Don’t blink or you’ll miss it. Only a little sign as you enter the parking lot heralds the presence of this modest little restaurant. Diners entering at the side of the building might be sure this is the right place only because people can be seen eating through the second-story windows.

Reserve early and you might get one of these tables with a view, across from the bar in the upper dining area, where you can gaze on boats berthed in the middle distance, and rap the window to point head-scratching wanderers in the parking lot in the right direction. You’ll be seated on the upper level unless it’s the weekend and the place is busy, when the overflow spills down stairs decorated with champagne jeroboams into a lower area.

The tavern part of the name is well established by the pub-like atmosphere and décor, all warm wood and easily overheard conversations. A casual list of two-dozen or so wines, leaning heavily toward California, establishes the grape part. (To lessen the generic effect, the selections come from Napa Valley, Sonoma County, and even Monterey, like Burgundies of certified provenance.)

The appetizers ($5.50-$8.95) are all seafood, with the exception of a portobello preparation topping a pile of spinach on a thick slice of grilled bread. They are the usual offerings, such as littlenecks, clams zuppa, and mussels steamed or under marinara. The popular seafood chowder ($5.25) is often the soup of the day, but it wasn’t available during our visit.

Speaking of popular, no one should leave here without having the "zippy shrimp" if they haven’t indulged in them before. Priced at $3.60 apiece, the grilled butterflied jumbo shrimp come in a pool of slightly spicy-hot gingered soy sauce, accompanied by a small bowl of a delightful sweetened aioli, allowing you to vary yin and yang with every bite. A pricey, but delicious treat — especially when you sop up the marinade with some of the provided herbed Italian bread.

There are only eight entrées on the regular menu, but they are amply supplemented by a long printed list of specials. Popular items include eggplant rotelli ($12.95), and the seafood combo over capellini ($17.50). There’s also a mysteriously named chicken Venezuela ($12.95). It sounds more like chicken Vesuvius, since the cutlet is topped with melted provolone and mushrooms under a spicy hot sauce.

Among the specials, the zippy tuna would be quite a temptation if you’d just discovered the zippy shrimp — but, of course, you’d feel obliged to order something different. What a clever way for the restaurant to get people to come back soon. Besides the seafood on this list, such as cioppino (Italian fish stew) and a baked, not fried, seafood platter, there is only an Angus beef steak au poivre for the carnivores. (Although the regular menu has veal piccata and Marsala to distract us from guiltily hallucinating big brown eyes.)

Given the menu’s emphasis, we felt virtually compelled to choose seafood. My dining companion lives in Key West, though he hails from New England, so he gets nostalgic for the usual regional suspects. He had a simple dish of baked sea scallops ($17.95), tender and delicious in butter and white wine. A sweetened cranberry reduction-based vinaigrette made his salad special. I had the baked sole with lobster ($18.95). The delicate fillet, protected by a layer of buttery breadcrumbs, covered a very generous portion of lobster meat that also was not overcooked. Instead of salad or rice, I chose pasta to see how it is done here. Hopefully more care is taken with the angel hair of several of the offerings — the rigatoni was far from al dente after revisiting boiling water before being served.

Our visit was early in the week, so as well as the soup of the day not being available there was only one dessert. A description of the mud pie made it sound interesting: a slab of coffee ice cream on crumbled Oreo cookies, topped with fudge sauce and whipped cream. But since it was more assembled than kitchen-made, I passed. Come on weekends, we’re told, and more desserts are available.

Once you finally find the restaurant, Tav-Vino is a pleasant place for a bite and a brew. I’ve heard from several loyal regulars. Sitting down here to a zippy shrimp or few, and a modest Merlot from the sunny hills of Mendocino would not be hard to take at all.

Bill Rodriguez can be reached at bill@billrod.com.