Boston Restaurant Tips by mrdarius

Restaurant Name: Our House

Our House is a Boston University mainstay. Even though it seems like a really small place from the outside, it is quite large, and they have an excellent menu. If you go earlier on in the night, they have a 2 for $5 special where you can order 2 items from the appetizers or main dish sections of the menu. Simpsons marathons and Seinfeld marathons on select nights.

My favorite part is the seating arrangement right when you walk in. Bench-type dealies with little cushions. Very laid back place with excellent waitstaff, billiards table, foosball, and excellent aura.

Favorite Dish: Cheese fries, American burger, and a Brubaker (even though it's the cheapest beer on the menu, it is good and is served in 16oz. bottles). Very filling, huge portions, totally unhealthy, but who cares?

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Theme: American
Comparison: least expensive
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: (617) 782-3228
Address: 1277 Commonwealth Ave.
Directions: Take the Green Line B train to Harvard Ave. and walk about 2 blocks further outbound on Comm. Ave.

Restaurant Name: Addis Red Sea

This basement-level Ethiopian restaurant is very unique. The small, cozy environment makes you forget that you're in Boston's South End for a minute, and allows you to pretend you're far far away. Not to mention sitting on a low stool at a 'mesab' (a wicker table shaped like an hourglass) and using spongy traditional injera bread as your tablecloth. The food itself is pretty good as far as food goes. Interesting flavors and not too spicy. Try the Ethiopian wine, Dukam.

The music was kind of annoying and the lighting was kinda dim. The waitstaff was very pleasant, and the prices were perfect.

Favorite Dish: I got the 'iab' appetizer (cottage cheese and paprika) and then 'kitfu' (tartar steak) for entree (listed as entrie on the menu). Ellen got a lamb dish. Good, flavorful stuff...a lot of stews.

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Theme: African
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 617-426-8727
Address: 544 Tremont St.
Directions: South End

Restaurant Name: Pho Pasteur

Pho Pasteur has several locations in the Boston area including 137 Brighton Ave., 119 Newbury Street, and 36 Jfk Street.

With a semi-authentic feel, the restaurant does a better job of making one feel like they're eating in a Vietnamese restaurant than most others. The menu is pretty large and the food is good and cheap. The servers are very friendly, and ... well... once again, the food is good and cheap.

Don't be fooled by the picture. Ellen tries out her first Vietnamese dessert and gets a little freaked out by the leche.

Favorite Dish: pad thai, or any chicken dish with curry

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Theme: Pan-Asian and Pacific Rim
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 617-783-2340 (Brighton)
Address: 137 Brighton Ave, 36 Jfk Street, 129 Newbury St.
Directions: All over Boston
Website: www.phopasteurboston.com

Restaurant Name: Vinny Testa's

This restaurant is massivley popular among college kids whose parents are coming to visit. I think the main reason is because the portions are so massive that the students end up getting a week's worth of garlic-laden italian food at their parents' expense (duh, what else are parents any good for?).

At the end of your meal, your waiter will shake a wine bottle filled with little pellets with "all" the table numbers in the restaurant written on them. If they pull your number the meal is on Vinny's.

Favorite Dish: Chicken parm. I used to like it a lot more at Vinny's but I think that in the past two years or so they changed the way they prepare their pasta, and the five pounds of spaghetti you get with your eight chicken breasts are, in my opinion, not as good as they once were.

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Theme: Italian
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: (617) 262-6699
Address: 867 Boylston St.
Directions: Several locations in the Boston area. Information listed for the one downtown by the Copley T stop on the green line.
Website: http://www.vinnytestas.com/

Restaurant Name: Broadway's Best

Broadway's Best pizza place might be the best pizza near Boston (it's in South Boston). Typical pizza place feel - kinda dirty, smells like dough, cheap.

Being originally from New York, I can't say much for Boston pizza, but this is one of the few joints that is worth mentioning. Also, they have good subs.

Favorite Dish: Pizza.

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Theme: Local
Comparison: least expensive
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: (617) 268-1228
Address: 321 West Boradway
Directions: South Boston, about 4 blocks from the Broadway T stop between D and E streets

Restaurant Name: Sunset Grill and Tap

All I really need to write here is 100+ beers on tap (400+ in bottles). You can find beers from all over the world here (nothing from Lithuania yet, unfortunately), ranging from aromatic New England microbrews (Smuttynose) to cloudy beers like Tucher and oatmeal stouts. The coaster and poster-covered walls give you something to look at, but good luck hearing yourself think on the weekends during the school year.

The waitstaff are pretty slow, and the prices aren't the cheapest, but this is a good place to go if you want to experiment with a good variety of beer. Ask about yards of beer, or even their 'kick the keg' contest. I believe they also have a "quest."

Favorite Dish: My favorite dish here is the free bar food after midnight on Sun, Mon, Tue. Only problem is after 3 or 4 plates of quesadillas and wings, you might get pretty sick with all the beer you've had. But hey, IT'S FREE!

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Theme: Pub/Brewery
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 617-254-1331
Address: 130 Brighton Ave
Directions: Now also near the corner of Commonwealth Ave. and St. Paul Str. on the Green Line.

Restaurant Name: Grendel's Den

This basement bar place is actually in Cambridge near Harvard Square, not Boston. It's a Harvard stomping grounds, so expect a lot of Harvard students during the school year before sporting events. Very down-to-Earth, with non-uniform chairs and simple lamps on the tables. My one gripe is that they've got too many mirrors. It's disconcerting when someone on the other side of the restaurant behind you can tell you have a booger hanging out of your nose.

This is a basement bar, but they have an outdoors section too without any mirrors, only you can't drink out there. VT user Carmanah has a great description of Grendel's on her page. The title of this section comes from the fact that Grendel's uses monsters from Where the Wild Things Are as their logo. And remember, no smoking! Grendel's used to get pretty smoky...not any more with Boston's no smoking rules.

Favorite Dish: Any of the half-price food during happy hour (5-7:30), M-F. The food is pretty good and comes from a lot of places. Grendel's also has an ok selection of beer.

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Theme: Pub/Brewery
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 617.491.1160
Address: 89 Winthrop St. Cambridge
Directions: Cambridge near Harvard Square. Take the Red Line to Harvard Square. Avoid driving as there's NO PARKING!!!

Restaurant Name: The Village Smokehouse

I liked this place a lot. It has copious amounts of "Don't Mess with Texas" memorobilia, including a photo of Ronald Regan in a cowboy movie. There's a large grill in your face when you walk in with flames shooting up and everything . This causes the place to get quite warm, but the food was great (especially because I'm a meat-lover). Avoid it if you're a veggie .

I don't know if it's the blond wood everywhere, but the places smells great- especially once it's been heated up (like a sauna). It's a great place for VT'ers, because most of the seating is family-style, so you will end up eating like a pig sitting next to total strangers. The cons: crowded and loud , no reservations, poor attempts at helping you clean up after yourself (a roll of paper towels on the table).

Overall, it's a good place with good food, good service, and nice atmosphere.

Favorite Dish: Rack of ribs!! Heavenly . Great flavors.

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Theme: Barbecue
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 617-566-3782
Address: 6-9 Harvard St.
Directions: Brookline Village - right next to the Brookline Village T stop on the D line.

Restaurant Name: Cafe Belo

For around $4 a pound, you get to eat Brazillian food cafeteria-style. Regardless of what you think of the food itself, Cafe Belo offers a great deal. Personally, I love the food too. You can get assorted meats right off the skewer, and a number of side dishes at the buffet. They even carry Brazillian soda (tasty). Maybe someday I will get to enjoy this food in Brazil, but for now, I'm happy eating it in Boston.

It helps to have some knowledge of Portugese when you go here because the staff usually has poor English (check out www.cafebelo.com for a sample). But this adds to the atmosphere, along with the Brazillian calling cards and Portugese advertisements. Their website (in Portugese) seems very in depth, with recipes and maps to their several locations.

Favorite Dish: My favorite is bacon-wrapped chicken off the churrascaria (Brazillian barbeque as I understand), as I am crazy for meat. Best bets are rice, beans, potatoes and plantains. But it's a buffet, so you can try little bits of stuff you're not sure on and then go back for more if you like it.

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Theme: Buffet
Comparison: least expensive
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Address: 636 Beacon St. (Kenmore Square)
Directions: All over Boston and surrounding area (see website (Portugese only) for more details):
636 Beacon St.
1243 Commonwealth Ave.
181 Brighton Ave.
254 Bennington St.
Website: www.cafebelo.com

Restaurant Name: St. Petersburg Cafe

Porcelain "paintings" literally covering the walls and neon green tablecloths with glass on top combine to give the gaudy feel of an authentic Russian restaurant. Add the overly loud piano playing in the rear, the clientele, and the tuxedo-clad staff, and you could be in Russia.

The cuisine is pretty authentic too, with a whole page of caviar and a seperate vodka menu. The soups, salads russes, and various forms of pounded chicken offer a change from the generic Irish, Italian, Asian, and American restaurants all over Boston.

Be sure to make reservations, as this is a small place, and it fills up by 6pm and stays full. Also, it's not handicap-friendly, so you might want to call ahead to warn them if you're headed there in a wheelchair.

Favorite Dish: House cranberry vodka. You cannot really have dined here without trying this. It comes in chilled glasses and is bright red. If you don't get it at first, you won't be able to resist once you see everyone around you gulping them down. Other dishes include pozharski cutlets, blini, stuffed cabbage, chicken kiev, and the ever-gross kasha.

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Theme: Eclectic/International
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: (617)277-7100
Address: 236 Washington St. (Brookline Village)
Directions: Brookline Village T stop on the green line.
Website: www.cafestpetersburg.com