Man visiting all Old Spaghetti Factory locations finally ends the Canadian leg of his tour in Saskatoon

As It Happens6:30Man visiting all Old Spaghetti Factory locations finishes Canadian leg in Saskatoon

Every time Andrew Mancini does an icebreaker activity, he proudly shares the scripted answer of his life-long goal: visiting all 62 locations of the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant chain. 

This ambitious culinary journey has taken him across the United States, Canada, and even to Japan.

In all of his visits to the 59 unique locations so far, Mancini always orders the same meal that he first had as a 10-year-old: spaghetti with marinara sauce.

"I thought I'd been to enough Old Spaghetti Factories that I had to double down and continue to order what I had as a 10-year-old," the soon-to-be alum of Stanford University in California told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

"Still to this day — and it kills all the managers — I'll fly out to Toronto, 2,000 miles away from San Francisco [and] thousands of miles to Japan, and still basically order off the kids' menu."  

The Old Spaghetti Factory was founded in 1969 by the late Guss and Sally Dussin in Portland, Ore. Since then, the Italian-American-style franchise continues providing its signature three-course meal and charming, old-timey decor.

Mancini's 12-year-and-counting love affair with the Old Spaghetti Factory only intensified as he grew up. His devotion centres around fond family memories and creating new fun ones with friends.

Origins of this quest

At the age of 10, when his family decided to stop at an Old Spaghetti Factory during a vacation in southern California, Mancini had his first meal at the restaurant. It was love at first bite. 

A month later, in a separate trip, his parents took him on another vacation to Whistler, B.C., where they also ended up at the local Old Spaghetti Factory. This second time around, Mancini noticed how all the chain's global spots were listed in the menu's border. 

"So 10-year-old me was able to say, 'Hey, in a one-month time span, I've been to two kind of geographically far apart locations,' and I could physically check off the two I'd been to. I saw that there were maybe 40 or 45 others… 10-year-old me said, 'Hey I'm going to try to visit them all.'"

Mancini, 22, says he recognizes that it seems like an odd ambition, but that his parents encouraged him to pursue his spaghetti-inspired travel bucket list. 

"They kind of laughed," he said. "Some people make an effort to get every national park or every state in the U.S. or every major league baseball stadium… and they said, 'Hey, if you want to make this your own version, you know, go for it.' And I don't think they ever really thought I'd make it… but here we are."

Takeaways from his pasta-driven travels

Thanks to his passion for this restaurant chain's pasta, Mancini has had a blast traveling to places he might never have visited otherwise. The final Canadian location from his Old Spaghetti Factory tour he had to cross off his list brought him to Saskatoon. He says the same meal is "surprisingly" consistent from the U.S. to Canada to Japan.

"Down to the pasta sauce, the garlic butter that comes with the bread, the spumoni that they give you for dessert — it's crazy, when you think about it, that two continents apart, they're still providing the same dishes. In Canada, I'll give it, that they serve basil leaves on top of the pasta's marinara sauce, which they don't in Japan or the U.S."

Restaurant managers across the United States have also invited him to attend the inauguration of new locations. The latest was to Medford, Ore., in late April, where he even met with the founders' son, Chris Dussin. But Mancini said he'd still be a loyal customer even without the special treatment. 

Esteban Martinez, the current manager of the Old Spaghetti Factory in Saskatoon, said his team was "very excited" to welcome this super fan and "talk about how much he loves the spaghetti," particularly "his love of the marinara sauce."

Andrew Mancini has Italian-American roots, but when his relatives back in Sicily hear about his endeavour, he says they "roll their eyes and not comment on whether or not this restaurant is truly authentic Italian." 

When he pitches the restaurant to others, Mancini says he's often met with skepticism. But he always has a comeback ready: "Hey, remember, I'm a quarter Italian, so I have a little bit more ability to say this is good Italian food."

With only three locations left to visit (Portland, Ore., Seattle, Wa. and Spokane, Wa.), Mancini says he has reflected on nearly completing his feat. 

"Everyone's been making a joke, 'What happens after I reach the sixty-second? Is life even worth living?'" 

"But certainly it's been fun memories along the way, and they do continue to expand every year, so even if I make it to 62 by [this] year's end, hopefully next year or the year after, they'll be a new Canadian or American city to go explore."