Restaurant Review: Mi Piace

With huge appetites and growling stomachs, a dinner companion and I headed out to Mi Piace, the Italian restaurant and bakery in the Calabasas Commons, during dinner hour on Friday night.

The restaurant's ambience is casual yet stylish. Sheets of white butcher paper cover white linen tablecloths, and the wooden crossbeam ceiling overlooks the bar. Large windows look out onto the outdoor patio, which was almost empty while we were there. Inside, almost every table was taken, though we didn't have to wait to be seated. Most restaurant-goers were middle-aged friends, with a few couples and families scattered throughout.

Like most Italian restaurants, Mi Piace serves complimentary bread to all patrons as they are seated – but this bread is anything but standard-issue. Cut into bite-size triangles and rectangles, Mi Piace's bread is sprinkled with just the right amount of cheese. It has a soft cake-like spongy quality and is baked to perfection. My dinner companion and I were on basket number three by the end of our meal, as our waiters briskly replaced them as they became empty.

We started with the calamari fritti ($11.25), a mixture of fried calamari, shrimp, zucchini and onion. Served with two sauces, the seafood blend was the perfect mixture. There was just one problem: portion size. There was enough food to feed a party of at least four, and though we polished off the whole plate, it left us a tad too full before the main course.

The fettuccini alfredo ($15.75), which was made with egg noodles and a parmigiano, garlic and shallot white wine cream sauce, was one of the best I've had, though I would have liked just a little more sauce. I ordered mine with chicken breast and mushrooms, just two of the many add-on options on the menu (the others include sea scallop, large shrimp, sautéed salmon, mixed vegetables, salmon filet and mini meatballs, all of which may be added to any pasta dish).

My dinner companion's vitello al Marsala ($19), which included sautéed veal medallions and shiitake mushrooms in a Marsala wine sauce along with angel hair pasta and vegetables, was plated nicely. She also enjoyed the house red wine, a smooth Robert Mondavi pinot noir ($9 a glass).

Service was prompt and our waiter, Erick, was friendly and knowledgeable about the menu offerings. When two women were seated at an adjacent table, though, they asked that it be moved, and their waiter moved it too close to ours. A little more personal space would have been appreciated to maintain an intimate setting.

We left Mi Piace with at least two meals' worth of leftovers and very full bellies. The restaurant's name translates to the phrase "I like it," and we did – and we'll be back soon to sample more of its tasty pasta, pizza, meat and seafood offerings.