After a long day of work, arms dragging and brain tired, it’s on to the next chore —eating. There must be a better way than heating up the leftovers of some TV dinner from the night before. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a place where the atmosphere mirrors the meals at grandma’s house? Well places like this do indeed exist; the trouble is searching and finding one of these diamonds in the rough.

Adriana’s Little Italy in Newtown, Pa., happens to be one of these mythical places. With a small but cozy dining area combined with a toasty pizza oven, this restaurant is a place where peace of mind is as close as a piece of pizza.

Adriana’s, turning five this year, is a rustically decorated space with decanters filled with olive oil and peppers; old-timey décor scattered across every wall; and — of course — the aforementioned, fiery-hot pizza ovens.

This family-style restaurant cares not if you are alone or with your family, because if your family can’t make it, the staff is a pretty good substitute. The staff is friendly and ready to serve in any way they can, moving tables and rearranging the floor plan as necessary to accommodate. The chef owner makes his rounds to every table, showing a gracious amount of hospitality to all of his guests.

The crowd is local and the atmosphere is as fresh as the seafood. We ordered calamari for the table which was quite good. The batter on the calamari was crisp and flaky and left little to be desired from such a simple yet complex dish. For the main course: chicken Parmesan. An Italian restaurant must be judged by the quality of its chicken Parmesan. What looked like a mountain arrived at the table — a steaming highland of lightly breaded chicken cascaded over the edges of the plate enveloped in what looked like a pound of linguini. If a restaurant is to be judged by its chicken Parmesan, Adriana’s is a cut above the rest. Tender chicken that seemed to melt in your mouth with a deliciously thick red sauce provided a strong sense of nostalgia, as well as a second meal for later. It would be a challenge to attempt to finish the mountain of meat they call chicken Parmesan in one sitting; something of that caliber would take a stronger man than I.

The feeling of happiness did not leave me as I left the doors of that restaurant, drove home and lay on the couch debating internally whether it was a good idea to eat as much as I did. I can say with confidence I was not disappointed with either the service or the food that night — only disappointed with my lack of self-control. Adriana’s Little Italy was a delight I shall remember with a smile.

— Andrew Risch, intern