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Category:
Published: September 2006
If you are looking for a sophisticated fine dining experience or just fun night out on the town, Mare might just be for you. Located at 17 Maple Avenue, Saratoga Springs, the building has a chic cosmopolitan atmosphere and big city feel, with three floors and an outside area decorated with plush couches and sheer drapes. The outdoors is reserved for enjoying cocktails while listening to live bands play 80's and 90's favorites or the occasional reggae while the indoors is split between a potentially trendy backroom bar/disco lounge for late-night clubbing and an upper area for fine dining. For those of you interested in late night affairs, I learned a useful tip for cutting the long lines outside Mare's lounge while talking with the owner: simply call a day or several hours before to reserve a table for you and your friends and you will be able to walk right past the throng of hopeful club-goers.
Now let's talk about the really important thing. Food! Mare's menu is upscale Italian. Our meal and service were both first rate. We started with a seafood antipasto which could be a meal in itself. The two of us (with healthy appetites), could not finish it. It consisted of Mako shark, shrimp, bruschetta, fried calamari (exceptionally tender), crab meat service, buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes on skewers, fennel, zucchini, and spinach. All items were fresh and delicious. The salads prior to our entree were fresh and delightful on a hot summer's night. For an entree, I had taglioline aragusta, taglioline pasta with lobster meat and brandy in an aurora sauce (combination marinara and cream sauce), in a word - delicious. The other diner enjoyed frutti di mare, which was angel hair pasta with muscles, clams, lobster and calamari in a perfectly seasoned tomato sauce. We topped off the evening with a dessert sampler of both chocolate hazelnut and berry tarts. Hazelnut chocolate gelato with a vanilla center dusted in cocoa, and a fresh fruit plate consisting of pineapple, mango and blueberries. A superb cup of decaffeinated cappuccino was a wonderful compliment to the truly delectable goodies.
The food was not only delicious, but the portions were also generous. Our waiter Eric gave us first rate service. It was a winning evening all around.
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