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This venue is closed.

This offshoot of the venerable Brooklyn eatery that closed in 2006, situated among the nail salons and furniture emporiums of working-class Staten Island, is hospitable if somewhat sterile: A roomy faux-granite bar watched over by small, silent TV monitors dominates the main dining room, where pine wainscoting, ensconced mood-lighting, and oversized mirrors surround the small, white-clothed tables. Lento’s ample menu continues the trend toward cozy predictability, representing all the basics from linguine with mussels to veal piccata, but succeeds with a few livelier dishes, such as zesty penne with arugula, red onions, mozzarella and grilled chicken. Pizza, the raison d’être of the Bay Ridge branch, takes a bit of a backseat (or at least back page) here, although the thin, crisp-baked crust and inventive toppings—the chicken and vodka sauce pie, though a tad salty, is as richly satisfying as it sounds—make it worthy of top billing. The choices can be a bit of a coin toss (the indifferently prepared antipasto is eminently skippable), so diners may be forgiven for playing it safe and sticking with the pies. — Mark Holcomb