Manteca is known as the Family City, and Ripon the Almond Capital of California. They are also communities that have plenty to offer for the romantic at heart.
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, here are a few dining places where you and your special someone can spend some private time together while toasting each other to your heart’s content and pleasing your discriminating palates.
• Angelano’s : Great food and more. The ambience inside this Italian and Greek restaurant is full of nostalgia, thanks to antique décor that is a feast to the eye. They range from vintage Elvis street signs and other nostalgic items that hearken to good old days, subdued lighting exuded by overhead light fixtures with rainbow-colored gemstone-like accents casting a soft mood on your dining table, cozy and comfortable seating booths that enhance an intimate dining experience for two, quiet surroundings, good Italian and Greek menu fares accompanied by your choice of wine if you so choose, and courteous servers in uniform that add to the pleasant experience.
• Yukimi Japanese Sushi and steakhouse: Volcanic action on the dining table where food is prepared by a chef while you watch. – The long tables that seat up to eight people here at Yukimi are always full of gaiety, thanks to the show provided by the chefs who combine magic cooking tricks – watch for the fiery volcanic eruption coming out of a stack of onion rings that start off the tabletop show. But there’s a part of the restaurant around the sushi counter that is romantically inviting. The corner seating area, while not completely offering privacy, is private and cozy enough for young couples, like Oscar and Claudia, to cuddle together and dine on freshly made sushi while they celebrated their engagement on Valentine’s Day last year.
• New China and Sushi Bar: Where east meets west cuisine. The Sushi Bar was a later addition to the long-running Chinese restaurant in the West Yosemite Avenue Save Mart shopping Center in Manteca. Comfortable and cozy private booths, subdued lighting, and a quiet atmosphere all conspire to give every couple a romantic interlude while enjoying dinner and drinks from the bar.
• Ripon Roadhouse: Historic building ambience, good food, plus friendly atmosphere. The restaurant, which offers a combination of American and a little bit of Mexican food fare, is housed in one of the city’s oldest and historic buildings located at the south end of Main Street.
Double the love for your special someone on Valentine’s Day by surprising her with a dozen long-stemmed chocolate roses from Mr Biggs Smoke House and Deli located in the shopping complex next to Manteca Bedquarters on the corner of North Main Street and Yosemite Avenue in downtown Manteca. Top that with fresh, juicy and decadent chocolate-covered strawberries sprinkled with all kinds of colorful confections to delight both heart and palate.
