Last night I asked the gal at the front desk if there was someplace good to go get dinner since their cook decided not to show up for work.  Ahh, the joys of the hospitality industry!  Anyway, she asked what we were hungry for, always liking Italian I asked if there were any Italian restaurants around.  She said sure, there was a really good one not too far away.  She called and booked a reservation for us at La (something), a $2 cab ride from the hotel.

The atmosphere was wonderful after you got inside.  When the cab pulled up front I wondered what in the world we had gotten ourselves into.  The street was dark, there was a guard at the gate to the restaurant and the sidewalk leading to the door was less than inviting (had a 1 1/2 foot unfinished area right in the middle).  But, alas, when the door was opened by the guard the aroma of wonderful Italian cooking made me forget all about the entrance. 

The host seated us at a table near the blazing fireplace (which was really welcome since it gets down right nippy here at night).  The owners son, about our grandson's age, was busy putting wax from a candle into the flame.  It made me a little nervous to watch him, but decided that with all the wait staff around and his father there it wasn't my concern to fret over what he was doing, obviously he had done it many times before.

The waiter brought over the wine list and menu.  The choices were fabulous.  Although the descriptions and titles were somewhat different then we were used to, the menu listed things in Spanish and English.  What a delight!  Both my husband and I ate until we were stuffed.  I told him we really need to go to Italy and eat our way through the country….he wants to know where that fits on my "we need to go here" list which continually gets longer!  So much to see and exterience!

The whole meal, wine, pasta, and appetizer came to just $22 for the two of us.  What a great experience for so little money.

The staff called the cab when we were ready to leave and we were back at the hotel another $2 later!