I did my homework and got a lot of great recommendations on Il Palazzo - the Zagat Guide gave it a very high rating and several friends seemed to agree. So Il Palazzo it was.

It's on Mulberry Street in the heart of Little Italy. There are a few tables out front and on a nice summer day, these are the tables to request. You go in and the first room is lively, the next room is pretty with a bright garden setting and the third and final room is dark and plain and cramped. This is the room we were seated in. It had no charm and lacked everything the other two rooms had going on.

The waitstaff was good, not over friendly, but they were professional and knew their menu.

I ordered a bread and mozzarella salad for a starter. What it was, was a mozzarella grilled cheese sandwich. A meal in itself and not what I expected. For the main course I had a lobster and pasta dish that was good, but very heavy. Breana picked the winner dish, which was a Tuscan cooked steak that was tender and full of flavor. We all wished we had ordered what she picked.

The meal was good, not great. I have a hard time remembering anything overly special about the food, service or the atmosphere. It was all good, but not something I will remember years from now as a great dinner.

We didn't enjoy the room and the night was gorgeous, so we agreed to take a walk down Mulberry Street. We got our dessert from the Italian bakery and walked down Mulberry Street munching on cannoli and Italian ice cream. Mulberry Street was full of life and laughter, and yes, as I walked by, several other choices with smiling waiters and wonderful smells gave me that old buyer’s remorse. There were too many good choices - I am not sure we picked the right choice.