The Room
Casa Me opened in 2022 in Sconset Square and spent the first six months earning its reputation as the best-looking room in Westport. Terracotta, hand-painted tile, a central bar that functions as a stage, banquettes in deep olive velvet — it is the sort of interior that reads as a destination in photographs and lives up to the photograph when you walk in. The scale is intimate enough to feel private and the lighting is calibrated for long dinners rather than quick bites.
The Food
Chef Emiliano Miglionico — Milan-trained, with stints across Italy and Spain — runs the kitchen on a menu that he has described as 'Italian vacation food.' That framing sells the cooking short. The sfincione (Sicilian focaccia), the Roman-style pinsa (lighter, crisper, made with higher-hydration dough), the hand-cut pastas, and the grilled fish and meats all operate at a level the casual framing does not prepare you for. The lemon pasta is a signature. The farm-fresh verdure plates rotate weekly and are reliably the sleeper order.
The Drinks
The cocktail list is playful in the best sense — Italian aperitivi worked into modern drinks without losing the thread, a serious negroni programme, Italian wines across the peninsula at prices that read as fair for the depth of the list. The Sunday brunch carafe service is locally famous.
Why It Excels for First Dates & Client Dinners
Casa Me clears the two highest bars on a first date at once: the room makes the evening feel like an event, and the food is good enough that your date will remember it rather than the room. For client entertaining, it is the Westport alternative to Gabriele's — lighter, more current, and signalling a different kind of taste. The menu rewards sharing, which takes the politics out of ordering, and Miglionico's kitchen has the discipline to honour the interior.