Summary: Spago is a great place to take a significant other. The noise level in the cafe was not too loud which made it an enjoyable experience. Although unnerving while watching you dine, the wait staff does a great job of answering questions and clearing dishes from the table. The pizzas are highly recommended but be willing to shell out some money for the drinks, cocktails and wines being the most unreasonably priced.
I went to Spago on New Year's Eve with my girlfriend. Fortunately I made reservations the week before. Our reservation was for 7:15 but I showed up a little early and was seated by 7:05. There are two menus you can choose from; the cafe menu of the dining room menu. The dining room menu has your meats and fine dining while the cafe menu has brick oven pizzas ad the like. We opted for the cafe menu and ordered drinks, an appetizer, and our main meal all at once. Unfortunately they all came out at the same time (very quickly, about 20 minutes after ordering) so our pizzas got cool while we ate our calamari.
The cafe, although mostly open to the Forum Shops street mall, was not as loud as you might expect. Conversation was easily audible. The wait staff was friendly and had no trouble answering any of the questions I had about the menu. It is a little unnerving however since the wait staff lines along the side wall when they are not helping diners, observing the dining room and seeing if any diners need them. They just stand there...looking...watching....constantly vigilant. That aside, they do great at being Johnny on the spot for clearing dishes and helping with questing.
The calamari served with their sweet chili sauce was fantastic. The chicken sausage pizza was equally fantastic and was a fairly large portion that I almost did not finish because it made me full. The drink prices were the most unreasonable and unpleasant thing I encountered at Spago. Soda is $4.50 and the cocktails range from $10-17. I ordered a Vesper and it was $16, where a fair price could have been $9 or $10.