Molto Bene!

I discovered this restaurant serendipitously while walking from India Garden. We wandered in and made a mental note to return we not full of naan. This was coupled with my friend Alec seemingly being a paid spokesperson for this restaurant.

It is small inside. They don’t take reservations but I guess you can call ahead (although they initially told us it would be a long wait since there were groups that called ahead, but they actually seated us immediately after we decided we would wait the potential hour). If you have a group bigger than 6 I’d imagine it will be hard to go on a Friday/Saturday night. For being such a new and small place they have a pretty impressive website.

It wasn’t going for the typical /cliched “typical Italian/rustic/Tuscan ” decor or trying to be hyper-modern. It was kinda kitschy in a wonderfully homey way.  Lots of wall decals/ bright colors and an overall clean aesthetic. It’s cute and fun. There is a charm in the fact that it feels like a little gem that not everyone knows about yet.  The staff was friendly and seemed passionate about the food. 

I try to take stealthy photos of the space. I waited for the party next to us to leave so it didn’t look like I was a investigating them. 

Carbs. (yes I realize that I can use that as a caption for every photo here). I felt artsy trying to incorporate the Leaning Tower into this photo…)

We asked for a recommendation for an appetizer and were told to get the crostini ($9). Salmon, sausage, eggplant, and tomato/mozzarella. These were good by all accounts but were exactly what you’d hope they would be. The bread was perfect, this was just a safe dish.

Both of us ordered pasta in a white sauce, so they look very similar. I got the cheese tortellini with broccoli (I ordered it without bacon). $16. These were very large dishes… as in I took a significant amount home. I could really taste the ricotta inside the pasta and the sauce had a rich and wonderful flavor. There was a fair amount of broccoli but I guess I wanted more. This dish came out sooo hot that I had to wait awhile before I could attempt to eat it. 

The salmon linguine with pistachios. This was a HUGE serving and the fish made the sauce completely different than the tortellini. I generally don’t like fish in a pasta sauce. This was fantastic and somehow even a bigger portion than the tortellini.

Fun fact: they make the gelato for many places in Cleveland, but it seems to be cheaper here. For 4 dollars you get a rather large 2 scoops. Everything about dinner was good but the gelato was SUPERB. We got the pumpkin and peanut butter chocolate chip together. The pumpkin was better than Mitchell’s flavor. We also got fig & brie and pistachio. I realize how “adulty” those flavors sound together and fig generally seems boring, it was the opposite. Fig isn’t usually a flavor that I would choose over other more typically exciting fruits, but it was great. I guess they have other desserts on the menu, but everyone in the place was eating gelato (actually everyone had multiple To-go containers because they wanted to leave space for the gelato).

I always forget the difference between ice cream/ gelato/ custard… TURNS OUT GELATO IS HEALTHIER (according to one site that came up when I googled, I stopped there since I was satisfied with that answer.) Please let me live in ignorance to this if I am wrong.

OVERALL: What they lack in seating and parking they make up for in other ways. This place has an abundance of charm and carbs. The menu has the Italian standbys and some fun variations ( there were lots of things I would want to try on a subsequent visit) and the portions are beyond generous. The gelato is creamy perfection. For a fun night out or date, this would be a great choice.  Again, and I don’t know if I can stress this enough, get gelato!

It’s blurry because its a screenshot from a live photo (there was only a brief instance when I looked up from the gelato…).