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The Theater District’s rife with second-rate eateries that lure in pre- and post-curtain diners. Better to find your way to this small Italian café, next door to the Brooks Atkinson theater, with a long, narrow dining area set slightly below street level, cozy low ceilings, cream-colored walls, and lots of candlelit accents. The menu embraces reliable standards (think spaghetti and meatballs), a trusty New York steak, and seafood: Southside’s Cappellini Frutti di Mare’s sub-seasoned sauce lets the seafood flavors shine through; Rigatoni Southside’s spicy sausage packs a punch, redeeming a bland marinara base. Melanzane Rollatini stands out, with toothsome eggplant that holds up well against the ricotta filling. Prints of the Italian countryside decorate the walls, evoking the Olive Garden via a chain motel, but a less-generic upstairs dining area, with a pressed-tin ceiling and exposed-brick fireplaces, is available for private parties and events. — Kaitlin Jessing-Butz

Cappellini frutti di mare, $19.95; melanzane rollatini, $15.95