[dscans]

Hello,
My wife and I have lived in SW Virginia for the last 2 years (I had previously lived in Western Massachusetts, her in NW Pennsylvania) and we are planning on moving north to be closer to family. We like the Danbury, CT area. It seems to be relatively affordable and has more jobs in my career. (My wife is a elementary teacher and a certified reading specialist, so she will have an easier time finding a job than me.)
Anyway, we are driving to Maine for vacation this week and we want to stop in Danbury for lunch. I was wondering if anyone could recommend some good places to eat, keeping in mind that I'm a vegetarian, and what places to visit to get a good sense of the city.
Also, I was originally detered by the average home price of $300,000, but after searching for homes online, it appears there are a lot of townhouses in the 200-225k range. Are these houses in the "bad" areas or are some of them legit?

[jdhall1]

I like Rosy's Tommorows. Get off Exit 2 and go east on Route 6 and it is going to be your left. Also Windmill Diner is good, and it is about 2 miles down the road from Rosy's on the right hand side.

There are a good amount of townhomes between $200,000 and $225,000. A quick search on the MLS shows 28 matches. As a realtor, I can not say what areas are 'good or bad', just drive by the areas and you can decide if you will be happy there or not.

[jeremeyk482]

There is a new restaurant off of Exit 8, Houlihans. It has a variety of menu items and the food is great. It's across the street from the Holiday Inn and behind the Wachovia Bank.

If I were to choose my favorite restaurant in Danbury, I'd say Jim Barbaries on 47 Padanaram Road. They have excellent lunch specials.

Danbury doesn't really have 'bad' areas. The only seedy sections of town will be Spring Street and Beaver Street and some areas around Liberty Street. These aren't dangerous areas, just less than desirable. Anywhere else, you should be fine.

Enjoy your lunch.

[jdhall1]

Originally Posted by jeremeyk482

There is a new restaurant off of Exit 8, Houlihans. It has a variety of menu items and the food is great. It's across the street from the Holiday Inn and behind the Wachovia Bank.

If I were to choose my favorite restaurant in Danbury, I'd say Jim Barbaries on 47 Padanaram Road. They have excellent lunch specials.

I have heard that about Houlians is good, but I have not been there. I have been to Barabies, but it has gotten expensive lately.

[dscans]

Thanks to everyone who responded. After much debate, my wife and I decided to just drive downtown and walk around until we saw something we liked. We liked the downtown on Main st., very walkable and had a lot of character. We ended up at a place called Nico's, which was excellent. We asked the waitress what she thought of Danbury and her response was not what I expected.
She said it was very overcrowed which really came into play with the schools. I think she mentioned that she moved there from the south, so I am wondering if she is just a country girl who is overwhelmed.
She also said she believes it is not a good place to raise a family and there is a lot of crime. This seems to be very contradictory to what I have read. Can anyone confirm or deny this (obviously not a realtor)?
She mentioned New Milford would be nice. However, I liked Danbury because it was a reasonable commute to Stamford, Norwalk and possibly even New Haven in case I got a job in one of those places. If I lived in New Haven, would I only be able to commute to Danbury?
Also, Danbury offered starter homes/condos in the 200k-225k range. Are there any other communites nearby that feature homes in this range?
Feel free to only answer to one of my many ramblings.

[dscans]

I'm sorry, I don't mean New Haven, I mean New Milford for a commute.

[jeremeyk482]

Originally Posted by dscans

Thanks to everyone who responded. After much debate, my wife and I decided to just drive downtown and walk around until we saw something we liked. We liked the downtown on Main st., very walkable and had a lot of character. We ended up at a place called Nico's, which was excellent. We asked the waitress what she thought of Danbury and her response was not what I expected.
She said it was very overcrowed which really came into play with the schools. I think she mentioned that she moved there from the south, so I am wondering if she is just a country girl who is overwhelmed.
She also said she believes it is not a good place to raise a family and there is a lot of crime. This seems to be very contradictory to what I have read. Can anyone confirm or deny this (obviously not a realtor)?
She mentioned New Milford would be nice. However, I liked Danbury because it was a reasonable commute to Stamford, Norwalk and possibly even New Haven in case I got a job in one of those places. If I lived in New Haven, would I only be able to commute to Danbury?
Also, Danbury offered starter homes/condos in the 200k-225k range. Are there any other communites nearby that feature homes in this range?
Feel free to only answer to one of my many ramblings.

Danbury isn't a bad city...it does have a large amount of illegal immigrants mostly concentrated downtown and not the outlying areas. I wouldn't call Danbury a dangerous city. In fact, in recent years, the Danbury area was rated as one of the safest areas in the nation.

I agree with your assessment that she's probably overwhelmed with living a busier, faster lifestyle.

The only other community I can think of that would have home prices comparable to Danbury would be Bethel. It's about the same distance to Norwalk, and probably quicker during the rush hour due to your access to Route 53 - a more windy, country road with much less traffic.

Driving from New Milford to Norwalk daily would be awful. A friend of mine made that commute daily and it took him over 90 minutes to get to work on some days. This may be better in the coming months as Route 7 is being widened in both New Milford and Ridgefield/Danbury.

[jumper]

Nicos has terrific food. I'm going to concur with other postings.I believe that if you are even the smallest bit hesitant about Danbury, you ought to have a look in Bethel on your way back.

[NestorRomero]

I know you don't want to hear it from a Realtor . I am one. BUT... I am also a Home owner and resident of Danbury.
I am including some conclusions after reviewing some data published by CNN Money.

Danbury is a great place to live and it also offers a variety of properties for different types of tenants: From entry-level professionals to some middle management of local companies (GE, Pitney Bows, Stew Leonard’s), to Western Connecticut State University students and professors, to Medicine Students, Doctors and Nurses from the Danbury Hospital, to young families building their path to home ownership, to low income - state supported families, to commuters from Waterbury, and even Norwalk looking for either more space or a better quality of life. (I am including a table below to support my comment on “quality of life”, however, you will agree that each town/city has zip codes that differ so much from the rest that sometimes just the average statistic is not enough, however, these numbers can give you a better picture of the average of each town).
As you will see, more Danbury residents commute over 45 mins. compared to those living in Stamford, Norwalk or Bridgeport, but the median commuting time is lower for Danbury residents.

Danbury also offers the lowest Personal Crime Property Crime indexes, and showed the highest job growth between 2000 and 2005 than the one offered by the 4 towns compared. And on top of all those numbers, knowing that home prices in Danbury are around 10% lower than in Stamford and Norwalk makes of Danbury a great option for you to live or invest.

Source: CNNMoney.com - MONEY Magazine: Best places to live 2006: Compare tool, PL0973000,&view=d

[JayCT]

In western Connecticut, many people starting out buy homes in the larger less expensive cities and then as their fortunes improve, move up to a nicer home in a more desireable community. Danbury would be a good place to start. It has a LOT of very nice areas and I would not be concerned with what the waitress said. Each person is different. Jay