RESTAURANT REVIEW / ALLEGRO : Where Food, Waiters Hit High Notes : It’s a happy, song-filled place that tickles the palate and sends women diners home with a red rose.

Italian restaurants have a certain mystique they don’t always live up to. They’re supposed to offer a more zany level of hospitality than other establishments. They’re supposed to have waiters who burst passionately into song. They’re supposed to feed you with rich and exotic fare and send you on your way with a full stomach and a happy heart.

In Thousand Oaks, Allegro more than satisfies these expectations. It even sends all the ladies home with a red rose. Which is why on a Saturday night every table is full, and the place resonates with the chatter of good-times.

And yes the waiters--and waitresses--sing, accompanied by a live piano player Wednesdays through Sundays. One of the best of the singers also happens to be chef and part owner, Sal Fiumerodo, whose rendition of “Volare” brought tears to my eyes.

On our first visit we were charmingly bowled over by the personality of our waiter, who sidled up to the table like a man with watches to sell. He could easily pass for Joe Pesci’s sound-alike. As he served the wine, he poured out the saga of his early years. The appetizers brought the crisis of his education. By the main course we knew all his children and by dessert we’d heard his theories on marriage.

You may not want a waiter like this every time, but then most nights this place is too busy for extended confidences.

For starters, they put on the table a basket of puffy little morsels of garlicky bread whose aroma defined the word appetizing. These went down well with a carpaccio di bue appetizer, thin slices of beef that had been cured like prosciutto, served with leaves of arugula and marvelous shaved Parmesan cheese, sprinkled with a fine vinaigrette.

Another good appetizer, pepperoni arrostiti ($5.95) consisted simply of roasted red peppers, thick and slippery with olive oil, heightened with anchovies, giant capers and pungent garlic.

A minestrone soup was all soft vegetables and spiky flavors. Tortellini in brodo, almost a meal in itself, had a wonderful broth with a kiss of lemon. The tortellini were filled with ground veal with the texture of pate.

The house salad was somewhat ordinary, certainly like nothing I ever had in Italy. It was of the iceberg-on-ice-cold-plate variety, with a dressing that seemed to be mixed with salsa. This is the salad they make the chicken salad with at lunch, and it’s only somewhat improved by the chicken, raisins and pine nuts.

For a truly spectacular salad go for the insalata tricolore, consisting of arugula, radicchio and endive in a vinaigrette to cheer for. The Caesar salad was not bad either, though its creamy dressing was more salty than garlicky.

One thing they do quite admirably here is their excellent fresh tomato sauce. It can be found on pasta side dishes and well as the pizza. A splendid spaghetti a la puttanesca ($12.95) had also utilized fresh tomatoes, along with the brawny tastes of garlic, capers, anchovies and black olives.

Linguine al pesto was a milder dish, sweetly laced with whole pinion nuts. I also tried--one frantically busy night--a capellini a la caprese, which I ordered as takeout. But they forgot to put on the fresh buffalo mozzarella. Too bad.

My favorite entree turned out to be the most expensive on the menu: a thick veal chop ($22.95) loaded with porcini mushrooms so rich and flavorful they seemed to taste of chocolate. It outshone the tournedos Diana that came in a sauce we dubbed Pasadena brown gravy.

The fish was always good, especially tasty sole meuniere as soft as butter, pleasingly moistened by a buttery lemon-wine sauce. A nice fresh salmon ($16.95) had been grilled with aromatic herbs like chervil and tarragon.

Chicken cacciatore was strictly for people who think chicken and cheese is a good combination, and some do. I liked a chicken dish called pollo Portofino ($13.95) better for its lemony wine sauce and munchy pine nuts.

For dessert, I tasted a state of the art flan and a cheesecake more cake-like than creamy, decent but not thrilling.

This is the sort of restaurant where you always seem to find a big family birthday party in progress, with 16 to 20 people at a long table. All that is missing to evoke a gathering of the clan in Tuscany are the grape-covered arbor, little kids playing underfoot and vineyards in the distance. Still, even without the arbor, the restaurant does a pretty wonderful job of evoking the charms and the pleasures of Italy.

Details

* WHAT: Allegro

* WHERE: 579 Ventu Park, A, Thousand Oaks

* WHEN: Open for lunch Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m; dinner, Sunday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 11 p.m.

* COST: Dinner for two, food only, $37 to $70

* FYI: Full bar. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express

* ETC.: Call 499-6767