Choose the ordering arrangement
- Six individual pasta choices: Café Diplomatico, using a base price and separate sauce additions.
- A published package for six on Monday: Sotto Voce, with wine, salad and pasta.
- A higher pasta budget: Contrada, with two named pasta dishes in the example.
Show the group what the number buys
Figures are CAD for six people, excluding tax, tip and extras. Drinks and dessert are excluded from the à la carte examples; Sotto Voce’s package includes one glass of wine per person. These are different meals.
| Restaurant | Specified example for six | Subtotal | What the figure represents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Café Diplomatico | Six penne with pomodoro at 17.25 + two bruschetta at 12 | 127.50 | Suggested food order |
| Sotto Voce | Six Monday packages at 30 | 180 | Published wine, salad and pasta package |
| Contrada | Three rabbit tagliatelle at 31 + three duck agnolotti at 36 + three breads at 9 | 228 | Suggested food order |
Café Diplomatico: let six people build their own pasta
594 College St · Little Italy
Café Diplomatico’s 2026 menu separates the pasta base from sauce additions. Penne starts at CAD16; pomodoro adds CAD1.25. Six of those orders total CAD103.50, with two bruschetta bringing the example to CAD127.50.
That separation is useful for organising a group whose choices diverge. Send the menu and ask everyone to choose a pasta and sauce before treating the total as settled. Bolognese, for example, carries a different addition; other pasta bases have their own prices. “Six pastas” is not one fixed bill.
This is the flexible-order choice, rather than a shared package. Its reservation page directs groups larger than twelve to email. For your six-person plan, start by making sure everyone has seen the menu and the sauce additions.
Sotto Voce: use the Monday offer while the group fits it
595 College St · Little Italy
The useful detail in Sotto Voce’s authorised Recession Mondays listing is the party-size range: one to six people. At CAD30 each, the offer includes a glass of wine, a salad and pasta, Monday from 5–10 p.m. A group of six reaches CAD180 for those inclusions.
That makes this the clearest package in the comparison, provided Monday works for everyone and they want what is included. Its wine component matters: the total is not comparable to a food-only subtotal without acknowledging the difference.
The public listing does not spell out the eligible pasta choices or a replacement for the wine. Ask about those details if they affect anyone’s decision, and select the named experience when checking booking options. Do not extend the Monday price to another evening or a seventh diner.
Contrada: get agreement on the higher food spend
537 College St · Little Italy
Contrada’s posted food menu gives the group a more specific choice than “somewhere Italian”: rabbit tagliatelle at CAD31 or duck confit agnolotti at CAD36. The example divides six orders evenly between them and adds three breads at CAD9 each, reaching CAD228.
Choose this route when the named pasta dishes are the reason to meet and the group is comfortable with that food budget. Send the two pasta choices to the group before proposing this split; the cost changes when people order something else.
The reservation page asks parties of seven or more to email and publishes dinner service from 5:30 p.m. Those published hours give you a starting point for choosing the evening.
Send a proposal people can actually answer
A useful group message names the date, the restaurant and the spending arrangement. For Café Diplomatico or Contrada, say whether people will pay for their own orders or split the bill; equal division needs agreement when mains have different prices. For Sotto Voce, identify the Monday experience and its inclusions.
Six-person deposits, cancellation conditions and mandatory-menu rules were not fully established for the two à la carte venues. The published size thresholds alone do not resolve them. Contact the restaurant with the exact party size and read the checkout terms before booking; no live availability is promised here.
Choose Sotto Voce when the Monday package works for the whole group. Choose Café Diplomatico when individual pasta choices and a lower illustrated food subtotal matter most. Choose Contrada when the rabbit and duck pastas justify the higher starting bill. Once the meal has a shape, the group chat has something concrete to agree on.
Research note: We checked official menus and public reservation information on 13 October 2026. These recommendations are based on research, with no meals sampled.