Lombardino's Restaurant

Lombardino's is everything I ask of a restaurant: It is authentic, has beautifully prepared food with fresh ingredients, has an intimate setting with the right patron-to-wait staff ratio, and is memorable. The waitstaff were attentive w/o being overly so. The salads are extraordinary; they are much more than greens. I recommend the roasted beet salad or the Lombardino Ensalada. As a vegetarian who has gluten allergies, I chose an eggplant dish atop polenta, a dish I will never forget. The dish was art: The eggplant exterior was crisp and filled with caramelized onions; the polenta was creamy. The entire dish was rimmed in fresh pesto. See the picture. My friend chose spaghetti, and he said he had never eaten such perfectly prepared food. Our guests raved about their choices as well. Desserts are equally worthy of praise. We have eaten at Lombardino's on three occasions and have found that the quality of their food and service to be consistently excellent. I dream of the next time I find myself in Madison and able to go to Lombardinos.