Food fails to live up to tradition at the venerable Villa.

ALTHOUGH THE VILLA ITALIAN Restaurant in Little Rock boasts nearly 60-year tenure, it appears that tradition overshadows quality.

We arrived at about 11:30 a.m., delighted to immediately follow the hostess to a table.

A server greeted us fairly quickly to gather our drink and appetizer orders. The prompt arrival of those appetizers was perhaps the highlight of the meal.

We devoured the toasted ravioli ($7.29) and cheesy garlic bread ($5.39) almost too quickly to notice the grease that saturated the bread. Almost.

We cannot complain, however, about the portions for the price. Each dish, most of them costing less than $8, arrives with choice of the Caesar or Villa salad.

Two of our party chose the Caesar, which arrived topped with croutons and doused in a dressing that seemed to carry unwanted hints of mustard. Another chose the Villa salad, which came soaked in a mouth-puckering vinaigrette and topped with clumps of mozzarella. We did not finish our salads.

The flavor of the minestrone, which is an option instead of a salad, seemed subdued compared with other versions we've had.

The entrees were equally unimpressive.

The Italian sausage spaghetti ($6.99) arrived with a red sauce that the menu touts highly. The sauce, however, was a tame and fully pureed concoction that left an undesirable tart aftertaste. The sausage wasn't bad. And the pasta was fresh--fresh from a cardboard box. Perhaps we shouldn't have expected fresh pasta with such low prices.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Another diner ordered the chicken Parmigiano ($7.99), which he might have liked had he received more than a tiny strip of chicken.

Our party ordered a small pepperoni pizza ($6.99) for the table. The pie arrived swimming in a pool of grease that caused most of us to partake only for the sake of review. Otherwise, we probably would have tried to pretend it wasn't there. The pizza also packed very little flavor.

The cannelloni ($6.99) nearly ruined the day of the diner who ordered it. The rubbery shell, smothered in the above-mentioned pureed red sauce and packed with a flavorless ricotta filling, thoroughly vexed her. In fact, she's still not quite right.

The eggplant lasagna ($6.99) proved the tastiest of all the entrees.

None of us finished the entrees, so we had plenty of room for dessert. We ordered the tiramisu and cannoli. Both desserts were unremarkable and left unfinished.

We suspect that our friendly waitress was the lone server for the entire restaurant. While we can appreciate a hard worker, our occasionally empty glasses frustrated us.

Because the noise level was moderate and the spot was sparsely populated, the Villa might be a decent choice for a business lunch if you're looking to save some cash and are indiscriminate about your Italian food.

You can't beat the prices.

The Villa Italian Restaurant

12111 W. Markham, Little Rock

Phone: [phone]

Cuisine: Italian

Dress Code: None

Noise Level: Moderate

Price Range: $2.99-$11.29

Credit Cards: All major

Reservations: None

Receipts: $764,673 (August-July)

**** = Outstanding
***  = Good
**   = Fair
*    = Poor