Rebecca S.'s Profile

When I perused the small but varied menu at Mario's last night I was torn:  I was hungry, and veal parmesan was calling to me ... but the voice of experience cautioned against ordering a dish that, if not done right, is a punishment rather than a treat.  My hunger prevailed, and I ordered the special veal parmesan with spinach dish - the decision made a bit easier by my friend's promise to share some of his "veal ursula" (with eggplant, which I love!).  I was very happy with the dish:  the veal tender, perfectly breaded and prepared with a light touch.  

Ursula herself was sitting at the table next to us in the small, family-oriented dining room.  A larger group was merrily eating through many shared dishes and bottles of wine.  Our group of four enjoyed the grilled sausage with pepper - done to perfection, the veal dishes, and chicken with artichoke hearts and mushrooms.  The only - very minor - complaint was that our salads (very fresh) were over-dressed.  They were generous with their bread.  The meal was tremendously satisfying - we were too full to consider dessert, but I'll bet they're good.

So the food was easily among the best Italian I've had since moving to Boston from New York (North End ... meh).  Mario's red sauce is simply delicious - I was scraping the last bits from the container when I reheated my leftovers for lunch today.  Four stars for the food, easily.  The extra star is for Ursula, her sister (who waited on us) and the other lovely lady who casually chatted with us periodically without ever being intrusive.  We really felt welcomed (and got some good tips on other places to try!).

The next time I'm hankering for veal parmesan (which might be soon!) I know where I'll go!

I had quite a good meal at Mead Hall recently, I really liked the roasted lamb entree, and the delightfully fresh asparagus soup.  My companion thoroughly enjoyed his burger & fries, although he was disappointed that they'd run out of fried pork rinds.  

But two things will keep Mead Hall off my list of East Cambridge go-to's:  price and the utter lack of vegetarian options.  I might not be one myself but I have a lot of vegetarian friends.  Had one of them been with us that night they could have chosen between a salad and a cheese plate.  My asparagus soup almost certainly had a chicken stock base, and was garnished with small strips of ham.

So, for vegetarians and the budget-conscious:  Mead Hall is probably not a good choice for you.  On the other hand, if you're in the Kendall Square area and would like a nice meal in the $30 range, Mead Hall is almost certainly the best option immediately to hand.  If you're thinking about grabbing dinner before or after a movie at the Kendall Square Cinema, and haven't made a reservation at Hungry Mother, Mead Hall will probably be able to seat you since their dining room is much, much bigger.  They locally source their meats & produce, they have an enormous selection of beers, and the service we had that evening was warm & friendly.  

If they'd throw a bone to the many vegetarians out there and come up with something for them, they'd get another star from me.

PS:  Somewhat oddly, as far as we could tell they don't serve mead.  Which was fine by me because I think mead tastes like a musty old basement, but my companion was disappointed.

We were in the mood for sushi, and Yelp led us to Avana -- thanks, everyone!

This is an actual hole in the wall, with four seats at a humble little sushi bar staffed by very friendly, skilled folks who make some tasty sushi.  

Don't go expecting a sophisticated ambiance:  you'll be sitting under bright florescent lighting and eating off paper plates.  But you'll also be eating well -- we got a spicy caterpillar roll that was very good, and an interesting spicy eel coconut maki roll.  Good salmon sushi.  Very tasty avocado salad and seaweed salad.  We also enjoyed the complimentary "naruto roll" (crab and mango wrapped in thinly sliced cucumber, topped with spicy mayo and roe).  They also served us miso soup with chunks of crab meat.

The only thing that I wasn't so keen on was the pickled ginger -- it's served chopped into very small pieces.

Great food, great people, great prices!

After dinner last night with six friends, I'm torn about The Gallows.  I'll address the good things first:  the food!  The menu has lots of interesting options, and everything we ordered was well-prepared.  I had the Seoul burger; the meat was tender and very tasty, nice fries.  A few of my friends ordered cocktails and were very pleased with their drinks.

So for food:  four stars, maybe even 4.5.

But then there was the service.  I'd booked a table for 7 people at 6:30 (early by weekend dinner standards).  The Gallows called me to confirm the reservation on Saturday afternoon -- and I did confirm.  In the course of that phone call I was advised that they would only hold the table for 15 minutes past the reservation time, so we should be sure to arrive on time.  Hey, thanks for interrupting my afternoon to hector me about arriving on time -- I can't wait to visit your restaurant!  

By 6:35 more than half of our party was assembled by the hostess stand, while the rest were finding parking.  The restaurant was perhaps half full -- no one was waiting for a table at the time.  Nonetheless, we were made to stand around until *everyone* was there.  The table had been set and was waiting for us but the well-coiffed hostesses smiled and condescendingly explained that they "couldn't" seat us until *everyone* was there.  But they wondered if we'd like to take seats at the bar and order drinks while we waited.  We declined.  If they wanted us to stand awkwardly at the entrance of the restaurant, so be it.

So a bit of friendly advice to the management at The Gallows:  I understand having a strict policy about taking reservations and confirming them, but if you've troubled someone by interrupting their day with a presumptuous phone call, and they've shown up at the appointed time but for one or two people, and the place isn't even packed ... it's perhaps not advisable to act as though seating them at their reserved table is some great privilege that they haven't yet earned because a couple of strays are outside parking their cars.  It was obvious that we weren't going to camp out at a table bigger than our party's size warranted.  Attitude is really not going to earn you much goodwill.  

My advice to Yelpers: The Gallows has good food, I'd stop in if I happened to be in the area and was hungry.  But I wouldn't go there with a group.  Not worth the hassle and attitude.  The food is good but it's not *that* good.

Bondir is a gem.  Tucked in a small building on a quiet stretch of Broadway, Bondir's charming atmosphere and warm staff welcomed us the moment we stepped inside.  The interior's style is quaint without being cloying or clichéd.  Bondir is a small restaurant, but the tables don't feel cramped, and there's a small seating area in the front where you can sip a glass of wine while waiting for a table (if you didn't book in advance; reservations advisable).

The food was superb.  The menu changes frequently, focusing on fresh, local ingredients, so what we ate may not be on offer in future visits -- their website lists the day's menu.  Here's what we had:  first we shared a delicious appetizer of roasted beet and greens with a delicate buttermilk dressing, and also mangalitsa prosciutto served with baby artichokes.  We then shared half-portions of duck breast, and roasted lamb.  We finished with a delicate chocolate panna cotta, and some very nice coffee.

Perfect evening, excellent meal.

Hot pot restaurants are an iffy proposition in my experience, but I don't think you'll be disappointed at The Q.  First there's the broth:  the Q's spicy broth passed muster, with a tastier and more complex flavor than the salty dishwater that often is served as "broth" in some hot-pot places.  And it was spicy!

Next, the meat and veggies:  also good at The Q.  We had thinly sliced chicken, and pork (if I remember correctly).  Note that the standard vegetable serving includes enoki mushrooms, so only order them ala carte if you *really* like enoki mushrooms!

To be honest I was tired the night we went to The Q, and was much more interested in the conversation than the food, so my ability to recount details of the meal is limited.  The restaurant is clean and bright, the service was friendly and efficient. A good bet for hot pot.

After coming here several times and always being very pleased with the food, our experience here tonight seals the five star deal for Thelonious Monkfish.  After an exasperating hour and a half wait at another restaurant for food that never arrived, we retreated to Thelonious Monkfish, which happened to be across the street and, we knew, would serve us food that we liked.  The main dinner rush was dwindling when we arrived at 9:25 p.m., and the owner greeted us.  We exclaimed that we were starving and briefly told him about our horrible experience at the newly opened place across the street.

His response was to give us a free appetizer, rush order.  We chose the curry fries because they're vegetarian and sounded good.  They were de-li-cious!  The wait staff were attentive and on top of things.  My friend and I split the special bacon pad thai (yummmmm!).  Another friend got some excellent sushi, and our vegetarian friend got veggie drunken noodles.

We were all tremendously satisfied and grateful.  Thelonious Monkfish is the best!!

My friend C:  "I'm starting to get really grumpy."
My friend D:  "Here, do you want a meatball?"

8:50 p.m. The above exchange happened 10 minutes ago, after one of the appetizers we'd ordered 45 minutes earlier was delivered to the table (beef ball kebabs, pretty tasty despite being served lukewarm).  I'm drafting this review using the Yelp mobile app.

8:55 p.m. Our second shared appetizer (tiger tear salad) arrived. It was delicious.

9:00 p.m. Still sitting here waiting for our entrees. Been waiting for an hour. I'm getting grumpy too. Maybe I'll ask for a beer. That shouldn't take too long - I'll get a can of Sapporo... If I can spot our waiter. Who's very busy, in this not fully packed restaurant. Not sure what he's busy doing, but he does a great job avoiding us. He has intimated that the apps will be comped.

9:05 p.m. Oh how nice, the girls at the table next to us shared their tasty spring rolls with us. They'd known how long we'd been waiting and had insisted to their waitress (who seemed to have more pull in the kitchen than our guy) that they weren't going to order if their food was going to take as long as ours was taking. Wanna bet their entrees - ordered at least 40 minutes after ours - arrive first?

9:13 p.m. Guess whose food just arrived? Not ours!

9:16 p.m. Our waiter came by, seemingly startled to learn that our neighbors' food arrived before ours. I told him some free drinks were in order. He said he'd ask.

9:19 p.m.  Waiter's back, apologizing but no free drinks.  HOWEVER, the owner has graciously offered to discount the appetizers by 50%.  Ha, really?  We ask to speak to the owner.

9:22 p.m.  We leave, after speaking with the owner and explaining that we'd waited over an hour for food that never arrived.  She apologized, and hesitated.  I said, "this meal is a wash.  The appetizers and sodas we've consumed should be comped."  She agreed, and apologized again as we left to go to Thelonious Monkfish across the street.

Inexcusable, and it hardly matters that this occurred one week into their "soft opening."  Apparently they won't have their full menu and kitchen staff up and running for another couple of weeks -- I think they opened before they even had the basics down.  They were missing several things on their menu, and they had virtually no vegetarian options -- our friend who doesn't do meat was going to have to make do with a plate of sauteed vegetables (no sauce, no tofu .. just veggies and rice).   Well, that's what she would have had to eat, had we ever received our orders.

They urgently need to get their act together.  The kitchen is not able to keep up, management is not on top of things.  Our waiter, bearded and decidedly vague, confessed that he was ineffectual in motivating the kitchen staff to serve up his orders.

Hey, the tiger tear salad was very good.  Maybe in another month or two they'll have their act together.  I won't be back anytime soon, though.

I've now had two memorable evenings at Temazcal Tequila Cantina.  The first was the Yelp Elite preview party (reviewed elsewhere), and the second was last night.  My companion and I spent a few hours chatting and eating at the bar, and the food largely lived up to the expectations I had based on my first visit.  Last night we dined on cabrito (roasted goat marinated in molasses and grapefruit, wrapped in banana leaves) and filete relleno de salpicon (cod stuffed with shrimp and crab).  And of course the house guacamole.  All were fresh, well prepared, and flavorful.  I'm not sure I'd get the cabrito again, because the marinade complemented rather than disguised the flavor of the goat ... and I think that perhaps I prefer goat when its gaminess is disguised.

We tried the sangria, and the "primo" margarita -- both were very good.  The bartenders were friendly and largely on top of things.  I was in superb company (which I suppose TCC can't take credit for) and the atmosphere contributed to the overall pleasantness of the evening -- unobtrusive music, soft lighting.  We felt free to linger over our food (the room was busy but not packed).

It was a cold, damp evening so the patio wasn't open.  I most certainly will go back on a warm summer evening to see what it's like outside!

A bunch of us went to Blackstrap last weekend to celebrate a meat-loving friend's birthday and we were all very pleased with our food.  Several folks got ribs, which they reported were delicious.  Another friend and I got the pulled pork sandwich, which comes with a choice of two sides.  You can add the sauce of your choice (they had several to choose from and all looked good -- I went with my fav pulled pork condiment, Carolina-style vinegar bbq sauce).  I got the Asian slaw and the cold sweet potato salad as sides -- both were very good, as was the bbq bean side that my friend got.

Blackstrap has seating for about 15 people max, so our group of 8 people was pushing it since there was already a smaller group of people occupying two tables when we arrived.  Also note, they don't serve alcohol.  But the staff are super warm and friendly, and the food is terrific.  Worth a trip to Winthrop!