An Evening at Bar Italia

I went on Monday night. It wasn't overly busy, but still pretty decent.

I haven't been there in a while, but the place and the menu look pretty much the same. In terms of decor, it looks OK. They have a bit of contemporary look -- although it hasn't changed in a long time. I don't think that they'll win any awards for the place but its pretty decent looking.

The crowd is pretty young. I think that the hipsters have abandoned it for "cooler" spots on the College Street Strip. There were quite a few good looking chicks when i was there, mind not you nothing super hot, but it was still more than adequate. There were a number of metro sexual douche bags in the place, but I think that kind of goes with the territory.

There was no DJ, but they had a decent playlist in terms of the music. It has a bit of loungy feel to it, they were playing some soul jazz (i recognized some bobby hutcherson) and stuff with similar vibe.

The service was OK. The hostess was pleasant, although the waitress that worked my table had a little bit of an attitude, although not in a confrontational sort of way. Both of them were pretty good looking, the waitress had a tattoo around her ankle.

This isn't fine dining by any means, but its pretty good cafe/pub food. I had the mushroom salad and the cubano pannino, which is a grilled pork sandwich. Both of them were pretty tasty. I also sampled the gnocchi, which came in a bit of cream sauce with prosciutto, that was decent as well. Like I said earlier, the menu hasn't really changed much. I can remember having the cubano and mushroom salad like 4 or 5 years ago. In a way, its nice to have a favorite that you can turn to and not have to worry about trying to figure out what's decent on a menu. On the other hand, i can imagine if someone is a regular it can get pretty tiring eating the same thing over and over again.

The food and two drinks came out to like $50, so its not exactly a budget destination. For an extra $30 you could get a really good dinner at the Foxley. However, I think if you're going to place like this you aren't necessarily going for the food.

There's nothing really spectular about this place in a either a bad or good way. This is the kind of place you can go with a girl or go watch girls and have a low maintenance night.

Rating: 1 Bunny

Notes on the Bunny Rating System:

• 0 or no Bunnies, it's a waste of time; don't go.
• 1 Bunny, the place is worth checking out.
• 2 Bunnies, you should go out of your way to check out the place; the food is really good and the place is cool.
• 3 Bunnies, you absolutely have to go there; the food is exceptional and the place is really cool