Rating: Excellent

Not many restaurants have a wait at 8 on a Wednesday night. Cafe L'Amore is one of them, and after a few visits it's easy to see why: The food and the prices are worth it.

Squeezed between an auto parts store and a high-performance stereo center in a mini-mall off Route 208, Cafe L'Amore has little parking but lots of good vibes. Half the people in the dining room seem to know one another, and everyone seems to know and be known by the outgoing owner, Mounir Michael.

The restaurant fills two adjoining storefronts, one of which houses the main dining room. The other room is divided between a pizza counter (complete with wood-burning oven and a pile of firewood) and a small dining area for smokers. The two rooms are connected by cherry French doors that impart a slight, nice formality.

On Saturday nights, the anteroom feels like an ongoing cocktail party. There aren't enough chairs for all the people waiting to sit down, so they stand. The wine they have brought is uncorked and poured, so they drink. And the departing diners usually recognize some of those waiting, so they deliver a contented commentary on the pleasures within.

Once seated, guests immediately receive a basket of oven-warmed bread. This sustains them through the reading of the menu and of the specials list, presented typewritten with descriptions and prices for nearly a dozen additional items.

Michael and his chef-cousin (Mark), who seldom leaves the kitchen, have devised a menu of light Italian fare: low in fat, rich in taste, and at the upper end of the value scale. You won't find fettuccine Alfredo, with double cream and egg yolks, here. Even when it makes an occasional appearance on the specials list, the sauce is light.

For appetizers, an extraordinary radicchio special ($5.95) deserves a place on the main menu. Wrapped in prosciutto and drizzled with a substantial, but not overpowering, brown wine sauce, it opened the taste buds. Much simpler was the portobello al burgundy ($5.45), a three-inch disc in a sweet and savory reduction of wine.

A plate heaped with baby squid fresh specimens coated with mild breading and sizzled in hot oil comprised the calamari al la toscana ($5.45).

Pasta entrees, even the hard-to-get-right angel hair, were perfectly al dente. Namesake capellini L'Amore ($7.95) came bathed in a delicate pink sauce, enlivened by chunks of flavorful prosciutto. It was tasty and filling without being overwhelming. The special spinach ravioli ($11.95) were tossed in a sauce heavy with garlic, one of the chef's signature flavors.

Pollo L'Amore ($9.95) made a beautiful appearance on a plate with painted border. Thin, butter-soft slices of chicken tumbled over one another beneath artichokes and a lemony, garlicky sauce. Also fine: vitello margherita ($13.95), flavored with that same combination of artichokes and lemon, this time with spinach stirred in. Shrimp scampi were fresh and tender on a bed of angel hair.

Pizzas at Cafe L'Amore are thin-crusted and bubbling hot. We tried the simple margherita ($4.95 and $7.95) and the fancier piccante ($6.95 and $10.95), with two kinds of sausage, and found both good.

Cafe L'Amore's only real drawback is the wait. It's a nice problem for a restaurant owner to have, but it reminds everyone else of Yogi Berra's classic observation: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."