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| - Made reservations for 4 to bring our out of town friends here; it was our first visit as well.
5 stars for the staff -- they may be young people but they have been well trained and they really exude warmth, humor, and service. They also know their dishes and helped make some recommendations that we really enjoyed. I greatly appreciate their expert pacing as well. We we're not in a hurry so they didn't rush us but they were somehow right there when we needed them.
The cocktail list has some pretty unusual combinations but they were lovely. We really liked the bread cart, with its various options and spreads. I wouldn't order it unless I had at least 4 people at the table, though or you'd fill up on bread before you ate dinner (or waste some of that $8 bread). Everyone loved the Stromboli.
For dinner, we had:
Pork chop - the big winner of the night. Unbelievably juicy and tender with great flavor in the light crust. Our waitress described it as "a Flintstone chop." Definitely enough for 2 meals for a light eater.
Black Campanelle w/clams - this was very tasty, though somewhat disappointing. Chef went extremely light on the clams, which are not in the shell. Dish came out just warm. Pasta was cooked perfectly and the breadcrumbs gave it great texture. But I did not taste the Fresno chilis and one of the clams had significant grit in it.
Torchio - this sausage and mushroom Ragu was flavorful and filling. In the Italian way, it's light on sauce but still a heavier dish.
Roasted Halibut - this was an off-menu special. Guest loved the flavor and it was cooked perfectly but also came out just barely warm.
We truly enjoyed the atmosphere on the patio, which is protected by excellent landscaping, so you don't have to overlook the parking lot. Overall, a very nice dinner, prices are more than fair, just a few kitchen glitches with temperature. But as I said at the beginning, excellent staff, who made the evening so enjoyable.
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