gail

This is about half way (2 hours each) from some friends living in Westchester County, NY and us (north of Boston). Want someplace to drink, eat, chat - and the chat part is becoming a problem as we would want to feel comfortable loitering for a bit after finishing our meal - but not a club, concert, etc where conversation is difficult.

We are all in our 50s - met once before at one of the CT casinos and that worked - wondering if there are other options.

yk

I'm no expert, but I believe West Hartford is a nicer area with lots more restaurant options (ones you're describing).

yk

P.S., gail, I found a post from last summer that has a good list of restaurants IN Hartford:
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...omment-5820750

tchoiniere

Look at Max's Restaurants. All of them are excellent. I love Max's oyster House in West Hartford.

http://www.maxrestaurantgroup.com/

Not sure if you meant for tonight but its the St Patty's Parade so downtown is a mob scene. If tonight, I would go to West Hartford (might anyways).

I like City Steam Brewery downtown. Good food and drink. Comedy club downstairs. Vaughn's Irish Pub is also very good. Right in this area, a bunch of new restaurants have opened and are doing very well. I just cant remember their names.

Friend of mine just opened a restaurant in Hartford called Damon's Tavern. Went to the private opening last night. Great food, excellent beer selection. Would highly recommend it once its opened fully (Tonight is another private party)

http://www.damonstavern.com/

Glastonbury (suburb of Hartford) is also heavy in restaurants. I like Plan B for burgers / beer. There are a few other ones too.

gail

Thanks all. We are in big trouble now - passed on these and suggestions from others to these friends. We do not know them all that well - our daughters' attend the same college in NC, met at event last year, and have enjoyed seeing each other at similar college events and emailing back and forth.

They really want to go to the Olive Garden. I don't know if this is a cost thing or if they really like the Olive Garden. I was close to refusing to drive 2 1/4 hours to eat at an Olive Garden, but kept my mouth shut since I really want to see them. Trying not to be a food snob - I admit to eating at and enjoying meals at quite a few chains.

emalloy

There is an Olive Garden in Manchester, CT I think it is exit 62 on I-84. There is also one in Waterford, on route 85 a very short distance north of I-95. Both are just a short distance from the interstate and close to or in malls.

gail

There is one in West Hartford - that seems to be the one they like. I am still lobbying for one of the restaurants mentioned above.

tchoiniere

There is one in in West Hartford and the one in Manchester. I don't care for the one in Manchester as service is not very good there (no matter how many times). Havent been to the one in West Hartford. On a Saturday, you may have a wait to get into either one as they are in mall areas that have had the # of restaurants drop recently.

owlwoman

Tell them you eat too much Italian Food living in NY and would prefer another variety of food (I'd do anything to get out of OG). Plus, I don't think they're condusive to having a leisurely meal and being able to talk.

Good luck!

seafox

Try this - just across the street from the West hartford Olive Garden is West Farm's Mall. There is PF Chang's Chinese bistro inside. Very good asian food (try the lettuce wraps). The mall's also pretty good one - Nordstom is an anchor store... kind of a compromise (make a reservation)

gail

Now we are going to Max's Burgers (from website maxrestaurantgroup provided by tchoiniere) - I checked out the various options on that website and let them pick from a narrowed down list - seems casual enough to let us hang around for a while or head to their bar. Major trips have been planned with less effort than this one dinner has involved - but at last I escape the Olive Garden.

tchoiniere

Gail, great choice. Friends of mine go there all the time. Ive been a couple cf times and its excellent. They don't have any issues with people lingering. Enjoy it.

gail

Went to Max Burger last night - great time and food. Started with buffalo shrimp and some sort of fried round things with blue cheese in them. Also some silly fruity martinis - something I would not normally drink, but seemed to fit the setting.

I had a burger with guacomole, pepper jack cheese, carmelized onions. Great. DH had some sort of gourmet mac and cheese and Ceasar salad. Friends had seared scallop salad and I don't remember what else (must be the martinis). Service was good but we never felt pushed out the door - lingered and chatted (and tipped accordingly). They do not take reservations but friends called ahead 45 minutes out (as suggested on website) and we had perhaps a 15 minute wait once we arrived.

Thanks for the suggestion - now we can try some of the other "Max" restaurants for next time we meet.

tchoiniere

Glad it worked out for you. All of their restaurants are excellent. Friends of mine really like Trumbull kitchen so would also recommend that one. You can't really go wrong with them.

tchoiniere

Just an update before anybody sees my recommendation for Damon's Tavern. I will not recommend it. friend of mine was the manager / limited partner behind it. Had investors backing him. After a month of being open and having good business, his investors forced him out. He was used to get the restaurant open and then forced aside. I will not support a business that operates that way. I was really enjoying this place and gone quite often but not anymore.

gail

Sorry to hear about your friend's experience- we had filed this as a possibility for future visits as I am not usually a fan of newly opened restaurants, Can't say I would support rats in any field - and while I certainly don't have the opportunity to hear directly either side of the story, I do trust you are posting this honestly - so we will cross it off our list as well.