Transfer Pizzeria Café, 101 W. Mitchell St., has done a wonderful thing to what has been, until this point, a somewhat questionable corner where the Third Ward transitions into Bay View.

The former pharmacy, which sits near the county transit station and a high-traffic bus stop continuum, had been desolate for a few years following the closing of Scrambled Ed's, a neighborhood diner. Transfer brings a "bright-lights, big-city" feel to a menu laden with pizzas, pastas and panini.

Diners at Transfer can expect to be greeted in a laid back atmosphere by both friendly employees and the warm waft of freshly cooked, crisp pizzas. Recent visits revealed pleasant flavors, fresh ingredients, and a casual environment that is enhanced by the loudness of the space. The continuous din of music, conversation and yes, local bus traffic, keeps you square in your seat and ready for a contemporary, no-frills meal.

Bruschette comes in two forms, traditional with Roma tomatoes, garlic and olive oil ($6), or with salami ($7). The salami version arrives arranged to mimic an open-faced sandwich -- toasted ciabatta is spread with a sweet garlic tomato sauce and layered with slices of salami and rosy red Roma tomato beneath shredded mozzarella. The result is a mouth-pleaser with hints of fresh basil and garlic undertones. Spinach and artichoke dip ($5), puts the competition to rest with a wonderfully spreadable, well-seasoned concoction that is reach, creamy, and delicious.

Panino di Pollo Florentine ($6.95) pairs tender chicken with the trifecta so popular here (tomato, basil, and garlic) for an excellent sandwich, and the kitchen's ability to cook chicken perfectly also appears in a roasted potato chicken pizza (small $11, large $17). The flavors of pan fried potatoes paired with garlic and the carefully shredded chicken makes for phenomenal results. Chef Vasyl Lemberskyy's other pizzas, from basic sausage and mushroom ($10, $16) to carbonara with cream, bacon and eggs ($11, $17) all are delightfully tempting, both in simple read-throughs of the menu and when they actually meet your mouth. Expect to spend a bit of time deciding what to order, as the options are numerous and the descriptions all sound wonderful.

Gamberetti pasta ($12) pairs shrimp with tomato sauce, basil and olive oil for simplistic perfection. The sauce is slightly runny, but the flavors are excellent, and diners choose from pastas of the day to keep things mixed up. On one visit, options were rigatoni, spaghetti, and farfalle.

I cannot say enough about the quality of the food and the fun, relaxed atmosphere at Transfer, but a fairly significant pricing and service problem marred our second, nearly flawless dining experience.

While Transfer's wine menu pricing is extremely reasonable (the most expensive bottle comes in at $32), diners should be cautious about specials. A 2006 La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir was offered at $10 per glass and upon three of us ordering the same, our server recommended a bottle of the wine. When the bill arrived, we were charged $55 for the bottle, which posed two significant issues: 1) Typically, the bottle price for wine runs slightly less, or often a full glass cost less, than to order five glasses a la carte. By this logic, the bottle cost should have been somewhere between $40 and $50. Had we ordered five glasses a la carte, we would have only paid $50 for the same amount of wine. 2) Unless diners do the previously mentioned math equation, most would not anticipate that the offered wine would run a full $23 more than any other wines provided on the printed menu.

That being said, with a retail cost right around $17.99, the restaurant pricing for the La Crema was not horrifically out of line, just surprising in the context of Transfer's other wines and their per glass pricing, and moreover since service here is relaxed enough that we refilled our own glasses.

This, however, would not stop me from returning to Transfer for more of the fantastic food and fresh ingredients offered at this new dining destination; it will just make me a bit more cautious of my bill if I'm ordering any non-printed menu items.