Ristorante Allegria: Italian within walking distance of the Inn.
One of the great advantages of Napa is that the restaurants are within walking distance of the Inn. Allegria is a lovely Italian restaurant built into an old bank, with a private room called The Vault (because it was!- but don’t ask to be sat there if you get claustrophobic or worry about the vault door shutting) that requires reservations in advance. The other advantage of Allegria is that it is dog-friendly with an outdoor patio for canine lovers. The food is good and the ambience is inviting. They sent out a little appetizer of deep fried mozzarella with a tomato sauce that was just lovely (we have free appetizer cards available). I ordered the beef carpaccio and was not disappointed. It was a perfect beginning to my main course which was a soft polenta topped with portabello mushrooms and a lovely tomato sauce. Jamie enjoyed the linguine with seafood, and my nephew and niece enjoyed the mussels and clams as an appetizer (indeed delicious, as I snuck a bite…or two…or maybe even three); and one of them asked for the pollo ripieno, a stuffed chicken breast, and the other wanted a pasta dish from the child’s menu but in adult portion and they were kind enough to accommodate (always a plus in my book). We weren’t going to order dessert but couldn’t resist the homemade spumoni ice cream (yes, an absolute must if you go), the brownie pie (rich and delicious), and the tiramisu (I’ve never seen a piece so large). We enjoyed a lovely Sequoia Grove Cabernet with dinner and all of us were happy and satisfied with the meal when we left.