RESTAURANT REVIEW : Savory and Surprising : Don’t be distracted by the confused decor of La Fontana. The focus is on an array of outstanding Italian dishes.

“Now, I’m going to sing,” intoned the barrel-chested waiter, standing over the next table. And with that, he strutted out into the middle of the restaurant’s terra-cotta tile floor and burst into a throaty, a cappella version of “Lonely Is the Heart Without Love.”

We happen to be at La Fontana, where such events are commonplace and still met with hearty applause (as opposed to the incredulous stares this behavior would most likely elicit in one of our hipper spots). Despite a name that in Southern California is identified more with Spanish, La Fontana bills itself as an Italian kitchen. One would never guess from a cursory look at this place.

This is a huge, airy restaurant with a truly oddball decor. Under the black, exposed-duct industrial ceiling, the spacious dining room is dominated by an open, wrought-iron gazebo that encloses a spurting fountain. Casablanca-style twirling fans hang from above, and a ballroom-style swag curtain runs around the perimeter of the restaurant’s panoramic, floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

The profusion of potted plants add to the Casablanca look. But that image is confounded by the pink marble dining tables, the type that would fit in swimmingly on a Roman terrace. Come at lunch, and a pianist rummages through a repertory of throwback tunes like “The Way We Were” and, yes, even the film classic “Casablanca’s” “When Time Goes By.” Come for dinner, when the place is less crowded, and the room feels like an outdoor courtyard restaurant in small-town Mexico. The entertainment, I can attest, will be anyone’s best guess.

The surprises don’t end there; the good food turns out to be the real surprise at La Fontana. A glance at the huge menu and the unfocused decor might lead you to suspect the kitchen may be equally confused. That doesn’t happen to be the case. A basket of steaming, pizza-dough bread, cut into triangles and brushed with a delicious herb garlic topping, should put those fears to rest. I couldn’t stop eating this bread, even though I knew it would interfere with my work. It’s that good.

Oddly, the pizzas don’t have the crispness of the house bread, perhaps because the crust is too thick, and the toppings tend to soak in a bit. Five-cheese pizza is a ponderous version topped with a veritable sea of white cheeses; Romano, fontina, mozzarella, goat cheese and ricotta. BBQ chicken pizza fares somewhat better, with a saucy, racy topping spangled with chicken, cilantro, red onion and mozzarella cheese that is quite tasty. There just needs to be less of it.

La Fontana is one of the few Italian restaurants, though, that doesn’t overdo it with pastas. In most local Italian restaurants, pastas are overcooked and almost always served with too much sauce, prompting Italian visitors to lament the state of pasta in Southern California.

These pastas are nicely al dente and plated with a perfect amount of sauce. I actually had to request extra sauce for the restaurant’s best dish, spaghetti casalinga, because I couldn’t quite taste the pureed olives listed as an ingredient. When it came back, I had a great plate of chewy noodles sauced with diced tomato, basil, garlic, red chili--and yes, pureed olives--with a light virgin olive oil drizzled on top.

There are, in truth, dozens of good things to choose from a menu of more than 75 dishes. Linguini Bolognese, penne del fattore (with smoked bacon in a pink sauce) and farfalle (bow tie pasta) with fresh mozzarella are three more pastas to try, and that is just the beginning.

Appetizers such as steamed clams come in a large bowl, drenched with white wine, lemon, butter and minced garlic. The minestrone soup is hearty, full of beans, Swiss chard and pasta. My favorite salad is called, aptly, Marco Pollo chicken salad, intelligently dressed with a well-balanced sesame vinaigrette.

Pollo al forno, the traditional roast chicken, is textbook here, crisp-skinned and golden. It’s been brushed with herbs before serving, and comes with a swirl of angel hair pasta and assorted vegetables. Osso buco is hearty veal shank with its marrow cooked in a rich tomato sauce.

After all this, the server will appear with a tray of assorted cheesecakes, baba au rhum, chocolate-covered cakes cut into squares, tiramisu , and the house-baked blueberry tart. Grab the last, definitely the best dessert.

Where and When

Location: La Fontana, 933 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

Suggested Dishes: steamed clams, $8.25; Marco Pollo chicken salad, $8.50; spaghetti casalinga, $8.50; pollo al forno, $8.50; osso buco, $12.95.

Hours: Lunch and dinner, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday; noon to 11 p.m. Saturday; noon to 10 p.m. Sunday. Champagne breakfast 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Full bar. Valet parking in side lot.

Price: Dinner for two, $24 to $40. American Express, MasterCard and Visa.

Call: (818) 247-6256.