Located off the streets of Old City Quarter, La Stella welcomes you with warm smiles and immediate service. The large, circular woodfire pizza oven proudly lets you know that this place is the real deal.  They even give you raw sugar with your coffee. And not that crap in the packets.

The Braised Chicken Papardelle I treated myself to was phenomenal. More than enough to fill me up and exploding with more fresh flavour than any meal I can recently recall. I’d return for the Rizotto alone. 

So my expectations for the restroom were already quite elevated by the time I finished my meal and had to make a mandatory stop to the lav. So how did they do, eh? Fuggedaboudit! 

With food this good, it’d be a shame to undo your belt in a badly taken care of  bathroom. Thankfully, as the sign would suggest, La Stella’s lav is as straightforward and chic as a shitter can be.

My bathroom at home has nothing on these guys. Their pristine porcelain puts mine to shame. Just look at that glistening shine. I actually had to move back to take the photo, otherwise the camera would have captured my face in the reflection and polluted this impressive potty-presentation.

After stuffing myself to satisfaction with dinner, I passed on dessert. But let me tell you, if I wanted to cap my meal off with a sweet treat, I wouldn’t feel bad about eating it right here.

La Stella runs the type of restroom facility that I’d get up 45 minutes early for, just so I could drive down to the restaurant and freshen up inside before starting my day.

Maybe next time I’ll ask them if I can leave a few essential items here. I don’t care if it’s a considerable drive out of my way. You can’t put a price on a good venue for your morning routine.

On top of clean floors, a classy black and white theme, and a smell that I would admiringly consider “neutral,” this place also has a fantastic portrait of some rather hungry looking race dogs, testicles included.

The only thing I’d consider um, distasteful, is the advertisement they have for their own pizza deal right above the toilet. This not-so-sneaky, guerilla advertising campaign harms the ambience of the room. All things considered though, 20 bucks for pizza and a pint is worth promoting, even if your customers see it before taking a poop.

La Stella’s provided me with an all around wonderful experience. The hand soap was supreme and the World Dryer Smartdri Plus (mostly) dried my hands. Quite a feat for any piece of equipment in its league. Impressive. I’d even push it to say that you’d be safe going bare-cheeked on the seat here. I almost did.

But we’re still in Nanaimo. Don’t ever raw-dog it anywhere, friends.

Anyway, Bel lavoro on the lav! Highly recommended.

Toilet Paper Rating: 5/5