If you want to eat dinner at Gloria's Little Italy, you have to work up some determination beforehand.

Otherwise, you'll never make it past the beautiful array of gelato and bakery desserts just inside the front door. You'll spoil your dinner if you don't close your eyes and head down the stairs to the two-level dining area. We ogled, then decided to get some gelato after dinner (more on that later).

The walls at Gloria's are lined with fake grapes and real imported goodies. The kitchen isn't far from the dessert counter, and we overheard conversations in Italian. There's actually a lady named Gloria who owns the place and does the cooking. All good signs.

What wasn't a good sign was that we finished our tall drinks before the basket of paesano bread came out (very good bread, by the way, toasted with garlic, oil, salt and pepper). It was another while before our salads, and finally the entrees arrived. Our server apologized frequently and told us they were understaffed that night.

Thankfully, the food was well worth the wait. Gloria's serves any combination of several pastas and sauces, plus a few house specials (such as tortellini and chicken alla parmigiana) and several panini. Entrees are about $9 each.

The spinach and cheese ravioli was the best we've tasted. Soft and moist on the inside (not the powdery cheese wad you'll get elsewhere), the large pasta pockets were covered in a flavorful pomarola sauce. Like most of the dishes here, it's not light on the garlic, so make sure your date won't mind your breath afterward.

The lasagna was more oily than expected, but several layers of homemade noodles and tasty sauces convinced us to finish it off. Our pasta with carbonara sauce (eggs and bacon) was well-cooked and very flavorful.

The panini are quite unlike what you'll find at most delis. You have a choice of ciabatta, focaccia or paesano bread, and the sandwiches are larger than your average paperback novel. Half a sandwich was enough to fill one person.

In fact, we were all stuffed, and only had room for a few bites of dessert. We tried Gloria's Mormon Tiramisu (assumably made without the coffee and wine), a moist, delicious cake and custard treat, and the gelato, both of which were quite tasty. We'll be back for the fruit tarts and eclairs.