
The almost eaten antipasto platter at La Tavola.
Alison and I love good restaurants and we know there are quite a few in the city, but there are only a handful that truly impress me each and every time I go – and one of these is [tag]La Tavola Trattoria[/tag] in the Virgina Highlands. Considered by me to be the [tag]Fifth Group’s best restaurant[/tag] in town, everything is impeccable – from the service, to the lighting to of course the food. Now, before I go on, I will tell you that I can talk all day about how dinner was last night, but really, I am going to be discussing a certain person who works at La Tavola…
My mom and I went last night as she is in town and Alison is in Cajun country for her 15th year high school reunion. No, I did not go to Gonzales LA for Alison’s 15th reunion (who has one of those anyway???) and know I am a bad partner. Anyway, I digress. I took mom to La Tavola last night – well, she took me there – and we sat at the bar because I have a good friend, Alli Soble, who bar-tends there(and I am convinced helps run the place.) I was surprised to see the bar filled almost to capacity with people eating at 6:30pm last night – considering the rest of the place was still a bit slow.
Ah, but I soon learned that Alli has a following. Oh does she. Alli has a following of lovely ladies who come and spend time (with or without their partners) to eat at La Tavola and chat with Ms. Soble. I think that while mom and I were there, at least 6 ladies walked up to sit at the bar. Two got turned away because there was no room at the bar (but plenty of room in the restaurant) but they left because they could not sit there!

While we were enjoying watching all of this take place around of, the food came and went. We started with the antipasto plate which is large enough for 3 people. Mom and I shared a caesar salad and got one of the amazing ravioli dishes. (I’m not telling which one because it has beef and veal in it – which I have said I have stopped eating…) We also got two desserts which were to die for – mine a chocolate creation and mom a lemon cake creation.
So, as the place filled up to capacity, Alli still had plenty of her followers lined up waiting to get the bar. Now, all of course were not gay women, but alas, I think all of them wanted to be... So, in the end, if you sit at the bar or not, you will hopefully enjoy your experience here as much as we always do.

Alli working her magic at La Tavola.

Little Girl gives the restaurant and Alli 4 paws up!