JEANNA DUERSCHERL The Roanoke Times

Devin Gucciardo serves Craig (from left), Alaina and Shelley Gelbert at the Mountain View Italian Kitchen. The Ironto restaurant is open for dinner only Thursday through Saturday and for lunch and dinner on Sunday.

Mountain View Italian Kitchen sits off a secluded mountainside road near Ironto -- the last place I expected to find high-quality, homemade Italian food at such an incredible price.

It originally opened in the late 1980s but closed in 1994 after the owner's wife died. In March 2009, a new owner reopened the restaurant.

Having heard encouraging rumors about this eatery, I finally decided to try it out for myself. Because the doors are open for dinner only Thursday through Saturday and for lunch and dinner on Sunday, I have a new reason to look forward to the weekend.

The vibe

Saying that Mountain View is not fancy is an understatement. The floor is white, the ceiling is white, and the lightly decorated walls are white. Come to think of it, even the exterior is white.

This is not high tea. Indeed, nothing about the decor particularly stands out except the picturesque mountain view from the large dining room's two oversized windows. My visits to this outpost on a Friday night and a Sunday afternoon found the place surprisingly busy.

The food

Mountain View's expansive menu offers an array of appetizers, entrees, subs and pizzas, and most of the items are homemade.

On my first visit, I dived into a large bowl of velvety seafood bisque swimming with abundant chunks of shrimp and clams. At $4, it was an exceptional value. It was so good I reordered it on my second visit -- if I could get it administered intravenously, I would.

My wife and I also ordered garlic knots ($4.25), baked clumps of the restaurant's heavenly handcrafted pizza dough glazed with olive oil and topped with what must have been an entire bulb of freshly chopped garlic. We ate six of them, dipping them in the soup, before the waitress apologized for not bringing the side of homemade marinara sauce that should have accompanied them.

Next, I chose a combination plate suitably named "A Little Bit of Everything" ($12.50). This assortment included broccoli-stuffed shells, lasagna, eggplant rollatini, and Italian sausage, but I was able to substitute a homemade meatball for the sausage.

The pasta shells stuffed with soft ricotta, mozzarella and seasoned broccoli were my favorite, with the moist, garlic-infused homemade meatball a close second. The eggplant was filled with the same ricotta-mozzarella mixture as the shells, and both dishes were coated with the delectable house marinara and melted mozzarella cheese.

The lasagna was good, but a little spongy and light on the beef and sausage.

As if the huge mound of food on my own plate wasn't enough, I sampled my wife's entree of manicotti and eggplant Parmesan ($12.95). The delicious eggplant was lightly breaded, fried and smothered in marinara and melted mozzarella cheese. It was soft without being mushy, and the cheesy manicotti was equally tasty.

Relatives joined us for a midafternoon Sunday visit, this time with the kids.

Children's menus usually leave us stuck choosing between macaroni and cheese or chicken fingers, but Mountain View offers a wider range of choices, including pasta tossed with butter and Parmesan cheese, a personal cheese pizza, tossed salad, spaghetti with marinara or meatballs, and cheese ravioli with marinara. Everything on the kids menu is $1.50 to $4.95, though on the day of our visit the entire kids' menu was on special for $2 per dish.

Mountain View also offers a variety of hot subs ($7.25), including the "Parmesan subs" (chicken, eggplant, sausage or meatball), and a trio of steak subs called the General Grant, General Lee and Christopher Columbus. There's also Custer's Last Stand (ham and turkey) and Mussolini's Revenge (Italian).

My wife's delicious steak sub was packed with shaved steak, melted white American cheese and mayonnaise (she chose to hold the lettuce and tomato). She found the amount of mayonnaise excessive, but I thought it was just right.

One of our guests selected a daily special, chicken Marsala ($11.95), which was $2 less than the regular menu price. The mushroom sauce practically exploded with the distinct taste of sweet Marsala wine, and the lightly floured chicken breasts were moist and tender.

We also ordered a large cheese pizza ($9) that my kids loved. I can't wait to go back and order the works!

My entree of chicken Parmesan and baked ziti ($13.50) was the only real disappointment. While the chicken breasts were as moist and tender as those in the chicken Marsala, they were too lightly breaded for my taste, making them taste a little plain. The baked ziti -- a blend of ricotta, mozzarella, marinara, and penne pasta topped with Romano and more mozzarella -- was also a little bland.

The service

We were served primarily by the same pleasant, personable waitress on both occasions, but the handful of people working at Mountain View all seem to pitch in.

On Friday night, our food arrived in quick, but not hurried, succession. We waited a little longer on our Sunday visit, undoubtedly a result of our larger party and more diverse order.

I was particularly grateful that the restaurant quickly accommodated our request to deliver the kids' meals ahead of our other food. When we raved about the bread (made from the delicious pizza dough) served with our entrees, our waitress informed us that a whole loaf could be purchased for $3. She noted that it makes delicious French toast, and we found out she was right the next morning.

The bottom line

The greatest joy in reviewing restaurants comes from finding unexpectedly delicious food in an equally unexpected place. Sometimes you have to slog through the coal to find the diamond in the rough.

Such is the case with Mountain View Italian Kitchen. If you can dispense with lavish surroundings and fancy trimmings, you should treat yourself to a short, scenic Sunday drive in the country and visit this hidden gem of a restaurant.

You'll be glad you did.