Located in East Hampstead, the Pasta Loft serves solid good Italian American fare and brick oven pizza at moderate prices in a casual setting. The restaurant has two areas, the Brick House Tavern in the front and the main dining rooms in the back.
The Brick House Tavern has a loud and busy atmosphere. There's table seating around the bar, TVs, digital jukebox, and the open brick oven pizza kitchen (you can watch them make pizzas). Drink specials are offered here, as well as live entertainment on some nights. On Tuesdays, it's Hoot Night (7PM-10PM) when it's open mic & bring your own acoustic guitar and $2 beers.
The main dining area is a good place to enjoy a nice relaxing meal without the craziness in the tavern. Each table has red linen table cloth covered a brown paper sheet cover and candlelight. Kids can ask for crayons and doodle right on the brown paper, similar to Romano's Macaroni Grill.
As for the food, a sampling of the menu is available online at http://www.pastaloft.com The menus on the website seem outdated with variations in prices and more items offered on the current menu. They serve up not just the typical Italian pasta dishes, pizzas & calzones, but also steaks, seafood, chicken, prime rib, salads, soups, burgers, appetizers, children's menu, daily specials, and desserts. All desserts are $5.00 including Choc'late Lovin' Spoon Cake, Cheesecake, Peanut Butter Pie, Tiramisu, Brownie Sundae, Oreo Cookie Bash, [Choc Lava Cake, Toll House Cookie Pie, Caramel Apple Granny, & Pecan Pie]. ----[served with vanilla ice cream]
The dinner portions here are generous, reflected in the moderate prices ranging from $9.95 to $22.95. Dinner entrees include salad, choice of pasta and bread. I believe the Milford Oval location also offers soup with dinner entrees, a little more bang over there. There is also a $3.00 plate charge on shared meals.
The brick oven pizzas are pretty good here with my favorite being the Feasta (hot capicola, sweet sausage, pepperoni, & spicy meatballs, chunky pizza sauce and mozzarella).
The basket of hot crusty bread is served with butter and olive oil with fresh garlic cloves for dipping.
The dinner salad has a plate of the typical iceberg lettuce, mixed greens, cherry tomato, onions, mushrooms, croutons, and dressing.
The Fettuccine Alfredo is very good which has a smooth creamy cheese taste.
My dinner favorite is the Pasta Loft's Combo ($18.95) which offers a sampling of traditional Italian food including lasagna, real veal parmesan, chicken parmesan, meatball, & sausage topped with a very hearty and rich meat sauce and served with a side of pasta (spaghetti, ziti, linguine or bowtie) with sauce.
On my last recent visit in the dining room, the service was courteous and very attentive with refills on drinks (free soda refills), more bread & oil offered, and timely delivery of food.
HOURS: Open daily at 11:30 AM until 8:30 PM (Sun-Mon), 9:00 PM (Tues-Wed), and 9:30 PM (Thurs-Sat). The dining room is closed on Mondays, but the tavern is open!
LOCATION: Please note that there are two Main Streets in the Town of Hampstead. Pasta Loft is located at 220 East Main Street (NH 121A), just south of NH 111 in East Hampstead, 03826 and NOT at 220 Main Street (NH 121) in Hampstead, 03841 which is the Post Office building on the west side of town. read more