La Brezza Restaurant & Cafe - Calgary

Came here for my birthday dinner last monthWe were the only table in the restaurant until about 7pm.

The boys and I were craving Italian food last Thursday, so we decided to drop in (without making dinner reservations like we usually do).

Their calamari: no breading, melt-in-your-mouth, balsamic reduction lick-your-plate awesome.

The eggplant parmesan was excellent. We don't usually get this level of texture/taste with the eggplants. The waiter recommended the calamari, and this was spot on. Different - not the heavily battered mix that you usually get, but delicately battered rings with a light sort of tomato based sauce dusted on top. I think this may have been the best calamari I've had. The calabrese salad and insalata brezza was OK, but the breads were excellent. The linguini mediterranean was very nice and the jumbo shrimp cooked well. Juicy and succulent. The salmon special plate was nice although the salmon filet could have used a touch more seasoning. The lasagna is quite kid friendly. Tasty meat sauce. The creme brulee was very good.The stand out from this place was the atmosphere. What a friendly resto. From the waiter to the owners, they were very welcoming and engaging. Such lovely people.Would go again, just for the calamari.

We had been away from Calgary for a while and returned with a yearning for a good veal piccata. A look at other Italian restaurant menus showed that it had apparently gone out of style. However La Brezza delivered in spades. Calamari starter was also really yummy. The place was a little noisy but I guess that is to be expected on a weekend evening. We highly recommend this place.