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: for $17, you get $35 worth of Italian cuisine and drinks at Dolce Novita Restaurant in Moonachie.

The plate artists at Dolce Novita Restaurant are committed to sculpting their vibrant edibles out of only the finest-quality ingredients. Friendly servers escort the signature Southern Italian tastes to elegantly dressed tables, where patrons are encouraged to forget about chores, work, and superglue mishaps, and relax. After priming your throat with something from the wine list, coat your palate with the savory flavors of an appetizer, such as shrimp in garlic sauce with saffron rice ($7.95), or fully submerge your senses with an aromatic entree, such as lobster ravioli ($12.95) or veal marsala ($16.95). Beef buffs and blindfolded vegetarians can devour the 24 oz. grilled Black Angus steak ($26.95), served with fried onions and a napkin that can double as a blindfold or a satisfactory drumhead when stretched tautly over the edges of a saucepan. Dolce Novita's spacious interior unites handsome dark woods with crisp white linens, all accented by neatly hung artwork and red-hued drapery. Make use of the restaurant's sophisticated backdrop to rekindle chemistry with an old flame or to inspire your first paperback romance novel—a story of unlikely lovers who, in the end, find themselves stuck to one another under a blanket of melted mozzarella.

Reviews

Three TripAdvisors give Dolce Novita an average of four stars; Zagat reviewers also recommend it.

• Excellent Southern Italian dishes. Melt in your mouth veal. Ingredients are high quality. The ambiance is quietly elegant. – CarmachioC9947, Zagat
• Fantastic red sauce Italian place. It does unbeatable versions of the classic dishes from Naples and Sicily. – SotirK9948, Zagat