The swishy decor of Capone's Italian Restaurant and Wine Bar invokes images of fun-filled nights in Cuba and big bands; it just looks plain fun.

Located off of Guanghua Lu in The Place, Capone's is found on the top floor with a decent view of the St.Regis and its neighbors. We grabbed a booth, covered in white leather, near the back, allowing us to check out the decor. Black and white checkered floors paired well with lively reds and contrasted nicely against the white ovals covering columns of mirrors. The bar area opens the restaurant, with booths and tables tucked back around the enclosed kitchen. For starters, the succulent and plump sauteed scallops were cleverly paired with a creamy pumpkin sauce and crunchy noodles (RMB110). The onion soup (RMB45) came with a peppery kick, but the spinach salad with walnuts and parma-ham (RMB45) was unfortunately lacking in flavor. For mains, the wheat pasta linguini with salmon, asparagus and tomato concasse was fresh and light (RMB99), but once again the flavor was too subdued. The squid ink pasta stuffed with crab (RMB135) consisted of beautifully prepared pockets of devilishly black ravioli atop a layer of savory blood red tomato sauce, but the ink pasta was too thick and tough for our tastes. The baked sea bass (RMB139) came in a steaming tinfoil cocoon, and was flaky and moist, but the accompanying baby potatoes were undercooked and soon we saw this meal for what it was: fish served on tinfoil.

Drinks are on the pricier end with Qingdao's starting at RMB45, cosmopolitan's RMB65 and bottles of wine from RMB320 and up. But if the Motown singer their bringing out from the States is all we hope he is, we will definitely be back for cocktails, music and the kicky atmosphere.

Capone
Tel: 010-65871526
Location: L404A, The Place, 9 Guanghua Lu