Restaurant Reviews

Latest Articles

Review: Q Restaurant

A New Kind of Hot
You be careful what you ask for, and I'll be careful what I write.
By ROBERT NADEAU | February 15, 2012

Tasty new flavors from Ethiopia
Either this is the best Ethiopian food in Boston, or the whole scene has advanced greatly since the last time I got to review in this genre.
By ROBERT NADEAU | January 09, 2012

Review: B Street Restaurant & Bar

Nothing too clever, but it's all pretty good
B Street was formerly Pie Bakery, but the same owner has kept only one sweet pie and no savories.
By ROBERT NADEAU | July 13, 2011

Review: Trina's Starlite Lounge

Unorthodox goodness shining through the dark
Trina's Starlite Lounge is not so easy to describe. It's noir — as in dark (they only put in windows a couple months ago). It has craft cocktails, but not classics; draft beers, but only six taps; 17 bottled beers, but that's including Miller High Life, Bud Light, and Black Label.
By ROBERT NADEAU | July 06, 2011

C. Tsar's

The former Ariadne goes back to basics
It can be very good when a fine chef moves downmarket, adding focus and financial discipline to pure talent.
By ROBERT NADEAU | November 10, 2010

Umami

A fusion bistro finds its crowd
Umami is a confusing name for a bistro with touches of Asian fusion, especially in Brookline, where there seems to be a sushi bar for every 15.3 residents.
By ROBERT NADEAU | November 03, 2010

Bleacher Bar

A touristy sports bar with occasional pop in its bat
A touristy sports bar with occasional pop in its bat
By MC SLIM JB | November 03, 2010

J'Way Café

A taste of Southern home-cooking in a bookstore basement — savor it before it's gone
Not long after I dug into a plate of J'Way Café's heartfelt soul food, I felt guilty for grumping the night before, when I showed up for dinner according to posted hours, but found them closed.
By LINDSAY CRUDELE | October 20, 2010

Anthem Kitchen + Bar

Half bistro, half sports bar, all quality
The original Anthem (RIP, 2007) was half bistro, half sports bar, all competent in a way that made it the best oversize restaurant ever between the Department of Mental Health and the variously named Boston Garden.
By ROBERT NADEAU | October 20, 2010

Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen

A winning return back to the old corner
Never mind the juicy back story here — just order the "country fried chicken wings."
By ROBERT NADEAU | October 13, 2010

Al Wadi

An oasis of outstanding Middle Eastern cuisine
A wadi is a dry creek — until it rains, and then it becomes an oasis.
By ROBERT NADEAU | October 06, 2010

Fóumami

Pan-Asian sandwich spot delivers well-being via the stomach
A trip to the spa used to mean you were getting a sandwich.
By LINDSAY CRUDELE | October 06, 2010

Restaurant Review: Market

Chef Outhier's spiritual son misses the point
As the auteur of multiple restaurants on three continents, Jean-Georges Vongerichten has avoided many of the traps for unwary superstar chefs, such as overpriced pizza, videos of himself at the front of the restaurant, or a signature line of frozen entrées.
By ROBERT NADEAU | September 29, 2010

Restaurant Review: East by Northeast

Modern, minimalist Chinese cuisine
There are a lot of ways to look at Chef Phillip Tang’s mod variations on the Taiwanese-American food of his youth — Chinese tapas, small plates, locovore noodles and dumplings, tea-house nouvelle, dim sum gone upscale and gone wild.
By ROBERT NADEAU | September 16, 2010

Mandy and Joe's Restaurant

Keeping it real in Brighton Center for more than 60 years
Keeping it real in Brighton Center for more than 60 years
By MC SLIM JB | June 02, 2010

Campino’s

Earning its ethnic loyalty
I rely a lot on my lumberjacks, as Dylan called them — specialists who can fill in my culinary ignorance.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | May 17, 2010

Tallulah on Thames

World-class dining in Newport
The buzz about any new restaurant often takes a few months to circulate. For Tallulah on Thames, it took just a few days.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | March 24, 2010

Food Fight

Letters to the Boston editor, March 19, 2010
I don't think food critic Robert Nadeau knows very much about fine dining and what it means to cook good seafood.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | March 17, 2010

Symphony 8 Restaurant & Bar

Time to face the music
Everyone wants to have a gastro-pub with comfort food, but you have to be able to cook a little bit to sustain one. It also helps to draw a clean draught beer, maintain a quality wine list, and sweep the floor.
By ROBERT NADEAU | March 17, 2010

Edgewood Café

For neighborly gourmands
The Edgewood Café's slogan is "casual neighborhood dining with a gourmet touch," and every adjective is scout's honor true.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | March 05, 2010

Lord Hobo

This convivial corner of Hell is actually beer Heaven
What act could follow the B-Side Lounge, beloved home of craft-cocktail scholars? Well, how about a bar-restaurant for beer geeks?
By ROBERT NADEAU | February 17, 2010

The brunch quandary

In Portland, there's always one more place you haven't tried
There seems to be an endless number of places to try in Portland. So many, in fact, that I keep discovering well-established restaurants that I didn't even know served brunch. One of those places was Vignola.
By LEISCHEN STELTER | February 03, 2010

Taquería Jalisco

Kicking off the New Year right with fine traditional Mexican
Exploring a new restaurant is like baseball: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it isn't available. My Taquería Jalisco rainout was a Tuesday, its regular day off.
By MC SLIM JB | January 06, 2010

Spice

A hot and cheap Thai bistro
You might find it difficult to believe, but at one time there were no Thai restaurants in Providence. I know, I know, it’s sad — no pad Thai, no pik pow sauce, such deprivation, such shamed downward glances in the streets.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 21, 2009

Tests of time

Don't let old standbys drop off the radar
It feels like every week I read about a new restaurant opening in Portland.
By LEISCHEN STELTER | December 09, 2009

Busy options

Sampling Kon Asian's broad spectrum
For a place that is largely about performative hibachi dining and Asian kitsch, Kon is very into the Buddha.
By BRIAN DUFF | December 02, 2009

Bon Savor

A gifted new chef prompts a rare critical reassessment
With so many worthy unreviewed restaurants out there, it’s difficult to re-review a place the Phoenix has already covered.
By MC SLIM JB | October 14, 2009

Seasonal fare(well)

The chef of Five Fifty-Five bids adieu to summer
With Labor Day weekend behind us, so goes the high tourist season here in Maine. While this means less crowded beaches and the possibility of finding a weekend parking space in the Old Port, it signifies a major transition for restaurateurs around the city.
By LEISCHEN STELTER | September 09, 2009

Life after the Old Port?

Owners of Rachels L'Osteria share their experience moving to the neighborhood
As the central hub for tourists and locals alike, the Old Port seems like the perfect spot for a restaurant. But sometimes being in the center of the madness can detract from the experience, not only for diners, but also for the owners.
By LEISCHEN STELTER | August 19, 2009

A haute time

My dinner with Julia
My introduction to the concept that a bottle of wine must breathe did not go well. I was already in a state from drinking nonvintage stuff when I arrived at the small dinner party. Then, the hostess announced she would let the bottle breathe and placed it before me on the table. I could imagine little strangled gasps coming from the bottle.
By FRED BAYLES | August 07, 2009