A Review of Trattoria Vivolo, in Harrison HEARTY FARE Trattoria Vivolo offers an Italian menu. The booths in the front room are tight, but the back room is spacious. TRATTORIA Vivolo, run by the affable Dean Vivolo, is one of the weirdest-looking restaurants around. The distinctive shiny chrome diner, which is the restaurant's front room, is a vestige of another age, before such eateries morphed into the behemoths built today. The surprising view from the sparkly back dining room is of a huge mural painted on the side of a nearby building. The picture of a sunny oceanfront seen through a few birch trees will make most customers smile, as will the restaurant's other incongruities. The long corridor of the diner has, on one side, a low counter with round swiveling seats, and on the other, booths - some of which can be so uncomfortably tight that if a reservation for the more spacious back dining room were not available, I would consider eating elsewhere. Apart from those booths, the atmosphere and service are homey and informal, the portions overflowing and the prices reasonable. Most of the entrees were so generous that for starters we skipped polenta, bresaola and fried calamari and, anticipating pasta, went for lighter dishes like crespelle Toscana. Instead of the usual crespelle (crepes), lighter slices of eggplant formed the wrapping for two tasty knots of herbed ricotta and spinach, bundled under lacings of tomato sauce. Several refreshing salads on the menu were big enough to share. The tre colore salad covered most of a dinner plate with beautifully dressed arugula, endive, radicchio and bits of Parmesan. The restaurant offers small pizzas as well, but we chose to investigate the pasta, which many other Italian restaurants would serve only in whole orders. Here, requests for half orders of even the most complex combinations will be accommodated. Our bucatini all'Amatriciana was classic, the pasta cooked perfectly and mingled with a thick, spicy tomato sauce, diced pancetta (which could have been softer) and Pecorino. But some other interesting combinations were less carefully produced. A special of paglia e fieno, with green and white pasta tossed with shrimp, tomato and grated ricotta salata, failed to make a statement; the penne al limone had none of the lemon flavor that drew us to the dish; and the much-too-tough little tubes of mezzi rigatoni with creamy tomato-pinked sauce, shrimp and arugula needed more seasoning. The accompaniments were often better than an entree's featured ingredient, especially when it came to seafood: our selections were all overcooked. The shrimp wrapped in prosciutto were acceptable, but the real star of the dish was the salad: a fresh green mound of arugula with bits of bright red pepper and softened fennel, dressed with a nicely balanced vinaigrette. Finny fish like branzino and bluefish (an evening special) arrived mealy, with their flavors cooked out, but the simple garnishes that graced most entrees were carefully prepared, and whole string beans, diagonally cut carrots and sautéed sweet peppers were never better. Of the two meat offerings we tried, we particularly enjoyed the pork chops (costoletta di maiale). Two thick and juicy seared chops came smothered in a luscious mélange of spicy-sweet sausage, gently pickled peppers, onion and potato. Sausage and a wine sauce could not, however, revive the chunks of dry chicken in the pollo rustica. The desserts included a nutmeg-perfumed cheese cake (although the too-crumbly ricotta needed rethinking) and marble-hard biscotti, best enjoyed after a dunk in a cup of espresso. The tiramisú was splendid on its own, without the added whipped cream. Delicate panna cotta melted on the tongue. At the end of the meal, the house offered a little liqueur, a cordial gesture in every sense. That sweet ending, and the warm handshake and thanks that Mr. Vivolo gave departing diners, did much to compensate for a few disappointments and to add luster to those dishes that were already satisfying. Trattoria Vivolo 301 Halstead Avenue Harrison (914) 835-6199 trattoriavivolo.com THE SPACE An old-fashioned, narrow diner with booths and a long counter leads back into a bright, sparkly conventional dining room where greenhouse-style windows look onto a huge beachfront mural. Outdoor seating in warm weather. THE CROWD Casual and local. Service can be accommodating or inconsiderate: one evening, a young, distracted server (who never made eye contact) recited the lengthy list of specials in unintelligible fast-forward. THE BAR Fully stocked bar with seating at the diner counter. Mostly Italian wines, by the bottle, $25 to $170; by the glass, $8 and $9. Cocktails, $8 to $10. THE BILL Lunch entrees, $11 to $13; $9 to $13 for pasta. Dinner entrees, $20 to $28; $16 to $20 for pasta. WHAT WE LIKED Crespelle Toscana, tre colore salad, bucatini all'Amatriciana, shrimp wrapped with prosciutto (gamberi con prosciutto), pork chops and sausage (costoletta di maiale), panna cotta, tiramisú (without whipped cream). IF YOU GO Lunch, Monday through Friday, noon to 3 p.m. Dinner, Sunday through Thursday, 4 to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 4 to 10 p.m. Limited parking adjoining the restaurant; street parking is especially hard during evening rush hours. Reservations accepted; advisable if a table in the back dining room is preferred. RATINGS Don't Miss, Worth It, O.K., Don't Bother