The Old Spaghetti Factory

Perhaps not the best food you can get… but it is good.
Part of it for me is the nostalgia. I have been going here since I was a little girl. I took my kids here as they were growing up, sitting in the trolley just to create a great memory for them. I would do it all again.
Never had bad service here… always great service in fact. The food is a comfort food for me, as when I was growing up it was a huge treat to be able to go there… we would meet grandparents there, cousins, out of town guests… we had our celebrations there… I do like it for sentimental reasons as well as I love their sour dough bread. I love knowing the menu pretty much remains the same for the basics that they have always had… plus add new things.
One of my best memories took place at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Spokane, still a favorite restaurant, still a favorite memory.

After living in Spokane for several years, we finally decided to give the Spaghetti Factory a try. We were surprised by the pleasant décor and spaciousness. Even more surprising was the service – the best we have experienced in any Spokane restaurant. The young, earnest staff was attentive and considerate. The food? Well, you get what you pay for, and the prices are low. The salad was too cold and too wet. The pasta was cooked perfectly, but the marinara sauce tasted like it came from a can. The parmesan was tasteless. The drinks and wine, however, were excellent and very reasonable priced. In all, not a bad place for an inexpensive meal as long as you are not expecting cuisine.

This Old Spaghetti Factory stirs up all kinds of nostalgia for me. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. It was always a favorite family outing, get-​together spot with friends, and then later a cozy, friendly place for reunions when I was back in town. But it’s not all just nostalgia. I still really like the food here, and I never get tired of the quirky antique-​attic ambience.
The Old Spaghetti Factory chain started in the Northwest in the 1970s (I think Portland was first, then Spokane, followed by Seattle), and has since spread to half the country. I’ve had mixed experiences and heard mixed reviews for those various far-​flung locations (my cousins in St. Louis give that one a solid thumbs-​down for consistently overcooked pasta, for instance), but I’ve always found the venerable Spokane location consistently top-​notch. Pasta is always a just-​right al dente. Sauces, salads, fresh baked sourdough bread with garlic butter, and the complementary spumoni ice cream, are all consistently excellent.
The atmosphere is unique and fun: Take an historic old building, decorate it with a crazy assortment of fascinating antiques, local color (I love the old photos of Spokane, especially the one of the 1920’s auto show in the Davenport lobby), the trademark trolley, and throw in friendly, efficient service and a happy clientele (this has always been a favorite spot for birthdays, and it is a rare occasion to get through a meal without hearing one or two raucous renditions of «Happy Birthday»), and you’ve got recipe for success.
The bar is also pleasant and inviting, in an Old West kind of way. The bar itself, an enormous mirrored mahogany thing from the 19^th century, is work of art, a real museum piece. With the faux-​Tiffany lamps and antique furniture, it really feels like stepping into the past.
The food is nothing fancy, but it’s always very tasty and satisfying. This has never been, and was never intended to be, a fine dining establishment. Those who rate it in comparison to far more upscale (and expensive) restaurants are being rather unfair. This is a family oriented, budget restaurant, that has managed to create a formula for a pleasant, memorable dining experience at an incredibly low price. It’s really hard to beat on a value-​for-​the-​money basis. Where else can you get a hearty, tasty, four-​course dinner, all in a unique, fascinating, quasi-​elegant atmosphere, for about the same as you’d pay for a comparable number of calories at MacDonalds?
When it comes to recommendations on the food, I’ve got one word: Mizithra! I first encountered this Greek answer to Parmesan/​Romano/​Mozzarella here at OSF, and have never found anyplace else that does it as well (the only place I can think of that comes close is also here in Spokane: Tomato Street on N. Divsion), and few that have ever even heard of it. You gotta try it. I almost always order the «Manager’s Favorite» combo, with either meat sauce (i.e. Bolognese) and mizithra, or with mushroom sauce (actually a marinara red sauce with mushrooms added) and mizithra. Or, when I’m really hungry, I’ll throw in a side of meatballs (excellent) as well. Mizithra cheese is a goat cheeze that combines some of the tanginess of feta, with a bit of the chewiness of mozzarella, and the flakiness of parmesan, and it is totally delicious and addictive. Don’t pass it up.

The Old Spaghetti Factory is a great atmosphere, very cozy and nice lighting. However, the Italian dishes are mundane, mostly sauce. Not impressive! Like this review, there isn’t a lot of meat or substance to the dishes. Growing up, it used to be a favorite of mine… not anymore!

Decided to go with the #2, half meat sauce and half spinach and cheese ravioli for diner. The marinara sauce for the ravioli was a bit underwhelming but the cheese/​spinach filling more than made up for it. I highly recommend any plate at the spaghetti factory. Oh and great service as well!

We love the Spaghetti Factory. I wouldn’t say the food is that great, and the service is hit or miss, but the location itself is welcoming and it’s just enjoyable being there! The food is really just the typical Spaghetti Factory food, it’s cheap and they’re unfortunately made their portions a bit smaller. The décor is adorable, and we have good memories there. And I can’t leave out the bread, it is amazing!

If it wasn’t for our server Nick the even family reunion could have been a disaster. He was the best I have ever seen! Great listener for the senior group that was at the table. You will go far Nick.

I had a similar place like this in San Antonio. Their customer service was off the chain, I took my daughter to the bathroom after sitting there for about 10 minutes and when I came back my food was done I ordered I the meatball and Italian sausage they strategically placed it so that it wouldn’t look like a dick and balls but it was really good. The bathrooms were also clean and there is a lot of room to walk around in the place they even had a balloon guy making balloons for the kid’s.

Great service and delicious food!!! I really like the trolley car and the old atmosphere. Our waitress was very very polite and courteous!!!

Brought guests in from out of town, and was told downstairs was «no different“than upstairs. They sat us in what should be described as a partially finished basement nothing like upstairs. Salad was just a bowl of iceberg lettuce with 3 croutons, nothing else. Food was room temperature when served. My ravioli had sauce splashed on half the dish sloppily. Sangria tasted like cool aid waaaay too sweet. Services was fast and friendly and the reason I gave 3 not 2 stars.

I am not a fan of The Old Spaghetti Factory however I will concede that the food and service were acceptable. we didn’t’ have to wait long for our table for eight and the diet coke refills kept coming.
everyone had fun in our party and my sister inexplicably loves it there so if she’s ever visiting me again and suggest we go to The Old Spaghetti Factory, I will say yes with less grumbling that before this last visit.
One legitimate complaint is the HORRIBLE PARKING situation in downtown Spokane. everything is coin-​op meters. who carries coins around anymore???

This is a very family friendly restaurant and I love all the wood and homey décor. The food is alright and the service is good. Parking is a pain in the arse but for the most part its a great place to bring the whole family and not go broke. At the end of the meal they bring out spumoni ice cream so that’s a nice treat.

A favorite of ours. Wait staff is always pleasant and accommodating. Food consistently good, and they are open to modifications.
Parking is the one issue, but it could be worse

First, their food for the value cannot be beat. Food was great, server very nice, ONLY negative here is they do not have any parkng. So you need to be prepared to walk a couple of blocks. My husband usually drops me off and he goes and parks. I was told they have been trying to buy lot for years.
Will come back for sure.

Food was good. Nothing spectacular. Price was ok. About average for comparable restaurants. Service was good until the food came out and they didn’t know who had ordered what. They called the food out and if it was yours, you had to raise your hand. Nice wine selection though. And always so busy! The place was packed.

I’m sure there are better «Italian restaurants» in Spokane but for a big chain, this isn’t too bad. The food is decent and service is always friendly. If anything, go give it a try on your next date night. You can request to eat in the cable car AND that is an experience all on its own.
If you have kids, I recommend going on a saturday because «Buttons» walks around making balloon animals. I’m 30 and I still enjoy getting a good balloon animal ;)
My other recommendation is to try the cotton candy limeade. It’s just a fun blue drink (sprite and cotton candy syrup) served with a chunk of cotton candy on top and a color changing straw. Soooo fun!

An old childhood favorite…
I’ve tried other Spaghetti Factories in Whistler BC and Seattle, and for some reason the quality was never as good as the Spokane location. Ordered take-​out from here tonight and they’re still on top of their game.
I usually stick to the manager’s special with ½ meat and ½ clam sauce. It’s good, not great. But teamed up with rest of the meal, it’s more than capable of hitting the spot. The real stars of the show, however, is the creamy pesto dressing that comes with the salad, and their classic finisher – spumoni ice cream!
A couple of unfortunate things about this particular location is that it’s located in kind of a sketchy part of downtown, and they aren’t open for lunch on weekdays. Otherwise, it’s a decent place to bring kids and family.

Of all the Spaghetti Factories this one is my favorite. It doesn’t smell like a nursing home and the food isn’t all breaded. (Like the chicken in the pasta — it can be grilled)
The set up is super great and they set us up in an old trolly car that now is set up in the restaurant. It was before a race so my friend and I were carb loading.
I love that they load up the leftovers for you and you can order off menu and «build your own» meal rather than have a built dinner that is on the menu.
The servers are great and although it is a family restaurant I didn’t feel like there were a ton of screaming kids set around me.

My wife has been mentioning Spaghetti Factory for about a week now so I knew it was time for us to make the trip downtown. Tonight was the night. We were seated fairly quickly for 6pm. We quickly knew what we wanted and our waiter (Travis) was by quickly to take our order. Bread hit the table and Travis obliged my wife’s request for non-​garlic butter with no hint it being an issue. Both of us had also ordered Iced tea. Throughout our dinner the iced tea was slow to be refilled and oddly the empty glasses were forever left on the table. Dinner arrived and completely met our expectations. The one great thing with the OSF is that the food is forever consistant. We asked for a second loaf of bread and assumed that the empty butter dishes would be refilled without asking. Unfortunately not the case. After asking, more butter arrived. Amazingly the empties were left on the table along with the empty iced tea glasses. Being that the table we were at was small for two the extra empties started to be an issue. Desert arrived however in the form of ice cream and any thought of complaining about limited table space vanished.
So overall a decent visit and my wifes craving was fulfilled. Despite the annoying empties being left around we will be back. Everyone has an off night now and then.

Very Significant Family Nostalgia At This OSF Location
SITREP
Still a great deal for about $ 10. This Old Spaghetti Factory (OSF) location in downtown Spokane is one of my earliest OSF experiences dating back to the early 80s. [Spokane was basically one of our wee family’s first West Coast major relocations after my parents divorced in 1980 in D.C., and mom packed up us 4 kids and moved out West, leaving our dad to ponder his life back in D.C.]
THE SETUP
Not a whole lot can be added to this OSF review that hasn’t already been mentioned on other OSF-​location reviews that I’ve done.
For about a nominal $ 10, you get your choice of a spaghetti sauce (or sauces), along with hot sourdough bread, garlic butter, a side salad or minestrone soup, and a scoop of ice cream (vanilla or spumoni). It truly is a basic meal, but one of my «comfort food» stops when you want to have something filling and will satisfy you.
In fact, I just popped up here again this past year when making a trip further into Idaho, and it brought back the familiar comfort food feeling I experience at the OSF that is a mere 3 blocks away from here in Midtown Sacramento. [Yes, I consider myself VERY LUCKY to have an OSF only 3 blocks away from me! But that’s a different review.] :)
NOSTALGIA
Now the bit of nostalgia I have with this location is truly bittersweet: back in 1988, I had a nice little dinner here with my mom and we 4 siblings (my younger sister and 2 younger brothers). Flash forward almost three (3) decades, kids grow up, get into relationships and move away to far-​flung cities (NYC, Sacramento, one back to D.C.) and it also really is difficult to put your finger on exactly when siblings have falling outs with each other, and when children cease to connect with their parents, etc. But the sad reality is, that this Old Spaghetti Factory location — and the dinner we had there in 1988 — actually still remains the LAST TIME that my mom had dinner with all 4 of her children together.
It just makes you think about the tenuous relationships people have with each other and their priorities. I’m happy to say that since my mom has moved to Seattle, we’ve both made the best of life and we both often pop into that Old Spaghetti Factory there. [But that too is a different review.] ;)
THE LOWDOWN
The Old Spaghetti Factory never ceases to satisfy my inner pasta cravings and has in an odd way, become tied up (especially any Pacific Northwest OSF-​location) in my nostalgic family memories.