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Category: Restaurants [Edit]
115 Stuart StNe Medical Center (Orange, Silver)
Boylston (Green, Silver)
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(review dated 2/09):
good place to hang for lunch, after-work happy hours (half price appetizers!), whatever. could get busy at meal times, but high bar tables (plenty) are open for self-seating.
love their north star brew, an amber beer that's light and crisp. they have a few good appetizers; entrees i'm not very familiar with as i don't often eat a full meal there. had a burger w/gorgonzola before, heavy but darn good. their homemade potato chips are to die for.
:)
Food is terrible. Because of the location i've given this place a couple shots and each time dissapointed. Never again.
The beer is good, but go to Jacob Wirth - a lot more fun, better food, and better beer
Maybe later I can upgrade the stars.
I was going out with a group of friends for my B-Day so I decided to meet up here since it was the only affordable place for us. The atmosphere is nice, and the waiters were very cool. I forget the beer I had but it was real good. I am planning on coming back to enjoy a game sometime soon.
Rock Bottom is a pretty innocuous establishment -- very middle of the road food and prices, inoffensive but nondescript atmosphere, ok service. I tried one of their beers, the Belgian style ale, and thought it tasted like a watery Blue Moon. I switched to red wine for my second round and had a nice glass of Cabernet from Oregon.
My friend and I shared the "fiery" shrimp appetizer and it wasn't very spicy -- the shrimp were lightly breaded and the sauce was similar to a sweet and sour sauce. The dish came with an unnecessary side of sweet mustard. Then I got a steak salad, which was good, but could have had more steak. My friend got mahi mahi tacos and cleaned his plate.
I'm in the area often enough that I might come back, but it's certainly not a place I'd make a point of visiting again. It's not (rock) bottom of the barrel as far as cuisine goes -- more like mid-barrel.
Typical pub food, nothing out of the ordinary.
The apps are much better than the meals for the most part.
The buffalo wings are always very good.
The beers are good and reasonably priced.
Nice selection of standard brew pub beers.
If you're a beer snob this place is probably not for you.
Sometimes I just do not want to pay $17 for a bottle of Chimay Grande Reserve. Sometimes I just want a good beer at a reasonable price.
Make sure you join the mug club and try the beer of the week.
For 3.75 you get the beer of the week and if you are in the mug club it is served in a larger 20oz mug.
If you find a beer you like you can pick up a growler for about $10.
Not bad considering the location and it is far better than Budweiser or the other cheap beers.
I have to follow the crowds on this one - not particularly nice food - I've had the baked chicken pot pie (no crust on the bottom, mind you!!!) and the chicken mac and cheese. It's as if they decided to use the same ingredients, mix and mash them together, and whatever they came up with was what was listed on their menu.
Some friends of mine like particular beers and such, so perhaps read others for comments regarding the selection.
Waiters can be hit or miss - mostly attentive, but sometimes, when things get busy, a bit on the neglectful side (i.e. they need more waiters).
Because of location, location, and location, they get a bigger crowd than I would expect from this caliber of food. Perhaps it's the tourists? Or perhaps it's the "lowest common denominator" type of mentality when a group of unlike-minded people go out for a dinner, and the food generally sates everyone.
I don't know why I love it there. Maybe the staff? Maybe the sports bar atmosphere. The food is... A LOT of food. It's not always the best, but some dishes are just so comforting. The steak salad, with blue cheese and balsamic glaze... OMG. I love it. The desserts, eh.
My boyfriend likes the steaks, ribs and burger. The location is great if you wanna hang out downtown. The price is reasonable. There is often a wait on weekends. And that's not fun outside, in the more than likely rain. They also have outside seating in the summer.
Anyway, go for the beers if anything.
This place is alright, at best. There really isn't anything spectacular on the menu for vegetarians which is kind of sad. The Beer Selection is good but its your usuals nothing mind blowing there either. Its good for groups and has a large bar area. I had the nachos and the beans were the bottom most layer ... seriously? So that was disappointing. My friend had the chicken pot pie and he didn't love it. The waiter was missing half the time but was nice and friendly when he was around. I used to be crazy about this place back in the day and then I remembered it was because I used to not be a vegetarian then, now I would recommend going somewhere else for food and just stopping here for a few beer samplers.
I would say that Rock Bottom is on-par with a place like Boston Beerworks. It has the whole sports bar vibe going on and the food isn't terrible, but it doesn't offer anything that is new or different or creative. They have the brewery feature going for them as well - however, I didn't think that any of their beers were entirely that special. They have their annual seasonals - and pumpkin beer is always high on my list, but I've had far better than what I've gotten here (and tasted far worse, so I suppose that's in their favor as well).
All that being said...would I go again? Sure! It's moderately priced, has some character and I like trying new beers. Rock Bottom just wouldn't be my first choice...
The Mug Club is a great way to collect free shwag, and they hand-craft some great beers. That being said, they don't do outside beers.
I went to college right around the block, and fell in love with Rock Bottom. My absolute recommendation: The Mac and Cheese! It's spicy and all hell, so the first time I tried it I was a little put off, but I became addicted. I also LOVE the parm cheese slivers on top.
Service is touch-and-go. Over on the bar side, you get far less attention, because I would think they will assume you are there to sit. I have sat there in an attempt to be able to relax, and then waited a good 10 minutes for a waitress to come over. Over on the dinner side, you can either get a great waiter/waitress or some disgruntled college kid who clearly has better things to do.
Having moved, I miss having a Rock Bottom nearby.
Is it the best place I've ever been? No way. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for the wait, I want a better beer selection, and I don't want to pay so much. Will I still go back? Indeed.
I ate lunch here the other day and am highly likely to return. It's a big place with one side that looks like a sports bar and the other like a business lunch spot - lots of booths, pretty roomy.
I had the salad with seared ahi tuna, and it was delicious. A choice more nutritious and interesting than your typical sports bar or brew pub, so I was quite happy. Service was quick and friendly, and the management team followed up to make sure that people were happy.
I'll update after I return for something else.
Solid three stars. The beers are great,but the food is sub-par. It's rarely ever packed, so chances are you'll get a seat. I've only ended up here when other places in the area have been too packed.
The food here is OK. Nothing special, the beers are pretty good, but not too much of a selection, i'd say it is a run of the mill place with prices not too unreasonable for the area
Not reviewing the food. Not because I didn't have it, but because their beer pissed me off so bad they don't deserve to have their food reviewed.
I went a while back (just getting to the review now) and we all ordered their homemade beer flights.
The beers all were crap. Absolutely crap.
Thinking back, it tasted like soap. And had I put two and two together I would have said something. But I didn't, I drank the soap beers. So that's my fault. But there was still soap in my beers.
Actually... I originally had this as one star. I'm gonna give it two. Because I at least know they wash their glasses.
We had tickets to the John Foggarty show at the Orpheum last night and decided to meet up at Rock Bottom to catch a few of the football games and have a bite to eat and some drinks before the show.
Rock Bottom is your typical pub, with decent pub food. All of us enjoyed the IPA on tap, which was very good. The downside is, if you are looking for a simple beer (bud light, coors light etc) they do not have those on tap.
We sat in the bar and stuck to appetizers. We started with the nachos and the titan toothpicks(tortillas stuffed with chicken, cheese, peppers and onions, then deep fried). The nachos were solid, and the titan toothpicks were pretty good (definitely needed the bbq sauce). We then shared an order of the ribs with double fries and buffalo wings. The ribs were good, but nothing to write home about.
Our server was friendly and attentive, and it was a great atmosphere to have a few drinks and appetizers before the show.
There is not a huge selection of beer but what there is is pretty good. I love to go there after a hard day and have some yummy home brewed beer, but I find there food to fall flat. There rueben was less than wonderous and the club was pretty dry. The ceaser salad was good, but lets hope we don't mess that up.
The sevice has ranged from awful to great depends on your waitress.
Make sure you ask about the beer of the week because its cheap and usually worth trying!
The food is ok, but for the quality of food it was a little pricey.
I came here after finding out that California Pizza Kitchen was closed next door and I promised my friend a meal before he left. I felt bad for taking him here for a few reasons.
First of all, service was slow and they weren't the happiest bunch.
Secondly, the food came out slow and it tasted like something we could get at a cheaper restaurant down the street.
But there are some good things about it. The restaurant is the only one around thats opened past 9pm in that area. I also can't blame them that much for the price because rent in that area must be pretty expensive.
Nice try Rock Bottom but not quite there yet
Rock Bottom I like you for a few reasons.
You're right by school. So after a professor has made me feel like a moron and I start to realize that grad was indeed a BAD life choice I can come to you and drink beer. Lots of beer.
You have veggie burgers and they are really, really tasty.
You are a chain and remind me of home.
I kinda don't like you for a couple reasons.
The service is okay, a bit on the slow side.
You're a bit pricey for what you actually are.
So yeah, I'll return, but when class starts back up.
the food tasted like cardboard. It arrived not hot anymore and nasty and we got diahorrea. The beer is terrible if you like craft brews. This place is a disaster, it is filthy. It is plagued with fruit flies and I even saw a cockroach running along. It is a sad fact that the Thai place nearby and Chinatown are way better alternatives.
This restaurant is in the heart of Boston's theater district. As such, you would think they would be good at turning tables over quickly, especially on a Sunday night just before showtime. Think again...
5:20pm: We arrived with a party of 7 (a mix of adults, teens and kids). 4 of us had tickets for a 7:30 show at the Colonial Theater around the corner, and the rest of us were going to try to hit a 7:10 movie in Cambridge. Plenty of time, right? The restaurant was a bit busy and they told us there would be a 15 - 20 minute wait. No problem. It was a pleasant summer evening and the kids weren't too hungry...yet.
5:50pm: After 30 minutes of waiting, we checked with the hostess and she told us there were FOUR parties ahead of us! Great...
6:05pm: We were finally seated after a 45 minute wait. I understand wait times are guesses, but how could they be off by a factor of 2 or 3? If we were given an accurate estimate, we would have gone somewhere else. A host sat us, gave us menus, and told us he would be right back with some children's menus. We never saw him again.
6:15pm: 10 minutes after being seated our waiter came over. We again asked for children's menus which he finally brought. We ordered drinks.
6:30pm: The drinks came 15 minutes later. At this point, we made two mistakes: (1) we should have told the waiter we were in a hurry (we still had an hour before the show , so I didn't think it was a big deal); and (2) we should have placed our food order right then. However, the waiter disappered as soon as he served us our drinks (I guess he had one drink for another table on his tray), so we didn't have a choice.
6:45: Another 15 minutes of waiting, then finally the waiter appeared and we were able to order. Then we waited... and waited... and waited... I guess we're not going to the movie...
7:10pm: The food finally arrived, 1 hour and 50 minutes after we first arrived at the restaurant. At this point, the four of us going to the Colonial Theater had to choke down their meals and zip out the door.
The food was OK. I had the macaroni and cheese which came with a salad. The macaroni was supposed to have grilled chicken, but it came without (I guess you could order it either way). It was tasty nontheless, and we were not charged for the chicken. The salad was pedestrian. The kids seemed to enjoy their grilled cheeses and hamburgers, but they were so starving they would have eaten anything.
One saving grace was the beer. I had a regular IPA which was quite good, and a cask-conditioned IPA which was fantastic. Too bad I had to wait so long for them (maybe thats why they tasted so good). The dessert list looked interesting. Too bad we had no time for dessert after our 2 hour dinner.
I don't blame the waiter too much. I think the restaurant was understaffed that night. But I thought we were in a recession and people are looking for work... why can't a busy restaurant hire enough wait staff at barely minimum wage? I didn't stiff the waiter, but on the other hand the service was so slow that we only had time to order about $70 worth of food and drink, so he kind of stiffed himself.
This is my staple going to dinner before a show location in theatre district of Boston. Unfortunately it gets three stars because it is just that, OKAY.
If you like beer, which I don't, I imagine you will rank it higher. They have beautiful tasting flights and a beer menu that made me dizzy with how many options there are. From my memory I think they even have a few specialty beers brewed for the location, and they seem to have seasonal one-of-a-kind choices.
The service here is friendly and usually pretty efficient as with most places near the busy theatre district. The service declines after shows, if you stop in for a late night bite or drink. But then again, it's usually pretty crowded by then Thurs-Sunday, so I can live with that.
The food is comfort food with just a touch of high school cafeteria. For example the mac and cheese is pretty good, but it doesn't have a nice crust or what seems to be more than Velveeta all up in it. I like a nice Dutch Fontina (Ivy, The Good Life) or even a little gruyere (Cambridge Common, etc.). It's also pretty runny and has bits of something in it, like when you eat potato soup... The chicken in it also doesn't taste fresh, or off the bone, it tastes like canned chicken, or heavily pulled chicken like in a burrito, really stringy.
They have awesome nachos that are quite filling. And they have nice, large portioned salads if you are watching your girlish figure.
It's also a great location for a large group as they can usually accommodate you before 7pm.
I still go here time after time, so in all honesty I find more good than bad.
Their diet coke is also usually put together nicely and they bring you lots of refills. MY FAVE!
Overall Rating: 3.5 stars (not the three pictured above).
Location: 5 stars. It's close to Park Street and Chinatown, making it a lovely midpoint between my workplace and a three-stop commute home down the red line.
Atmosphere: 2.5 stars. It's a fairly generic brewpub with lots of space.
Beer: 4 stars. They're all pretty solid. I like the dark beers and the IPAs.
Cocktail Observations: My friend Alett had the Godiva martini, to which she gave a thumbs up. I liked its pretty presentation (splashes of chocolate on the glass contrasted nicely with the light drink).
Food: 3 stars (average rating from one visit). I had the Bourbonzola burger (2 stars)--it was bland and dry, as were its accompanying fries. Alett had the mac and chicken with a side caesar salad. I tried some of the mac and chicken and give it 4 stars for its richness, creaminess, and flavor.
Service Observations: Our waiter was very pleasant but a bit clueless.
I won't lie, I'm kind of upset that the massive skyscraper across the street is buying Rock Bottom and (most likely) turning it into a ridiculous, unaffordable, douchey piece of garbage.
But I digress.
I did not make nearly as many memories here as I have at Sweetwater's across the way, but I still had some fun at Rock Bottom...I mean, it's a chain, so how can I really like it THAT much? But the bartenders were always friendly as well as the waitstaff, the tap was always flowing, and the food is pretty decent.
Cocktails are okay, best to just stick with their beers. Burgers are pretty tasty. Apps are even better, especially the mountainous sampler that literally comes on a platter with 3 tiers.
Ah, Rock Bottom. Always close enough to class and willing to seat a party of hungry and thirsty grad students. As an incoming foreigner who had no gov't-issued ID for 3 months except for a passport that I really didn't want to lug around, Rock Bottom was always a good choice for me because they don't card you at the door. (But if you order any alcohol at the table, you'll have to proffer that ID or else no booze for you.)
I like how this place has its own brewery, but that doesn't do anything to make it feel like a quaint mom-and-pop / entrepreneurial establishment. This place feels like just any other chain restaurant. It's clean enough and the service is usually quite friendly, and their bathrooms are spotless.
However, their food doesn't impress me. Their Titan Toothpicks are really calories and fat disguised as chicken rolled up in pita bread, then deep-fried. If you listen closely enough, you can hear a single vitamin sobbing softly to itself because it's all alone. The burger is decent but isn't memorable, and the onion soup is kinda "meh." (Is "meh" a real word? Can we use it now?)
Their Asiago cheese dip is very tasty.
My friends seem to like their home-brewed beer (you can even see the huge vats behind the bar), and their wine list is extensive enough to have an option you'll like.
All in all it's a decent place to go after class to grab a bite and a drink, but don't go out on a date here. The food will not impress. (Assuming that you judge how well a date went by how tasty the food was.)
Food is acceptable, so is the beer.
Standard bar - good beer, and good apps'.
Love the titan toothpicks and had some GREAT Asiago cheese app - very very tasty - highly recommend it!
They do a lot of great events in March with Firefighters and Burn Victims - CHECK IT OUT! GREAT CAUSE!
Oh, Rock Bottom.
I have this friend who only likes bland, homogeneous, American food. He decided that we should go to Rock Bottom, a generic American restaurant.
Long story short, our group ordered a lot of grub and beverages. I ordered chicken fajitas after a long deliberation. The food was alright but nothing to write home about.
All of my friends turned out alright but I got tragically, ridiculously sick. The rest of the night was spent with intense stomach pains and hoping I would make it through.
There is really nothing this restaurant offers that is worth the chance of getting sick again.
I will say right off that I really didn't enjoy my meal very much...probably my fault, ordering pasta at what is basically a red meat place (everyone with me loved their food too).
The prices are good, there's wi-fi (don't know if it's theirs, but my iPod Touch worked the whole time I was there!)...
But best of all is THE BEER. OMG their Okt is to die for. I loved it. I also tried the IPA, hoppily delicious. Even their light beer (I swigged my mom's) was tasty (for a light beer, anyway).
Happy me.
I suppose if you name your restaurant Rock Bottom, you have nowhere to go but up, right?
In order to drag this establishment from the depths of dining hell, I would advocate for some more attentive servers. I was a terrible waitress, so I generally don't give others a hard time about it, but this place really takes the cake for sucking.
The food is entirely unmemorable. I've been here at least 5 different times and couldn't tell you a single entree I've eaten. The beer however, is pretty good and they have a "Beer of the Week" selection which is discounted. The best part about Rock Bottom is the Mug Club, where you can get extras (plus a bigger mug) for drinking a lot.
Okay so I must say that I love places that brew their own beer. (I'm a fan, of that).
But the Miserable Cinderella of a bartender totally put a burden on the good mood me and my boyfriend were in. Constantly putting glasses into the dishwasher, then taking them out and stacking them somewhere at the bar. Therefore Cinderella was slow at taking our order and even slower to notice our beers were almost empty and ask us if we wanted another beer.
That greatest thing that happened here was I noticed my boyfriends glass was cracked from the top of the glass and beginning to spider about an inch down the side of the glass. I pointed it out to him which he's a "tough guy" and didn't care, but I told the bartender politely, FYI this glass is cracked. Very nicely said let me switch the glass for you. Well my thirsty boyfriend already drank a quarter of the beer and she came back with another FULL beer for him. *Props to the miserable Cinderella for the free refill*
Otherwise, clean place, didn't eat there but the appetizers looked yummy. I'm totally a beer snob but their seasonal Pumpkin Ale was sooooooooo good 4.7% alcohol (I can dig it) and of coarse I tried it with the cinnamon and sugar around the rim. Next time I'll go back and try the beer sampler,.. how sweet is that?!
Rock Bottom discriminates against immigrants with student visas.
When my girlfriend and I sat down for a drink, we were informed that anyone with a Canadian drivers license needed a passport to be served.
A passport?
Would you want to carry around something as valuable as a passport everywhere YOU wanted to get served?
Would you want to bring something so valuable around town, when you're rubbing up against pickpockets on the T and walking on Stuart St., at night, where you might run into a mugger?
Would you want to bring something so valuable to a place where you're trying to relax and have a few drinks?
Of course not. You might loose it!
No other bar in the entire city requires a passport. What a joke!
Nevermind that my girlfriend had a valid license and about ten other non-ID cards with her name on them. Nevermind that she had her school ID with her, which showed that she's a second year at a local law school (i.e., which showed that she was over 21 years old). Nevermind that they wouldn't have thought twice about serving someone with a Hawaiian or Alaskan ID, despite the fact that those states are much further away from Massachusetts and also have licenses much different than East Coast IDs. Nevermind that her ID had a valid holograph--which makes it harder to counterfeit than many US IDs. No, they demanded a passport.
Apparently, it makes more sense for them to deny international students service than to get a manual that allows them to check a Canadian drivers license...as if tourists from Quebec and Toronto weren't down here in Boston frequenting bars and shops. This is just a bad policy that discriminates against international consumers. It's ineffective and makes people go right next door for their beer and food.
When I asked about the policy, we were told that it was an insurance requirement. To push the point, I asked for the insurance papers. We were given a photocopy of the bar's ID manual--and the photocopy said nothing about requiring passports. (I've uploaded a scanned copy of the sheet we were given as a profile picture on my Yelp account. Title: "Insurance Policy"). So either they were explicitly lying to us to make us go away or they didn't actually have proof of the policy on hand (perhaps because the policy was MADE UP ON THE SPOT). In either case, giving us a bogus printout was strike number two.
Strike number three was how gross the kitchen looked when we were lead back there to be given a copy of the bogus printout. Yuck.
Anyway, we went right down the block and spent our money at California Pizza Kitchen. It was cleaner, the staff was far more accommodating, and neither my girlfriend nor I felt like second-class diners. So at least our night wasn't ruined. Thanks CPK!
If you want to send a message to Rock Bottom that Boston is an international city and that its restaurants and bars need to be prepared for an international customer base, go to any of the other fine establishments in the area instead of this one. I bet anything that Tantric and Legal Sea Foods are just as accommodating as California Pizza Kitchen was.
Rock Bottom brewery has a special place in my heart. Aside from being the first place my wife and I went on a date, it served as my favorite watering hole at a time in my life when I needed a place for good food and great beer.
This is a chain of restaurants and is about as good as it gets for a brew pub chain. I've eaten at their locations in Boston, Long Beach, CA, Irvine, CA, Seattle, WA Chicago, IL, Campbell, CA and Cincinnati, OH. Obviously they are doing something right! The one in Irvine had dancing on weekend nights, but I haven't seen that at any other of their locations.
The beer selections are excellent, and Rock Bottom hires brewers who make award-winning beer for a living. I had the pleasure of meeting one of their brewers at an event the bar hosted on a bus. They brought patrons on a bus to Angel Stadium for a baseball game and a keg was provided at the back of the bus. Talk about fun!
Their Rock Bottom Mug Club is a great way for beer lovers to get a little more from every visit. Each visit earns points toward pint glasses and other fun rewards. You need to sign up on their web site to start, and another nice perk is that Mug Club members get their beer served in a mug with a handle and logo that tells other patrons you're a member. Enough about the beer, on to the food.
The menu is chock-full of great food. It's not for weight watchers. My favorite dish is the Tuscan Chicken salad. It has pecans, gorgonzola, apple slices, marinated chicken and a yummy balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The Titan Toothpicks are a delicious appetizer (sort of like a flauta) of chicken wrapped in a fried flour tortilla with Bar-BQ sauce and salsa for dipping. Their macaroni and cheese is deliciously baked and uses large, curly noodles in a rich, cheesy sauce and lightly breaded on top. In short, everything I've tried on their menu is terrific.
Why four out of five stars instead of five? I'm a tough critic. Rock Bottom remains one of my favorite places for dinner, but it isn't the best I've ever had, and it's hard to give a nationwide chain of any size a full five stars regardless of how good it is. Still, it's hard to go wrong with this place. There is a large menu with something delicious for everyone.
Food is okay.
The location is so convenient, less than a five minute walk away from the theatre district and the Lowes Movie Theatre.
The prices are reasonable for downtown Boston and there is always a mix of tourists and professionals grabbing a beer and a bite.
The burgers are tasty. The servers are consistently friendly and fairly reliable. Our drinks were very watery. We had the margaritas, but it mostly tasted like sour mix and ice. So go somewhere else for good mixed drinks. The beer here is what they are known for....so I'd stick to that.
Also, last time I came here, we sat on the patio and the waiter threw wet, silverware right on the table, straight out of the dishwasher (hopefully).
Rock Bottom is a chain restaurant and bar. A long time ago I asked my TA on a date to Stephanie's on Newbury. Unfortunately, the Harvard Bridge was closed for a charity run, so she suggested we T it to Boston Common and go from there. After making a call to a friend for directions we ended up at Rock Bottom!
You can tell by now that the date ended horribly, since the place she picked was call Rock Bottom! But she did have a really good looking salad for lunch (and it was huge too). And you can see by my four stars I really enjoyed the Salmon Fish & Chips. It was the highlight of the date!
Since then I have returned a few times with friends and I always get the same thing. The dessert is really good too: (see my picture- Chocolate Raspberry Passion ) brownie, ice cream, hot fudge and raspberry.
Food is good, Portions are big, and the Prices won't break the bank.
It had been a long time since we had dined in the theater district in Boston. The last time I had done so I think Rock Bottom Brewery was a Horsefeathers or a Bennigans or some such chain. I much prefer the Rock Bottom chain.
The beer alone is enough to keep me coming back for more, but the food was perfectly fine, too -- a notch above standard chain restaurant offerings. And given the number of times I've eaten in chain restaurants over the last three years in my business travels, I've learned to appreciate the extra touches.
For the guacamole and chips, I had not read the menu item carefully, so it was a nice surprise to see some of their homemade kettle potato chips mixed in with the blue corn chips in the chip basket. The basket struck me as a little small at first, but in the end it was the perfect amount for the three of us.
There was one snafu with the beer order. Apparently they were having trouble at the bar with the IPA tap, so it took a good 15 minutes or so for a couple of those to arrive. Once they arrived, though, all was forgiven. The beer was very good.
I ordered the half rack of ribs with the stout-based sauce -- and a stout to go with it, of course. I also asked for a Caesar salad in lieu of fries. I received both. This will seem odd, but I was disappointed with the bounty. I had no intention of eating the fries, and had purposefully substituted so I would not be tempted to overeat. C'est la vie. I kept my will power in gear.
My wife had the chicken Caesar salad, while our friend ordered the steak tips. All was well with both.
After dinner we wandered across the street to the Wilbur Theatre for the Grace Potter and the Nocturnals show. More on that on my blog:
http://www.spolay.com/...
Bottom line: Minor service issues aside, we enjoyed good food, very good beer, and a perfect locale to kick off a night on the town in Boston.
(n.) sl. 1. the absolute lowest possible point one can reach, literally or figuratively; 2. where my experience at this cookie-cutter brewhouse drove my desire to return.
Oh look we're a brewery? Bostonians love beer and we make it!!! Your final product is mediocre at best. I've sweat tastier than the Light Lager and reserved myself to two Ambers. Mainlyl because the sweet accented the only positive thing about this experience: foooooood.
Only tried a piece of the Ballpark Pretzels, but they lived up. Not hard to satisfy with a staple of deliciousness accompanied by a Velveeta-salsa dip. Good spice, satisfying overall. Nachos were chunky with toppings, but basically cheeseless. Dubya-tee-eff mate. Salsa was aiight. Highlight were the chicken quesadillas. Unique in a covers all your tastebuds without overpowering way. Well, except sour. Sour took the night off.
The service was among the worst I've ever experienced. Repeatedly forgot/mixed up drink orders and never brought the setting stuff (I found a basket of napkins, asked another guy for silver.) He'd disappear for lengths at a time and carried a Whatever on his face whenever he spoke. I'm not a complainer (except on here) but even if I wanted to, it got to such a ridiculously comedic point, a gripe to mgmt would have robbed the group of conversation material.
Sure, the Mug Club concept has a draw but you're better off filling your completion fix by drinking every beer at Bukowski's.
Two stars: Decent food, drinking buddies swear it was never this bad before.
I'd rather HIT Rock Bottom, than eat here again.
I went to a farewell lunch (for myself :( ) with some work buddies, and when we walked in, the place stunk. It was like a Yeast infection for the sinus. I know they brew beer in there, but they need to crack a window.
Anywhootz. We got there at noon as a group of 7 people. It was pretty empty inside/ pre-lunch rush. It took FOREVER to get served. The food came out at 12:55. Other tables were already eating. I made at least 5 Hell's Kitchen comments, and wanted to go to D'Angelo's while I was waiting.
The french fries tasted like bacon grease, and they were served at room temperature. The sandwich had gross lettuce in it ( I'd rather eat tainted spinach, plz.), and I got the smallest pickle of the group... JERKS!
The menu is totally Applebee's slept with T.G.I. Fridays, and then Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse tried to get sloppy seconds. They try to incorporate alcohol in traditional dishes that sound like a SOUR outcome. "Stout Soup"?! GO TO HELL, CHEF!
Maybz I'd go here to drink, but if you're hungry, go to another restaurant.
I had a pretty mixed experience here. The service was pretty slow, because it appeared that there was only one waiter assigned to the whole bar area. When we did finally get our order, we got the nachos and some beers, all of which was delicious.
However, the next morning I had the worst tummy ache of my life. This wasn't a hangover, this was a full-on "oh my god, I had better draw up my will because I'm going to die" kind of tummy ache. In fact, let's call it a tummy apocalypse.
I later learned that my friend had also been stricken with a tummy ache. Which leads me to believe that you shouldn't have the nachos here. Consider yourself warned.
I did not appreciate the taste--like a farm-- of the meat in the burger or the temp or the time it was cooked. I was apathetic and did not send it back. They were nice enough folks working there. I think the fries were good enough and the beer as well, to merit a re-try some day.
Yes it is a chain. And yes, you have plenty of options in Boston that are not chains. However, that does not mean that it can't be good. Your next visit should go something like this:
1. Get off the T at Boylston, and head down Boylston towards the Theater District. Round the corner at the 7-11 to the right onto Stuart Street and you are there. (Note: you will have to walk past some of the scariest homeless people in Boston... for some reason, the junkies congregate at this corner...must be for the tickets to Wicked or something).
2. Inside Rock Bottom, ask for dining room seating and ask for a booth.
3. Join the "Mug Club" (free to join). When you present your card each visit, you earn points... and the best part, when you order a beer it comes in a Rock Bottom Signature Mug (they cannot legally say this so I will: you GET MORE BEER IN THE GLASS FOR THE SAME PRICE AS A PINT). You also earn points towards free mugs, hats, etc. At a certain point (perhaps the same time you start attending the AA meetings) you get your name on a plaque stuck on the side of a keg. (I think you need to drink about 1,000 beers for that). Oh yeah, and they send you coupons for free appetizers and desserts for your birthday...
4. For the appetizer, order either the Ball Park Pretzels or the Asiago Cheese Dip with Beer Bread (or something like that). Both are awesome.
5. For dinner, I get the MAC and Chicken. Comes with a salad, and it is an awesome take on Mac and Cheese (slightly spicy, but not too much). Unless you are 350 pounds of fun, you might want to share an entree with someone, as they are quite large (read: good deal for what you pay).
6. All of their beers are quite good. They have an in house Irish Brewmaster, who sometimes comes out to talk to you during the special "Mug Club" member events (where you get free beer!)
All in all, it's a good chain restaurant in Boston that is worth a visit, or three. Just be careful around show times as it gets pretty busy.
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