EmilyEstUnePatate's Profile
Concord, MA Restaurants
Oh man, mega-brain fart on my part. The Cheese Shop is a crown jewel. (Note to the uninitiated that it is not a formal sit-down restaurant, but they have a deli section with a couple of places to sit.) Cheese and wine selections are outstanding, all the employees are incredibly friendly and super well-versed in what they're selling; it epitomizes the great local business.
Second the Verrill Farms shout-out, too.
Concord, MA Restaurants
A few threads recently have dealt with restaurants in Concord, and I thought it was worth collecting info on them into one Google-able post since I grew up there and still visit my parents there often. It's true that it's not a particularly inspiring destination for food but I thought I'd break it down. Please add your own thoughts, obviously this isn't an exhaustive list.
GOOD RESTAURANTS
* Sushi House. Standard sushi menu but everything is very high-quality, and the ambience is nice.
* Chang An. This came up in another thread and I know not everyone likes this place, but it's my favorite destination for "Americanized" Chinese food, especially for the peking duck and moo shi anything.
* Papa Razzi -- same as all the others.
* Concord Tea Cakes -- really a bakery, but with a few deli-shelf meal offerings (sandwiches and pre-made salads, etc), lots of sit-down space, super-tasty and super-charming.
OK RESTAURANTS
* Colonial Inn. Popular with tourists because it's housed in an old-fashioned, well, inn in the town center near all the historic sites. The food is hearty and decent but nothing too special, and fairly overpriced. Their brunch and special event menus tend to be good, though. The charm factor is high given the setting.
* Comella's -- they're all over the place and we have one too. Get your massive quantities of ordinary but good Italian food here!
BAD RESTAURANTS
* Walden Grill. Fine place to have a beer and watch the game, but the food is unimaginative and cafeteria-quality at best. I frankly am shocked they've been around so long. Servers are very nice, though.
Chang An- Concord, MA
I was kind of surprised by all the negative feedback; I may be biased because I used to live in Concord, but Chang An is my favorite food in town and my favorite Chinese food in the state. The lunch buffet is pretty good, but it's missing some of the most important items on the menu: Peking duck, moo shi anything with pan fried noodles, pan fried (as opposed to steamed, which the buffet has) ravioli, and chung king pork. The buffet is still very good, it's just a little generic in its selection, but I can't think of anything "bad" that they serve.
Overall, Chang An is not the most authentic Chinese, I'll grant you, but for Americanized Chinese I find it to be outstanding. Anytime I visit Concord it's always the first place I go for takeout. And regarding the comments on the personnel, while they can be a little severe, they're extremely efficient and always gracious when it comes to special requests or dealing with complaints.
Sushi on a Conveyor Belt?
In Europe and on the West Coast, I always love those sushi places that just have a rectangle for counter-style seating and a "conveyor belt" where sushi comes around to you. I went on an active search for a place like that in the Boston (and even New York) area a few years back, but came up empty. Has anyone found any conveyor belt sushi in the area? I'm wondering if something has cropped up in the meantime that I didn't know about.
