Opening just under a year ago, Italian restaurant Intorno is one place I will go back to time after time. Located on the corner of 8th St. and Massachusetts Street, Intorno has quite possibly the perfect view of downtown, whether sitting inside or out. With an executive design, the restaurant immediately caught my eye. Walking into the restaurant, I first noticed the bar. Although I’m much too young to order any alcoholic beverage, the wooden table tops glistened as aisles upon aisles of fine wine lined the wall.

Impressed at the  restaurant’s setup, I had high hopes for the food. As my mom and I sat down, complimentary bread was served alongside salt, pepper, olive oil and parmesan cheese. Appetizers were an option on the menu and wanting to get the entire experience of the highly rated restaurant, my mom decided to order the garlic cheese bread as a starter. Warm, crispy and oh so cheesy, this bread tasted like it was straight from Italy.

Once the ooey gooey cheese bread was devoured, I skimmed over the menu once more to decide on an entreé. With a wide variety of pasta dishes, sandwiches and salads, it was a harder choice than I had thought. Finally deciding on the baked lasagna, my taste buds seemed ecstatic. Digging my fork in the huge serving of bubbly hot pasta on top of melted cheese and rich, piquant marinara sauce, this savory lasagna was by far better than my mother’s. (Shhhh)

The waitress who took our order was rather friendly and came to our table frequently to check on how our service was. Although she was overly persistent about filling my glass of iced tea, the experience overall was impressive. Great food and everything on the menu was under $11!

Completely stuffed, my mom and I couldn’t fit in dessert, but next time, we will definitely make that an option.