What a sweet surprise Newport, RI turned out to be. It is a quintessential New England coastal town with lovely character.

We stayed at the Admiral Fitzroy Inn thanks to a Groupon! It was perfectly located just off the water along the strip of cute boutique stores and is walkable to all the restaurants we had picked out for the long weekend. The rooms were large with colonial décor. We stayed in room 12 which had a large living area divided into two parts, one for the bed and the other for a trundle bed and tv. Families with kids would have enough space to roam around. Our bathroom was a little small but large enough to serve its purpose. The front desk offers fresh baked cookies daily (yumm!) and the breakfast each morning was delicious with several homemade options! It wasn’t quite a B&B style but it was well beyond a continental breakfast. We never left hungry.  The staff was also very friendly.

Restos

Unfortunately, I had scoped out a lunch spot (Benjamin’s Raw Bar) for our arrival that was not actually open for lunch…poor planning on my part!  Ultimately, we ended up at Malt and were VERY pleased with our lunch!

Our visit to Bouchard was a little disappointing. We had the salmon tartar which was a daily special. The flavors were not well blended and left our taste buds a little bored. For dinner, I had the lobster with scallops which was good and redeemed the food experience a little. My husband had one of the specials but wasn’t impressed with his. The ambiance is a little stuffy in attitude and in dress. Attire is business casual but the waiters wear a tux…dress accordingly if you decide to visit. We also had a table in the hallway by the kitchen which soured the overall experience a little as it was a high traffic area. Overall, the Trip Advisor reviews are fantastic, but I just can’t recommend it.

After our experience at Bouchard, we WELCOMED Stoneacre Pantry with open arms. The restaurant owners take a farm to table approach so everything is wildly fresh. The menu is less extensive because of this approach but big enough. Our waitress picked out some cheeses for us as our appetizer and hit the nail on the head after having given her some of our likes/dislikes. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience here and I recommend the risotto.

Now, I wouldn’t normally recommend “chain like” restaurants but on a bitterly cold day, we just didn’t want to make the trek across town to another location and ended up at the Red Parrot Restaurant for lunch and had the most amazing Lobster nachos….this is surely an entire week’s worth of calories and meant to be shared! Truth be told, two people could make a meal of this. My husband and I still talk about how amazing those nachos were.

Things to do

Tour the Breakers Mansion if you only have one to choose… this is the closest thing you’re going to get to a European castle. It’s STUNNING and the historical tour is very informative and interesting.  Unfortunately, no photos allowed 😦

Do the cliff walk. It’s a little windy but even on a cold day it was manageable! You can see a lot of the seaside mansions and even stroll past the Breakers Mansion for a different vantage point of this amazing castle.

Cliff Walk

Sunset in Newport

For some local libations, check out the Newport Storm Brewery for a tour….unfortunately, we didn’t make it due to timing.

Cheers!