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Fans of garlic and calamari dishes line up on the sidewalk for the tiny tables at one of the area’s friendliest restaurants.

Sangría flows, tapas are devoured, and desserts with names like “kisses of love” seal unforgettable evenings at Dalí.

Decorated like an Italian restaurant from a 1950s mobster movie, Davide specializes in southern Italian dishes such as crab and salt cod cakes with roasted pepper and basil sauce.

With a versatile menu of robust Italian specialties, design-your-own pizzas, and a spacious sidewalk café, Davio’s is sure to please.

Diesel is the quintessential Davis Square gathering spot where the tragically hip rub shoulders with lesbian couples and scruffy Tufts students. The spacious café has old-fashioned booths, couches, and a pair of pool tables out back. The coffee menu includes a double-caffeine “High Octane” brew plus teas and tisanes.

Sleekly appointed Diva seduces before the first plates of carefully prepared Indian cuisine even arrive.

Chef Chris Schlesinger cranks up the heat at his Pacific Rim-influenced Inman Square fish house. Sample dishes such as dry-rubbed mahi mahi and rare ahi tuna with wasabi – or should you be up to the challenge – Fries from Hell (see p42).

Chef-owner Chris Schlesinger was among the first Boston chefs to perfect the art of cooking seafood with the smoke and heat of an open fire. Schlesinger is also an aficionado of hot spices, often perking up a more bland fish with a peppery basting sauce or toning down an oily fish with a citrus marinade. The simple, unfussy dining room allows the food to shine. Reservations are not accepted so arrive early, and be prepared to wait.

The self-proclaimed “King of the Cuban sandwiches.” Check out the photos of the Latino pro baseball players who often eat here when in town.

There’s no beer to wash it down with, but El Pelon produces authentic Mexican and Tex-Mex specialties.