Vapiano, a sleek new fast-casual restaurant that opened at Mockingbird Station, has some pretty good salads, pizzas and pastas. You&rsquo;ll just need to jump through a couple of hoops to get them.</p><p>Named for the Italian expression va piano, or "go slowly," Vapiano is a German-based chain that&rsquo;s expanding into the U.S. with early branches in Washington, D.C., and now Dallas.</p><p>Its setup is more complicated than most "fast-casual" chains where you place your order at a counter and pick it up when it&rsquo;s ready. Vapiano has multiple stations: You order salad at one counter and pizza at another. You use a magnetic card to swipe when ordering and you get a blinking device to alert you when your food&rsquo;s ready. This system can be confusing not only for the customer but the restaurant, as well; on two separate occasions, we received duplicates of the same item &mdash; which surely pleased us but can&rsquo;t be good for business.</p><p>Starters made a fine first impression. Salads were excellent, with fresh, gourmet-style ingredients such as feta cheese and good kalamata olives, not the cheap, canned black olives you see too often. Insalata di rucola con Parmigiano ($6.95) was the most upscale of all with pristine arugula leaves, cherry tomatoes and thick shavings of Parmesan, served in a sturdy white bowl that was pleasing to the eye.</p><p>Mixed antipasti ($8.95) could be a meal in itself, with its generous variety. Roasted vegetables, such as zucchini and carrots, were cut nice and thick so they kept their texture. Artichoke hearts, tomatoes, olives, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses drizzled with basil pesto were topped with a mini-salad of arugula. This dish also had Vapiano&rsquo;s superb bruschetta (which can be ordered solo, $3.95), made with crusty ciabatta bread, fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil.</p><p>Pastas are the pick with nearly two dozen choices, priced from $8.95 for the basic pomodoro to $10.95 for the granchi de fiume (crawfish, lobster sauce and fresh vegetables). Ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta ($10.95) were perfectly cooked pasta pockets with a good, flavorful filling that almost was masked by the robust tomato sauce; next time, maybe we&rsquo;ll order this with cream sauce.</p><p>Pizzas followed the same structure as the pastas, ranging from $8.95 for a classic Margherita to $10.95 for a "chicken barbecue" with chicken, smoked Gouda, red onions, mozzarella, tomato relish and cilantro. Chicken pesto ($10.95) combined raggedly chopped pieces of white-meat chicken with a basil pesto sauce in place of tomato, plus tomato slices, basil and garlic. </p><p>The pizza crust had a decently crisp bottom, although it lacked something in personality. But as with everything at Vapiano, the toppings were quite fresh and treated with care.</p><p>While potentially chaotic with a large group, Vapiano can&rsquo;t be beat as a place to dine solo. The beautiful, sturdy wood tables are communal, so you can grab a seat without feeling isolated. My pal said it reminded her of eating at SMU&rsquo;s dining hall &mdash; a good comparison in more ways than one, not simply in the cafeteria-style ordering system but in the fact that most diners on a recent Saturday night were young and upwardly mobile.</p><p>An adjacent bar with groovy red couches was a little less hectic and a good place to share a slice of the thin, dense Death In Chocolate Cake ($4) with a cappuccino, glass of wine or the Vapiano martini ($10) with Chambord liqueur and a splash of pineapple juice.</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">Vapiano </span></strong><br /> 5319 E. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas (in Mockingbird Station)</p><p>214-887-1557</p><p><strong>Hours:</strong> 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday</p><p><strong>Cuisine:</strong> Italian</p><p><strong>Signature dish: </strong>Pasta with crawfish and lobster sauce</p><p><strong>Entree cost: </strong>$8.95-$10.95</p><p><strong>Essentials: </strong>Major credit cards accepted; full bar; smoke-free; wheelchair accessible</p><p><strong>Good to know: </strong>Service setup is a little nutty; it can get noisy</p><p><strong>Recommended for:</strong> a casual bite after movies or shopping</p><p></div>