Lilly "AZN Gangsta" J.'s Profile

For Taiwanese, Shanghainese or Hunanese kids - this place is the closest to a taste of home you're gonna get, so thank GOD it's pretty good.

It's one of the few places I can actually order in Chinese and it doesn't feel weird! But I will say that it's not the Chinese-American food Americans like and are used to, so those unprepared might be disappointed that it's not the familiar food flavors they're used to - but hey, try this, learn, grow!

I love that they offer some rather weird and traditional things that would otherwise probably not sell (oyster pancakes come to mind) and that they actually do a great job with them. Personally, the dan dan noodles need better saucing but this is totally my default Chinese food place in Boston.

I used to come here for the soup dumplings, but only because I honestly couldn't find any other place for soup dumplings in the city, and I don't generally trust that anything in Chinatown will be any good.

The food is hit or miss, but you'd hope that some of the classics would be better. The soup dumplings lack substance and depth, the pork wraps are pretty ok though uninteresting and the lion's head meatballs are just flat and flabby. I've had better and I've made better.

I've basically gotten to the point where I generally avoid this place and head straight for Jo Jo Taipei.

Although I have a photo of me eating a cupcake at Sweet, it's more about it being a fun photo rather than a personal endorsement.

I typically judge a cupcake place on the most basic and standard flavors - chocolate cake and vanilla frosting or vice versa, but I also try and eat a number of cupcakes before passing final judgment on a place. I've had a number of their cutesy cakes and I haven't really found any of them to be up to par.

I find the ratio of icing to cupcake to be totally off and some of the cakes are too.. too. Too dry, too wet, too flavorless. I realize that I'm starting to sound like Goldilocks, but it's true. The only consistency in the cupcake cake is the inconsistency of it all. But, sadly, this isn't the worst part. The worst part for me is that the icing is just too sweet and has a slightly granular texture, as if I can taste the actual grains of sugar, which is really not ok.

Granted, I'm a cupcake freak. An idiot savant at cupcake tasting, if you will. I'm picky and I demand a lot from my cupcakes, but I feel like if you've only got three mouthfuls to please your diner. Since there's only two components to focus on, they should really be as close to perfection as possible.

Also: a mini-cupcake should NOT be 2 bucks. Fail.

If not for the cute backyard outdoor seating this place would be a fail.

Went for a late lunch on Memorial Day, just before they were to start their event for the day, a BBQ, and found that they had ... uh nothing in the kitchen or behind the bar? The bartender kept explaining that they had a massive party last night that kind of drank them dry, but really man, REALLY?

Chicken salad was unremarkable, as was the avant-garde art-project they called the BLT. The salads are so textbook, I might as well have gone to McDs.

But I'd totally go back. Why? Well, the have this chocolate-bacon martini thing I need to have before I die.

I love the concept of SDLT. I really do. The idea of a cafe-cum-bar and lounge in a convenient location for tired shoppers and people watching is awesome. It's connected to my favorite hotel chain of all time and it's the casual, less expensive half of one of Boston's old standards of fine dining. But the problem with this place is that everything is SO hit or miss. When it's a hit, it's a BIG hit. Great great great. But when it's a miss... no bueno.

I've been there when the food was awful but the service was great and everything was roses. I've been there when the service was awful and the food was awesome and it was... ok.

I love the idea of the rosemary fries, but find them a touch salty. The burger, for me, was pretty icky when I had it but when I tried my friend's a different time, it was great. The fish courses have been pretty solid in my book, and their bar snacks are tasty, interesting and fun. The olives are delicious (and I don't generally love olives) and the deconstructed s'more dessert was cute, clever and good.

Overall, it's a place I'm happy to visit fairly regularly because of it's prime location and overall not-bad-ness. If they upped the consistency, I'd be a big fan.

/sigh

I really wanted to LOVE this place, because I think Barry Maiden, the chef, is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. I love the menu and everything about how the restaurant came to be. I'd been anticipating going here for a long, long, LONG time. I was beyond crushed that the evening was... pretty bad.

Now, I will say it wasn't the food. The food was lovely and we were able to sample A LOT of the menu for free (more on that later).

We had the boiled peanuts (classic), pimento cheese (meh), beef tongue canape (solid, nothing special though), a crayfish bisque (pretty good), baked grits (yummy!) and Maine mussels for starters.

The mussels were resplendent. Transcendent. Many other positive words that end in -dent. They were the greatest thing I've ever put in my mouth. Fat, juicy mussels in a broth I would happily have for the rest of my life. If I, like the mussels, had to be cooked alive in a broth, this broth would make it totally ok.

On to the main course, we had the cornmeal catfish (hellz yes... what is IN that rice-ness?!) and French-style gnocchi (solid), with sides of cornmeal (bueno) and collard greens (par).

Keep in mind there was only three of us dining. So why did we get SO MUCH FOOD for a relatively small party? Because after we waited for over an hour for our table (which I had made reservations for and confirmed via phone the day before), one of the managers realized we were pretty furious.

When we arrived, they said the table would be another 10-15 minutes, and I happily waited and chatted with my friends, not saying another word for the next 30 minutes. At 8:30pm, I asked if we would be seated soon, to which the miserable hostess said, "Yeah, like...soon. Sorry." When a manager overheard, she apologized for the wait at which point the hostess said to us, "Well, I'm not buying you drinks." True story.

The manager (who was REALLY nice) ended up sending over peanuts, and at this point, we all had ordered drinks. We weren't assuming they would comp us for anything, but the peanuts were a nice surprise. Anyway, 8:45pm (45-minutes after my reservation), we decided to leave and asked for our bill. The manager apologized again and said, we'd have our table really soon and that the drinks were on her.

We were finally seated at 9pm and about 40% of our meal was the manager's effort to make up for the epic reservation fail.

The waitress, manager, food - fabulous. We harbor no resentment for them whatsoever. The hostess? Most miserable, mean, unpleasant and unprofessional person I've ever had the misfortune of encountering. While we were there, I saw her lie to two separate walk-ins (young, polite, 20-somethings on dates) that there were no tables available - there were some at the bar, if you were willing. She didn't mention it to these couples, but when two older, sophisticated looking men walked in, she said, "Oh, you know, let me see what I can do." Not ok.

I'm rating this at three stars because I liked the food and everyone else was really nice, so I'll definitely go back and recommend it to others - so long as that hostess isn't there anymore.

Went here after Shakespeare in the Park on Saturday... believe me after that bizzare performance, a drink was definitely in order! It's got a good vibe and that it was 80s night is always promising to me, but... oh how quickly those things unravel.

The service was fine (mostly) the waitress was nice, if a bit absentminded and not so great at mental math. She meant well, which in a lot of ways is just as important as actual execution. The drinks were a little watered down if you ask me... nothing tasted quite right, it was juuuuuuuuuust a little bit off (I feel legit saying this having been a bartender and not just a cheap booze-guzzling slut). All that being said, I'll totally go back, it's got a good vibe and a good drinks list with nice servers and managers. Nothing wrong with that!

(P.S. Mr. "I have the stupidist Amish chin-strap beard thing" DJ, I do have a comment for you. YOU SUCK. Man! How do you mess up 80s night? My iPod could do better on shuffle! And it's broken!)

I love karaoke bars something wrong. LOVE THEM. What I don't love is rude service, bitchy diners and singers, and, bad music/sound. You can't hear anyone singing! The mics are terrible, you have to stand at a very particular place in order to get heard and even then it's spotty at best.

Also: I feel like the singers here took themselves WAAAAY too seriously. Hey, guy? You're not George Michael and you're not going to get discovered in Japas 38 on a Saturday night.

I heard really great things about this place and I have to say it was pretty good. Spicy when it should be, great marinaded meats... I was vaguely impressed. But I'm only giving it three stars because I the service wasn't the best (maybe clear some dishes at some point, hello?) and not everything was good.

The meats were great, the noodles were good (and not too greasy which a LOT of places often do) and the stone bowl rice was solid. The casseroles and other seafood-y dishes were better than average, but nothing spectacular.

Meh.

Guacamole made at my table was neither fun or tasty and needed some adjusting by the various chefs at our table. Twenty dollar enchiladas feel fundamentally wrong to me - it's STREET food! It's like Jean Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market! Charging $20+ for what is low-brow street food everywhere else in the world is just messed up. I don't care if it's served by bored waiters on the UWS.

Meh.