You could pick up Ravello Osteria — a garlic-heavy Italian wonder on the southern edge of Monterey Park — and drop it in the Little Italys of New York and San Francisco, and it would fit in just fine. It’s an old school Italian eatery, with many long tables, feeding large groups oversized pizzas and platter of pasta. All that’s missing is an old guy playing the music from Naples on a concertina, and the place could be just down the road from Pompeii.

Ravello combines the best of two worlds — it’s both very good…and it’s fun. Not Chuck E. Cheese fun; this isn’t a theatrical restaurant, with a staff doing cosplay. It’s fun because the servers, and the cooks, all know what they’re serving is some of the best downhome Italian cooking for miles around, in large portions, at reasonable prices.