Andrew "Unforgivable" E.'s Profile

Upon reading their listing in the Somerville Scout, I figured I might want to check this place out.  I first tried to go to this place on a Saturday night around 7:00 pm and was greeted with a long wait, so I tried again two weeks later on a Saturday but around 5:45 pm.  This time I was able to get in with no wait or trouble at all.

I started my meal with the "Crispy Pig Ears" which I found to have a flaky batter, similar to that of calamari.  It was seasoned very nicely with the familiar pork/bacon flavor, and if you can imagine eating cartilage then you'd have a good idea of what eating this was like.

For the main course though, my fiancee ordered the Margherita Pizza.  It was good, but wasn't particularly memorable.  If you like a slightly chewier crust with that brick over flavor then you might enjoy this pizza.

I however opted to go for the Braised Lamb (a Saturday special), which I have to say was excellent.  Extremely soft and full of flavor on top of polenta with juicy cherry tomatoes and shallots.  I really enjoyed this, and would suggest this to anyone in the mood for a filling meal.

The service was perfectly fine for me, I thought our waitress did an excellent job of serving us.  An enjoyable experience!

I had gone to eat at Dante's last Saturday because the fiancee and I had some sweet vouchers where you pay $30 and get like $60 worth of food.  Looking back, thats probably the only way I'd actually go to this place again.

It's not like this place was "bad" but it just wasn't really "fantastic."  It was just "good", and usually when throwing down a few extra bucks for a meal you want it to be "fantastic" and not just "good."

Now the place looks great, even if it was in a hotel.  The low lights looking over Boston skyline would for sure land you some action later on even if the food is meh.  The service was good, no complaints on that front.

I order some sea urchin-crab garlic pasta to start my meal because I figured my chances of having sea urchin in the near future was around 0%, so what the heck.  I don't really know how to describe sea urchin, but they are like little creamy booger things, which might not sound appetizing, but they went well with the dish.

I then ordered the veal with mozzarella, which was a little disappointing.  I'm not the biggest veal eater in the world, and it just seemed like a rather unflavored dish when compared to my fiancee's gnocchi, which I thought was fantastic from the few bites I had.

And of course what meal wouldn't be complete without dessert.  I had some apple pie crisp thing that was actually pretty good, probably the best part of the meal.

I might go again to try another meal in the summer, because I think it opens up outside and the atmosphere alone could carry a mediocre meal.  But for right now, I'll stick to some cheap places closer to home.

I arrived in the lovely commercialized Niagara Falls, Ontario after a nice 9 hour voyage from Boston, in hopes of celebrating the New Year in a different location.  We arrived around 10ish and realizing that the hotel restaurant had already stopped serving food, we ventured out to find a meal.

Given our hunger, we set our eyes to the largest brightest place we could see (Fallsview Casino) and figured it would have a place to eat.  Naturally we were correct, and we entered "The Famous" restaurant in the casino.

The place was scattered with a few worn down gamblers mixed with young guys and gals searching for a late night meal.  After searching the B-List celebrities who have apparently dined at this fine establishment, we were seated towards the back of the sprawling barren restaurant.

We sat down and gazed over the menu and quickly spotted the cheap and easy cheeseburgers and were ready to order.  Our waiter eventually stumbled over, apologizing for tending to us so late and saying that he was on the phone and asked us if we wanted to know what he was talking about, a statement he quickly retracted.  He took our order, and I actually said "I hope this meal is going to be enough."  What was I getting into...

This is about when we started to realize the shit-show that was about to happen.  First the food - our burgers came out rather quickly, which was fantastic because we were starving.  But upon looking at our meal, I started to questioned my humanity.  Here I am, an out of towner, not knowing any other restaurants in the area as I stared down at my plate - a pale gray circular disc mixed with shiny, soggy looking gold sticks.  Hamburger and fries.

This was absolutely the worst meal I have ever eaten.  If I wasn't starving and had other options, I would have never eaten it.  The meal was flavorless and it came out later in the toilet.

But the real kicker of our whole visit to "The Famous" was the guy sitting across from us in the booth puking everywhere.  The staff rushed him out quicker than Robert Pattinson at a Twilight convention at a mall.  Hey stuff like that happens. but the girl who was serving him behind the counter ran away and our waiter went over to console her, WHILE THE PUKE WAS STILL ON THE GROUND.  It somehow managed to stay there for a good 10 minutes before someone cleaned it up.  At first our waiter offered to comp our meal.  Fantastic, it was the worst meal anyway.  Then he took back his statement (a common theme for this guy) and said we could have some bottled drinks if we wanted.

This was the worst dinning experience in my life.  My only regret is that I tipped the guy.  I should have gone to IHOP...

All the odds say that this should be my favorite place to eat - right down the street from me & great food.  As it turns out it might be one of my newest favorite places, but I feel like an idiot because I've lived in Somerville for almost two years and I just went here for the first time last week.  If you happened to be reading this and in a similar situation, let me put it to you bluntly: go here and get a freaking sandwich.  Explore the place and buy some pasta.  Get your meats here for your sandwiches you bring to work.  It's a small place, but if there was some way to measure it, the QOA (Quality of Awesomeness) per square foot is off the radar.

Some people get excited about their first born, buying a new HD TV, or getting out of a city for a weekend.  I, on the other hand, get excited about new fast food places opening within 20 minutes of where I live because, well, I'm fat.  So when I heard about Sonic opening up in Peabody, I had to A. Find where it is, and B. Go there.

I made my trek early, around 11:00, to get there for 11:30, wait in line for 30 minutes, and eat my meal at noon.  Some people plan vacations, I plan meal times.  As I crept closer to the window, music blasting, excitement and hamburgers filling the air, I realized I have absolutely no clue what Sonic's main menu items are.  I saw a menu around the corner so I felt relieved that I could wait and analyze the menu for the perfect decision.  But they also had the sprinklers on, which I'm only aware of because after I moved around the corner where the first menu was, I was promptly sprayed and had to close my window.  This was in combination with a woman in black standing in front of my car waving frantically for me to pull ahead as 15 cars vied for a sacred position in the Sonic parking lot.

I finally get to the menu, the Mecca as proclaimed by friends who had traveled to far distant lands to find a Sonic.  Stories of food, shakes, tots filled my mind as I ordered.  "I'll take a Super Sonic Cheeseburger," I proclaimed.  "WHAT!?!" yelled the voice in the box.  I had to move up, which for some reason the drive thru window was actually slightly confusing.  I got some tots, a Chili wrap contraption, and a chicken sandwich.  I paid my fare, and then tore into the bag like a badger on steroids (or rabies).  The cheeseburger was huge, the chili wrap was sloppy, the fries were soggy...

...ladies and gentlemen, it was fast food.

So this is the newest incarnation of the new frozen yogurt trend emerging throughout the Boston area.  Everyone is bat-shit crazy for Fro-Yo, and while most of these treats taste great, this place falls short in quality and atmostphere.

First, we walk into a spacoius white looking room with bad techno-ish music blaring over the speakers.  For a second I thought I took a bad batch of ectascy and woke up in the emergency room.  To confirm that thought, I look over to my left where the TV has a man with his head on the hood of a car and blue flashing lights.  I think its a music video, but no, it's just the show Cops.  Chill.

Next we walk into the actually confusing line where we have to order at the cashier in the back corner of the room with four employees staring at me like they are ready to gouge my eyes out.  I quickly and nervously order the Boston Chiller, which is a concoction of Ginger Ale and Vanilla Ice Cream. . Sounds good, actually tasted good, but realized very shortly after that I had paid $5.50 for Ginger Ale and Vanilla Ice Cream.  Yes, $5.50.  Chill.

But what really got me was what my friend ordered, something with raspberries which they meticously counted out.  Look, I know times are rough in this economy, but here you are counting to make sure you have exactly six raspberries on a frozen yogurt when you have four people standing around doing absolutely nothing, and then over charge people for frozen yogurt.  Chill.

The best part of this place is not the food, or the atmosphere, but the colorful bathroom.  It was the only part of the place that looked like it had a soul.  And for that, I give it two stars.

This is a fantastic place to go for breakfast.  The very simple reason is the food is excellent - fluffy pancakes, tasty and stuffed omelets, and the seafood eggs benedicts are really something special.  Even for those who are picky will find something they enjoy on the menu.

Being someone still fairly new to the area, I had no clue about the restaurant war between Soundbites and Ball Square.  I simply saw two lines out the door, stood in the middle and was greeted by Mike from Ball Square Cafe as my group and I were trying to make a decision.  Mike is extremely friendly and personable, and because of this small gesture (and the food), I am now a regular at Ball Square.

Bartley's Burgers is one of those places that you have to go to if you are new in the area, but there is no rule on having to actually enjoy the burgers.  Yes they are big, but this is a case of bigger not being better.  Just too much, can't really get more than 1 or 2 topping on the burger, which is disappointing.  I'll give credit where credit is due - the milk shakes, fries, and onion rings are delicious.  An easy meal if you want something to fill you up.

I've been going to Minervas since I was in a stroller, and there is something that still drives me to this place when I'm in the area.  My favorite has to be the meatball sub, but the pizza's, steak bombs, and caesar salads are all great finds for a good lunch or early dinner.  While you can sit and eat in there, my suggestions is to grab your meal and head to Fort Phoenix right down the street.  This is one of the better pizza sub shops in the area, and I will not only continue to go here for the food, but the people behind the counters are always accommodating and helpful in making selections.

As a well-known, highly recognized dessert restaurant, Finale disappointed me.  My guests and I ordered three desserts - red velvet cake, gingerbread whoopie pie, and the gigantic chocolate and vanilla cupcake.  The red velvet cake was the only one that I enjoyed, while the gingerbread and cupcake where disappointing.  All three were basically frozen, making it nearly impossible to even cut or take a bite, and I think that contributed to not being able to really taste the desserts.  I will not be going here again, which is unfortunate because it's a good concept for a restaurant.