Everyone’s had that crush: somebody laid-back, attractive and fun, but not necessarily your go-to guy for consistency. Sometimes he’s completely charming; other times he shows up late, wearing sweatpants and smelling like weed. When he’s good, he’s very good. When he’s bad, he’s a mess. And sometimes he makes you feel fat. That’s my relationship with Pastaria. I love a lot about it, but it’s getting hard to ignore the problems. The food is good — at times great — but the service can be slow, confused and inconsistent. And the time has come for us to talk.

Let’s start with the white bean hummus: an earthy Italian dip packed with pecorino, basil and walnuts. Garganelli pasta is deep-fried to create “chips” reminiscent of a hefty pork rind, and dunking the crunchy corkscrew chips into the creamy dip is a playful, unique way to start a meal. (Unfortunately, this dish is no longer on the menu.) To wash that down, I ordered a martini — or rather, a “filthy-dirty vodka martini.” It was salty, so that was good ... but it was also sweet. I tasted it three times before Googling whether a dirty martini should ever conceivably have vermouth in it.