Mercato Italian Kitchen And - Southbury

Great food. Loud at bar where we were sitting. To be expected for a Saturday night.

Mercato was exactly what we were looking for! The food was great, the atmosphere was lovely, and the wine selection was impressive (we opted for a night of wine by the glass). We tried the balsamic calamari and were delighted with this creative take on one of our favorite dishes.

A waiter came over to take our drink order, brought our drinks, and then our food arrived quickly. However, we barely finished our soup before the main courses showed up. I appreciate quick service but would prefer a little time in between courses. I ordered the Squid Ink pasta with spicy sauce. I'm a fan of spicy food, but this dish was SO SPICY that I couldn't eat it; I managed to take a couple of bites before I had to stop and switch to bread. I should have sent it back, but I didn't. My husband's dish, the Wood Fired Chicken Scarpariello, was good, although it was quite heavy on the gravy. After finishing our drinks, the waiter didn't check back to see if we wanted another round. When we decided we were done, he returned with the check and asked if we wanted to take our leftovers home. We said yes, and he handed us the to-go containers for us to fill ourselves. It was quite challenging to pack leftovers on a tiny table; he should have taken the leftovers away and filled the containers for us. As he handed us the check, he asked if we wanted dessert or a second drink. We politely declined. All things considered, we will NOT be returning to Mercato.

Fantastic menu, excellent service, and a pleasant atmosphere. I highly recommend it!

We ordered the Carl Anthony 's fried calamari appetizer. The menu didn 't say it came with cherry peppers and pepperoncini peppers. It was very spicy, not to our liking. The pizzas we ordered came to us just warm, not hot. And we had our reservations for 5:00 on a Thursday so it wasn 't busy yet. We never been there before and we 're not going back.