Maybe 3.5 stars would be better. I took friends from out of town, and some of them seemed a little uncomfortable with the family-type atmosphere. And the waitress seemed kinda short for the table height -- we felt sorry for her! Anyway, as for the food: The fries were good -- I've had better in Madison (at Brasserie V), the dates however were great. I also ordered the orzo/mussels (a very nice cold salad) and the octopus/chickpea dish. The octopus was cooked very very well, and the chickpeas -- meh. I hate chickpeas. But the octopus in that dish was great. The tempo if the meal was good, although the veal (large plate) that one of my friends ordered -- the other 4 of us ordered and shared small plates -- was very late in arriving. So we were wondering when he'd get served. That was kinda odd. We also sampled the beets (can't eat them -- allergic), the ravioli (great buttery sauce) and the tomato/burata. I really really liked the mini mini tomatoes they were using in their dishes. They were excellent! For dessert, I had the peach panna cotta (Seemed more like nectarines to me) that was very nice, and my companions had pumpkin cheesecake that they all swooned over. The waitress was very knowledgeable about the wines, and the one wine-drinker was very satisfied with what she suggested. \n\nSo this is a place I'd go to again, but I'd not take people who want a more traditional seating in a restaurant. Or maybe next time we'll be luckier and not be seated next to people who are drinking just a *little* too much vino.
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