Great Service- I had a great server that was very attentive without being intrusive.
Adorable decor- very Midwestern Italian campy (that's a style right?).
Very homey- tables are numerous and close together. Take the time to say hi to your neighbor stranger!
Okay, let's talk about the food.
Meh... Although I was not very adventurous on this visit.
What I tried:
Brussels sprout salad- lovely, lots of crunch, generous toppings and a tasty vinaigrette.
Butternut squash soup- very thick and hearty. About what you would expect.
Spaghetti alla Bolognese- it's spaghetti with meat sauce. My dad could make this (context: my father is a nice man, but a pretty awful cook. I love him very much).
Winter linguine with clams and mussels- I'm going to say it... almost as good as the Olive Garden (there are a few unclassy things in life that I like and Olive Garden is one of them)
Pizza with wild mushrooms and lardo- great thin crust, tons of cheese. Mushrooms were flavorful. Biggest disappointment, lardo is not Italian for bacon. Rookie mistake. Lardo is fat back. When the pizza came out, I just thought it was cheese that hadn't quite melted. Nope! Although the texture was not off putting and was pretty flavorless, knowing I was eating strips of plain pork fat gave me the heebee jeebees. How is this different from eating a strip of bacon you may ask? The all-important hunks of cured meat dispersed in the fat, that's how.
Tiramisu- good, the whipped cream was over whipped so was greasy, not a huge portion. I recommend not sharing, unless you like passive aggressive fighting with loved ones. Another alternative is hitting up a grocery store for Haagen-Dazs's Tiramisu gelato, which is amazing, or the Tiramisu at the bakery counter at Metcalfs (1/2 the price, 4x as big, and 90% as good).