It’s easy to drive past this East Side dive-bar-turned-restaurant without noticing its brilliant, simple sign bearing the unmistakable silhouette of Don Quixote. That sign so eloquently speaks to the mission of The Good Knight (one of the best restaurant names ever). It picked up on Fino’s noble interest in a cocktail renaissance, and it preceded Eastside Showroom’s romantic, homemade-comfort-food ethic by almost a year.

But this super-dark, vaguely Moorish-meets-vintage-Americana bar’s more successful when not taken too seriously. For one thing, the drinks are, even after all this time, wildly inconsistent. Pours seem unmeasured, muddlings clumsy, and there’s too much melting ice in everything. But now and then, it pans out (and you can always ask for a do-over). Better are the succinct, focused single malt Scotch and beer selections; the wine selection’s improved, at least among the imports.

The somewhat-changing menu has the modest rusticity of a very talented friend’s dinner party. The soup of the day’s often hearty and balanced. Flammekueche (tarte flambée) has a brittle flatbread crust smothered in sweet caramelized onions, with a judicious amount of house-made bacon. Mains like pot pie and meatloaf are also good, but you’ll need to keep the salt near. Vegetarians have about as many choices here as do carnivores, like a filling, smoky nut-and-cheese loaf. It’s all as hospitable and charming as the neighborhood itself.