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This casual midtown Italian eatery has a thriving takeout business, and why not? Every neighborhood should have a go-to delivery place for reliable, traditional pastas. Stick to ethnic comfort food such as the penne alla vodka and the special pastas della casa and you’re likely to be phoning orders once a week. But don’t get anything except pasta and don’t bother eating in. Mysteriously, at the height of tomato season, tomatoes (and mozzarella) prove dry; Cesar salad, for its part, is nothing you couldn’t make at home with Good Seasons dressing and Pepperidge Farm croutons. The service is friendly if bumbling; the plain-Jane decor suggests playing catch-up with friends more than impressing out-of-towners. — Aileen Gallagher

Tortellini emiliana, $10.55; Veal marsala, $17.95