Located only a few doors down from our hotel, this cozy Northern Italian restaurant had been tantalizing us for days with its delightful smells. We walked by it several times each day, and finally, we gave in to the inevitable. Eating Italian can be challenging when you are limiting the number of carbs you consume, so we stayed away from the most obvious offenders, pasta and pizza. Flavored olive oil 
and a hot loaf of bread kept us busy until our food arrived.
Instead of entrées, we decided to split four appetizers. We started with the hot appetizers, fried calamari served with a thick marinara sauce and drizzled with parmesan cheese, followed by Bruschetta Duo,
four grilled pieces of Bocci bread topped with chopped fresh tomato and basil and two topped with prosciutto and melted Romano cheese. Both were delicious, but the calamari was beyond delicious. It was very tender, with a melt-in-your-mouth light coating. We were very pleased with our choices.
For our cold course, we had Caprese and Antipasto salads. Caprese is hand-pulled mozzarella cheese drizzled with olive oil and balsamic reduction served over vine ripened tomatoes and shredded greens.
The antipasto served up prosciutto, salami, olives, and mozzarella, mixed with sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, marinated artichokes, pepperochini, roasted red peppers, and fresh bread croutons. They were both perfect and just enough for the four of us to share.
We didn’t expect to order dessert, but when our waitress, Chase, mentioned the raspberry sorbet, we relented. It seemed like the perfect light ending to our meal. Served in a martini glass,
it was indeed just the right finishing touch.
The atmosphere here is intimate. The walls are stucco and the tables and chairs wooden, with candles flickering on all the tables. This is a relatively small restaurant with a lot going for it. We saw some of the pasta dishes go by us, and they were generous. One thing I particularly liked was that most meals came in two portion sizes, small and large. They offer all the standard Italian fare: pizza, calzones, subs, spaghetti with choice of four sauces, and lots more.
The building itself has an interesting history. Once owned by the Molony family, it was the first Irish pub in Charleston. During Prohibition, a speakeasy operated in the rear, while a grocery store graced the front. Following that, it became a private home. It has been awarded a Preservation Society of Charleston award for the quality of its restoration