RESTAURANT REVIEW : There’s a Taverna in the Town . . . : Pentola Taverna in Santa Monica is part trendy pasta joint and part classic chop house.

Pentola Taverna is an interesting, slightly pricey restaurant with a name that can be translated from Italian either as Stewpot Tavern or, more idiomatically as the What’s Cookin’? Bar & Grill.

Part trendy pasta joint and part classic chop house, Pentola looks like a remake of the wood-paneled restaurants of the ‘40s--a ‘90s version of Musso and Frank or Chicago’s bustling Berghoff.

There are two bars, the main one seemingly a mile long, the other tucked into a corner of the restaurant. Both are ornate, old-fashioned and crammed on a Saturday night.

The booths in the dining room are cozy and private. And Pentola Taverna has cultivated a mature, urbane clientele.

So pentola at Pentola? What’s cooking in the stewpot? First of all, this is not just another neo-Italian pizza ‘n’ pasta emporium. The menu is definitely more imaginative than that. The chef, Kenny Giambalvo, formerly of Sfuzzi restaurant in New York’s Lincoln Center, is creative and consistent.

He’ll take crunchy quills of asparagus, deliciously slippery sauteed mushrooms and sturdy, well-dressed greens and make a wonderful salad that is a textural pleasure. A velvety squash soup is punctuated with bits of goat cheese and walnuts. Seared, fresh scallops come on a bed of smoky, white beans finished with black truffle oil. The only disappointing appetizer I tried was the salmon ravioli, which had too much tarragon (it overpowered the salmon) and came in a sharp herb-heavy tomato broth.

Pasta takes up a large part of the menu, but it is not what Pentola does best. There’s nothing wrong with the rigatoni with house-smoked fresh mozzarella and marinara sauce. And orecchiette with fennel sausage is light, pretty and nicely non-greasy. But spaghetti with shrimp, anchovy, chile and tomato--despite a decent marinara sauce--was not as interesting as it sounded on the menu, especially since the pasta itself was overcooked.

A risotto made with shrimp and beet greens tasted mostly of wine and the few beet green stems were apparently added only for their color.

Pentola’s entrees are where Giambalvo shows what he can really do. I especially liked the ahi tuna--it was fresh and perfectly seared and set like square wafers on a bed of delicious oven-roasted tomatoes. And I loved the lamb chops, which came with oven-baked potatoes and a heap of lightly cooked fresh green beans.

Pentola also makes some of the best french fries I’ve ever had: thin and brown and deeply potatoe-y. Though another side dish of sauteed spinach and escarole was overcooked and soggy.

For dessert, our waiter confidently informed us that Pentola’s tiramisu was the best in town. He was wrong, but the dessert was passable. A decent tarte tatin had its fans at my table, myself not among them (it had too much caramel sauce for me). The chocolate cake was my favorite Pentola dessert--it was a good, dense wedge of not-too-sweet chocolate in a subtle espresso cream sauce.

If Pentola Taverna has one problem, it lies in the service. The staff seems amiable and attractive enough, but there aren’t enough of them. They’re harried and they seem to suffer from fear of the table--as you eat, a succession of people comes to the table, either to deposit or remove plates, and then flees. Nobody lingers long enough to determine what else might be needed. When a kitchen turns out good food like Pentola’s, the only thing you really need are waiters and waitresses who appreciate the food.

* Pentola Taverna, 312 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 451-1963. Lunch Monday through Friday, late lunch (3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.) Saturday and Sunday, dinner seven nights. Full bar. Valet parking. Major credit cards accept e d. Dinner for two, food only, $35 to $65.