There are over a dozen venues, restaurants and bars in the area that will be hosting New Year’s Eve celebrations.
From the Aqua Turf Club in Southington, to O’Brien’s Pub in Wallingford and Il Monticello in Meriden, guests can enjoy multi-course meals, open bars, dancing and a countdown to 2019.
“It’s a nice night out,” said Jim Zandri, owner of Zandri’s Stillwood Inn in Wallingford, which will be hosting its 40th consecutive gala.
“Right after midnight, there would be a line at the payphone out in the lobby of people calling family or those that weren’t here,” Zandri said of the changes he’s seen in the last four decades of New Year’s Eve celebrations. “Today we don’t even have a payphone, point being everyone has their own phone.”
Since 1979, the same year Zandri opened the facility, hundreds of people have been attending the celebration each year. It was taken up a notch in 1999 as everyone awaited the new millennium with Zandri’s then-new digital countdown clock.
The clock is hung up in the hall during the weeks leading up to New Year’s Eve with the days, hours, minutes and seconds ticking away.
This year, cocktail and buffet style hors d’oeuvres will be served, followed by a dinner of chilled appetizers and choice of prime rib, stuffed lobster or a chicken dish. Desserts, coffee and an open bar will also be offered along with party hats and noisemakers.
A 40th celebration souvenir mug will be given out to guests.
“Everyone is coming into the room that night to have a good time,” Zandri said. “It’s a full night.”
Like other local places in the area, Zandri’s celebration will also include a DJ, entertainment and dancing.
The newly-relocated Yale Billiards on North Plains Industrial Road in Wallingford will be hosting a New Year’s Eve party complete with a dinner buffet, open bar, and pool tournament. More entertainment can be found in Wallingford, including at O’Brien’s Pub on Old Colony Road which will be hosting an “Open Mic New Year’s Eve Bash.”
In Southington, the Aqua Turf Club on Mulberry Street will have its annual New Year’s Party with DJ entertainment, a band, and a surf and turf-style dinner along with an open bar all night. The Back Nine Tavern will also be hosting a New Year’s Eve celebration, as well as Crystal Bees, Groggy Frog, Blackstone Irish Pub, Hop Haus, and Smokin’ with Chris.
Events in Meriden include a party at Il Monticello on South Broad Street.
Other New Year’s Eve events will be taking place at Casa Mia at The Hawthorne in Berlin, Waxy O’ Connor’s in Plainville, Fantasia in North Haven, and Fire at the Ridge & Ridgeside Tavern in Middlefield.
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