Piccolo's Pizza and Pasta House

When a Windsor table can't agree on dinner, Piccolo's is the west-end answer. One side orders deep-dish pizza and panzerotti; the other works through baked pasta and a parmigiana plate; the kitchen sends both out made to order. The family-owned Italian dining room on Tecumseh Road West was built around that breadth — a menu deep enough that a couple, a full group, and a catered party can each find their plate without anyone settling. The cooking is comfort-first and generous by habit, plated when it's ordered rather than held under a lamp.

Start, as the regulars do, with Garlic Fingers — soft twisted dough baked with real butter, garlic, and parmesan, a Maritime idea folded into an Italian house and now one of the most-ordered things on the board. The antipasti around it run from Baked Burrata and Arancini to Calamari, Stuffed Mushrooms, Homemade Italian Meatballs, and Sizzling Chili Shrimp. The heart of the kitchen, though, is the al forno section, where pasta goes into the oven under cheese: Baked Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Alfredo, Gnocchi Formaggi, and Crispy Caesar Chicken Tortellini all carry the rich, cheddar-forward house style that has become a Piccolo's signature.

The classic entrees hold the line. Chicken Parmigiana and Veal Con Fungi are the two mains the owner names most often, and the Baked Lasagna arrives stacked the way the name promises. Running in parallel is a full pizza programme — Piccolo's Special Pizza, the Meat Eaters deep dish, and the panzerotti and stromboni that send the dough in other directions. For a group, the split is the whole idea: a baked pasta and a deep-dish pie ordered side by side let one table cover the Italian-comfort lane and the pizza one at once, with the Specialty and platter sections there for whoever still wants more. It is most of why the dining room tends to fill with families rather than couples.

What reads across all of it is a kitchen that settled on its identity early and kept sharpening it. The al forno pastas and cheddar-rich twists sit a little outside classic Italian orthodoxy — they are Piccolo's own dialect of comfort food, the "authentic Italian with a twist" the house has always claimed. Sauces are made in-house, portions run large, and the cooking is aimed squarely at the regular. Cindy Piccolo has put it plainly: every plate is made for the person who ordered it.

That ethos traces back to one family. Cindy Piccolo opened the doors in 1989, not long after finishing university, and the restaurant has stayed in the family since, honouring the original recipes while letting the menu pick up its twists. More than thirty-five years on, the continuity is visible on any given night: early customers now arrive with children of their own, and a table is still told to sit, talk, and take its time. Adrian Piccolo is the next generation stepping in — the same kitchen, handed down rather than sold off.

The family footing is also why Piccolo's works well past the two-top. The operation leans into the big order: shareable platters, an Italian Family Feast and an Amore Dinner for Two that fold the menu into one decision, and full catering with charcuterie grazing tables for private functions and milestones. Meals here are built for an unhurried pace, and the kitchen keeps its own clock — doors open at three, reservations and takeout handled by phone once service starts. What it all adds up to is a neighbourhood dinner house made for the long table: the anniversary, the team night, the Sunday that becomes a catered tray, the family that booked because their parents always did.