Restaurants in West Hartford

A casual, family-friendly ambiance has been served as a complimentary side at Boston's since 1964, when founder Gus Agiortis established the very first location in Edmonton, Alberta. Today, more than 50 Boston's restaurants have spread across U.S. and Mexican borders, conquering appetites with fresh, carefully selected ingredients that must endure a scrupulous interview process before hitting plates. Behind the scenes, chefs transform hand-pressed, made-from-scratch dough into 18 varieties of gourmet pizzas. At tables, forks plunge through hunks of meat and creamy sauces that make up gourmet pastas, and inside each location's sports bar, fans root for favorite teams while struggling to corral boneless wings with their sauce-stained foam fingers.

A neon-lit façade shelters an intimate sidewalk patio where patrons chat on warm summer days over fresh seafood, salads, pastas, and meaty Italian specialties. Diners get their fill of bruschetta and mussels any time of year within Aziago's casual interior, which boasts golden-yellow walls, italian-vintage-style posters, and a hardwood bar overlooking a flat-screen TV. Main dishes, such as veal parmesan and ravioli, float to tables on clouds of house-made marinara, and forks cut effortlessly into juicy steak and pork-chop dishes. The promise of Cheesecake Factory desserts leads young ones to gobble their kiddie-sized pastas, and a quick-serve café brings paninis and wraps to the lunchtime masses. Aziago's also hosts private parties and delivers catered feasts to groups too large to sit at double-decker tables.

For more than four decades, one family has passed down the tradition of crowd-pleasing pizzas, grinders, and pastas. Hartford Road Pizza owner Greg Procaccini claims the honor of the pizza-making paterfamilias from both his father and his uncle Mike, who recently retired after a long career of Italian cookery at Hartford Road’s affiliate, Gino’s Pizza. Greg continues his family’s proud tradition with plates of stuffed-shell pasta, tender veal parmigiana, and pizzas crowned with toppings such as hamburger, anchovies, eggplant, ricotta, and pineapple. Each meal stays as close to home as possible, with hearty grinders and saucy meatballs sourced from local meats when available, and traditional dishes such as the housemade pasta fagioli soup made from time-tested family recipes.

Sakura Garden Glastonbury also offers freshly prepared sushi and sashimi, but it really dazzles with its hibachi entrees prepared by chefs styled as cowboys. Eighteen diners gather around hibachi grills to watch as the chefs, some of whom perform magic tricks and sing, create soaring flame towers while they sizzle up red snapper, scallops, steak, and chicken.

Sakura Garden West Hartford seduces taste buds with two distinct buffets of upscale Japanese cuisine served alongside a menu of freshly prepared sushi and sashimi. Diners moseying through the 8,500-square-foot space can peruse the cold buffet to test the effectiveness of a new parka or to acquire a stack of oysters on the half shell. The hot buffet features piping-hot teriyaki salmon and tender coconut shrimp.

India Kitchen—deemed Hartford County's Best Indian Restaurant in 2011 by readers of Connecticut Magazine—piles family-style offerings from North and South India onto its menu, concocting entrees with imported ingredients and an authentic tandoor oven. Patrons can play games of solitaire with 11 types of traditional breads, such as the raisin- and nut-filled khandari kulcha ($3.95). Jumbo shrimp slip into robes of lemon juice, yogurt, and spices before sizzling in the clay oven, only to emerge as tandoori shrimp ($15.95) or, in rare cases, a single giant shrimp with crime-fighting ambitions and mastery over fire. The chicken chutney wala surrounds poultry morsels with tangy pools of curried mango and mint sauce ($12.95), whereas cashew-and-almond sauce varnishes vegetable-and-cheese dumplings in the vegetarian malai kofta ($11.95).

Featuring a catering menu for larger groups, India Kitchen's chefs portion out party-sized servings from a limited menu that includes naan ($32+) and vegetable biryani ($40+). For heartier mealtimes, they also simmer orders of lamb or fish curry ($90) that can either feed 30–40 people or one insatiable garbage disposal.

Sanremo Bakery conquers appetites with traditional Italian dishes and pastries. The family-owned business opens at 7 a.m. every day of the week, powering up morning customers with its breakfast pizza composed of eggs, home fries, bacon, and cheddar. Chefs prepare more than 10 other specialty pizzas for lunch and dinner, as well as pasta trays of lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, and ravioli that are large enough to feed 15–25 people or one Italian lumberjack.