Pioneering Italians were not only the first to put tomatoes in cuisine, they were also the first people to take photographs of themselves pretending to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Delight in their inventiveness with today's Groupon: for $25, you get $50 worth of gourmet Italian fare at Pagano’s Uva Restaurant & Wine Bar in Bradley Beach.

The Pagano family opened Pagano’s Uva Restaurant & Wine Bar in 2009 with 20 years of restaurant experience already accumulated, crafting a dinner menu brimming with seafood, meats, pastas, and pizzas. An appetizer of the mussels tuscany ($11.95) sets the stage for a hearty noodle spread, such as the pecorino-topped lasagna ($14.95) or the lobster ravioli rosa, which features a gang of ocean-born delights roughing up spinach leaves within ravioli enswathements tossed in a vodka-tomato cream sauce ($21.95). Meaty entrees include the chicken marsala ($19.95), the pork-chop scarpiello ($21.95), and the grilled-to-order veal chop arugula, a slab of succulence crowned with roasted shallots and potatoes with an arugula salad tossed in a lemon-thyme dressing ($30.95). Guests can quell hankerings for spherical eats or attempt to summon elusive teenaged turtles by ordering a gourmet pie, such as a plain mozzarella pizza ($10.95), a goat-cheese-speckled pesto pizza ($12.95), or a vegan pizza ($12.95). Bolster banquets with a lively libation from the extensive wine list, which boasts bottles ($18+) from California, Italy, and other grape friendly locales.

Pagano’s Uva Restaurant cultivates a convivial atmosphere, sporting a large wooden bar, vintage advertisements, live music on weekends, and café-style sidewalk dining when the weather permits. Although they helm a relaxed eatery, Pagano's Uva Restaurant takes customer dining experiences very seriously, a devotion that surfaces in long, white tablecloths, attractive meal presentation, and lack of impersonal android waiters.