Risotto Positano in the courtyard dining room in Sardella’s Italian Restaurant in Newport.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

NEWPORT — On a recent Wednesday night, the dinner crowd at Sardella’s Italian Restaurant was nearly bursting out the door. Would-be diners kept trooping in right up to 9:30 and not only because it was the Live Jazz Night in the smallest of the dining rooms, just off the bar, or because you can get a dinner-for-two special Monday through Wednesday for $24 with a dozen menu selections and a bottle of wine.

Sardella’s, on Memorial Boulevard between St. Mary’s Church and Bellevue Avenue, has been attracting crowds because of its tasty Italian favorites prepared by chef Kevin Fitzgerald, generous portions and reasonable prices for its entrees since 1980. Although the appetizer menu is on the pricey side with most dishes going for $12.95, most of the pasta entrees are $14.95 (or $10.95 for an appetizer portion), while the more exotic entrees — including marsala chicken, shrimp scampi, veal scaloppine and sautéed chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella — are in the $16.95 to $20.95 range with only a few dishes higher.

It’s a friendly kind of place that clearly attracts a crowd of regulars, including a beyond-middle-age man dressed in shorts and a raspberry-sherbet blazer who came in dancing to the sounds of the jazz combo that was playing in the front window while being greeted warmly by both the staff and some of the diners.

Reservations are recommended, although the ones we had phoned in Monday evening were nowhere to be found on the reservations list when we arrived at 7:30 Wednesday. No matter. Despite the fact that all of the several dining rooms were jammed, the hostess told us the same thing she had told the couple in front of us who had not made reservations, “It’ll just be a couple of minutes.” And it was.

We were seated at a large table in the rear of the place, called the Salute Room, which was noisy with chatter but at least not with the sounds of the jazz combo. From the little we heard of them, they were very good, but pretty intense for the small space they were playing in. It was obvious later that they kept the place hopping and got diners into the mood, for midway through our meal a conga line of revelers snaked its way from the front dining room through the Salute Room and back again. The Salute Room is tastefully done, with subdued burgundy walls and wood wainscoting. A little window to the hallway that connects the various dining rooms is framed by a curtain that gives it a theatrical air. Several large, boldly colored classic graphics from another era, advertising everything from Italy’s Campari to French hats, line the walls. The doors at the back of the room were opened onto a small portico dining area which, although covered overhead, sent diners scurrying when a drenching thunderstorm broke.

With its subdued elegance, one could feel as though one were in a trattoria in Italy. The mood was only broken when I unfurled my napkin to get at the knives and forks to find bits of leftovers stuck to the large spoon which apparently hadn’t made a completely successful voyage through the dishwasher.

Nevertheless, we ordered appetizers and drinks — a fruity, not-

as-sweet-as-it-looked red pomegranate martini for me; a very sweet espresso-based one for my dining companion, rimmed with sugary cinnamon and including Amaretto and Bailey’s Irish cream in its ingredients.

Because we were sharing appetizers, we had to ask for two extra plates as well as some bread — a not-warm, light, Italian-style bread with a crust that was limp rather than crisp. The little pitcher of olive oil and ramekin of grated Parmesan cheese on the side were pluses, however.

We were a bit disappointed in the relatively small size and number of the three lone sea scallops in the Capasanta alla griglia e Scarola ($12.95), which translates as grilled sea scallops on a bed of sautéed escarole and white Tuscan beans. Two of them had not had their little “feet,” the tough tissue that connects them to the scallop shell, removed. The light lemony sauce for the sweet scallops offset the slight bitterness of the escarole while the beans, a lot of them, managed to make the plate look full.

Better was the Escargot Aglio e Burro ($12.95), which is not served on muleback despite the way it sounds in Italian, but atop a thin slice of grilled crostini. Sautéed in a punchy sauce of Gorgonzola, garlic and brandy, the escargot were delicate and picked up nicely the various flavors in the sauce.

I raved about my entrée, the Risotto Positano ($25.95), one of the most expensive items on the entrée menu but well worth it. Two pieces of tender, lightly sautéed chicken breast were accompanied by three large shrimp in a very creamy risotto. The rice dish also had crisp-tender broccoli florets and sweet, juicy slices of fresh tomato. My dining companion wondered whether I could finish the plate — and all the entrees passing by were good-sized portions — but it was so delicious I couldn’t resist, the rice having a pleasant firmness to it that kept it from turning into mush.

Raves, too, for my companion’s Scaloppine alla Loretta ($20.95) — pounded-thin slices of tender veal medallions sautéed with pieces of pancetta (the Italian bacon), fresh mushrooms and onion slices in a hearty brown brandy and veal stock. It was a smashing success.

There are nine dessert choices (each for $7.50), from Tiramisu, to Spumoni, Crème Brulee, New York Cheesecake and a tempting-sounding Chocolate Decadence Cake (a flourless cake with a melted center topped with whipped cream) The Decadence certainly caught my attention, but our helpful and attentive waitress advised me to go with my toss-up choice — the Bomba. A good choice indeed. Inside the thin coating of dark chocolate composing this “bomb” had been sliced down the middle to reveal a mix of chocolate and vanilla ice cream with a cherry center, served on a bed of chocolate sauce.

My companion was set from the start on the Napoleon, an impressive sky-high concoction of vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and bits of fruit (I tasted pineapple in there) sandwiched between a very sweet, light and crispy pastry triangle, all topped with chocolate sauce. If it weren’t for the ice cream, there was so much of the Napoleon that we might have taken half of it home. As it was, we both dug in for a sweet end to a satisfying meal.BILL OF FARE

Dinner for two at Sardella’s might look something like this:

Pomegranate martini…$9.00

Espresso martini…$9.00

Escargot…$12.95

Scallopine alla Loretta…$20.95

Risotto Positano…$25.95

Napoleon…$7.50

Total food and drink…$85.35

Tax…$6.83

Tip…$17.00

Total bill…$109.18

Sardella’s Italian Restaurant, 30 Memorial Blvd., Newport. (401) 849-6312. sardellas.com. Dressy casual. Handicapped accessible. Reservations. High chairs and children’s menu. AE, MC, V, DIS. Two-hour validated parking at Bellevue Gardens Shopping Center across the street. Dinner 5 to 10 p.m. Mon. to Sat.; from 4 p.m. Sunday. Appetizers $5.95 to $12.95. Entrees $10.95 to $26.95. Wines are $7 to $10.50. by the glass; $29 to $170 for a bottle.

mjanuson@projo.com