La Bettola

I think I'm going to start reviewing restaurants that I dine at. They will be pretty simple, but fun, just like every other surface rambling that I do on this blog. Chances are, I won't have any pictures of the food because unless it's something ridiculously stellar, I'm a little bit too sheepish to take pictures of my food at restaurants. I'll leave that to someone else.
We went to La Bettola for dinner and I liked the experience. The newest edition to the Terroni family, the experience started off right by the way that I was greeted. I arrived earlier than everyone else, and enjoyed being at the table waiting for everyone else, while getting some work done, eaves-dropping on conversations and people watching. The team was super friendly and kept checking in on me without being annoying.
The restaurant gives a relaxed vibe, while being chic at the same time. The food (menu here) was quite tasty. And I was intrigued by the number of daily specials that they had. Good selection and decent prices.
The Barbabietole e Caprino made me change my mind about beets. I thought I didn't like beets, but these tasted like candied corn. Not the Halloween incarnation, but the flavour reminded me of sweet corn and the candied lemon zest made them taste super yummy. The goat cheese wasn't at horrible as I'm used to thinking it is, and the lamb's lettuce gave me a wonderful sense of nostalgia for dinner parties at a colleague's house in Switzerland.
My Sveltina pizza was light, but exactly what the menu described. I thought the pizza crust was nice and spongy (I don't know if that's supposed to be good nor if it's an accurate description of the texture, but I liked it) and easy to cut through, probably due to their relatively new knives. I knew the combination of toppings on the pizza would not disappoint me. The spiciness of the arugula was a good contrast to the sweet cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes were room temperature, so I guess they made it onto the pizza after it came out of the oven along with the arugula. The pizza was very 'white', with a limited amount of cheese on it.
The washroom had a special touch as well. Instead of trendy music, they played an Italian instructional tape. A fun touch.
We arrived at the beginning of the dinner rush, by the time we left, there was a long line waiting to get in. La Bettola is directly adjacent to Osteria Ciceri e Tria, also of the Terroni family. They share an entrance, and I overhead the hostess asking prospective diners if they had a preference between the two restaurants or if they wanted to be seated at the first table that comes up in whichever restaurant.
I hear that La Bettola is open for brunch.

Ambiance: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Would return again: yes