Lunch/Brunch in Manchester, NH

[ChicagoTraveler]

I will be meeting some friends for a lunch or brunch in Manchester, NH, in about a week (on a Monday). Any suggestions for a casual place with great food?

[FriedClamFanatic]

I'm told, but have yet to experience it, that the Arrow Diner is THE place to go in manchester

[lexpatti]

I love the arrow, great sweet potato chips - excellent salmon pie, great comfort food - I like the ambiance too - great local place.

[FriedClamFanatic]

By the way, Lexpatti, I heard they recently opend a second restaurant in Milford NH; on the oval.

[kaszeta]

Yeah, the Red Arrow is my go-to place in Manchester. Especially late at night, although some of the late night denizens, are, um, colorful. :)

[whs]

Hanover Street Chophouse has reopened for lunch in December. Great urban steakhouse ambience and killer martinis.

[tunamelt]

To go a bit more downmarket than some of these other suggestions, my favorite very casual place in Manchester is the Airport Diner, where they have an absolutely killer tuna melt. (Yes, my user name attests to my food passion!) I'm told the other food is good too ... I wouldn't know, since I almost always get the tuna melt. The recreated 50s-diner ambiance is also pretty fun.

But if you want to wow people, the previous suggestions are probably a better bet.

TM

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Airport Diner
2280 Brown Ave, Manchester, NH 03103

[lexpatti]

I should have done the tuna melt, we were disappointed in the Airport Diner. Their crabcakes are really bad - like mushy and tasted uncooked. Flavorless too, I was spoiled once with fantastic crab cakes in DC and haven't ever found any that compare. It's my next experiment - to make the best.

[gryphonskeeper]

Lex, they have incredible crab cakes at Black Water Grill in Salem NH. I am telling you, these are the best I have ever had. If you can get his recipe, do it!! I will ask next time I go, because I am still trying to find anything comparable and I have not come close/

[lexpatti]

Thanks, I'll have to try that - Hubby works around the corner, might do that some night after work, meet him and finish xmas shopping.

[qianning]

airport diner uses mostly processed food--beans from a can, hash from a can, fries from the freezer, you get the idea.

[lexpatti]

Or Cotton, love that place too:
http://www.cottonfood.com/lunch.html

But that bread basket at Richard's is really to die for.

[whs]

Richard's or Z

[gryphonskeeper]

hands down I recommend Richard's Bistro, on Lowell St in Manchester NH. If you really want to make an impression this is the place. They have great lunch specials so you will not go broke, but the service and the food are unbeatable anywhere.