Tavola

I'm generally a skeptic about Italian food. I hardly ever go to Italian restaurants, because most of the time I end up disappointed.

Enter Tavola. It definitely broke the mold. Its a cute little joint next to The Local in Belmont. Be careful, because the inside is small and seating is limited, so on a really cold night you might want to make sure you have a reservation, because they do not have a waiting area.

The restaurant has an open kitchen. It was a nice feature, not because I paid any attention to what they were doing, but because the smell of butter was wafting through the restaurant. So delicious!

We started with a bottle of chianti. I thought the range of wine options was good, mostly on the pricey side. And the menu had excellent variety in all categories. I'd like to pause here to comment on our waitress. She spilled some of the wine down my glass, and didn't offer to clean it up. And she told us we could read the specials off the board ourselves. We were as far away from the board as you could get. And, oh, no glasses on! Couldn't see. My dinner partner had to read the board for me. I thought that, overall, the service was not the best. Especially given that the restaurant was small.

So, back to the food. We had the bruschette special. It was three different rounds of toast, one with goat cheese and roasted tomato, one with pork, and one with tuna that was garnished with light lemon juice and capers. Out of the three the tuna was my favorite, although it was made better by adding some fresh ground pepper. I thought that the goat cheese could have been improved with diced roasted tomato, rather than a single roasted tomato. I thought the pork was a little dry.

For my entree I ordered the costoletta alla milanese. Bone in veal, breaded, with lemon and capers. It was delicious. I thought the breading could have been a little lighter. But it was really cooked well, and the portion was substantial. Price to portion and quality, I thought it was very reasonable. One of the best pieces of the meal was the side order of pan roasted brussel sprouts. Oh how I love brussel sprouts! And these were beautifully browned and buttery.

For dessert we split the cookies. One was almond biscotti, nicely soft. Not break your teeth hard, which is often my objection to biscotti. And then dark chocolate and sea salt cookies, which I thought were fantastic. The salt really set off the chocolate flavor.

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience, and I'd go back again. But only with one or two people at a time, otherwise you might not get a seat!

So, the breakdown, on a scale from 1 to 5:

Ambiance: 4
Service: 3
Entrees: 4
Desserts: 3
Overall: 4