By Janis D. Froelich

ST PETERSBURG — No dish is without a special flair at Basta’s Ristorante, a classy dinner spot located south of downtown.

While Basta’s has long been a favorite quiet restaurant, the food and service are by no means understated. The large menu, ranging from dressed-up pastas (most prepared Northern style) to filets and steaks sautéed in flavorful sauces, is impressive. As is the wait staff.

Basta’s has traditional restaurant items, such as an escargot appetizer ($5 95). The snails are nestled in mushroom caps with a tasty touch of garlic butter. Veal piccata ($17.95) a lemon-flavored entree, is fork tender — an excellent choice among about a half dozen veal entrees, including the classic veal marsala. Angel hair pasta served with a rich cream sauce loaded with chunks of lobster ($19 95) is for those who want a heavy dinner — and a large portion.  Both meals come with choice of vegetable or tomato sauce pasta instead of the standard salad. We ended the meal with a light slice of cheese cake ($3.95) topped with fresh strawberries.

Our next dinner demonstrated the versatility of this small, intimate restaurant. Calamari salad ($5.95) and mussels maranara ($6 95) are wonderful accompaniments to the hot, sesame seed-sprinkled bread and small squares of fontina cheese. A vegetarian rendering of penne pasta ($13.95) is adorned with fresh basil, pitted Greek olives, capers, chopped tomatoes and porcini mushrooms. Of course, we had to order a piece of beef, but it was difficult to (decide from the creative list of cuts. We finally settled on steak poivre ($20 95), a tender piece of meat, deliciously wedded to a brandy pepper sauce.

We ordered a banana flambe for dessert ($9.95 for two).  Because our waiter was the only one working in the restaurant that night, he explained it would take a few minutes before he could create the hot concoction spooned over vanilla ice cream. But this kind of consideration is part of the Basta’s experience. On our first visit, when the restaurant wasn’t as short-handed, we were walked out to our car on a rainy night by an umbrella-toting host.

 Basta’s looks more formal now that the Old World-style murals are gone — a remodeling that lightened the interior.  The layout of the restaurant is especially appealing because there are all types of seating arrangements: booths, round tables and rectangular tables.

 A 15 percent service charge is added to each bill, but the staff is attuned to the needs of diners. Dinner for two, with appetizers, dessert and tip, ranges from $50 to $70.