Perhaps you’ve taken the special lady in your life out to dinner time and time again, but she remains unimpressed. It might be tempting to think that resorting to lunch or brunch would be a step down on the totem pole of dining, but that doesn’t need to be the case. Take Madison and Fifth, a relatively new addition to the University Avenue restaurant scene, serving up Italian cuisine in what is billed an environment with the style of New York.

Not to imply that Madison and Fifth should be avoided at other times, but the restaurant seemed especially attractive on a sunny Saturday afternoon with its open front and colorful interior, which seemed like an ideal place to sit with a friend for a lengthy, relaxed brunch. Tables near the front provided a glimpse of the well decorated interior, with enough sun and air from outside to feel like you’re still taking advantage of the perfect weather.

It would seem that Madison and Fifth is a great place to temporarily escape the rest of reality because the general theme of the restaurant is putting on artificial appearances. For one thing, the New York style in the interior seems limited to some attractive murals depicting the Big Apple. Most of the mirrors and finishings in the dining room were more in line with a brasserie in Paris than an Italian restaurant in Manhattan. Furthermore, any self-respecting NYC yuppie hangout — which Mad. & Fifth clearly tries to emulate — would have a distinct weekend brunch menu, but, being in Palo Alto, the only option was the same lunch menu offered during the week. So while the restaurant’s valiant attempt at style is certainly attractive in it its own right, it falls short of properly capturing the qualities it’s aiming for.

But for a place so hung up on appearances, the food was surprisingly good. It might be a stretch to call the menu — which included salads, pizzas, pastas, and meat entrées — inventive, but the chef clearly has put some thought into many of the preparations. For example, rather than offering calamari ($12.00) deep-fried, it was sautéed and served with avocado, olives, tomatoes and greens. While none of these individual ingredients were amazing, the combination made for a very solid appetizer.

The Penne alla Vodka ($12.50) was also quite good. The pasta was appropriately cooked and served in a sauce that achieved just the right balance of tomato and cream. And to mix things up, small pieces of bacon were added throughout, which added something extra not found in most versions of this omnipresent dish.

For something a little more interesting, consider the Black Ravioli ($16.50), stuffed with lobster, scallops and shrimp. Once again, the pasta itself was properly cooked and was not gummy, which is frequently the case. And, of course, it’s difficult to go wrong with the included seafood, which was naturally sweet and worked well with the simple but good tomato sauce.

Service at Madison and Fifth was lacking in respect to grace and professionalism, but was still functional. Drink orders were taken arguably too quickly after sitting down, and the main courses were served before the appetizer plates had been cleared. But iced tea glasses were regularly refilled without needing to ask, and everything arrived in a timely manner.

It should be noted that the name of the restaurant, which implies an intersection of two streets, actually makes no sense: Fifth and Madison Avenues run parallel a block apart and, therefore, never meet. And because Madison runs north from 23rd street, it will never intersect Fifth Street, either. But despite its failure to really live up to what it pretends to be, Madison and Fifth provides a very nice setting to sit down for a solid Italian meal at any time of day. Just be ready for the New York prices.