I have an overzealous love affair with the neighborhood restaurant. I'm enraptured with the hard-working entrepreneur-chef, the dreaming young couple, the wide-grinned veteran, the diners and bistros and small restaurants cradled in the corners of a neighborhood that practically define its character. I love them so much; I forgive them too much.

And I will be forgiving here. Andrea's Restaurant is tucked into a lonely strip mall on Gaston Avenue, just a bit west of Munger Boulevard. This is roughly the same neighborhood that contains The Alligator Café, Jimmy's Food Store, and Mai's Vietnamese Restaurant — so there is precedent for finding a dusty jewel in the area.

Walking into Andrea's, the lights are dim, the colors rich, and almost dank. It's a Disney approximation of a romantic Italian restaurant, with fake stucco walls, crimson and vermillion accents, plaster urns, and probably some tromp l'oeil grape vines here and there. After a while, you lose sight of the details and the decor washes over you as just "Italian."

I expected a similar wash of Italian numbness on the menu. Instead of only the familiar red-or-white sauce favorites, the menu was more varied with a stronger than expected emphasis on seafood. Crab, in particular, seemed to make an appearance in every third dish. But of course the chicken parmesan, veal piccata, and fettuccini Alfredo were there, too.