Posizione, Posizione, Posizione

Temptation has long been a hallmark of 2000 Belcourt Ave. Whether it was the temptation to drink one more martini at Faison's, to sing one more ABBA song in the Chicken Shack, or flirt with one more barfly at The Trace, it was as if the expression "Nothing good happens after midnight" was coined with that Hillsboro Village address in mind.

Most recently, restaurateur Michael Tangredi succumbed to the siren's song of 2000 Belcourt when he attempted to eek one more restaurant out of the tired space.

When The Trace shuttered its big glass doors this spring, Tangredi stepped in where others feared to tread, taking over the lease on the popular but rundown building. With a few cosmetic touches, he launched T's Tuscan Bar & Grill, a sister restaurant to Tangredi's Italian Kitchen on Elliston Place and the upcoming Michael T's American Grill nearby on Division Street.

Not since pert coeds sidled up to paunchy middle-aged divorcés at the Trace bar has there been a mismatch as unfortunate as the endearing menu of T's Tuscan Bar & Grill and its unappetizing and shopworn locale.

Last renovated a decade ago, when it morphed from Faison's to the The Trace, the building wears the patina of age badly. The once-gleaming surfboard-shaped bar now looks like a scuffed serving station, and the white tablecloths have been cast off like so much surrendered self-respect, revealing wonky folding tabletops that threaten to pinch any diner who leans in too closely. While sexy lighting may camouflage the wear and tear in the evening hours, the old girl doesn't look so good in the glare of lunch, and the wizened face is an unfortunate one to put forward.

At two lunches, when we were among a small handful of diners in the open front room of T's, we were so distracted by the surroundings—from Lynyrd Skynyrd blaring over the speakers to, on one visit, an abundance of bugs landing on our food—that it was hard to focus on the meals. When it became clear that the word "swarm" would necessarily surface in any frank write-up of T's, we almost abandoned the review process altogether. Instead, we packed up a bunch of uneaten pizza and pasta and took it home.

Seldom, if ever, has relocation improved a meal so much. Nor have leftovers often earned such affection in my house. My family devoured the meal, and I tasted T's food in a whole new light.

T's could make a name for itself with simple hand-tossed pizzas. With 10 toppings available to build your own, the pizza makes an ample, affordable meal for one person. The slightly chewy crust has a sweetness that is balanced by the peppery heat of Tangredi's signature spice blend, which is dusted across the pie. The perfect oven-crisp texture of the crust gives way to a bed of delicate homemade tomato sauce and abundant, gooey mozzarella.

Penne à la vodka, with chunky tomato cream sauce studded with garlic, also traveled very well. Unlike so many insipid dishes of wet noodles with marinara ladled across the top, in which the flavors and textures of pasta and sauce never marry, the al dente tubes carried the color and flavor of the chunky marinara. We would have enjoyed a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan, but our server forgot to ask if we wanted cheese until we asked him to package the food to go.

Another standout was the eggplant parmigiana, which layered breaded eggplant with mozzarella and the ubiquitous—but lovely—tomato sauce. The eggplant pieces were astonishingly thin and tender, with none of the spongy bitterness that so often threatens the classic Italian dish.

Beyond the traditional red-white-and-parsley-flecked Italiana, we enjoyed the Acapulco shrimp, which we ordered in both appetizer and salad versions. Shrimp infused with tequila, garlic and herbs and grilled with a glaze of house-made chili-lime ranch dressing arrived five to a skewer and were succulent and flavorful. The salad—a bed of romaine and iceberg lettuces—distracted from the elegant simplicity of the seafood, since the shrimp ran out long before the infinite mound of leaves. The shrimp would also be better served by a less hackneyed dip than the honey mustard, which smothered the fresh flavors.

The only dish that we opted not to take home was the crabmeat salad. A pile of iceberg lettuce tossed with tomato wedges and pink onion served as the pale canvas for a generous but flavorless load of crabmeat. Dressed with lemon juice and olive oil, the salad hinted at a summery coastal meal. Unfortunately, the waterlogged seafood had a soggy texture and a grayness that overshadowed any fresh intentions. The overriding flavor of the meal was the vinegary tang of the thinly sliced pickled peppers tossed with the crab. After we explained why we left most of the salad on the plate, the server took it off our bill.

T's offers a menu of sandwiches, including meatball parmigiana, eggplant parmigiana and a burger. We sampled the grilled chicken sandwich and the Tuscan steak sandwich. Both were satisfactory, with ample amounts of grilled meats, but neither was as memorable as the accompanying side of crisp hand-cut fries dusted with the signature spice blend. On one visit, we received a plate of fresh, warm homemade bread with a thick crust and a bubbly interior, and it occurred to us that the sandwiches might be better on this exceptional homemade loaf rather than on lackluster hoagie rolls.