Before my husband and I were married, we lived in NYC. Alright actually I lived in Hoboken, NJ but I worked in NYC. We used to go out to various restaurants and see movies and plays. We had a really great time. When we moved to MA, we saw a lot movies. That was our thing.
Since we became parents, though, things have changed. First of all, date nights are few and far between. Even though we have grand plans to go out for dinner and a movie like we used to do, it rarely happens. Either I don't have enough babysitting co-op tokens for both or nothing good is playing. Actually there's a third reason too that trumps all the other reasons: if we're going to have a limited amount of alone time, I want to be able to talk.
Because of this, I like restaurants in which it is easy to have an intimate conversation. I also like to have good, reasonably priced food and have the option to be able to dress nicely or to just wear jeans. Wow, that's sounds like a lot! I have actually had good success in finding two restaurants that meet all these requirements. They are located in Sturbridge. From what I've heard from others many of the other restaurants there are just like it.
The first place I like is the Publick House. The food is a little pricer than I would like, but they have coupons in the Entertainment Book. Now that I have a preschooler, and I'm in a moms group, I get hit with requests to buy these books all the time. Plus our Y sells them. They appear to be ubiquitous. That deserves its own post though! We recently made our first visit to a place called The Ugly Duckling Loft. It's the tavern for the restaurant The Whistling Swan. The food is the same, or at least appeared to be and the friend who recommend it said it was, but the prices are cheaper. The atmosphere was great. There was a singer there which was fun. It did make it a tad bit harder to hear than I would have liked, but the music was by no means overwhelming.
Quite often when we tell people we're going to Sturbridge, they seem surprised that we're traveling so far. For us it's about 30 minutes. Total time is still less time than a dinner and movie, but more of the time is spent conversing since we talk in the car and during the relaxing meal.
I grew up in the northeast corner of Connecticut, so I've actually been to both of these restaurants! I love them both, although it's been years since I've been in that area.
And I'm all for intimate conversations! I don't get enough of those!
Posted by: MamaLee | February 27, 2008 at 02:52 PM
My Sis got married at the Publick House on New Years Eve 2006. It was beautiful! And the food was amazing!
Posted by: In the Trenches of Mommyhood | February 28, 2008 at 08:36 AM