Best Restaurants that are Worth The Drive in Essex

When we arrived, our immediate reaction was “little divey place”. The entrance is very unassuming giving off the impression of a small, family owned type of place. Do not judge a restaurant by its front door! Once you get past the hostess podium, the restaurant opens into this large beautiful room, with a nice level of mood lighting and tables sufficiently spaced that you did feel like you were in a bad NYC pop up. We also arrived early due to a concert, so at first, the place was fairly quiet, but as the evening progressed, the place was still quiet enough to easily carry on a conversation. The wine list is not lengthy, but has some very nice wines at typical restaurant price, both bottle and glass. My Montepulciano was very good for $12 a glass. The menu includes a good number of appetizers to choose from ranging from a charcuterie board to a number of salads. The in restaurant made pastas were plentiful and creative, including a Veal stuffed pasta with pancetta and spinach that was amazing and very flavorful, as well as several chicken and fish dishes. There was also a series of specials ranging from carpaccio to pumpkin pasta, which my wife enjoyed greatly. The prices aren’t cheap, but they are in line with a city restaurant serving high end food and wine. If you want Olive Garden, go there. This is better. Oh, and the tiramisu was to die for! Service was excellent and attentive. From the hostess who was very friendly and made sure we were comfortable to our waiter and staff who made sure we were able to make our 6:30 concert without being pushy or rushed. Sotto can be a place for families but not little ones. Dress is business casual ( it had snowed when we went there so I was in a dark pair of jeans, which was acceptable. Not a t-shirt/shorts kind of place. A good place for a business dinner as well, but not sure I’d recommend it for an office party. Overall, Sotto Soprano gets two thumbs up and definitely a revisit!

The best crab house around!

My experience was great. The serves were kind. The jerk chicken lollipops and Caesar Salad were my favorite. The croutons in the salad melted in my mouth.I enjoyed the Snow Crab Asian Garlic noodles. I wish it had more crab meat and that was it a bit more spicier. I had a mango mocktail , it was sooo good! I wanted to take it home.

It was a nice Tuesday night out with a friend to just talk and catch up before the holidays.

Love the crabs! My children when in visiting want to stop in and our server Charles Snyder was awesome!