Date Night In Rochester, NH

Recently, my wife and I decided to spend more time together...just the two of us. See, we have children, and children can sometimes take up a lot of your time. Now, I'm not saying that my wife and I don't love our children, and love spending time with them, it is just that my wife, now being a stay at home mom, desires some adult interaction, and I love to be with my wife without us hearing her name called out every other minute. So we decided to take one night a month and dedicate a few hours to her and I getting out and having conversation and relaxing. The rules are minimal talking about the children and not so much talk about work. We figure we had better build our relationship strong now so we have one when the kids move out.

We don't like to go anywhere too far from our home in Rochester, NH, so our most recent date took us to a local restaurant called Fat Tony's Italian Grill. Wow! What a place! We enjoyed our visit very much. The atmosphere in there is incredible. It felt like we had gone back in time. You know, to the good old days in New York "hangin out" with the Rat Pack, Frank(Sinatra), Dean(Martin), and Sammy(Davis, Jr.). OK, I personally wasn't around when these icons roamed the streets, but what it must of been like to be around in that time period. There is a section of the restaurant dedicated to these men, and I have to say it brings out the NY tuff guy in you. The restaurant also has a few features like some raised tables and different decor in each part you stand. The lighting was perfect and the service was fantastic!

As for the food, I don't think I can do it justice by writing about it. The waitress started us off with some home made Italian bread and some seasoned olive oil, what a treat. My wife, being adopted by an Italian family, said it reminded her of being at her Nana's house as a young girl. Soon after we were brought our appetizers, some Bruschetta (Garlic bread topped with chopped basil, fresh tomatoes and extra-virgin olive oil then baked with fresh mozzarella) and some Crispy Ravioli (Cheese ravioli deep-fried and served with house marinara). Even though we had just had some bread and olive oil we absolutely loved the Bruschetta. The tomatoes and mozzarella are what made the plate, it tasted fantastic! I personally was a fan of the ravioli dish. The marinara has it's own unique great taste, not the taste I can get in my kitchen. About half way through the appiteizers is when our food was ready. We took advantage of the great menu option to " Build your own Pasta Dish". We were able to choose the pasta, the sauce, the vegetable, and the type of meat we wanted. I went with linguini, Alfredo, spinach and chicken. My wife went with linguini, marinara, roasted red peppers and onions, with sausage. Although we were getting very full we were able to take a few bites, of our own and of each others. The Alfredo sauce was probably the right up there with the best I had ever tasted. My wife agreed, it had a great cheese taste and the texture was fantastic. The pasta was cooked perfect as was the rest of the food. Obviously we could not finish our generous serving, so we did ask to have it wrapped to go. However, we could not leave without dessert. We ordered some fresh homemade Tiramisu to share with some cappuccinos. One of the greatest desserts we had ever had! The flavor was amazing!

We left very satisfied with both the meal and our little dinner date, having had a lot of conversation and plenty to eat with some left overs. The service was great and the romantic atmosphere made it a night to remember. We will be returning to Fat Tony's we feel very soon, maybe for some breakfast or some lunch next time. My recommendation to anyone living in town or visiting, you must make it into Fat Tony's Italian Grill!

Fat Tony's is located at: 61 North Main St. Rochester, NH 03867 Ph: (603)335-7020