Mezzo Ristorante & Lounge

Sesame-crusted Ahi tuna under mango chutney. Dry-rubbed short rib finished with a whiskey demi-glace. Penne crowned with a lobster tail. These are the plates a kitchen reaches for when it wants to argue that Italian dining on Via Italia means more than red sauce — and at Mezzo, on Windsor's Erie Street East, that argument runs through a formal dining room, a separate cocktail lounge, a seasonal patio, a private room, and a full takeout operation, five distinct ways to use a single address.

The menu rewards a table that orders with intent. Pollo Mezzo is the house-named centrepiece: bacon-wrapped chicken breast stuffed with dried cranberries, wild mushrooms, ricotta, onions, and goat cheese, finished in a Champagne cream sauce. The short rib brings the strongest beef order — Canadian AAA, dry-rubbed and braised until it gives way under a fork. Lobster Penne layers black tiger shrimp, red peppers, and brandy blush sauce beneath that lobster tail, the clearest evidence the pasta section is no afterthought. For the handmade comfort lane there is Four Cheese Gnocchi in wild-mushroom brandy blush and a butternut squash ravioli folded with mutsu apple. Gluten-free penne and gnocchi sit quietly in the margins for the diners who need them.