Ari H.'s Profile

Can't I give zero stars?

I don't know where to begin.

I ate here with some friends last night and it was among the worst restaurant experience of our collective 120+ years!

We arrived at Apollo around 2:30 a.m. after other Chinatown places were mobbed. We were hungry and were happy the place sat us after 10 minutes.

The waiter came over. We wanted spicy shrimp, so asked for something like Kung Pao shrimp. The waiter got IN OUR FACE that Apollo served Korean, not Chinese. Yeah, we knew that, but did they have any spicy shrimp dishes? They had soups with shrimp and spicy sauce but couldn't do a non-soup dish? Whatever.

We ordered scallion pancakes, steamed dumplings, crab rangoon, and seafood teriyaki.

That's when it got annoying. See, we were hungry. We had been drinking and needed food. The food arrived...dig this..MORE THAN 45 MINUTES LATER! Other parties came in, ate, and left; and we had nothing! What the?

You don't want to know how many times we asked for our food from the waiter and the manager. The waiter said something about a computer problem but fact is he forgot our order, or didn't type it in, or who knows. We should have left but were hungry and everything else had lines.

By the time the food came, the scallion pancakes were not crispy. They looked like soft pancakes with onion. Eww.  The dumplings and crab rangoon were fine.

And our seafood teriyaki? The waiter forgot to re-ring it, finally brought the dish...but he MISTOOK SEAFOOD FOR BEEF. I ordered the dish by number, saying A14. He heard A13. Back and forth, took the beef back and the kitchen started making the seafood teriyaki... and another 20 minutes go by.

About TWO HOURS AFTER entering the place, and telling the kitchen to stop the teriyaki dish, we want to leave. We can't. We have a bill for $32. That was after taking the teriyaki dish off the bill. Why should we pay for food that arrived OVER AN HOUR LATE due to waiter forgetfulness and then bringing out the wrong teriyaki dish? Back and forth with the manager, yelling match ensues, we refuse to pay the bill but they won't let us out without paying.

Did I mention the large-framed bouncer at the door? What restaurants have bouncers? For the drunks, obviously. We couldn't leave... so I finally bit the bullet and paid the bill that any reputable restaurant manager would have immediately comped.

Pathetic. Disappointing. Worthy of zero stars!

Considering there are already 61 reviews as I write this--and THIS being for an event, not a physical place--I'll be brief.

If you weren't there, you missed out on a great occasion to taste food and drink from some of metro Boston's finest (and others beyond the borders of New England) and be entertained during a night in the museum.

Echoing others, I enjoyed the watermelon habanero margarita shots from Masa, along with their cheesy spicy empanadas. Henrietta's Table offered a delicious chocolate mousse, not to mention the first time I've tried gazpacho; it did not disappoint. I remember drinking sake, a ginger mojito, a Maker's Mark mint julep, and a glass or two of Svedka vodka mixed with Honest Abe's cranberry lemonade. Did I mention the watermelon rita? I had two or three of those.

Being in the Harvard Museum of Natural History, I kept waiting for the stuffed animals to come to life and fight us modern animals for the Tantric chicken.

If 121 reviews (when I add another) is not indicative of the popularity of a chocolate bar, then you tell me a better metric. Maybe more reviews?

I can't comment on the food, the table service, or the DJing. The drinks were pricey, at $13 or so for martinis and other gourmet drinks. The cocotini was delicious, as was the "cucumber drink," some vodka- or rum-spiked concoction that included soaked cucumbers.

I visited the bar (or maybe it's a restaurant, I suppose?) on a Thursday night and, suffice to say, it was a good thing there was a large group of women in my group.

See, it's a chick bar. I only needed to glance down a long row of square tables to observe about 20 women and no men. If you like women, it's a great place to people-watch and flirt.

Like the first yelper wrote, this is a typical sup shop that prides itself on fried seafood dinners, various salads, and a more Italian "feel" due to the name. But it's within a strip mall, got the idea?

I recently visited with a friend, we both ordered salads, specifically said we were eating "here," not "to go," yet our salads arrived at the table, hand-delivered by the cashier, in plastic to-go containers. Do they not serve salads on paper plates?

Props to the place for a recycling bin for bottles.

Megan wrote all that's needed to be said about the food and ambience of The Store at Five Corners.

She failed to include this is the oldest continuously-operated store in the country, first established in 1770. Quoting from its menu, "The building has operated as a tavern, a stop on the Pony Express, and a tea room. Records show that George Washington even slept here."

As you can see, this is not your average deli, gift shop, and convenience store. Might be worth a visit the next time you're passing through?

Tonight was my first time venturing into the bar (I think a bar fits the bill nicely; restaurant doesn't exactly cover a place with a long wooden bar) with a group of about 10 people.

We ordered a variety of dinner items -- chicken wings, potstickers, burgers, sandwiches of this and that; and everyone enjoyed their meals. I had a Patty Melt: hamburger with sauteed mushrooms and Swiss cheese, hit the spot, though the onion strings (they also have onion rings and fries) were too fried for me.

Decent beer selection, nothing to write home about that can't be had elsewhere.

I'll try the place again, but for now is 3 stars. I also vote it down a star since their credit card machine was not working, which may not be their fault but in the middle of the theater district, how many people carry cash?

OK, so the Rockfish only has one pool table, but even one table is one more than any other place in downtown Newburyport.

It's a three-floor bar, restaurant, and lounge complex; with food and drink served on the first and third floors, and the lone billiard players milling about on the second floor with a TV. There are no TVs on the third (at least I don't think there are), but the first floor is where the action is, with a widescreen HD TV over the bar and a few side TVs.

The food is good. Don't go crazy on the entrees, but the appetizers and daily specials are usually tasty. A fair beer selection, too, with both tap and bottle. The Rockfish has a full bar.

Did I mention the jukebox and people watching? And the fact the Rockfish kitchen closes every week night at midnight, a good hour after the nearest competition?

Oh, man, I can't give The Upper Crust enough stars. Why does Yelp limit it to five?

I've been a fan of the chain for several years, dating to their early stores on Boston's Charles Street and in Coolidge Corner.

The Newburyport location is clearly the smallest one I've seen, especially compared to the next-nearest Salem location, but that's OK as I typically stop in for a slice for lunch or order-out a pizza for a night, knowing there will be leftovers.

And, unlike every other pizza pad in town, The Upper Crust is the only venue to order any pie with whole wheat dough, which is what I *always* get. The prices are a tad steep, but hey, it's delish!

Angie's is much more than a coffee shop: it's the only diner (err, dinette) in town. Smack-dab in the heart of Newburyport, Angie's is where breakfast is served all day and the lunch options are pretty good too.

I've sampled many things on the menu, but my favorites are the turkey hash (make sure to order a side of eggs and a side of turkey hash, or you'll get the turkey hash AND the hashbrowns), the Greek-style omelette (it comes standard with tomatoes and cheese, though I like to add loucanico), and the tuna salad (which has a healthy dollop of tuna).

If you don't like homemade ice cream, churned with 15% buttermilk from a local dairy farm, while doing whatever you do on your laptop with free wireless access and people-watching both in the calmly-painted store or outside through the windows overlooking Friend Street, then don't visit Maggie Sundae.

But if the above throbs your head, you know where to go.

They serve dog-friendly ice cream too.