29 Newbury Street Restaurant

Went here for restaurant week now known as Dine out Boston 2014 and I must say food was really good! We ate on the patio which was nice but the seating arrangement is a little too close for comfort.

For an app I had Fried Calamari Salad, Mixed Greens, Avocado, Tomato with Lemon Vinaigrette and a side of Chipotle Aioli yummmm! Followed by Pan Seared Beef Tenderloin Filet, Garlic Mashed Potatoes Sautéed Spinach and Bleu Cheese Butter (though I had a real hard time making up my mind between the other restaurant week options but I choose meat since my dining experience at McCormick n schmicks the night prior..not so great). I'm not big on deserts but I tried the tiramisu; Flavor wise real good but I couldn't take the texture and had chocolate ice cream instead (lol still laughing about that but I was a better choice for me)

Overall food was packed with flavor and cooked real well the only downfall drinks were way too high $$$ they were like shots with ice with the exception of my apple martini made to perrrfection!!!

Looking forward to trying this place out for brunch

Upon our arrival in Boston, we checked into out hotel (Boston Park Plaza) and asked the concierge to point us in a direction for interesting sights and lunch. Newbury Street it is!

Located amongst "all" the high end designer shopping, this café is the first one we encountered with delightful outdoor seating on cute iron French style tables some of which held umbrellas, some were in the sun.

When we arrived the patio was quite full, so we were seated at a small bistro size 2 top partially in the sun, and really close to another table, so when a round 4 top with an umbrella opened up, we relocated (with hostess permission).

That move could explain why our drinks were sooooo slow to arrive, our server explained he thought we had left. (Really? Maybe eight feet away? OK).

For lunch I had a brie Panini ($15) that was quite good with chicken, brie, and some citrus mixed in. The accompanying fries where also quite good. Hubby had a lobster roll ($26) and it was good... but we definitely experienced better later on in our southern Maine coast adventures.

Service was fair to OK, not overly attentive as we ran out of iced tea and water once. It appeared to be that our one server was pretty much covering the entire patio for our late afternoon 2:30-ish lunch could be the explanation.

For charm appeal, and terrific setting, we'd definitely visit again. I wish they'd add more umbrellas for shade and maybe remove on table as things get quite crowded and tight.

The people watching is great, and the food wasn't bad so I'd call it A-OK.

It's restaurant week! It was a nice surprise when we decided to dine here. You could do a 2 course lunch for 15.12 or 3 course lunch for 20.12. U get to pick the 2 courses! So if u r not into salads and want dessert, u can do that. The salads were tasty. The bean salad had 5 good size grilled shrimps. The steak sandwich was cooked to perfection. Ribs were good too. The haddock was a little dry otherwise it was a good meal had by all. Worth a return visit. If u want to sit outside u might have a long wait. The inside was nice - just a little small.

The is a 2 and 1/2 star kind of place. Not quite "hey its Aok!" but better than "meh".

We have strolled up and down Newbury before usually heading to our regular spot but on a whim we decided to stop in. It looked fun and chic and they had tables outside open!.

The waiter was over the top efficient, friendly and great in confirming our choices with a smile.

The clams and mussels was delicious but very very spicy. I am not a spicy kind-of -guy so they should advertise when they turn up the heat! My son liked them a lot. My wife had the cod and it was great! Sadly, my veal was tough and overcooked. My son devoured the pork stir fry though he did note it had to much soy sauce.

Yes, it is expensive but it is Newbury and you pay to watch the world go by. Got to get into the groupon thing!

Would we go back - yes. Would we wait for a table - no.

I would recommend eating here if you are looking for a place with nice outdoor seating and solid food. I would give them a 3.5/5 overall.
They made a tasty strong cosmo. I had the mussels, pizza and apple pie and would recommend all three. The interior part of the restaurant is pretty shabby, so I would strongly advise you to stick to the patio.

My friend and I ate on the patio on a sunny afternoon.

When we were taken to a table, the chairs were arranged side-by-side, Parisian cafe style. Ugh, it's Newbury Street and all, but I don't think so. So we moved the table and rearranged the seats. Every time the sun came out, I coveted the umbrellas at tables nearby, but not at ours.

He had the fish tacos, and they looked pretty good. I tried a small piece of the tilapia and it tasted good.

I had the lobster roll, which came with fries and onion rings. Decidedly average.

Too bad we didn't have the time to go somewhere better.

I was scared to come here in the first place when a friend suggested it (and I'd done my yelp homework). Seriously, nothing went right that night. Out of the 5 diners, only 1 got what they wanted right.

For myself, I thought I'd play it safe and order a burger since you can't really fuck up a burger. Well, that's a lie. Apparently, even on snooty Newbury where they charge you up the rear for their culinary masterpieces, they can hear medium and turn out a hockey puck. Are you joking?!

I really hate that I wasted my time coming here and paid an exponentially large sum of money for a burger I could have paid $5 or less for. What I should have done was pay for a strong martini so it wouldn't hurt so bad.

Reason for visit:
We had just dropped off some items at Newbury Street Tailors and were looking for a place to have lunch nearby. Without ever hearing about it or reading a Yelp review, we walked into 29 Newbury.

Ambiance:
Contemporary, cramped. Coolish crowd though the people at the bar can come off a bit loud and obnoxious. It's like someone threw up Ed Hardy and True Religion all over the place.

Service:
After waiting much too long at the entrance, someone finally came by to greet and sit us. We then waited another 20 minute before anyone came by to take a drink order, or even say hello, let alone take our meal order.

Food:
I had the chili with cornbread while my boyfriend had the tomato bisque. Both were really well done. We also shared a plate of sweet potato fries (though they were more like chips) which were also good.


However, as good as the food is, I just think the prices are too steep for what you get. I understand it's pricier on Newbury , and I have no problem paying more for good service and food. Heck, we live in downtown so we're used to spending more while living in the city. But my bowl of chili and the tomato bisque were $12 each. Seriously, for a tiny bowl of tomato soup? The food is good, but not oh-my-frickin-goodness good.

Bottom line:
As much as I enjoyed the food, I would likely not return anytime soon simply due to the inattentive service and poor value.

My girlfriend and I ended up here on New Years Eve after scanning a bunch of menus and deciding that the offerings at 29 Newbury sounded like the best.

Unfortunately, neither of us thought to check Yelp beforehand.

If we had, there is a good chance that we wouldn't have been as surprised that the server was practically impossible to flag down throughout the night. He did try to take our order immediately when we took our seats, but when we asked for a few minutes to decide, he took that as a sign to disappear for 15 without ever coming back to check on us. Eventually I was able to stand up, locate him, and flag him down by waving my arms back in forth as if landing a plane. Not the best start.

I started off with the lobster bisque, while my girlfriend had the oysters. I don't particularly like oysters, she loves them. But the look on her face after trying the ones here made me wonder if she'd fallen out of love in a hurry. Not good. The lobster bisque was fine in a 'type you'd buy in a plastic cannister from Costco and then re-heat' sort of way, but it had no actual lobster pieces to speak of and was on the bland side.

Our main courses were an improvement, but still underwhelming. My bay scallops with lemon sauce and cream spinach could have been more accurately described as the world's largest portion of cream spinach with a few tiny scallops dotting the top, cherry-on-a-sundae style. It didn't taste bad, but I was still left feeling like I had been misled. Fortunately her steak was much better.

The chocolate lava cake for dessert was fine. It warrants no further mention.

All in all, I probably would have left far more satisfied (or at least without a bitter taste in my mouth) were it not for two things: 1) the outrageous price for the quality- this was not a meal that warranted the $ I paid for it. 2) the fact that the staff (as in, the on-duty staff) were all taking shots together at the bar when the majority of the tables in the place were being neglected. I get it- it's New Year's Eve and you probably drew a short straw by having to work. But do you really need to be drinking in full view of the patrons at 9:00pm?

Lame.

Faded. That is the best way to describe 29 Newbury. Used to be cool, used to be fun, used to be... no longer is.

Miss Jaquie O

No wonder this place wasn't packed for brunch on Mother's Day - it isn't worth any kind of wait.

We made reservations and came with a group of five to sit outside on the (admittedly pretty) patio. The service was decent, although it took quite some time for our entrees to arrive. My mom and I split the french toast (bland and dry, ugh) and the eggs benedict (fine, nothing special). Our iced coffee tasted watery, and my brother's drink came in a dirty cup that literally had dried rings of pulpy orange juice inside. He asked for another glass and they brought it out, one no questions asked, but still, that shouldn't be happening at a Newbury Street cafe like this one.

There are many, many better options in the immediate area. Cross this one off your list.