I visited Bellini Italian Ristorante late on a Monday afternoon in hopes things wouldn’t be too busy. This is the modern plight of restaurant critics: In normal times, we’re tasked with visiting a restaurant no less than twice, at times when it’s the “typical” restaurant experience customers might find should they visit a place we’ve reviewed.

But with vaccines still making their way through the area, these are not yet normal times. Hence, my visit at 2:20 p.m. on a Monday. Walking into Bellini, our server treated us like we were the only table.