Alleia's on S. Main

My husband and I have had our eye on a mysterious restaurant on South Main identified only by a capital A on a sign outside the building. We had heard they served delicious Italian food, but when we Googled the name, Alleia's, we had trouble finding it because we had no idea how to spell it.

So there you have it. The mysterious building on the corner of South Main and Market, marked only with an 'A,' is Alleia's, spelled "Alleia's."

They serve dinner from 5 til 11pm, so we called at 5pm and made reservations for 8:15pm. When we arrived, we parked in their small parking lot beside the building, and approached the building. I giggled when we approached the enormous, wood-and-iron door that looked like it belonged on a castle, and my husband said, "I don't think this is the door." The sentence wasn't out his mouth as a petite lady in a dress heaved the door open from the inside and said, "Welcome to Alleia's." (I whispered, "I think it is.")

The ambiance struck me as very inviting. Very dim lighting provided in one room by torches and in another room by candles added to the romantic feel. We passed through the main dining hall where a large party feasted down the length of the kitchen. We passed a melting candle display that could pass as a piece of furniture, and entered the back room.

Sadly, I felt like I was in a cave. The echo was terrible. I couldn't hear the host or my server, and I had to yell to my husband across the table to have any sort of decent conversation. Not very romantic. The walls and ceiling looked like dry-erase board painted soft green. Chris noticed they had placed sound boards on the ceiling to try to absorb some of the sound, but the noise was ridiculous.

I'm glad the food and service was good.

We started with the ricotta bruschetta, which had a spicy garlic flavor offset by the sweetness of honey, spread on wood-fire-toasted bread. I could taste the wood in the toast. We gobbled it up. (He should have ordered his own!)

Chris ordered the grouper, which arrived with what he thought were peaches (because several items on the menu had Georgia peaches), but what were really potato wedges! Can you imagine his taste-bud surprise with his first bite? I ordered the angel-hair pasta with gulf shrimp and ate every bite of it. It was smothered in celery and local tomatoes. We actually couldn't eat another bite, but we hated to forego dessert, so we ordered tiramisu to-go. They brought it in a disposable cup, and I was surprised at the small size for the $7 price tag. It was quite yummy--topped with marscapone and dripping with rum. In fact, we could drink the leftover rum after we finished the cake. This makes for a most fabulous, moist dessert.

Next time we go, we might try a different room for a more romantic atmosphere, or we might just lounge in the bar on the comfy couches and chairs.

One word of caution for those of us who must visit the restroom once or twice during the night: Don't expect words on the doors to differentiate the sexes--you must look closely at the naked burnished bronze statuettes posted on the door in renaissance Italian style. Go with the one that resembles you the most, if you get what I mean.

So, Alleia's Restaurant is definitely a fun find, even though it took some effort to find contact info because of the lack of signage. If you're looking for tasty wood-fired Italian food, go tonight! If you're looking for a quiet, intimate evening, you might pause to consider if yelling at each other over dinner creates that mood for you.