If a restaurant could ever be said to have plumage, the bold-hued decor of Ciano’s Modern Latin Flavors would qualify. The Campbell restaurant makes the most of its large windows, spacious dining room and high ceilings by filling the space with color: tangerine-and-fuchsia patterned upholstery, playful modern orange glass chandeliers, and almost shockingly bright blues, oranges and pinks splashed on the walls—but just a few key accent walls.

It’s much like the presentation of the food at Ciano’s: dishes are plated attractively, with obvious attention paid to highlighting the ingredients’ colors and textures, but it’s not over the top.

The healthy portion of arugula that topped the vegetarian Mexican flatbread ($12) lent the appetizer a dash of bright green and a little bitterness to balance the earthiness of the toppings: sauteed mushrooms and black bean spread. Small dollops of requeson cheese added a rich creaminess while the “flatbread” itself, corn dough rolled out thinly and fried, was light and crispy.

A delicate sprinkling of pickled red onions decorated the crispy carnitas with hominy ($8) that my companion ordered, an appetizer that, like the flatbread, was a substantial serving. The pork was crispy and the hominy added an appealing texture. The dish did arrive a little cold, and it would have been improved by being served a little warmer.

My companion’s bone-in lamb shank ($28) was a rich dish, with smoky Oaxacan mole sauce complementing the fruitiness of black mission figs and cubes of winter squash. The lamb was perfectly cooked, tender and falling off the bone. The squash, seared on one side and sprinkled over the dish, made the presentation particularly eye-catching. Crispy polenta cakes sopped up the sauce.

The vegetarian tamal ($16) highlighted corn in two different ways: the tamal, a thin but dense cake made of masa (like the outside of a tamale), and a sweet corn sauce. Accompanying the tamal were nicely grilled summer squash and red onions with a thick slice of seared Panela cheese. Although all of the components were tasty on their own, the tamal, cheese and vegetables were all mild in flavor and dominated by the sweet corn sauce’s powerful sweet-smoky flavor. The dish would benefit from a lighter hand with the sauce.

Rounding out the meal with a considerable punch was Ciano’s Sangria ($10), in appearance like a sunset in a glass, with layers of purple and orange that must be stirred up. The cocktail, which beefs up Malbec and orange juice with both bourbon and limoncello, was a much stronger rendition of the wine punch typically called sangria. And the booziness worked well with the fruitiness of the juice.