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Tucked away in an otherwise unassuming suburban shopping mall, Arpeggio caters to two potential audiences. The first: locals looking for a slight improvement on the usual suburban fare, and at a good price (the restaurant is BYO-only), with a tripartite focus on Italian-American, pan-Mediterranean, and Mexican dishes. From a casual survey of the menu, it seems they do the North African/Arab-influenced dishes the best, with the pizzas a close second, and other Italian-American dishes a fading third (though the fried calamari are frankly stupendous). The best items on a recent visit were crisp, flavorful discs of falafel, simply paired with a little dish of yogurt, and a four-cheese pizza with a well-tuned crust, while a fresh strawberry salad was sweet but perfectly fine, and chicken with ziti and pesto was tasty but a bit gummy. A special offering of red snapper was grossly overcooked.

As for the second potential audience? College-age boys in search of a date, or at least eye candy. It may just be the restaurant’s proximity to Gwynedd-Mercy College, but the percentage of both staff and clientele represented by attractive women is obvious even to the most oblivious. So, boys, get thee to the ‘burbs. (April 2006)