Every town needs at least one good, locally owned Italian restaurant. Redmond had not had one since Sully’s closed its doors more than two years ago.

Enter Café Italia. Opened on March 8 next to the Sleep Inn on Redmond’s north side, in a space that has seen other restaurants come and go in recent years, the pasta house is doing enough things well that it just may stick around awhile.

Noodle lovers find plenty to tempt them here, including bowls of spaghetti, linguine, fettucine, penne, tortellini, tagliatelle and lasagna, boosted with chicken, seafood and vegetables. There are also steaks, salads, pizzas and a few carefully chosen sandwiches and desserts.

Located beside N. U.S. Highway 97, the restaurant seats about 80 diners in its main room, with room for another 14 in a small lounge. Booths and tables are nondescript, but a mood is set by a soundtrack from the likes of Frank Sinatra to Luciano Pavarotti that touches the Italian-American in everyone.

Service, to be sure, is inconsistent; I sense that Café Italia is still feeling its way during its early months of business. At a recent lunch, my companion and I were pleased to be attended by a veteran professional server, even though the delivery of entrees was on the slow. Given that this is a scratch kitchen, with every dish made to order, that’s not overly surprising.

At a subsequent evening meal, however, we were given dinner rolls with butter but no individual plates, then sat there for more than five minutes before anyone came to take drink and food orders. And later in the meal, it seemed to take forever to flag down a server to refill our water glasses and, eventually, bring our check.

Salad choices

But the food was good, if not actually memorable. While I wouldn’t make a special trip from Bend, I would have no hesitation about dropping in for another lunch or dinner as I traveled through Redmond.

Café Italia is one of very few Central Oregon restaurants to make a proper caprese salad, for instance — with thick slices of tomato (the pithy beefsteak variety were not as good as juicy heirlooms would have been, but far superior to Romas), buffalo mozzarella cheese and whole basil leaves. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar and herbed olive oil gave it the right punch.

Other salads were less imaginative but equally fresh. The Caesar side salad, of course, was made with fresh romaine and shaved Parmesan cheese, albeit without the tang of anchovy paste in the dressing. The tossed house salad featured crispy iceberg lettuce with sliced red onions, cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices (three of each) and Italian dressing. Garlicky croutons, however, did not in any way enhance the salads.

The same menu is offered for lunch (served only Thursday through Sunday) and dinner (offered daily). Ham, turkey and meatball subs make up the sandwich list, along with a Philadelphia cheesesteak, which is one of my lunchtime weak spots if it’s made properly.

This one definitely is, although my friends from the City of Brotherly Love may disagree. The tender sliced beef was made with all of the ingredients I love — grilled onions, green bell peppers and mushrooms — as well as a choice of melted cheese. (I chose provolone over Swiss or cheddar.) There are some who insist it’s only authentic with Cheez Whiz. Pass.

Pastas and entrees

Each of the pasta dishes we sampled was perfectly prepared, with noodles cooked just past al dente but far from mushy.

Shrimp scampi, featuring seven plump prawns sauteed in garlic and butter, was offered on broad, ribbonlike tagliatelle. The kitchen didn’t scrimp on either olive oil or garlic in making this dish, which suited my companion just fine.

My penne al giordino (I think the menu author should have written “giardino,” the Italian word for garden) was a delicious vegetarian dish. Chopped broccoli, zucchini, onions, mushrooms and green peppers were tossed with the grooved, cylindrical penne noodles with a rich tomato sauce.

Chicken fettucine offered ample slices of grilled chicken breast in white Alfredo sauce rich in garlic. It was a simple dish, well prepared.

The menu also offers rib-eye and sirloin steaks. I ordered a 16-ounce rib-eye, made with choice beef that was cooked as tender as possible (medium-rare, my preference) given the amount of gristle in the meat. A dozen slender, grilled asparagus spears came on the side.

Though I am not normally a dessert eater, I was curious how Café Italia would do with a tiramisu cake of coffee-soaked ladyfingers. It was delicious. I wound up eating the whole thing.

— John Gottberg Anderson can be reached at janderson@bendbulletin.com.