Where do I begin about Cornerstone? This is a little restaurant in Swansea that we've passed by many times, but had never been in. The parking lot is rarely full (actually almost always empty) and I think I found out why. Laura, myself, and younger daughter, Mallory, went there one Saturday morning for a nice breakfast. We didn't get it. I ordered scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee. Mallory ordered the same, but with a side of bacon. Laura ordered strawberry topped pancakes. First of all, the waitress we had that morning really didn't want to be there. She shuffled over to us, dragging her feet, took our order and other than bringing our food and check - that was the last time we ever saw her. My so-called bottomless cup of coffee bottomed out. Not once did she come to refill it. It was a long wait to get our food, and when we finally did, it must have been sitting around for a while. Everything was kind of cold. Actually, Mallory's bacon seemed like it just came out of the refrigerator. It was cooked, but ice cold. Laura's pancakes with the "fresh strawberry topping" had no fresh strawberries. It was strawberry jam. Sticky and sweet, it was spread all over the top. Our toast was luke warm, the eggs were luke warm - it was a horrible breakfast. We would have complained, except our waitress never came back. Disgusted, we left most of it there and waited for our check. And waited .... and waited ... When we finally caught her eye, she slumped back over with our check. We were so disgusted, we just paid and left. Thinking back on it, we really should have complained, but we just wanted to get out of there. Never again! PS - Their bakery sells really good Portuguese sweet bread. VISIT US ON THE WEB AT WWW.NEWENGLANDBITES.COM.

The only reason that Benjamin's got one star from us is because they wouldn't let us in. Laura and I had heard about this place and decided to go one Saturday afternoon for lunch. When we got there, we saw that the restaurant was very large and beautiful. There were a ton of cars in the parking lot. Our only concern was that we'd have to wait long for a table. No need to worry! We went in and walked over to the hostess desk. We didn't see any people waiting around, so we thought we'd have a good chance of getting right in. We told the hostess, "Two please." She said, "What party are you here for?" We said, "What?" I then said, "We're here for lunch, " and that's when she informed us that they don't do lunches on Saturday afternoons. It's all parties. Well, great. That didn't help our hunger any. Laura and I left, dejected, hungry, and mad at Benjamin's. We don't like being told that we can't have food. So, although the food may be great, we don't know. They just got one star for their attitude. VISIT US ON THE WEB AT WWW.NEWENGLANDBITES.COM!

On our first visit to Bella Roma, we had a five star experience. We arrived at early dinner time and helped ourselves to the soup and salad bar. Everything was hot, fresh and delicious. The cheerful waitress brought over a loaf of nice hot Italian bread to our table, which we throughly enjoyed with our soup and salad. The salad bar was tremendous; lots to choose from. For our entrees Laura had stuffed shells in broccoli alfredo sauce, which she declared to be delicious. I had angel hair pasta bolonase, which was also delicious. Both dishes were served hot and they were plentiful. We couldn't wait to go back. However, on our second visit, we were very disappointed. We arrived near closing time (which we didn't know they closed at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays) but were promptly seated and again took our place at the soup and salad bar and everything was delicious as usual. We ordered our entrees and we both had the Italian platter special ($10.95) which consisted of two manicotti, two stuffed shells, half dozen ravioli and two meatballs. It certainly was a bargain. Laura's food arrived and she found parts of it to be an uneven temperature. Parts were steaming; parts were luke warm/hot. My meal, however, was not even luke warm. It seemed to me that it has been put into the microwave to heat it up and it wasn't heated long enough. The meatballs in both our meals were ICE cold. We were very disappointed. Also, the strawberry shortcake that was supposed to be part of our meal was never given to us and we left a little disappointed. I would give Bella Roma another try because of our wonderful experience the first time. I'd definitely try not to go near closing time, but I think it deserves a second chance.

I am in love with this place! We went for the first time for Laura's 28th birthday and I know we'll definitely be back. The restaurant is in the middle of historic Newport right on busy Thames Street. You have to go up a small flight of stairs to reach it and if you're lucky enough to get the window city you can watch the busy goings on on Thames Street while you eat. It's a BYOB restaurant, but there is a little package store right around the corner. If you decide to go get a bottle of wine, Lucia's will provide you with the glasses to enjoy yourself. This is authentic Italian cooking. The menu is small but diverse. We started with a pepperoni bruschetta which was hot and delicious. Then Laura had manicotti which she found to have one of the best sauces she ever tasted. I had the farfalli bolonase and it was outstanding. We shared a piece of chocolate mousse and marscapone cake and two cappuccinos. Everything was outstanding. I like the way the waiter brought over a large platter showing us the various desserts they had for us to choose from. The whole experience was really pleasant. The restaurant is small, intimate and you feel like you're in an Italian trattoria. A very cute, relaxing, delicious place to have lunch or dinner and I can't wait to go back!

Although I haven't eaten here yet, my daughter Laura orders here when she's at her office in Taunton. She loves their buffalo chicken salad and they have a very tasty stuffed jalapeno appetizer. She's also had a Greek salad and a cheeseburger meal from Pepperoni's and they were both delicious. They have a good sized menu and I'm sure she'll be going back for more delicious lunches.

This cute little shop in Portsmouth, RI, has some great homemade gelato. They have many unusual flavors to choose from and it's all made on the premises. The man who owns it learned how to make the gelato from frequent trips to Italy and he imported a lot of his machinery from there. The gelatos come in three sizes and I tried to choose a different flavor each time I go. I haven't been disappointed yet.

Watch out for the small size! A small size is nearly a pint of ice cream. I've never had the nerve to even look at the large. Simcock Farm is a nice little dairy stand in the backroads of Swansea, MA. A little difficult to find but well worth the drive. It is in a quaint little setting with dairy cows in the back and homemade ice cream inside. They have lots of flavors to choose from for such a small place and each one is absolutely delicious, and you sure get bang for your bucks! They are very generous.

Typical delivery pizza place. Good food. Good prices. They have a nice system of delivery with separated styrofoam containers so your food arrives in one piece. Food tasted good. All around we were quite satisfied.

The king of the delivery pizza places! Good value, good coupons, fast delivery and the usual slightly blah frozen pizza taste. It's still good in a pinch when there's not a better place around.

Typical pizza delivery place, also carrying great grinders. As a matter of fact, we tend to like the grinders more than the pizza. Also have a few typical appetizers and a few pasta dishes. Pretty good for a quick dinner when you're too busy to cook.

This teeny, tiny little donut shop on a country road in Westport, MA carries the world's best cream donuts. For approximately $1 each you can get their cream puff or their famous long john, a long flaky donut filled with real whipped cream and a stripe of blackberry jam with a dusting of granulated sugar. They are to die for. This little place has been written up in many gourmet magazines. It's worth it to go out of your way to find it. Now at two locations! You can find them at the former Steve's Bakery at 1448 Grand Army Hwy in Somerset, MA.

Vazoni's has great pizza, even better grinders and an assorted of appetizers and pasta dishes all ready for delivery. The only problem is you're going to have to wait a while! I don't know why, but the delivery tends to be a little slow (and we're not even far away). Also, they're price quotes always seem to be a few cents off when they get to your house than what they said on the phone. Other than that, you'll enjoy the food.

This is one busy bakery, especially around the holidays. You'll have a good wait standing in line for your holiday pies, which are outstanding. They have everything from pumpkin, apple and squash to the chocolate cremes and banana cremes, etc. You might wait an hour, but it's worth the wait. They also have a huge assortment of pastries, meat pies, chourico rolls (a Fall River favorite) and even cookies and donuts. Don't forget to get a nice assortment of breads and rolls! Their large assortment, good prices and delicious products makes this a must stop for the holidays.

A small neighborhood bakery carrying the usual assortment of pastries, donuts, cupcakes, etc. Also a good place to get your holiday pies, regular and creme. They also carry a fresh assortment of breads, rolls and fruit squares. It seems to me they used to be better and in the last few years the quality has gone down a bit. I have a tendancy to find the pastries a little too sweet and the texture a little too dry. Their holiday pies are still good.

Whenever you're STARVED for some great Italian food, don't go to Milano. You'll leave just as starved. At our first, and only, time, we were quite taken with the beauty of the place. Very pretty dining room, cloth napkins, nicely decorated, warm setting, etc. We thought we were in for a great time ... until we opened the menus. Wow! A little expensive for pasta. Most of their pasta dishes (without meat) run around $20. Add some meat and you're between $20-30. Also, we discovered your entree comes with ... absolutely nothing! All your side dishes or soups or salads are all extra. One person could leave there spending about $100 just for themselves! We decided to just stick to an entree. Laura ordered the squash filled ravioli for $19 while I ordered the tortellini with meat sauce for $16. We were famished and were really looking forward to a nice meal. NOPE! A large white plate was placed in front of Laura that contained her four raviolis, yes FOUR, and a flower. My large white plate contained about half a cup of tortellini on one side of the plate and the mystery meat sauce covering the other. Oh yes, I had a flower, too. After we got done staring at them for a while, we just prayed that they were going to taste great. NOPE! Laura's ravioli had her looking for the squash filling. It was all pasta - no stuffing. My "mystery meat" sauce was really a puzzlement. I knew it wasn't beef, pork or poultry. What the F was it? I let Laura taste it. She found it kind of funky and she couldn't tell what it was either. I'm thinking either veal or lamb. Honestly, we've had much better Italian food at many other places for a much more reasonable price, and definitely a better portion. We left broke and hungry and looking for a Happy Meal. If you want to try this place, bring your wallet and pack a lunch.

Very cute setting. Great place for breakfast or light lunch. Includes the basic breakfast goodies such as muffins, bagels, coffee, etc. Lunches include light sandwiches on your choice of bread. Also there is an in-house ice cream parlor with over 300 flavors of ice cream. Many unique flavors, and the ones we had (vanilla malt and espresso roast) were delicious.

Maybe we hit it on a bad day. Crowthers came highly recommended by several family members, so we were very anxious to head up to Adamsville. The place was a little difficult to find. You had to look for the little signs in the trees, but after a nice country drive, we finally found it. The place was very cute inside and out. It looked like we were in for a fine dining experience. We studied the menu, which included several American favorites (steaks/seafood/pasta). Our waitress was very nice. She came over for our drink order and we just got Cokes. She also brought glasses of water along with our Cokes which is something I like. Laura (daughter) started with a salad and I ordered chicken rice soup. The waitress came back, gave Laura her salad and gave me vegetable beef soup because they were all out of chicken rice. I said it was OK, and I took the vegetable beef and I wasn't sorry. It was quite delicious. Next we both ordered the scrod. We didn't have a long wait before she returned from the kitchen with our dinner. You know how scrod is lovely white fish and it just flakes apart when you touch it with your fork????? Well, this one didn't. Not only couldn't you flake it with your fork, you couldn't cut it with your knife. It was VERY rubbery and was barely luke warm, and actually, in the center, it was cold. I took my fork and turned my fish over, only to discover it was all dark on the bottom which is not usually the case with a nice piece of scrod. Laura was also having trouble with her piece -- same problems. Try as I might, I just could not eat this piece of fish. When the waitress came over and asked if we wanted to wrap up what we hadn't eaten, I told her why I was unable to eat it and NO, I didn't want it wrapped to go. She listened to our complaints, sympathized, and brought both dishes back into the kitchen. Within a few minutes she returned, told us we wouldn't have to pay for any of our meal, and that the chef was not surprised that it had come back because their catch that day was not up to par. I say if he wasn't surprised it came back, why the Hell did they serve it to us? The waitress offered us anything else from the menu to either eat there or take home with us, but frankly we were both really turned off. Since our meal was free, we just picked up and left, and were really disappointed. This was the last thing we had expected from a restaurant that came so highly recommended. Believe it or not, on the way out of Adamsville, we had to stop at the little variety store to pick up a piece of gum to get the fishy taste out of our mouths. ***SIDE NOTE: As we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, we heard the conversation from the table in back of us. The people had wanted little necks for an appetizer; they were out. Then the man wanted pork chops; they were out. Their waitress yelled back to the kitchen, "What else are we out of today???"***

Before I arrived here, I really didn't realize that it was a chain. I had never seen one around before, but I hear that there are several in the Northeast. The day we went it was quiet and we got right in and got a great table. The menu was interesting and we had no trouble deciding what to order. Laura had the pesto chicken pizza topped with ricotta cheese which she found outstanding, and I had a plate of pasta and found it delicious. Laura and I decided to share a piece of lemon cake and it was to die for. I definitely look forward to going back again.

While running around on a busy day in Newport, we decided to stop at Pasta Beach for lunch. This is quite a small restaurant on a very busy main street, and if you're not looking for it you'll go right by it. Inside we waited to be seated but no one came over right away, so we decided to seat ourselves. We had a choice of about eight tables ... and that's it. As soon as we were seated, a waitress came over and handed us a menu. The menu was quite small (just one sheet of paper) with both sides written on and we were informed that they weren't serving pizza or sandwiches on this day. Good thing we both wanted pasta, and what pasta it was!!!!!! Laura had the pumpkin ravioli which she declared was outstanding. I had the spaghetti with bolonase sauce and it was also outstanding. We were very pleased with our pasta dishes, however WARNING ... everything is seperate. You have to order your salads, side dishes and even some garlic bread extra. So be prepared to spend quite a bit of money, but the food itself was worth the price.

After losing most of our money at the slots, we usually have enough left to go to the Grand Grill right inside Newport Jai Alai. This place is worth going to even if you don't want to play the slots. We've been here a couple of times now and everything is outstanding. The food is made fresh to order and arrives at your table steaming hot. We've had appetizers, burgers, pizza and seafood ... everything has been outstanding. The only thing we can add is that we can't wait to go again!