Vitello's impressed us.
As we finished our first visit to the Italian restaurant in Catalina at 8:45 one recent weeknight, we noticed that the front door listed its closing hours as 8 p.m., not 9 p.m. like we had thought.
Oops. Many servers would have dropped the check at our table by 8 p.m., if not earlier.
A few more exaggeratedly polite queries if we needed anything would have followed, leading to relentless pacing by our table.
Not at Vitello's. Even though our earnest server looked young enough to be in high school, pleasing us appeared to be his only priority.
Vitello's, at 15930 N. Oracle Road, is quite a hike from central Tucson, but it's a drive worth taking for reasonably priced, good Sicilian and Northern Italian fare and that friendly, appreciative service.
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Owner Hatem Rdid and his wife, Lucy Palazzolo, bought Vitello's six years ago. The restaurant had opened in 2003, and Rdid worked there as its sous chef for a year before buying it.
Rdid was born in Tunisia and grew up in Sicily, where he learned to cook - and met Palazzolo. They moved to Catalina because Palazzolo has relatives there.
On our first visit, we started with Zuppa Di Cozze ($8), a heaping portion of mussels in a tomato (or white) sauce. The plump mussels had a nice consistency, and the red sauce was savory enough to drink.
Vitello's, which means "veal" in Italian, features several of its namesake. The vitello mezzaluna ($17) was 7 ounces of lightly coated veal, thinly pounded. It was sautéed with prosciutto in a creamy vodka tomato sauce and topped with parmesan. Delightful and filling.
Entrees come with a choice of soup, dinner salad, Caesar salad, and for non-pasta dishes, spaghetti marinara or vegetables.
Lasagna is a good litmus test for the quality of an Italian restaurant, and Vitello's version did not disappoint. The oversized slab of lasagna ($12) arrived hot and cheesy with layers of rich mozzarella, ricotta and béchemal sauce covered by a tomato-ey ground beef sauce. Leftovers the next day were just as tasty.
Rdid said the restaurant's most popular entree is the chicken or veal Pinocchio ($14, $18).
It's easy to see why. An impressive platter of the chicken version arrived covered in bubbling gorgonzola and cream sauce. Mushroom slices, asparagus spears and bits of spinach surrounded the chicken breasts.
It was hard not to feel guilty eating the decadent entree, but it was harder not to finish it.
We're glad we didn't ignore Vitello's pizzas. The small Catalina ($11) possessed all the textures and flavors a good pizza should have - crunchy, salty, gooey, earthy and savory.
The pizza was liberally sprinkled with pepperoni, mushrooms, bell peppers, olives, onions, sausage and tomatoes. At eight slices, the small didn't seem so small and held us over for days.
The house-made tiramisu ($6) was a blissful concoction of pillowy layers of ladyfingers and mascarpone cheese made with coffee liqueur by Palazzolo.
As for drinks, customers like the Italian margarita ($5), which is a traditional margarita with a splash of amaretto.
Larger parties can enjoy a 3-liter bottle of Toscana Crognolo wine for $65. Traditional bottles of Italian and California wines cost $22 to $32.
For non-wine drinkers, there's an interesting assortment of domestic and imported beers ($3-$3.75) and the Italian lemon liqueur Limoncello ($4.75).
Restaurant review
• What: Vitello's, 15930 N. Oracle Road, 825-0140
• Hours: 5-8 p.m. Mondays; 11-8 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; 11-9 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sundays.
• Family call: Bring the kids - all of 'em.
• Noise level: Nice and quiet.
• Vegetarian options: Many.
• Dress: Casual.
• Reservations: Yes.
• Price range: Entrees range from the $8 spaghetti marinara to the $20 Cioppino Tutto Mare, a blend of mussels, clams, shrimp and scallops over linguini.
• Wine list: An assortment of mostly Italian and some California wines range from $22 to $32 a bottle.
• Etc.: Once a month, Vitello's holds free wine tastings. The next one is from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday and will feature eight to 10 wines.
• The restaurant will celebrate its seventh anniversary from 5 to 9 p.m. Jan. 27. The party is free and will include a wine tasting and a $200 Vitello's gift certificate giveaway.
