Restaurants in Merrimack

Tuscan–style archway murals surround the tables at Cucina Toscana, where authentic Italian seafood, pasta, and steak dishes showcase the delicate flavors of scratch-made sauces. Chefs craft sausages and meatballs in-house before tempting eyes and noses with herbs artfully sprinkled atop into stunning portraits of Rembrandt. Each dish is carefully prepared and chefs are flexible with substitutions involving orders, displaying the freshness of ingredients such as prosciutto, stuffed clams, buffalo mozzarella, and garden veggies. Cucina Toscana also caters platters to feed hungry partiers and provide posters of donkeys with edible pasta tails to be pinned.

The crackle of a grill and the gentle purr of beer spilling into a pint are very soothing sounds. That gleeful noise serves as a constant backdrop at The Peddler’s Daughter, punctuated occasionally by live rock or Irish music and pub trivia. The menu is varied, but everything orbits around the dishes you might find in the Irish countryside. Beer-battered fish ‘n’ chips nestle alongside shepherd’s pies filled with beef and veggies like the briefcase of someone who is only pretending to be an accountant. Burgers—topped with Guinness blue cheese påte, aged cheddar, or housemade hot sauce—vie for attention against the likes of bangers and mash. On the bar, light cuts through glasses of ruddy Newcastle, Old Speckled Hen, and Guinness.

Inside Cafe India’s kitchen, chefs fire up their clay ovens to cook tandoori chicken marinated in yogurt and spices and bake tender cubes of lamb lined up on skewers. The restaurant’s menu spotlights dishes from all over India, such as the coconut-accented South Indian curry, from the Kerala region, and the spicy, chili-flavored vindaloo, originated in the western region of Goa. The café’s special vegetarian or non-vegetarian dinners for two feed duos, with entrees complemented with samosas, soups, fresh-baked naan, and basmati rice. Cocktails from the full bar wash down meals and bring out long-forgotten Bollywood dance routines as diners relax in the dining area, painted in warm hues of yellow, orange, and red.

Visitors to Whippersnappers can fill up on American-style cuisine including sandwiches, burgers, and steaks in a spacious pub setting. Every Tuesday, diners can participate in trivia at 6 p.m. and rock out to the tunes of a video DJ at 9 p.m. Five nights a week, live bands provide onstage entertainment; Thursday nights are devoted to acoustic acts.

Old family recipes form the foundation for many of the classic Italian dishes served at Rig A' Tony's Italian Take-out. The restaurant’s chefs craft fresh pastas to order, then sauté them with a variety of ingredients, such as broccoli and chicken, eggplant, and seafood. When forging their customizable pizzas, they begin with fresh dough, then hand-toss it and top it with pecorino cheese and whole-milk mozzarella before placing it in an oven and drizzling it lightly with olive oil. Most dishes are available in individual or family portions, and can be served in the restaurant or, like tax forms, toted home in their frozen form and baked.