Banana Mondale dessert.

CRANSTON — Even on a Wednesday night, not known for being the busiest night in the restaurant trade, it was easy to see that the Edgewood Café has become a hit in its neighborhood.

Chef-owner John Walsh, who operated the Bookstore Café on Providence’s East Side for a decade, opened this quaint restaurant in a storefront on Broad Street last April and word apparently has spread like wildfire. The place was already quite busy when we arrived at 7:15. Three of the black-topped tables had been put together for a big party, although only two women were seated at it at the moment. As the evening wore on, more people joined them at the long table while other diners filled the other tables.

By 8:30, when three more people stepped in the door, they had to wait 15 minutes to be seated. Although there was an empty table, all the chairs had been filled!

Needless to say that although the Edgewood Café is a real find — and one with modest prices at that — it’s is not a place you can just drop in on and expect to be seated immediately. That suits Walsh just fine. “My vision,” he said later over the phone, “was to have a line out the door.”

It can seat only 35, with another 14 seats outside in warm weather . . . something that is now in short supply. “I have about 90 seats less than the old place,” Walsh said of the Bookstore Café which he gave up five years ago after a 10-year-run because “I was getting burned out” and couldn’t reach an agreement on a new lease.

He said he’d been looking for a new spot for three years and for a long time had eyed this corner spot while driving by. When he couldn’t find anyplace suitable near his Edgewood home, he placed a request on the Internet looking for a space to lease. The only response turned out to be from the owner of “the place I wanted.”

We discovered that it might be a good idea to put your orders in quickly once you’re seated, especially if it’s a favorite dish you’d like to order. Shortly after we’d immensely enjoyed John’s Calamari, a house specialty, we overheard our waitress disappoint another table with the news that the calamari had been sold out. A half hour later another party bemoaned the fact that the calamari was gone, making clear that the dish has many fans.

Although only one waitress, Regina, was on duty the night we visited, she bustled among the tables with an unflappable and cheery sense of humor. Despite the fact that she had so many customers to attend to, we never felt abandoned or forgotten. There was little down time between courses. Just as I was thinking about asking for another iced tea, Regina was already at my elbow, asking if I’d like a refill. Later, she told us that she’d worked for years with Walsh at the Bookstore Café and many diners seemed to know her. Walsh said that many of his Bookstore customers had followed him to Edgewood.

Edgewood Café is a charming spot with green-and-white-striped awnings outside, high ceilings, big plate glass windows at the front and side, a door that opens right onto the street corner (I hope they get a curtain to block winter winds) and wood paneled walls outfitted with pictures and mirrors. The color scheme is pale olive and light green, changed drastically from what Walsh said was its previous “Pepto Bismol pink” color scheme. It’s very soothing. And although it was a full house and the place was abuzz with chatter, it was not so noisy that one couldn’t carry on a conversation in a normal tone of voice.

Edgewood Café is a BYOB place where no alcohol is sold save for the Kahlua in the Mud Pie’s chocolate fudge or the rum in the banana dessert. Most customers arrived carrying brown paper bags with wine bottles inside. There’s a $2 cork fee. But, sports that we were, we went with the freshly brewed iced tea (very good) and a root beer (out of a can and into a glass), for $1.75 each.

John’s Calamari ($7.95) was, truly special. It was a big plate of crisp, lightly fried and not greasy squid rings that had been tossed with sliced sweet grape tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and sliced (not overly spicy) hot peppers. It was topped with grated asiago cheese and drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette that added a touch of zesty sweetness. It was a big portion, but we plowed through it with delight, finishing the last of the rings and primed for a pizza, which we had served as a second appetizer.

The Café has four pizza varieties — a margarita, a pepperoni, a pesto chicken and a barbecued chicken — plus a “make your own” with choice of three toppings ($8.95). That’s what we did, selecting mozzarella, pepperoni and mushrooms. It was one of the best pizzas I’ve had recently. The 12-inch pie had a high, light and crunchy base and crust, smothered with lots of gooey mozzarella and a rich tomato sauce. The scattering of thin pepperoni slices and mushrooms was the perfect ratio, making for a top-notch pizza experience. The pizza alone is worth a visit to Edgewood Café, we raved, and you can get it as a take out (all “to go” items have a 50-cent surcharge).

The BBQ Ribs ($14.95) won applause, too. Thick and extraordinarily meaty, the half-rack order was generous. The hickory-smoked barbecue sauce was a good accompaniment, not overly spicy and it did not overwhelm the tender meat. The ribs were served with crisp shoestring French fries and a perfectly fine if unexceptional cole slaw.

The Fish ‘N Chips ($11.95) is served only Wednesdays and Fridays. This being a Wednesday, I couldn’t resist. There were three big pieces of cod fried to crunchiness in a malt vinegar aioli batter with a side of rather bland tartar sauce. But the fish was wonderfully moist and flaky, a real bargain price-wise. When some of the batter fell off the fish, I made certain not to overlook it. Like the ribs, the dish came with shoestring fries which, besides ketchup, you could have with malt vinegar. There also was a little ramekin of cole slaw on the side.

All four desserts on the menu are made at the restaurant ($5.95 each). Although the Hot Apple Crisp and Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae tempted, I couldn’t pass up something called Banana Mondale, which Walsh said is a holdover from the Bookstore Café.

My dining companion went with the Mud Pie, a very high piece of coffee ice cream pie. While we doubted that the ice cream is made here (it isn’t, as it turned out), the rich Oreo cookie crust obviously was prepared in the Edgewood Café kitchen, since it didn’t hold together the way commercially made pie crusts do. A mountain of a slice, it was topped with Kahlua chocolate fudge sauce and sweet whipped cream.

Even more impressive was the Banana Mondale. Served in a crunchy sugar tortilla basket, like a Mexican tart, the sliced banana had been sautéed with brown sugar and dark rum for a dusky sweetness. Rich vanilla ice cream and whipped cream topped the impressive looking, and tasting, dessert. It was a perfect sweet end to a delicious (and reasonably priced) meal.BILL OF FARE

Dinner for two at Edgewood Café might look something like this:

Iced tea…$1.75

Soda…$1.75

John’s Calamari…$7.95

Fish and chips…$11.95

BBQ ribs…$14.95

Banana Mondale…$5.95

Total food and drink…$44.30

Tax…$3.54

Tip…$9.00

Total bill…$56.84

Edgewood Café, 1864 Broad St., Cranston. (401) 383-5550, www.edgewoodcafe.com. Casual. Call-ahead seating. Child seats. Wheelchair accessible. MC/V. On-street parking. Open 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tues. to Sat.; Sunday brunch 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Appetizers $2.95 to $7.95. Pizzas $7.95 to $8.95. Entrees $8.95 to $17.95. Bring your own wine; $2 cork fee.

mjanuson@projo.com