Palma

Saturday night i had dinner at Palma withMark, KK and her b.f & mom. We sat outside in the back garden, which I will say is one of the most lovely I've seen in Manhattan (they also have a small farmhouse behind that which can be rented out for private parties).

We started with the fried calamari, crispy artichokes and rice balls - all of which were VERY good (quite possibly some of the best of these items I've had at a mid-priced Italian). For mains around the table were garganelli pasta bolognese, agnolotti pasta filled with spinach and buffalo ricotta, linguine with clams:

free range chicken roasted in a light cream lemon sauce with sautéed greenmarket vegetables:

and grilled imported sea bass with greenmarket vegetables:

Almost everyone really liked their dishes, although to me none of them were THAT notable (I defintely thought the appetizers were better). The only dislike came with the seabass which was served whole and then fileted tableside (sadly, the job of fileting was not well done and there were WAY too many bones left in to make the dish enjoyable). My only problem with this place was that to me the food was overpriced for what it was ($18 for a small plate of bolognese and $30 for the seabass seemed a bit excessive - especially for the portion size). Service was good though and the outdoor garden may have in the end made it worth it. In any case, it's definitely a romantic date spot if you're outside.