For Cinco de Mayo, spouse and I decided to head to Guadalajara in Briarcliff (yes, where the Trumps celebrated birthdays) without reservation - daaaahhh. Couldn't even get into the parking lot. Plan B, (yes, we did have plan B) headed to Docas in Ossining, further 'up the road'. Haven't been here in years now, again no reservation.
We walked in, the place was full but there was one empty table and we were seated immediately.
The place has been 'redone' - painted an off white color, no longer dark and dingy. It's not pretentious, it's your local eatery, old world style. It's a Portuguese "Cheers" bar where everyone knows your name. It looks like everyone knows everyone. Talk about feeling like a family...it is...people walking in having a cappuccino or an aperitif, greeting each other...whole families having dinner...It's BYO and no corking charge
We perused the menu and decided on Vegetable soup, Shrimp in garlic sauce (appetizer) Grilled Branzini and Braise Pork with Clams.
The soup arrived and so did the shrimp. The shrimp portion was more like an entree size, cooked perfectly & delicious, so was the soup. The braised Pork with clams was absolutely very good & smothered with roasted potato and vegetables.
Now, for the Branzini. I'm very leery ordering fish in a restaurant, spouse order it, I had a taste...yum, moist tender... So now on our second visit in as many weeks we brought our own wine, ordered Clams in garlic sauce and a whole Branzini.
Our waitress, for the second time, Raquel, is absolutely a doll. Today we met chef Able. He got a bouquet of fresh parsley from his container herb garden outside and showed it off to the patrons as he pranced through the restaurant.
If you want an unpretentious relaxed whole family dinner, don't hesitate to visit Docas, BYO and it won't break your budget - enjoy read more