First time going to Trattoria Toscana an Italian restaurant tucked away in Manchester …read more I must say I had a fabulous time , our waitress was amazing she got us everything we needed and checked on us constantly and was very sweet ! The ambiance was nice and cozy , good music playing in the background , not to loud and easy to have a conversation . To start off we got the Italian meatballs which were amazing highly recommend. We also ordered the mozzarella sticks which I loved the cheese pull was perfection and nice crunch on the outside , highly recommend as well . For my entre I got the NY strip . Served with mashed potatoes and green beans and topped with mushrooms and gorgonzola ! The sides were good but I really enjoyed my steak ! It was cooked medium rare , and the gorgonzola cheese on top was perfection ! I highly enjoyed it ! For dessert I got the tiramisu which was fantastic ( small portion) but very good ! Highly recommend ! Overall 5/5 ! Good atmosphere , good service and great food ! Perfect for family gatherings , eating with friends or even a date night ! Can't wait to be back !

We happened upon this restaurant on our way from Maine to Connecticut. We started with nicely-done…read morebrussel sprouts that led to splitting a beet salad. Big portions even split to share and we enjoyed it very much. My wife had the cacio e pepe pasta and enjoyed that with a side meatball (raved about it). I followed Tamra D's suggestion and went with the Grandma Leena's special sauce with pasta. Wow. Excellent sauce and big portions such that I took half for the road. Tamra D was excellent. Compared to a lot of places we have done over much of the U S this was a nice surprise. Good food. Very reasonable pricing. So took two nutella cheecakes for the road as well. Overall, we will be back if we get close to this area.

This is my newest post-bowling hangout place! I have a rare chance to grab a drink and some food on…read morethe way home tonight from bowling. The restaurant is located on 389 Main St. in East Hartford. Their kitchen is built fresh, from scratch, and all homemade. Their appetizers, pasta, entrees and desserts combine old-world traditional Italian flavor with a modern flair for presentation, and the freshest ingredients around. Menu staples like calamari, chicken milanese, fettucine carbonara and ravioli are paired with unique recipes like pappardelle with sausage and tenderloin steaks. They have staffed our kitchen with a dream team of local chefs that ensure our quality does not waiver and our kitchen is always OPEN! You just can't go wrong. The bartender here os dining the best I've ever interacted with. He welcomes me, shakes my hand and engages in small talk. You can't ask for more than that! I'm also enjoying the live music from the band. For my first drink, I'm having the new Harvest Cider made with Spiced Honey Spirit, Woodford Reserve bourbon, fresh lemon juice, apple cider and Angostura bitters. It's nicely garnished. It's not very strong due to being served in a 16oz glass, but that's to be expected. It tastes really good overall and is nicely garnished with a maraschino cherry floater. For my first item, I'm having a Side House Salad. This is made with a spring mix, basil, tomatoes, julienned (sliced) carrots and a red wine vinaigrette. This is absolutely delicious! This a big portion size too! I love their creamy dressing! For my appetizer, I'm having the House-made Soup of the Day. I'm told it's a Beef Barley. I had vegetable barley for lunch. Let's see how this tastes! Extra spicy, of course. THIS IS THE BEST BOWL OF BEEF BARLEY SOUP I HAVE EVER HAD! It is absolutely huge and spicy as can be! It's super hot too and a HUGE portion! I mean HUGE! Wow! There is just no better than this! They have open mike here tonight! This place is famous for live music! These guys are good! I could stay here all night! For my next drink, I am having the Smoked Quince made with Quince Fruit Spirit, Mezcal (the smoke), Sage Liqueur and fresh lemon juice. Let's see how this goes. It's nicely garnished with a lemon wedge garnish. This is great! I love this! It's like a smoky margarita. It's strong too! Now you're talkin'! For my entrée, I'm having the Fra Diavolo which is homemade sausage and shrimp in a spicy sauce (very spicy for me) with onions, garlic and roasted red peppers over rigatoni. I'm adding my own hot peppers to this for some added heat. Look at the size of this plate! This tastes great! It super hot and spicy! This is the best!!! For my final drink, I'm having the Blackberry Lemon Drop made with Deep Eddy Lemon, Wild Moon Lavender, fruitful blackberry and a splash of sour. This drink was made just perfect! Look how it is filled to the very rim with just a fraction of an inch to spare! The bartender got it perfect! He is good! The taste of this drink is absolutely perfect! I cannot ask for more! Great job here! What a fantastic experience! It doesn't get any better! What a great meal here!

Random selection in my travels off Rt 84. Food was delicious and I happily stumbled on live music…read more Mixed crowd Cappuccino gelato truffle, JD tips over pasta and 1/2 Caesar salad

I'm back after a long hiatus (a year?!). The restaurant is located on 45 East Center St. in…read moreManchester, CT. It looks like there is a brand new, very expanded Happy Hour menu. The restaurant is owned by UCONN Women's Basketball Coach, Geno Auriemma (he also owns The Hollow restaurant at the Manchester Country Club). The bartender quickly brings over a glass of ice water (which I will kindly refuse). For my first drink, I'm having a Manhattan. This is made with rye whiskey (Four Roses) sweet vermouth, a couple dashes of Angostura bitters and garnished with a brandied cherry. Wow! This is good! It's chilled, perfectly balanced and well garnished. I like the use of the single, large ice cube to slow the dilution process. These used to be served martini style about a year ago. It is no longer. It seems I am by my lonesome except for a few tables. It's early and on a Monday. For my first appetizer, I am getting the green olives and cheese cubes. This is grana! Grana (in the context of Italian cuisine) refers to a family of hard, mature, granular cheeses primarily used for grating. Bourbon goes well with this! Italian food can be a high cholesterol fest, but I'll try and minimize it. I do like the peaceful ("elevator") music in here! It is very relaxing. For my first item, I'm having the Baby Iceberg. This is pretty! I like that they give you extra dressing on the side! I love this light ranch dressing! Next up, I'm having the Meatballs. I'm guessing these are Nonna's recipe (like at The Hollow). Oh yeah! The plate is nice and warm! These are absolutely delicious! It helps to add some Spicy Dadda Area 51 hot sauce. Now we're talkin'! That's better! The bartender also offered some bread. Sure! This bread is good! It's nice and darn and soft. What's better than that? I like to dip into the meatball sauce. I'm also having a bottle of Saratoga sparkling, carbonated spring water. Ah! This is good! I like hoe it I served in a glass with a lime garnish. For my next food item, I'm trying the Shrimp Cocktail (four piece). This is a new item on the menu. Prawn cocktail, also known as shrimp cocktail, is a seafood dish consisting of shelled, cooked prawns in a Marie Rose sauce or cocktail sauce, served in a glass. This is actually served on a plate. Sprinkle that lime! These shrimp are huge! I love the cocktail sauce! It is strong! For my next drink, I'm having the Blood Orange Martini made with blood orange juice (strained with about 2 blood oranges), Smirnoff vodka, lemon juice, St Germain elderflower syrup, Sparkling water and a sliced blood orange or mint sprig to garnish. This has a dark magenta color. It tastes pretty good! For my next item, I'm having the Beef Bruschetta made with marinated tenderloin and pickled onion over rustic bread. This is a chance to have a little red meat. This is very good! It's streak tips on a toast point! This is great! What's better than this?! Now I'm on to the Price Fixe Menu! For $39, you can't go wrong! The bartender couldn't believe I ate all that! I'm not even close to done! For my next "starter", I'm having the Aura Salad. This is made with mixed greens, cucumber, pickled onion, tomato, Parmesan (not for me) and balsamic vinaigrette dressing. This is good! I love the dressing here! For my last drink, I'm having a Cosmopolitan made with is a sweet-tart pink cocktail that's part of the Gimlet cocktail family. It's typically made with Smirnoff vodka, Cointreau or triple sec, cranberry juice, and freshly squeezed lime juice, and served in a martini glass with a lime wedge. Ah! This is good! Nice and strong! This is a perfect Cosmo! For my entree, I'm having the Atlantic Salmon (cooked medium). The Atlantic salmon is a speciesof ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to 1 m (3.3 ft) in length. Atlantic salmon are found in the northern Atlantic Oceanand in rivers that flow into it. Most populations are anadromous, hatching in streams and rivers but moving out to sea as they grow where they mature, after which the adults seasonally move upstream again to spawn. This plate is hot! I love the fingerling potatoes! Sprinkle that lemon! I love the broccoli stalks! For dessert, I'm having mango sorbet. Ah!!! No cholesterol and delicious! This is such a classy place! What a great meal here!

This restaurant replaced Cavey's. Definitely has had some touch ups to make it more modern. It is…read morefairly quiet so good for lunch/dinner out or small get together. The bright lighting takes away from an intimate feel. The food is solid and has nice presentation but did not knock my socks off. That being said, my husband thought the squid ink spaghetti was delicious.

Excellent service and delicious food! My husband and I love going to the Newington location, so we…read morehad to try the Manchester location while we were in town. As always, JG NEVER disappoints! Our waiter was wonderful, he took good care of us, and our meals were so good! This time around I ordered the chicken bacon ranch wrap with house made chips. My husband ordered a large cheese pizza, so he'd have leftovers to take home for another day. Always expect to have leftovers from this restaurant (bonus!) Everything was incredibly tasty!! We will happily return to this location for sure!

The waitress warned us that the portions would be huge. I've heard that about several places before…read moreand it's not always true. Let me tell you... it's TRUE. I ordered the Chicken Parm Grinder. I decided to get a whole one to make sure I'd have half a sandwich for leftovers the next day. I couldn't believe how big the sandwich was when it arrived. I ended up cutting one half into 3 sections and couldn't even finish all 3 of them. It doesn't come with any sides, but how could you possibly have room to eat any sides?? Everything was served in oversized portions and we went home with a ton of leftovers which were just as good the next day. It's a little pricey, but you're getting SO much food that it doesn't feel like a ripoff. The waitress was extremely nice and attentive, no complaints at all!

The Mulberry Salad is my favorite - bar none. And the carrot cake is delicious. These are my…read morego-to's. And Bob (owner/manager) is just lovely. I've also had an eggplant sandwich that was super yummy. Atmosphere is pleasant and comfortable, with fun decorations at Halloween.

Another great lunch. You can never go wrong with the pizza.A simple thin crust pepperoni was…read moreperfectly made. We shared a small and an order of mussels for a perfect lunch. My other friend loved her lime chicken salad. Much healthier choice, but we all left happy

We had such a wonderful dining experience! There were five of us--two vegetarians and three meat…read moreeaters and everyone found something they absolutely loved. Everything was exceptional, from the drinks and ambiance to the salads, entrées, and desserts. The kale salad was fresh and delicious, the Pasta alla Vodka was outstanding, and my daughter thoroughly enjoyed the Chicken Parmesan (I completely forgot to take a picture because she was so excited to dig in!). The hazelnut pie was the perfect way to end the meal and cobbler pie A special shout-out to Rory, who took such great care of us. I was hoping for a Dubai Chocolate Espresso Martini, which wasn't on the menu, and she went above and beyond by checking with the bartender and putting in a special request for me. That thoughtful gesture made my evening extra special and truly reflected the outstanding hospitality. We left happy, full, and already looking forward to coming back to explore more of the menu. Highly recommend and more sensible way was giving the salads separately in two plates. We mentioned we would be sharing the salad and pasta Ella vodka which was the first time I have ever seen in a restaurant, most restaurants would give a big one and we need to portion it out. Amazing experience.

Bricco Bricco is…read moreclearly one of the more popular spots in town, and it's easy to see why -- but our visit was a mix of highs and lows. We started with the shrimp alla vodka pasta, which was genuinely good and a dish I'd order again. We also shared an apple arugula salad that was fresh and well balanced, along with a side of fries that were just okay -- nothing special, but they did the job. The evening didn't start off smoothly, though. The restaurant was busy, and the wait to be seated took a while. Once we were seated, the service was okay at best -- attentive enough to get our order right, but not particularly warm or fast. That became more of an issue when our prosecco arrived flat. We had to work to get our waiter's attention to have it replaced, and it took much longer than it should have for someone to notice and follow up. We also tried a lavender vodka drink, which ended up being a bit of a letdown. It was expensive for what amounted to a small pour, and honestly the best part of it was the fancy glass it came in -- the drink itself didn't quite justify the price. Overall, the food carried the night. The pasta and salad were highlights, and I'd come back for those alone. But the service hiccups and pricey, underwhelming cocktails took some shine off the experience. If you go, stick to the pasta and maybe skip the specialty drinks.

We have ordered pizza and antipasto salad from here for the past 3 weekends. Family visiting out of…read moretown last few weeks and always a craving for pizza. It doesn't matter what kind we order, it is a big hit each time. Antipasto salad is also very delicious. It only comes in one size I believe but it feeds most.

3.5 stars. Pizza and mozzarella sticks are good. Sodas taste off brand and get bottled water. Draft…read morebeers are good. Decor is a bit outdated. Service is hit or miss depending on server and time of day. It's a bar and restaurant. There's a patio outside as well. Lots of regulars hang out here. I usually only order pizza, mozzarella sticks and drinks.