“Years ago, a family would dine out once a year,” said Tina Shannon, who was at Sabatino’s for a birthday celebration. A restaurant back then, she said, was a special place. A family’s favored restaurant was expected to be unchanged since the previous year. The menu wasn’t much different than a family’s daily fare — steak, chops, chicken, and, in Sabatino’s case, Italian dishes — plus maybe something a little different. “Shrimp de jonghe, baked Alaska, Bananas Foster flamed at the table,” someone at the bar suggested when the subject came up there.