Sometimes Alki can feel like a vortex of beachy fish and chips-fueled summer fun that shuts down once the sun makes a dramatic exit, stage left. But West Seattleites know that the area is buzzing all year round, and Il Nido is one of those places worth going out of your way for. The upscale Italian spot is both fancy enough to celebrate a 15th wedding anniversary, but also informal enough that when a grown woman at the table next to you asks for an off-menu “butter pasta” the server doesn’t skip a beat. It’s the kind of atmosphere that warrants any ask and has such consistently good food that even the simplest pasta tastes great. Il Nido is situated in a historic homestead—when you walk up to the huge log cabin with a perfectly manicured front lawn, you’re in the right place. Inside, couples sip gin-spiked cocktails among antler chandeliers with a stone fireplace in the center of it all. The dining space is woodsy and welcoming, green house-style windows give almost every table a shimmer of sunlight, and the whole place just feels like someone's living room (probably because it once was one). An ideal dinner order starts with prosciutto de parma, takes a detour to pasta, and ends with panna cotta. Throw in focaccia and one of their vegetable dishes like grilled asparagus for a well-rounded, great meal. There are a couple of missteps, like a mashup of seasonal ingredients that just don’t quite work and a very heavy snowing of parmesan on essentially every dish that can make things very salty. But for the most part, it’s easy to leave here satisfied and full of pasta, even if it's just the buttered kind.