The sound of trays clinking and the excited chatter of sports fans fill the air as various sports announcers announce final scores. The restaurant is filled with celebratory cheers and exasperated murmurs, all stemming from whichever teams won and lost for the night.
From chicken wings to hamburgers, the Blind Rhino restaurant opens its third location in Connecticut, this time in Milford.
On the official The Blind Rhino website, the business states that it has won over 37 awards in the past for various buffalo wing festivals in Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey, as well as having catered for three Super Bowls. The Blind Rhino offers a lot to the Milford community.
English teacher and Jets fan, Mrs. Shannon Worcester-Juran, has yet to visit the Blind Rhino but expresses excitement at the new Milford location.
Worcester-Juran states, “I am looking forward to having a new location to try out!”
The first location of the chain opened in Norwalk, Connecticut, under Dohme and his friends Matt Bacco and Jaime Pantalla back in October 2015.
Bacco tells media outlet The Hour, “We each had our vision of what we wanted to accomplish. The three of us had talked about working together, and it turned out we were on the same page.”
On America’s Best Restaurants Roadshow, a YouTube Channel where its host travels across the U.S. to try different restaurants, a segment on the Blind Rhino was done in 2021. Dohme discusses what motivated him to start his business in the first place.
He states, “You get to some point where you just kind of want to do it for yourself, with your friends and good partners.”
The chain would go on to establish a second location in Bridgeport in 2019 its third installment in Milford just recently.
The establishment also does charity events, staying with their sports theme through charity Golf Tournaments. Over the years, The Rhino Cup has raised $25,000 in three years to help those at Help Our Military Heroes.
Since 2009, The Blind Rhino has been helping veterans and their families get access to wheelchair accessible and modified vehicles, though 2025 is their last year of doing so, and in 2026, they will partner with a new local organization to help those in need.
Dohme, Bacco, and Pantanella are all dedicated to creating quality food, along with giving back to the Connecticut community as their business continues to expand. The recent opening has created the opportunity for families and friends to dine out.
