We walked in here one night after a bad experience at a neighboring restaurant. So we were basically 1/2 full when we arrived here. But despite only trying a couple of items, we were impressed.
First of all, I love the space and atmosphere. It is casual elegance at its finest. It's very small and tucked away in a strip mall. It's dimly lit with a nice wine bar area. In addition to the physical menus, the entire menu is written on chalkboards above the main counter. The whole space is very open - you can sit at your table and watch your meal being prepared in the kitchen. It is not at all what I had pictured in my head back when first reading about this place. It is as if a small mom and pop deli mated with an upscale Italian eatery. It works wonderfully. And it is both a terrific date spot and family dining spot.
Again, we had already somewhat eaten prior to stopping in here, so we opted to share the chili prawns and rigatoni vodka (with a meatball added). And both were outstanding. The chili prawns were just this amazing combination of flavors. We just wished that there were more than two of them (as we happily would have made a meal of just those). The rigatoni vodka definitely held up to my high vodka sauce standards. The rigatoni was perfectly al dente and the meatball was pretty good too. And bonus points for the leftovers reheating well. You know something is great when it tastes good the next day after a spin in the microwave.
We didn't order dessert, but our server surprised us with a complimentary slice of cheesecake. The cheesecake was great and we loved that it was plated with both chocolate and caramel sauce drizzles.
The service was fantastic. Our server was very nice, inquired if this was our first time, how we heard about it, etc.
This is definitely a place high on the return visit list.