The pan-seared scallop entree at Citron in Providence is served in a green sauce with bacon strips on the side.

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The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

Citron might not exactly spring to mind when one thinks about a dining-out experience in Providence thanks to its out-of-sight location behind the Capital Grille and looking like an appendage to a parking lot.

The fact that Citron’s location is a gateway to Waterplace Park does make it a prime location, especially considering the fact that on Saturday WaterFire will burn for the first time this year.

True, you can’t see much of the blazing braziers from Citron, even if you snare an outside table. Bending low, you’d have to settle for maybe an occasional flash of light streaking out from the tunnel leading to Waterplace under Memorial Boulevard. But hey, you’d still have a front-row seat to some of the colorful passersby who are drawn to those fires like moths to a flame and that would be almost as entertaining.

You’d also be able to enjoy a very fine meal at reasonable prices, even more reasonable if you share some of the imaginatively created appetizers or order the Burger Acting Badly ($11.95). It’s a sky-high construction whose piled-on ingredients include bacon, Cheddar, lettuce, onion, tomato and chipotle mayonnaise. As it passed by on its way to another table the night we dined at Citron, it looked half a foot tall. It’s so big that on a previous lunch visit, a friend who’d ordered it began parceling out pieces of her burger to a couple of us.

Citron is part of the food empire of restaurateur John Elkhay and Rick & Cheryl Bready (10 Prime Steak & Sushi, XO Steakhouse, Rick’s Roadhouse and the Chinese Laundry). It’s certainly less pretentious than some of them, with middle-range prices (most $17.95 to $23.95), a collection of appetizers that are presented with flair, and entrees that may sound like nothing out of the ordinary at first — duck breast, short ribs, stuffed chicken breast, pappardelle Bolognese. Then you notice that the pappardelle noodles are homemade and come with wild boar sausage rather than ground beef, or that the duck breast has a maple glaze. In addition, chef Brett Rogowski creates a daily experimental dish on the menu which prides itself on using as many organic ingredients as possible.

The official name of the place is Citron Wine Bar & Bistro and it definitely has a casual-elegant look that would make it at home in Europe, the trendier parts of Manhattan or maybe even Morocco. There is, after all, that big table near the entrance whose chandelier would be a nice addition to a sultan’s tent as well as festive circus-striped drapes that can be pulled shut for a very private affair, either business or romantic. I’d once dined at this table with a large party, though the drapes remained open.

But on this visit it was a window seat inside with a vista of, well, the parking lot across the way. Battery-operated red “candles” and a little square vase holding an orchid gave it a classy feel, along with the awning-striped fabric on the banquettes. And although the young woman behind us blabbed away for a time on her cell phone while her boyfriend bided his time (honestly, isn’t it time restaurants call a halt to cell phone use at table or in this case maybe the boyfriend should have just walked out, sticking her with the bill), the experience was otherwise relaxing and pleasant. There were warm greetings from the host and expert, unobtrusive service from our unfailingly charming and informative waitress, Amy.

The “wine bar” part of Citron’s name means that in addition to glasses or bottles of wine you can order flights — a trio of tastings from three different wineries, often from far-flung parts of the globe, of three ounces each, ranging from mild to robust. My Sauvignon Blanc “World Tour” ($17) had samplings from France, California and New Zealand. There are 17 different flights at Citron and, if you especially like one of the wines in the flight, you can order it by the glass or bottle.

There’s also a wide variety of beers from the world’s breweries and a creative group of mixed drinks. My dining companion’s Sin + Sex Mai Tai ($8.50) was a sweet and mild concoction of Bacardi Coco, Cruzan pineapple, Amaretto, passion fruit and pineapple, whose dominant flavor was coconut.

How fitting, since Amy had highly recommended the tempura coconut shrimp ($8.95). It arrived rather spectacularly on a plate that was shaped like a flying saucer, the hollow on top filled not with Martians but yellow sugar. That was topped by half a small coconut which held five shrimp and diced red pepper. It tasted as good as it looked, the shrimp lightly fried with bits of coconut which gave it a sweet coconut flavor. The coconut base was so moist and fresh that my dining companion wanted to cut it up and Amy obliged by bringing a steak knife to cut off pieces of the tasty flesh after we’d finished the shrimp.

She’d spoken very highly as well of the duck confit spring rolls ($7.95) and so I ordered that, too, in lieu of my first choice of the barbecued pulled pork quesadillas ($8.95) which sounded like an intriguing take on the usual shrimp, chicken, beef or cheese fillings. Still, I’d also been tempted by thoughts of the lobster + corn fritters ($7.95) and so I ordered those as well, especially after Amy said the spring rolls were very light.

True, they were, and the four of them proved to be my favorite of the three appetizers. Delicate, crisp wonton wrappers lightly fried and stuffed with the rendered duck and shiitake mushrooms, a little pot of sweet mandarin orange sauce on the side and drizzles of hoisin sauce on the plate which was shaped like an artist’s palette. That orange sauce also proved to be just the thing to punch up the not terribly strong horseradish sauce that accompanied the fritters as we dipped them into the orange sauce and then the horseradish. The seven little nuggets, which arrived in a cone-shaped container, were crisp on the outside, moist and tender on the inside.

The entrees were just as impressive. The pan-seared scallops ($23.95) were five enormous pieces of the shellfish, each so large it could be quartered. Moist and tender, they sat atop “charred” (but only a hint of charring) asparagus in a puddle of a wonderfully mellow and green sage butter sauce. The scallops picked up a little more than a hint of the smoky flavor of two large slices of bacon that were also on the plate. There also were tender, fragrant diced carrots for a dash of bright color.

The pappardelle Bolognese ($17.95) was a hearty bowl of the noodles, made and hand cut in the kitchen, topped with the tangy wild boar sausage, a robust brown sauce and Parmesan cheese. The ribbon-like, wide noodles had been cut thick, but were surprisingly tender.

All the desserts are made in house as well. The apple berry cobbler ($6.95) was warm, moist and delicious. There was a crunchy sugary topping and small raspberries and blueberries on top along with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream as the perfect additions.

I’ve had the hot molten chocolate cake at other restaurants, but Citron’s version ($6.95) was a little different. Slice into the light not dense cupcake-sized piece of chocolate cake and out flowed a little river of chocolate sauce. The espresso ice cream topping gave the cake a dusky, mocha flavor that complemented the chocolate.

Citron Wine Bar & Bistro is open seven days a week, but if you come on a WaterFire night be sure to make reservations.

If you dine there first, who knows? You may just order another wine flight and another appetizer and forget about all those burning logs just outside.BILL OF FARE

Dinner for two at Citron Wine Bar & Bistro might look something like this:

Sauvignon Blanc wine flight … $17.00

Sin + Sex Mai Tai … $8.50

Duck spring rolls … $7.95

Pappardelle Bolognese … $17.95

Pan-seared scallops … $23.95

Apple berry cobbler … $6.95

Total food and drink … $82.30

Tax … $6.58

Tip … $17.00

Total bill … $105.88

Citron Wine Bar & Bistro, 5 Memorial Blvd., Providence. (401) 621-9463. www.citronri.com. Dressy casual. Handicapped accessible. One highchair. Reservations accepted. AE, MC, V. Discount validation for Union Station Plaza Garage and Union Station Plaza Parking Lot. Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday to Friday; dinner 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Brunch 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Late night menu 10 to 11 p.m. Sunday to Thursday; 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Appetizers $6.95 to $13.95; entrees $16.95 to 28.95. Wine flights are $12 to $28; wines are $6 to $12.50 by the glass; $26 to $72 for a bottle.

mjanuson@projo.com