Lea C.'s Profile

Holy Jesus, THIS is the spot!

After a day of gallery-hopping in SoWa, the bf and I stopped in here for a late lunch on Saturday after we'd seen all the great reviews.  Best. Decision. 2010.  

We ordered 2 small pizzas: 1 margherita, 1 sausage and mushroom.  They were both easily the best pizza I have ever had in my entire life.  Period.  The sauce was thick and perfect: mostly large chunks of tomato with a super-clean finish.  The mozzarella was chewy and stringy.  The house-made sausage was delicious and crumbled, not sliced, just the way I like it.  The crust was fantastic.  It was light, crispy on the bottom but chewy, bubbly and scorched around the crust, and was perfectly seasoned.  Seriously, it was a revelation.

The small was just the right size for one if you're really hungry or to split if you're not.  We also had the grape sorbet which was all I wanted it to be.  Light, sweet, creamy, and a big serving for one scoop.

We thought the prices were a pretty good deal.  That margherita was around $11, so as a personal pizza that's a great price.  The service was also excellent, and the vibe was like a modern neighborhood joint.  Even though I don't live in the South End, I felt like this was a place to come and hang out down the street---very welcoming and homey.  My only criticism is that the pizza is served on a pan that is in no way flat and therefore spins on the table if you're a fork and knife person (which I am).

I am concerned that this pizza has ruined all other pizza for me from this day forward.  It will be the benchmark from which all other pizza will be judged.  Run, don't walk, to Picco.

I have to agree with some other Yelpers who have said this is their new fav pizza place.  I loved this place.

My bf and I were on a mission to try a new pizza place, and after struggling to find one reasonably close to my apt (what with the Cleveland Circle pizza wars and all), we settled on this place because of the good reviews.  We were not disappointed.

While this place has enough space for a small dinner service, the inside does look like a dive.  They clearly planned to be more of a takeaway business.  We were eating in, and we were the only people doing so.  My bf had a meatball sub and we ordered a large margherita pizza.  The bf said his sandwich was "orgasmic" and we both loved the pizza.  It's not as thin as traditional NY pizza is, but the crust, the sauce, and the quality of the cheese are each amazing on their own.  We also shared a small chocolate gelato, which was similarly delicious---dense, smooth, intensely chocolate, all the things it should be.

Dave, the owner, talked to us, too.  He was a really nice guy.  My only other complaint is the lack of real plates, but I am in the minority of people who eat pizza with a knife and fork, so paper plates were a disaster for me.  Also, with drinks our meal was like $30 and I wouldn't call that cheap for what we got.  However, it was great and we will be ordering delivery soon enough.

If you're in Coolidge Corner, skip The Upper Crust and come here.

I have grown too old for clubbing and way too old for straight clubbing, so every time I have come here it's been on a gay Saturday with my girlfriends or whoever happens to be in town visiting (because this seems to be on the Tour de Boston rotation).

The bouncers are nice and I have rarely had to pay cover.  The drinks are overpriced, but that's not surprising.  I wish the DJ would play a little less techno and a little more Top 40s.  The go-go boys are gorgeous.  The place is big and there's plenty of room to dance, sit and talk, or run off to a corner to get to know someone.  The people watching is fabulous.

4/5 times we have a really fun time, dance our asses off, and make some really hilarious friends for the night.

Word of warning straight ladies: the straight guys have figured it out and are infiltrating The Roxy in full force.  And these straight guys are are either super-aggressive or trick you into thinking they're gay (which is of course the assumption) so that you let your guard down at which point they may attempt something that could probably be termed sexual assault of some sort.  So, if you're dancing with some guy and you don't wanna be molested, check for an erection and make your decision.  On the other hand, you could probably get laid there if you were so inclined.  I've definitely had friends who had to punch a guy to themselves and/or throw drinks and call for security.

Regardless, this is the place I keep coming back to for a good time.  I'd recommend it on Saturday night.  If I were you, I'd call the cab company ahead of time or you'll be waiting for an hour to catch one home.  And pregame.  Although they give you automatic double shots (god bless Boston), they're still $10.

My bf and I had dinner here a few weeks ago on a week night, so it wasn't very busy.

We loved the decor.  We were seated at a 2-person table along the wall.  The table was really too small to fit more than two plates on, and the spacing of all those tables was so tight we were lucky no one was sitting behind us as neither of us would have been able to move.  It was also super dark, which is always kinda annoying.  There are candles on the tiny table, which is a problem when they bring you a bread basket with paper in it---since the table is so small, the paper sat over the candle when the waitress set it down, and (you guessed it) was quickly aflame.  Luckily, we blew it out with ease.  But still, a little scary.  The bread was delicious, and that helped.

We both had a pint can of Strongbow (which turned out to be way too much for both of us) instead of their fun cocktails because we were kinda in a beer & burger sorta mood.  We started with the dates and the Caesar salad.  The dates you've seen a million other places and were large and served as lollipops, which was a smart touch.  The Caesar was good but spicy in a way we couldn't quite determine.  

We both had the burger platter.  In fairness, I'm a burger snob, so I have reasonably high expectations (Wolfgang Puck is the only person I've seen get it really right yet).  The burger was absolutely huge, which is endlessly annoying to me because I never see the point of making a burger I can't fit into my mouth.  The bun was good-quality, but significantly larger than the burger.  Plus, there were no condiments.  So, in order to eat this burger I had to wait for them to bring me: ketchup, mustard, mayo, and onion (which seemed surprising to the waitress) while I dissected away at least 40% of the bun so that it would fit the burger.  By the time I was done, my burger was almost cold and I predictably finished only about 80% of it.  It was okay, but nothing to write home about.  And it was $14.  The fries were delicious, though.

I think we'll go back, but to have cocktails and nibble.  I'd probably avoid the burger.  The vibe was nice and it's a good addition to Coolidge Corner.

GodDAMN I heart this place!

This place is always showing the only movies I want to see.  It's a bit cheaper than the big chain theatres and the location couldn't be better (though parking can be a bitch).  Whenever a movie is showing elsewhere, I always prefer to see it here instead.  But, I prefer indie movies and indie theatres as a rule, so I'm pretty biased.

Yes, the theatres are old and sometimes really small, but that doesn't bother me in the least.  I even like their popcorn!  Many people talk of bringing in their own stuff---given that there's so much in Coolidge Corner, it's definitely doable.  My bf and I are thinking of getting a membership if the numbers are right.

It's definitely one of my fav places in the Boston metro.  You should go!

A friend from out-of-town was visiting me NYE weekend and she wanted to go dancing during the blizzard, so we picked this place from the decent reviews.  

Since there was a blizzard, the place was fairly dead, maybe 50-75 people max.  Since the room is small, it was a good amount---enough that you had room to dance and didn't have to push people out of the way.  The bartender was flirty, which was nice and luckily not skeezy.  The free coat-check is also a plus.  The $15 cover charge is kinda ridiculous, but you sign up for that going out in a real city.  The DJ was awesome if you like the 90s-dance-party mix, which I happen to love.  

The space was pretty and modern.  It was more loungey than anything else and we like that sorta vibe.  The people-watching was super-amazing.  Drunk girl dancing by herself, standing on couches and humping around the room?  Can't beat it.

You know, I have only been here one time at night when it turns into a club of sorts.  It was after midnight, and I was on a date and meeting people there (who had awesomely left).  I had to beg the bouncer to let us in (since they "weren't letting anyone else in" despite the long line outside), and once inside it was wall-to-wall people, primarily douchebags.  We stayed for 5 minutes.  And I would never come back for this sort of thing.

However, as a bar and grill I like it enough.  The food is consistently good and the portions are huge, so bring a few friends.  The service kinda sucks, and if you're drinking liquor the mixed drinks here are not your friend given that they contain very little alcohol.  The beer/beer alternative prices are decent though, and they have trivia nights which is really the draw for me.  

If you're coming here for food I can recommend the chili nachos, the steak tips, and the fajitas.  Yummy enough that I have craved them at times and that counts for something.

My bf and I went here for lunch on Saturday as I was craving a bagel and this place was close and got good reviews.

The warnings about the lines were accurate.  It was around noon and the line was to the door (at about 1 the place was pretty dead though).  The ordering is super-rushed and it's loud, so I feel like I would have ordered something different if given more time.  Between the two of us we got 4 bagels to try, potato salad, an iced coffee, and a milk.  One of the bagels I got was a sandwich with just veggie cream cheese and bacon.  The bacon was that pre-packed, fully-cooked bacon and thus was pretty disappointing.  But everything else was good.  

What I like about this place in particular is that they don't go overboard with the cream cheese.  I can't tell you how many times I've had to scrape off a good couple tablespoons of cream cheese overkill on a bagel.  The bagels themselves were good, but nothing spectacular.  The potato salad was unlike any I've had before and was the bomb.  And the large milk I ordered had to be 20 oz for $1.90 which is a pretty good deal.  All that cost about $15 which isn't too bad, but isn't great either.  I wished they would have been more serious with the toasting---maybe next time I'll ask for a double toast.  The cream cheese flavors we tried (veggie and garlic & herb) were good.  Also, they have recycling and wifi, which I greatly appreciate.

The music was good and the hipster watching was epic.  There were even hipster fights with the staff.  Awesome.

If I want a quick bagel or, more importantly, potato salad, I'd definitely return.

Listen, I have been a Mac loyalist since the purchase of my first Powerbook and iPod right before going to law school.  Since then, I have spent at least $15k with that company and rarely regretted it.  But this store has singularly caused me to start to rethink my love for the brand.  Why?  The "customer service" reps employed here.

I have universal bad luck with electronics. And I'm kinda tech stupid.  So, in the past 5 years I have used Apple Tech Support more times than you can imagine.  For awhile they were on speed-dial.  I went to law school in a rural area, so back then if I had computer problems, I'd talk through them on the phone and then Apple would send me a DHL overnight box, I'd ship the laptop out to Cali, and I'd have it back good as new within a week.  It was an inconvenience for sure, but I rarely had a problem with the guy on the phone or with the ultimate workmanship.  When I moved to Boston, I was happy to have my pick of Genius Bars in the metroplex if I had a problem.  Except that actually using this one is going to make me call Apple corporate to complain.

Apple customer service is generally one of the things I love about the brand---they are generous, helpful, and don't make me feel like an idiot---except at this store.  I've been here for several issues common to every Mac laptop I have ever owned: battery problems, power adapter defects, and case design flaws.  The reps here are (largely, and mentioned by several reviewers here) incompetent, condescending, rude little car salesmen who try to do everything in their power to convince me that I have: a) voided my warranty; b) a problem they've never "heard of or seen before" (despite the fact that Googling it finds it's a widespread problem or currently the subject of class-action litigation); c) no tech problems to fix; or d) a problem that is cosmetic or is in some arbitrary way not covered under the extended warranty plan I paid for to insure that the inevitable breakdown of my product would be covered.  And they are fond of telling me completely fabricated nonsense to my face, like they "don't receive parts shipments on weekends" (they do).  Unfortunately for them, I'm not stupid and certainly not going to play that shit.  Once, I came in to exchange a defective third-party product purchased for me as a present, and the rep made me take the product out of its packaging and prove to him on the spot that it was defective.  I have never seen anything like that in my entire life---it was an exchange for heaven's sake!

Apple corporate will be getting a call from me soon enough.  Next time, I'll just have them send me an overnight box and skip having to deal with those people again.  My advice to you: if you go to the Genius Bar, under no circumstances let them convince you that your problem is caused by "water damage" or "accidental damage" unless you dropped your product in the bathtub (and admitted it) or threw it down a flight of stairs (I watched my rep ask 3 different people if the product had been "exposed to liquids" off the bat, which is a clear set-up to void the warranty.  Never in all my time with Apple has anyone ever asked me that question.  It was dirty and an example of "corporate" not "customer" focused service).  Mac products are not especially durable, and chances are if you have a problem, Googling it will find that thousands of others have, too.  Especially if you have Apple Care.  Ask to speak to the manager, and keep speaking to as many people as you can until they fix the problem competently and for free.  If they value your business, they'll do the right thing.

No one is trying to scam Apple.  We all just want the level of service we paid for and deserve.  You won't get it here.

In fairness, I have yet to venture to Chinatown for serious Chinese, so when I say it's the best I've had in Boston that means the best place with delivery in my area.  But it is indeed the best I've had since I moved to Boston.

I had a bad craving, and after a failed attempt at some other delivery place earlier in the week I tried this place after the stellar Yelp reviews.  I am very happy about that decision.

We got a sampling of a few things: the sweet and sour ribs, the pork dumplings, the cheese buns, spring rolls, the lettuce wraps, and the Paradise Mountain Chicken.  The ribs were super delicious as were the dumplings.  The spring rolls were just okay and I generally like my lettuce wraps a bit vinegary, so it could've been a bit better for me.  The cheese buns were interesting, though I don't know if I'd order them again.  I was disappointed by the Paradise Mountain Chicken, as it was just kind of a spicy, dry fried chicken---that's fine, but I was under the impression there'd be some sort of sauce so it was a bummer.

For all that food, it was like $39.  And I can't wait to order again.