La Perla di Pompano

I had high expectations for this little restaurant for my mom's 86th birthday. Very cute place with old Italian style ambiance. Parking was a bit rough...if you pass the south alley, you have to go around back on the back street, which puts you in the wrong direction to park...so a 17 point turn fixed this...(another patron was doing the same thing)..lol. Other option is parking at the bank on the south side. Our waiter was nice, a bit too talkative, and as my husband says "if you are talking, you can't listen." I think he was hard of hearing, since I told him twice that it was my mom's birthday, and he ignored it, so I dropped it. He also had a hard time hearing me, and asked me to repeat someting 4 times before he got it. He said he lived in Italy for 22 years, so my husband spoke Italian to him (he speaks both Italian and Spanish), and he ignored it several times. Kind of weird, so I chalk it all up to hard of hearing. I did notice that they turned away some walk-ins, but the waiter did tell me that there was only one cook, the owner, today, so he needed patience, which was no problem, because when I am spending $300+ for 4 for dinner, I always make sure I am in no rush! Just make sure to make a res! Bread was good, Cesar salad was average, meals were nice (a bit bland), but all too salty. Everybody told me the next day how parched they were all night long, which caused a lot of water consumption and not the greatest sleep. I thought it was due to maybe a glass and a half of wine, but then my 13 year old daughter said the same thing "she was parched all night," so I tasted her leftovers and realized how salty hers was too! The desserts were spectacular.....lemoncello pie, almond creme brulee, apple tart, and daughter said the chocolate mousse cake was exceptional. I may go back to give it a second try, but there are so many others that I want to try first.