetites are slaked by the ossobuco, a dish of lamb shanks slow braised in a spiced wine reduction ($25). Handcrafted desserts and a wine list that includes by-the-glass and 1/2-litre options ensure taste buds stay alert and happy through the final act.

Reviews

Numerous publications featured Café Il Nido and Zagat reviewers give the food a 21. Google Mappers give Café Il Nido a perfect five stars and 70% of Urbanspooners like it. TripAdvisors give Café Il Nido an average of 3.5 owl eyes and Yelpers give it an average of 3.5 stars. Open Table reviewers give it an overall rating of 3.6 stars.

• The waiter was prompt, as were our meals. We had the polpetine - bison meat balls and marinara so tasty - and the gamberoni, very delicious with a delicate sauce not to overwhelming! The service was attentive, but not over-done. – Google Mapper who reviewed on 4/28/2010
• I had been many Italian restaurants throughout Vancouver but never have I been to one this good. I [sic] orderded the Tubetti which is a lamb dish with a cherry tomato sauce. What I received was an incredibly delicious creation of pasta, vegetables, and a very tasty red sauce. – Freddy Valiant, Urbanspoon