Madigan’s Café and Wine Bar, propelled by an overwhelming surge of votes and a batch of often humorous and some off-color comments by online fans, is the favorite place for a romantic dinner in Barrington.

The County Road restaurant hurtled past Tong-D Fine Thai Cuisine and then withstood a challenge from Chiazza Trattoria & Bar lovers on Thursday in a Patch poll that ran on the website during Valentine’s week and ended Friday morning, Feb. 17. It seems that fun was had by all, especially the Madigan's and Chiazza fans.

The poll asked readers to pick the spot they favored most for romance and good food in Barrington. More than 11,000 votes were cast from, seemingly, all over the world. Madigan’s ended up with 80 percent of the votes; Chiazza finished with 17 percent.

Tong-D actually led in the voting much of the week. At one time, it had about 60 percent of the votes cast.

But then late Thursday afternoon, the votes for Madigan’s Café started pouring in to leave Tong-D and every other restaurant on the ballot far behind until fans of Chiazza made their presence known. The surge for Madigan’s was fueled by a Facebook comment asking people to get on the restaurant’s bandwagon.

Voters did, with scores of readers leaving comments. It was all in good fun, of course, as many voters really got into the very first “Best of Barrington” poll.

Robyn Rowles, the owner of Madigan’s Café, had this to say about her restaurant causing such a stir online.

“We had a great time with it,” Rowles said. “It surely shows the power of social media. We had such a good response. I am very appreciative of our great fans.”

Review Madigan's yourself on the Patch Places page. Then check back Monday for next week's poll, the best auto repair shop.