At the end of 2013, the owners of Cancun Mexican Restaurant shut down the operation and opened Nonno’s Ristorante Italiano in its place on the highly visible corner of Whitney Way and Odana Road. I like the menu and the decor, and other than a few glitches in service I experienced, I’d say it’s worth dining here.

This being an Italian restaurant, I had to try the spaghetti alle polpette (spaghetti and meatballs, $10), which turned out to be my favorite dish. The noodles were perfectly al dente, the meatballs had a nice, soft texture and the marinara sauce wasn’t overly liquidy like so many bad sauces.

From spaghetti and meatballs I moved onto another classic, pizza. The capricciosa ($10) is topped with mushrooms, black olives, artichoke hearts (too many), prosciutto, anchovies (too few) and oregano. Not surprisingly, the taste leans on the salty side, but nonetheless it’s a well-crafted pie for two to share. Note that the crust is actually closer to hand-tossed instead of thin as written on the menu.

Let’s look at some of the other entrees, of which there are many. I don’t recommend the penne e pollo alla genovese ($10), only because there was barely any chicken in it. On the flip side, I enjoyed the big portions of flaky fish in the tilapia al limone ($12).

I did try one salad, the innamorate ($8), which comes with strawberries, feta and toasted almonds; however, it was the fennel that gave this salad its signature flavor. I also enjoyed the golden brown calamari fritti ($8) with the spicy marinara, which is just marinara and crushed red pepper.

While the dark-toned restaurant has a small bar, it unfortunately under-utilizes it. I could see a strong happy hour being done here, but alas, the bar is an after-thought to the owners. Another area that could use some improvement is staffing; on my visits, I’ve felt it’s been under-staffed. I’ve had good servers, but they’ve been so busy that they’ve failed at simple things, like bringing menus (even upon request) and bringing the check in a timely manner (one time took nine min.).

Nonno’s serves lunch, dinner and carryout every day.

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See more photos in our Nonno’s Ristorante Italiano Flickr album.

I remember enjoying meals at the previous incarnation of Luigi’s, located where the Tipsy Cow is now. Thus, I was happy to hear that Food Fight had helped to resurrect it in its new location on Midvale Boulevard.

There are two major differences from Version 1. The first is that there is no wait service; instead, you order at the counter, and your food is brought to you. The other is that the menu has shifted from mainly pasta to mainly pizza.

That latter point was surprising to me. You’ll find only four pasta dishes and a handful of sandwiches and salads. Meanwhile, almost an entire menu page is devoted to pizza, and it turns out, this is a good thing.

I tried the meatball pasta ($9.29), which came in a super boring tomato sauce and under-cooked corkscrew pasta. The sausage and pepper pasta ($9.29) was slightly better although it needed more sausage, and overall both pasta dishes were small in portion size.

My disappointment ended when I tried the chicken pizza ($8.79 for a 9-inch; add $4.50 for 14 inches). Caramelized onion, grilled chicken, mozzarella and goat cheese topped this really delicious pie. I realized that you get so much more flavor at less cost for the pizzas than the pasta. Go figure.

I’m looking forward to a return visit to try the Prosciutto and Arugala ($8.99) and the Bada Bing (bacon, white sauce, grilled asparagus and roasted mushrooms; $8.79) pizzas.

In addition to the menu, which is the same for lunch and dinner, Luigi’s offers dinner specials Sunday-Wednesday.