If you've been to one Tommy Billante restaurant, you've been to them all. And that's not a bad thing. Consistency is something diners desire and -- at least here in fly-by-night Florida -- rarely get. Plus, finding decent Italian food in Miami is about as tough as spotting a woman over 30 at a South Beach club with her God-given equipment intact.

So, when Billante's Restaurants Concepts (Carpaccio, Bella Luna, Trattoria Rosalia, Villagio) opened Luna Café in late September, the foodscape on the sad stretch of Biscayne Boulevard across from Baypoint made a huge upswing.

Make no mistake; there's nothing original or particularly noteworthy about the menu at Luna, or at any of Billante's places. But the quality of ingredients is better than most, the cooking competent and the results mostly right on. Portions are huge, the good-looking staff is friendly, and the prices are remarkably fair.

And Luna, with its abundance of marble, bustling open kitchen and open-air patio seating, is an exceedingly welcoming spot -- a place to sit awhile and escape the crazy road construction and traffic that have come to define the Boulevard.

The staff acts as if everybody is a regular, welcoming most with a hug or a wink even on a first visit. They're happy to make substitutions or ask the kitchen to cook an off-the-menu item, and quick to refill wine and water glasses without prompting or, if you prefer, leave it to you to ask for more.

Stick with classic starters like plump grilled calamari that deliver a tender snap and a nice little burst of foamy cream with every bite and bruschetta of spicy shrimp in melted tomatoes that's dotted with golden slivers of garlic.

Pizzas are served hot with a just-so crust, not too thin, not too thick, lusciously chewy and crusty. The pesto and chicken version with hints of garlic and slabs of remarkably moist breast meat could easily make a meal for two along with any of the large salads.

The house salad is full of bright, fresh greens and veggies -- even broccoli -- but lacks pizazz. Better is the arugula with its baby-smooth, unmottled leaves, fresh artichoke and real Parmigiano-Reggiano. OK, there's nothing authentically Italian about raspberry vinaigrette, but it's light and not too sweet.

Fish and other seafood, including the sheer, refreshing sheets of salmon and tuna carpaccio, are consistently fresh and generally well-treated. The raw, paper-thin slices are a better choice at lunch than dinner, though, judging from the slightly stuck-to-the-plate salmon version I sampled after sundown that appeared to have been plated early in the day and left in a cold fridge.

The cooked fish, including a luscious snapper fillet happily doused with a zesty tomato sauce with onions, black olives and capers, is likewise recommendable.

Pastas are also a no-brainer. The rigatoni with snappy house-made sausage and tender slivers of button mushrooms is a favorite, as are the classic, meaty spaghetti Bolognese and the perfectly decadent lasagne with lots of creamy mozzarella.

I've been known to make dinner of an appetizer portion of melanzane siciliana, a parmigiana-like baked eggplant dish made with pecorino cheese. Add a glass of chianti from an unremarkable but fairly priced, mostly Italian list, and I'm happy.

The one pasta I would not order again is the linguine with three funghi; its gluey orbs of cheese make it utterly impossible to eat, at least in front of other people.

For dessert, we tried to order a pear tart but our young, English-challenged waitress did not understand what we said. Happily, we ended up with a rewarding berry tart in a buttery, flaky crust with rich zabaglione sauce.

A tart della nonna with pine nuts and lemon was clearly stale, but the staff was more than happy to replace it with any other dessert we wanted and deduct it from the bill.

That's just the kind of restaurant experience that reminds you it isn't all about the food.