Downtown

To those who think that you can’t have a romantic dinner without making the trek into the city, I bring you Downtown Danville. I know, this doesn’t sound thrilling on the face of it but you would be mistaken. I have been to not one but three dinners down here over the summer, and I can vouch that there is indeed life this side of the Contra Costas.

Trust me, I was surprised too!

And I don’t mean a late night trip to Taco Bell. I may occasionally be accused of being a cheap date, but not even I am that cheap.

Here is what I mean:

---The Amber Bistro: I went here on a first date and really liked it. It is one of those fairly traditional restaurants where they serve hamburgers, pork chops, fish, that kind of thing but done really well. My date had the filet mignon, which I got a bite out of—delicious, but for $32, I didn’t want to send him to the poor house. So I stuck with the halibut, which was okay too.

--Incontro (“meeting” or “date” in Italian) is really well named. We came here for my birthday. It is definitely the most romantic restaurant in Danville, with warm stone and paintings like the Birth of Venus on the walls, this place definitely knows how to set the mood. It is basically a really fancy Italian place.

---Martini Sky: Love that name. Martini’s are great---so is the bivette steak.

There are bunch of other eateries here too—those are just the date spots that I have been to.

I’m not as big a fan of the bars like Elliot’s and That Bar—a bit on the hooky bland side for me. They just feel totally suburban. Meener’s has live local music of the playing guitar with your eyes closed variety, but if you really want to dance and have a good time around here it is probably better to head down to the ShBoom Room in San Ramon, as far as I am concerned.

But I don’t want to give the wrong impression, Danville is hardly North Beach or even Noe for that matter. It is still basically a little commercial oasis in the middle of a suburban dessert. It is just looking to cater to the desires of those who may not want to take a half hour drive for a nice night out.

There are a bunch of cute shops here and there are also your share of banks, supermarkets and all the things that you expect in a little suburban town where the median household income is well over $100K.

You will still have to get out of town to have fun on a consistent basis. I am just saying that if you only head out once a month for a nice meal because you’re a soccer mom the rest of month or you guys just have completely exhausting schedules—then Danville has you covered on nights you don’t want to hassle it.