Scarlett Johansson & Sean Penn 'All Smiles' at Italian Feast with Friends

By Pernilla Cedenheim and Alison Schwartz

03/21/2011 at 09:00 AM EDT

It wasn't an intimate, one-on-one dinner date, but Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn seemed very much a couple when they joined a small group of friends for dinner Saturday night in West Hollywood.

"They were smiles all night and seemed to have a great time together," a source at the restaurant tells PEOPLE. "Scarlett and Sean sat very closely and exchanged flirty looks."

Johansson, 26, and Penn, 50, enjoyed an Italian feast at Cecconi's West Hollywood, where they shared pasta and fish dishes washed down with wine, a source tells PEOPLE.

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Adds the source: "Scarlett acted very intrigued by him. She would smile, nod her head and just listen to his stories."

The pair previously cozied up for a more intimate dinner earlier this month at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont, the hotel where the actress has been staying while filming We Bought a Zoo with Matt Damon.

Rumors about the two being a couple first swirled in January, just a month after the actress's December split from her husband, Ryan Reynolds.

Talk of a budding romance heated up when the two took a short and sweet getaway to Mexico at the beginning of January.

In February, a rep for Johansson told PEOPLE the pair are "nothing more, nothing less" than friends.