• Staccato Calamari $9.5o (shared)
• Caesar Salad
• Pistachio encrusted Walleye $14.95
• Carrot Cake $4.50

If it wasn't for the fact that it was in the mist of 20 great restaurants, this may be a great restaurant. But it kinda reminded me of an upscale Perkins with some great Italian kicks. For example, they had a great Calamari appetizer with the calamari breaded and deep fried, but then mixed with tomatoes and peppers. Wonderful. But then on the other hand for dessert they didn't serve expresso.

The salad was adequate. The walleye was very good tasting, but it was the extremely large. I as a young girl fished for walleye with my dad and uncles, but let me say I have never seen a walleye that would have filleted that large and I quite frankly don't think I would have wanted to.

The carrot cake was good, nothing amazing, but above normal. If I lived downtown I may go there once in a awhile for a meal just to have something kinda normal, (they did have normal things on the menu not reflected by what we ordered). Also if I had children, I may come here as they were kid friendly in menu and atmosphere.

• Cheese and Shrimp Fusilli $15.95
• Cannoli $4.50

One thing we noticed when we started reviewing restaurants was that many of the restaurants fell into the "good" category. The food, service, and decor were each acceptable, and we had no reason to complain. But we realized that there's some we would go back to and some one would not. Generally, the better of the good restaurants deserved a return visit, while the lower end did not. Staccato seemed to fall in the lower end of the good restaurants.

That said, the Staccato Calamari is excellent. If you,re on your way to orchestra hall and just want something light, pop in for this appetizer. It's a large plate of breaded and fried calamari in a tomato and pepper sauce. It's worth the extra money and can be shared by four people.

The Four Cheese Fusilli with Shrimp was one of Staccato's signature dishes. For the record, the four cheeses are Parmesan, Romano, feta and mozzarella. THe first three cheeses were combined with tomato and basil for the sauce, mixed with this pasta and shrimp, and it was all covered by mozzarella. It didn't have a particularly good flavor; the feta seemed to dominate the sauce, which just wasn't right.

The Cannoli was very good and reasonably priced. The two pieces of Cannoli were different than what I've had in NY's Little Italy. The filling was much softer and a little sweeter. The pastry was harder and crunchier, more like a waffle cone than a puff pastry. Both versions are very tasty.

Overall, I liked Staccato, but I didn't love it. I would prefer several other restaurants downtown for dinner. However, one thing to keep in mind--their popular menu is apparently a hit with the kids, because there were several kids and teenagers eating dinner.