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I had been wanting to try Ammo for a while, so when Blackboard Eats offered a 30 percent off deal for the entire check — including alcohol — I jumped on it. I recruited a few of my friends (the discount was good for up to parties of four) — the usual suspects, Esther of e*starLA, Caroline of Caroline on Crack, and H.C. of L.A. and O.C. Foodventures — to join me. What I discovered was a restaurant that offers great value for your buck in a pleasant (if a tad too dark) setting.

We started off with cocktails, of course. I had the restaurant’s whiskey sour, made with Black Maple Hill bourbon, and lemon, orange and grapefruit juice, topped with a house made brandied cherry. I liked the abundance of citrus, which gave it a light sweet and sour taste without using a nasty-tasting mix. I appreciated that.

Caroline had the Golden Rye martini, made with Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey, St. Germain and orange bitters. Obviously, this isn’t truly martini, but it was a nice light cocktail, made possible by the elderflower. H.C. had The Ritz, made with Chateau d’Orschwihr Cremant, Campari, Vya sweet vermouth and lemon juice. I didn’t like this one at all, but that’s because I don’t like Campari. But kudos to H.C. for always wanting to trying something interesting!

For a starter, we shared a plate of grilled calamari, which was served atop what I believe was a white bean puree and greens (it’s not on the restaurant’s online menu). This was a satisfying dish, and I think I could probably eat this as an entree.

For my actual entree I ordered the orecchiette with caramelized cauliflower, spicy rapini, Gaeta olives and breadcrumbs. The overall flavor of the dish was bitter but not unpleasantly so. I liked it, but I think I would order something else next time, such as the risotto with sugar snap peas, pistachios and lemon that Caroline had or the lasagna with Kabocha squash, Swiss chard, ricotta and sage that H.C. had. Esther’s turkey meatloaf with horseradish mashed potatoes and sauteed beat greens would be another good choice — flavorful, hearty and a huge portion.

Orecchiette

Lasagna

All the desserts we had were good, too. The ice cream sandwiches come two to a plate — one with mint ice cream and dark chocolate fudge cookies, and another with strawberry ice cream and lemon cookies. The mint ice cream wasn’t very minty, but the strawberry ice cream had plenty berry taste, and the lemon cookies were soft, which made the sandwich easier to eat. Caramel sauce was also served on the plate.

The Pippin apple, date and walnut tart with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream was really tasty, and the persimmon pudding with brown sugar cream and maple pecans was good, too. The pudding was more like a pie in texture, and the cinnamon flavor was comforting. I preferred the tart, though.

Pippin apple, walnut and date tart

Persimmon pudding

There menu ranges from $7 to $28, with most dishes falling under the $20 mark, which is always welcome. My only significant complaint is the lighting was really low, so I couldn’t really see all the components of my meal. (I mercifully lightened the photos for you.) We also had a good bottle of wine: Scarpetta friulano colli Orientali 2007.