Restaurants in Lowell

Part Mexican cantina, part Irish pub, and all cop, Garcia Brogan's blends disparate cultures in both its menu and its decor, which features murals and folk art from Mexico and Ireland. Whether guests want a glass of Irish whiskey or a fine tequila, Garcia Brogan's bartenders keep the drinks flowing, pouring a river of alcohol in which tacos and shepherd's pie bob appetizingly. The restaurant hosts pub trivia nights and live Irish music on the weekends.

Feng Shui embraces the culinary traditions of both China and Japan while updating its menu seasonally, garnering praise from the Boston Business Journal and New England Cable News for its extensive selection. Stir-fried orders of chicken, beef, and seafood arrive laden with ginger or signature sauces, and sushi chefs roll maki with traditional tuna and salmon or such innovative combinations as strawberry and wasabi aioli. At some locations, the dining rooms include tabletop hibachi-style grills where chefs, like Shakespeare as a toddler, put on food-based shows, flipping, dicing, and sizzling Angus-certified beef in cholesterol-free rice-bran oils that are rich in vitamin E.

The dinner includes (per two people):

Visions of the Italian coastline flood in through faux archways painted on the walls at Scola’s Restaurant. While waiting for the main meal, guests can nibble on shrimp scampi and eggplant rollotini or settle a bitter arm-wrestling dispute once and for all. The chefs' classic Italian dishes include chicken cacciatore and shrimp piccata. There’s an ample seafood selection, too—steamed lobster, stuffed haddock, and broiled scallops—as well as a few American dishes, including a barbecue steak-tip dinner. Guests can also order up sandwiches such as a fried clam roll or meatball sandwich.

In addition stocking to an international assortment of wine and beer, the bartenders mix up martinis that range from classic cosmopolitans to the Starbucks martini, which combines Starbucks coffee liqueur and Stoli vanilla vodka within a chocolate-rimmed glass.