For the irrepressible romantic, the dining experience is more than a quest to please the palate. Atmosphere sets the mood, enhanced by first-class service, the kind that takes care of the details unobtrusively, and leaves diners to soak in the scene, savor the fare and enjoy the company.

Only in the land of fairy tale dining, you say?

Perhaps that's the case most of the time in the harried world of food service. But we were pleasantly surprised to live out the fairy tale on a recent Friday at La Palma Ristorante & Bar in Coral Gables, a 250-seater with the cozy ambience of an intimate little charmer in la bella Italia.

Owned by Paolo Montecchi, originally from the Bologna region, the restaurant is housed in a beautifully restored 1924 building where Alhambra Circle meets Galiano. The restaurant has a tree-shaded, candlelighted garden courtyard, enchanting for a fair evening, and indoors, an elegant dining room and piano bar awash in white linens, muted lighting and walls full of impressionist art.

The romantic mood is sealed as Oscar D'Lugo glides across the dining room crooning Nat King Cole favorites and Armando Sequeira deftly accompanies him on the piano. It also takes on a humorous, only-in-Miami hue, when D'Lugo comes to your table, belts out a line, pulls the microphone away from his face, and says to you: ``You're Cuban, no?''

Then, he belts out another lovely line, pulls the microphone away again, and continues the conversation:

``I'm from Gibara near Holguín, in Oriente.''

The song-and-talk routine goes on for a few more lines.

``By way of Brooklyn''

Such combination of romance and levity calls for a good bottle of wine and La Palma offers an impressive list that includes expensive champagne and reserve wines (Amarone Classico from Bertani is $125 a bottle) as well as a moderately priced and varied selection from the best of Italy, France, Spain and Chile. We sampled a perfectly safe choice, the elegant Italian Tore di Luna merlot ($28.50), a pleasing wine that goes well with just about anything, although the wine list recommends it for roasted meats, rabbit and poultry.

We spotted no rabbit on the menu, but plenty of meats with veal clearly cast in a starring role. If you like this tender, light-hearted meat, Chef Vittorio Amadi of Venecia will sauté scallops of veal in white wine and lemon ($19.50) or in a creamy porcini mushroom sauce ($21.50) or lightly breaded and topped with tricolore salad ($21.95). A 14-ounce veal chop ($27.95), veal parmigiana ($19.50) served with linguine pomodoro and the famous osso buco ($23.95), veal shank braised in the oven with a light tomato sauce, round out the choices.

Surely pastas abound, but seafood prepared Italian-style is also a La Palma specialty. On this evening, one of the specials was a lobster risotto ($24.95) prepared with minuscule bits of red and green peppers. The rice came fluffy and light, not thick and creamy like most risottos, a welcome twist in post-holiday times, but the lobster chunks were too al dente and lacked flavor.

The fish special ($24.95), a sea bass lightly floured and sautéed with white wine and lemon, had a satisfying, light texture and came with a healthy portion of potatoes, carrots and green beans.

But the most savory parts of the meal were the appetizers -- most notably the carpaccio di salmone fresco norvegese ($8.50), paper-thin slices of fresh Atlantic salmon deliciously bathed in extra virgin olive oil and lemon, with a dash of pepper, please.

On this chilly night, the zuppa di fagioli ($4.95), a white bean soup in a tomato base, a Tuscany favorite, went down rather well. And the grilled portobello ($7.95), a standard appetizer in just about any restaurant these days, packed enough flair with its own brown savory sauce and leafy bed of fresh arugula.

In true fairy tale fashion, none of this is unpleasantly filling, so when the dessert trolley comes around, there's no guilt in ordering a slice of New York-style cheesecake with cookie crumb filling ($5) and a fruit tarte ($5) packed with strawberries, kiwi and grapes.

And so it doesn't get better than this: Half-eaten desserts and espresso ($2) cups lingering on the table as witnesses to the feast, Sequeira strikes the first notes of your favorite song and D'Lugo starts to belt out Fly Me to the Moon (from far, he prods your companion to ask you to dance). Prince Charming takes your hand, and you dance, right by the dinner table, cheek to cheek.