A kinder, gentler dining experience

New in Laguna -- old-world charm!

The just-opened Restaurant Robilio is a delight to enter. Warm and inviting, the atmosphere immediately relaxes you for an evening of fine dining without pretension.

Owner Michael Robilio and his wife, Dixie, have done a wonderful job renovating the former Villa Roma. Unlike most new restaurants, steel, glass and concrete are in short supply. It has a more traditional feel, a kinder, gentler sort of place. The brown-toned room is softly lit, accented by the lively, flickering light from the red glass candleholders on each table and a chandelier hanging from the newly created soffit ceiling.

The equally inviting food is also traditional. Reading the menu is like finding an old friend. Here, we have classic Italian dishes done skillfully and with a light hand. The difficulty is trying to decide what to choose from among these old favorites.

While you deliberate, you can munch on the warm garlic bread, brushed with olive oil, loaded with garlic and topped with a sprinkling of cheese and parsley. Beware! Don’t fill up on this yummy treat. Large portions of delicious food will follow.

We noticed that some tables had baskets of bread. When we asked our genuinely charming and engaging waiter why we didn’t have one, he said, “I would be glad to bring you a basket but I do things a little differently. I like everything fresh, so I like to bring out the bread when it’s hot. I’m the owner!”

Robilio went on to explain that he had been working in restaurants for many years and then changed careers for a short time but discovered that his heart was in the restaurant business. When the opportunity to buy Villa Roma came along, he and his wife couldn’t resist this chance to own a restaurant. His excitement and obvious pleasure gives off a wonderful energy that permeates the room.

To begin your meal, you can choose from old favorites like bruschetta, fried calamari, an antipasto plate or the less familiar salmon potato cakes or prosciutto frittes (a fried rice ball with prosciutto, mushrooms and green onion).

We chose the garlic shrimp with white wine, lemon, butter, garlic and red-pepper flakes served with grilled polenta. The shrimp were sweet and large, the sauce delicate and the polenta was out of this world. Our only caveat was the subtle presence of the red pepper. We asked for more and it perked things up nicely. If you prefer to begin with something lighter, there are three salads: house, Caesar, spinach or caprese.

The selection of pastas is also very familiar but done expertly with perfectly cooked pasta and subtly seasoned sauces, for example, the fettuccine al pesto. Pesto dishes are often too garlicky, overly greasy or drowning in sauce. Robilio’s version is perfectly balanced.

The linguine di mare with calamari, shrimp, lobster and scallops is finished in a special spicy sauce. Although ours had no discernible lobster, it did have some very fresh clams along with other excellent seafood. The sauce was light and flavorful but it wasn’t spicy enough for us and so, again, we added crushed chiles.

Too salty and too spicy are irreversible errors in cooking, so adding these condiments to taste is a welcome option. We never planned to eat the entire mound of pasta but simply couldn’t resist. You might also try the fettuccine Alfredo (a house specialty), the tagliatelle alle Bolognese or ravioli Robilio (lobster ravioli with cognac cream sauce).

A few of the tempting meat entrées are: a New York steak with a cognac and green pepper sauce, a pork chop with apple brandy compote, a piccatina di vitello (veal scallop in lemon caper sauce), a large veal chop with Dijon mustard sauce and the classic vitello Milanese (a pounded, breaded sautéed veal chop). Seafood dishes include grilled salmon in limoncello and caper-cream sauce, seared ahi in a light, tomato sauce and jumbo, grilled scallops on a bed of capellini in a sauce of chopped clams, rock shrimp mushrooms, garlic and tomatoes.

Another house specialty is the osso bucco. In our opinion, this -- along with the proper cooking of pasta -- is the measure of a good Italian restaurant, and Robilio’s excels at both. Braised all day in a beautifully modulated marinara sauce with prosciutto, mushrooms, white wine, peas, celery, carrots, tomatoes and onions, the veal emerges tender, delicate and richly flavored and if you scoop the marrow out of the bone, you will have an ambrosial treat. If by any chance you can’t finish this hearty offering, do not leave it! Get a doggie bag because it’s even better the second day.

There are also three chicken breast dishes, the classic Milanese, a Marsala with prosciutto and mozzarella and the intriguing pollo al’arrancio. This is a charbroiled chicken breast in an orange sherry sauce topped with oranges, cranberries and toasted pine nuts. The sauce was piquant and sweet but the chicken was improperly cooked -- the only disappointment of the evening. It was burnt on one side and obviously overcooked as it was dry and tough and the grill marks tasted like charcoal; too bad, because there was nothing to soak up the very tasty sauce.

Four vegetable side dishes are available: eggplant Parmigiana, sautéed spinach, zucchini with red onions and broccoli almondine, that was cooked just right but missing its almonds.

If you have any room, the dessert menu features the obligatory tiramisu as well as crème brulée, chocolate mousse, spumoni pie, lemon sorbet, New York cheesecake with warm Amaretto caramel sauce and fresh seasonal berries.

Robilio’s “After Dark” is an elaborate concoction of vanilla ice cream with layers of fresh berries and chocolate mousse, topped with Grand Marnier whipped cream and Amaretto cookies.