Although Italians originally invented pasta as a fastener to keep Sicily from floating away, they abandoned it for less-delicious moorings after locals on both sides kept snacking their way toward separation. Tether your taste buds to today's Groupon to Amaretto Italian Bistro in Williamsville. Choose between the following options:

• For $8, you get $16 worth of elegant, Italian lunch fare and drinks.
• For $12, you get $25 worth of upscale Italian dinner fare and drinks.

Amaretto offers plentiful lunch and dinner menus fully stocked with edible options. Crispy calamari ($7.99) is always fun to share with friends, and Amaretto's platters come with whole-grain mustard aioli, so you can even present a golden ring to your partner without breaking the bank or chipping a tooth. For a lighter meal launch, opt for a fresh-tossed Caesar salad ($5.95 at lunch, $6.50 at dinner) or a spinach salad, a delightful mix of baby spinach, sliced oranges, shaved red onion, feta, and dried apricots, served with an orange coriander dressing and homemade ciabatta croutons ($7.99). The bistro's pasta selection covers every inch of the comforting classics, including spaghetti and meatballs ($14.99), fettuccini alfredo ($14.99), and herbivore-friendly penne primavera with sautéed market veggies ($15.50). For a heartier helping, try the NY strip steak, aged for 21 days until it is mature enough to hang with horseradish-mashed taters and black-truffle essence without making jokes about long teeth or fungi faces ($24.99).

Foodies aren’t the only ones who can find what they're looking for in Amaretto's clean, cozy interior. Wine aficionados and temporally displaced Bacchus-worshippers can also go wild by pairing their bites with sips from the impressive wine list. Turn a casual lunch date into a romantic rendezvous by splitting a couple of toasty paninis ($9.95–$11.95) and a bottle of red ($21–$26 for a bottle). Alternately, order a couple glasses of white ($5.50–$6.50 per glass) to prevent irrevocable staining, should one of your jokes or off-putting monologues interrupt your dining partner's sip with a spit take. Call ahead to make a reservation.

Reviews

Amaretto Italian Bistro was featured in Buffalo Chow. Forty OpenTable reviewers give Amaretto Italian Bistro a 4.4-star rating, 82% of 39 Urbanspooners like it, and four Yelpers give it a three-star average.

• Only two pages long, the menu isn't exactly packed with choices, but we soon began to understand why: the focus is legitimately on quality - not just in word, but in actual execution. – Buffalo Chow
• I will certainly go again. The food is excellent, and they go out of the way to make it a memorable experience. – OpenTable reviewer who dined on 2/25/11