Given the friendly discussion we had regarding some of the better Italian restaurants on the north side, I thought I should give the group a quick recap on my experience at A Tavola. While I had an enjoyable visit to this vine-covered restaurant, I do not find myself compelled to have a return visit to this particular Italian eatery.

Over the course of the evening we had several different dishes:

Gnocchi: This is A Tavola's specialty and it's easy to see why - I have heard that the gnocchi at A Tavola can be a finnicky, but it was not the case when we visited. The gnocchi had a great texture and the flavor of the parmesan in the sage butter really shown through.
Tagliatelle Bolognese: The Bolognese sauce was good but nothing special. I found myself wishing that there was a little more pepper in the sauce to give it a little extra zip that it seemed to be missing.
Sangiovese Braised Beef Short Rib: The short rib was very tender and had a nice depth of flavor.
Saltimbocca: While others in my group found this dish to be solid, I found it to be a big disappointment. The veal chop was overcooked, which resulted in the accompanying prosciutto being dried out and lacking in flavor.
We also sampled a few of A Tavola's desserts: In short, I thought that they were fairly well executed but nothing worth staying around for.

While the night ended a little on the pricier side, I'm glad we went to A Tavola - it was a nice one time experience.

Now it's time to check out all of the other great recommendations you guys/ gals provided