"0"^^ . "0"^^ . . . . "2017-07-07T00:00:00"^^ . "I recently had dinner here with 3 other couples prior to a show at the Belk theater. The restaurant is conveniently located near the theater as well as the parking garage.\n\nWe had reservations for an early dinner around 5 pm, hardly anyone there and yet within the hour the restaurant was packed\n\nThe restaurant has a comfortable atmosphere and our waiter was friendly and attentive and answered our questions we had about the menu. \nHe poured water in tall glasses for us, readily took any other beverage orders.\nInteresting to note that the individual glasses of Chianti came in 1/2 filled short beverage tumblers and not typical red wine glasses .\nBread came to the table, was very delicious along with a tall bottle of Evoo plus some small dishes of a tasty white bean condiment.\n\nThe menu features a variety of appetizers, several salads, a tomato basil soup, variety of pizzas, pasta dishes, other entrees to include chicken, lamb, beef and fish and seafood.. Desserts such as mascarpone cheese cake, cannoli and tiramisu were on the menu\n\nPrices moderate, portions adequate, food came out hot, plated nicely, and most was tasty and delicious.\n\n We all enjoyed our food. My dinner was good but not exceptional in my opinion .Some of my dining mates also felt the same way about their dinners too. \n\nOne dining mate enjoyed her Caesar salad, plenty of dressing on it.\nI had the heirloom tomato caprese appetizer. Plated, a wedge of soft delicious mozzarella surrounded by a thin smear of basil pesto , (wished more of that) , along with small cubes of red tomatoes. \nMy dining mate had one of the appetizer specials of the night, sliced duck breast over focaccia with peaches and a savory sauce. . He said it was very tasty.\n\n3 of of us ordered the chefs version of chicken cacciatore, a very popular menu item.. We were able to substitute for the polenta it was normally served over. One substituted with pasta, mine with extra veges instead of the mascarpone polenta which the 3rd diner had.\n Plated were 2 pieces of chicken nicely positioned on the plate.\nIt was nice to see a piece of chicken with a bone instead of boneless chicken breast. The chicken was tasty and nicely seasoned. My extra veges were mostly soupy stewed tomatoes . My dining mate said polenta was ok.\nThe sauce was described with olives, capers and cremini mushrooms.\nThe big green olives with pits were there, one or two mushrooms in each order on our plates; so for mushroom lovers a disappointment.\n\nOther entrees our dining mates ordered were Grandma's lasagna, very much enjoyed, sliced lamb with gnocchi- tender lamb but heavy gnocchi however lamb enjoyed, Pappardelle Rosso pasta which was noted as excellent, 2 orders of chicken parmesan also very much enjoyed.\n\n One dining mate asked for his sauce on the side, so changes or substitutes readily done to please the diner.\n\nFor dessert, the canolli was not enjoyed, the shell so tough it could not be cut with a fork, the filling very good. The waiter was notified and mentioned others had the same complaint.\nThe mascarpone cheesecake was very delicious.\nThe coffee was also very good.\n\nAll in all it was a very enjoyable dining experience for us all. We would probably return and try ordering different dinners next time."^^ . "1"^^ . "4"^^ .