Ah, a weeknight!
What about Burlington? We went there when Diane and dys were here; can't recall the name of the restaurant but it was rather nice. I work in Burlington and George, I believe, also works pretty close by.
For Bostonians, it's about 30 minutes' drive when outside of rush hour. During rush hour, though, expect it to hit closer to an hour. T-based folks can go to Alewife, maybe get a cab from there? Plus there are these 2 possible buses:
1) From Alewife, takes you to Burlington Mall Road Park, bus #350/351:
http://www.mbta.com/traveling_t/schedules_buses_findbus.asp?routenumber=350/351
2) Burlington Express, looks like it's Haymarket to North Burlington bus #352:
http://www.mbta.com/traveling_t/schedules_buses_findbus.asp?routenumber=352
Burlington is, according to Yahoo maps, 20 minutes South of Lowell.