We're just back from a great 2 weeks in Boston and P-Town and thought I'd stop by to let you know what we ate. I did a lot of research beforehand so thanks everyone for your contributions to this board!

Bubala's - went here when we first arrived as we were starving and hot and wanted a cold beer. Cold beer was provided, as was a decent fish taco and my boyfriend had a burger (I didn't try it, he said it was OK but it didn't look great). Fries were good. I might go back for a casual meal because I'm a sucker for eating outdoors.

Blondie's Burgers - after a hard day of relaxing at the beach my boyfriend absolutely needed a hot dog so we walked down Commercial St. until we found one. He devoured his dog and the fries were delicious. At $26 for 2 hot dogs, fries and 2 drinks I'm not sure I'd go back.

Victor's - had a great meal here and loved the space. We had fries with chili aioli, blood orange and tequila grilled shrimp, calimari, mini meatballs, and chipotle pulled pork sliders. No complaints about anything, but the shrimp and pork sliders were definitely standouts. The calimari portion was HUGE and despite our best efforts we couldn't finish it. We shared a piece of red velvet cake for dessert that hit the spot nicely. Our server was friendly and attentive and I enjoyed a nice lemon drop before we moved on to wine. Place was very busy on a Sunday night and we were glad we had reservations.

Napi's - this isn't the type of place I'd normally choose but the website is so strange I couldn't resist. I was pleased to see the building is just as strange as the website. Our server here was excellent, very friendly, funny, and helpful. Definitely a standout for us. I started with Chinese dumplings, and had the special which was a portuguese seafood platter with mussels, clams, half lobster, and cod in a tomatoey broth. I enjoyed my meal though the dumplings tasted a bit like there was peanut butter in the sauce (my boyfriend is allergic) so I was paranoid about contamination, but we had no issues. Could have just been the sesame seeds tricking me. I do love PB though so I enjoyed the dish :) Boyfriend had a cup of the Portuguese soup which he loved and some sort of Mexican type chicken dish (he wasn't very hungry).

The Red Inn - This place was BUSY when we arrived for our 7:45 reservation. There were dozens of people milling around outside waiting for a table - once again we were glad we had a reservation! We were seated right away and were very happy to see they saved a window table for us. The view was stunning. Dining room was very handsome. Our server was professional but very inattentive - he simply had too many tables and the service suffered greatly for it. I should also mention we were served the wrong bottle of wine (a rose when we ordered a white) but since there was no chance of flagging a waiter down and the rose tasted good, we rolled with it. I'm normally disgusted at the prospect of seafood and cheese together but I couldn't resist the lobster fondue and I loved it but it is a LOT of food. Should probably be shared as an app or maybe moved to the entree section of the menu. I did manage to eat most of it, though I probably shouldn't have. To compensate for such a rich entree I ordered the scallops with orzo and citrus beurre blanc for my entree which was very nice. My boyfriend had oysters en brochette for his app and the smoked duck with savory bread pudding for his entree. We were both blown away by how good the duck was. It was a highlight of our entire trip for sure. Oysters were tasty as well (hard to go wrong with fried seafood!). After all that rose I can't exactly remember if we had dessert or not but I suspect maybe we shared a creme brulee. What can I say? We were on vacation!

Seems like on the Cape there are many bad restaurants so I'm very happy to report that the meals we had there stood up to what we ate in Boston and we'd gladly return to any of these places!

Hello again folks, we are just back from our wonderful vacation and I thought I'd share with you what we ate while in town. The whole trip is a bit of a blur but I'll do my best to remember everything! Sorry in advance for the length.

When we arrived on Monday we thought that would be a good night to try Toro, since Mondays are usually off-nights for restaurants. When we arrived at around 7:30 we were told the wait would be 45 minutes to an hour. No big deal as we weren't that hungry anyway. We enjoyed iced coffees outside Flour down the street while waiting. We ate outside and had the patatas bravas, mini burgers, the famous corn dish and a pork belly with clams dish. For dessert we had churros with a chocolate dip. Everything was great and we couldn't believe when we got the bill and it was only $64! Service was not spectacular, our waiter was friendly and helpful but he did not check back. This may be why our bill was so cheap - if he had checked on us we would have had more drinks.

Tuesday we decided to hit another place where we expected a wait - Regina Pizzeria in the North End. We must have been early because we walked in and were seated right away. Service was friendlier than I was expecting and I LOVED my four cheese white pizza. My boyfriend enjoyed his as well. If I recall correctly he had the Classico (tomato sauce, pepperoni, artichoke hearts, fresh mushrooms, mozzarella and parmesan). It was so good we saved our leftovers and reheated them in our hotel's toaster oven for dinner the next day. After dinner we had cannoli at Modern Pastry. We'd never tried cannoli before and are still dreaming of how delicious it was.

One day when we were out shopping, all of a sudden my boyfriend was hungry and we tried to find somewhere that looked good along Boylston St. but nothing looked good. Finally he said we had to go in the first place we saw because he was starving. We ended up at Atlantic Fish because he saw someone eating a lobster roll and decided that's what he wanted. For some reason I expected it to be terrible but we actually had a really nice lunch there. He really enjoyed his lobster roll (mayo style) and fries, and I had a nice fish sandwich. The sandwich was impossible to pick up and eat because the fish kept falling apart, but with a fork and knife it was no problem. Just goes to show that sometimes you can just walk in somewhere without meticulously researching it and have a good meal!

For dinner Thursday we went to Myers and Chang. This may have been our favorite meal of the whole trip. My boyfriend is allergic to fish and nuts, and since Asian cuisine frequently contains those ingredients it's not something he gets to enjoy very often. Also, where we are coming from, most of what we have are Americanized Chinese restaurants. I enjoyed some of the sake sangria, and we had the wok-charred udon noodles with bok choy, octopus with grilled corn, pork dumplings, scallion pancake, and pork belly buns. We absolutely loved everything except the octopus dish - this is not the fault of the dish as neither of us had ever tried octopus before. It tasted fine, just not what we had expected. I think I could eat this food (especially the udon noodles!) every day of my life.

On Friday we decided to try to get into Neptune Oyster for lunch. I think it was around 2 when we arrived and we were told it would be about a 20 minute wait. We had iced coffee a few doors down while we waited and were finally seated at the bar. This was another place I was expecting a cool reception but host and our server were both very friendly. We had some oysters to start (recommendations from our server were great), and both had the hot buttered lobster roll. This has to be one of the most delicious things I've ever had in my life. I still can't believe I ate the whole thing! Fries were nice too.

Friday night we had dinner at Craigie on Main. We weren't sure how we were going to eat again after those lobster rolls but we managed to have a lovely meal. We were offered seats at the chef's table, basically a bar area overlooking the kitchen. We decided to sit there since it's not an experience we can get at home. It was fun watching our food being made and admiring all the other dishes coming out of the kitchen. We ordered the pig's head for two but were told they use fish sauce in the brine so we decided not to take the risk - a big disappointment as I'd been looking forward to it for a while. In hindsight I should have called ahead and checked on it - guess we'll have to come back again. In the end I ordered the fried clams and a swordfish main. First we were served an amuse bouche - I had pickled herring which I'd never tried and was surprised that I liked it. I can't remember what they brought my boyfriend but it's always nice to see restaurants accommodate allergies even in the free dishes they send out. The clams were wonderfully crunchy, salty and delicious. This was my first time trying swordfish and it was nice. The accompanying onion confit, bacon and clams didn't hurt its cause either :). My boyfriend had oysters for his appetizer and the steak, which were both very good. After dinner we were served a melon sorbet as a palate cleanser which tasted just like biting into a fresh cantaloupe - delicious and refreshing. For dessert I had the malted milk parfait and he had a coconut sorbet. Both were great. We were also served a chevre ice cream with apricot compote which was very interesting. All in all this meal didn't blow us away, but in a week filled with amazing food it had a lot to live up to. The service really set this place apart from the rest. Very professional and attentive without being overbearing, and they handled the allergies very well. We were also witness to their attempts to satisfy the couple sitting next to us when one of their entrees came out cold. We thought they handled that situation very well. I could see us eating here regularly if we lived nearby.

On Saturday we met up with another couple from home who also happened to be in Boston. We went to Brasserie Jo as I had been meaning to try it and it was extremely close to both of our hotels. Boyfriend and I both had onion soup as our appetizer (it's been a fixation of ours lately and this lived up to our expectations) and everyone at the table had steak frites for their main. The frites were not spectacular but the steak was very nice. I'm always impressed when I get a really thin steak that's not overcooked. For dessert I ordered a lemon tart which was a little sad. The crust was a bit gummy and it seemed like it had been sitting around for a while. Our dining companions both got the chocolate mousse, which was plated tableside and looked amazing. Service here was quite good and I would go back.

Sunday we went to Provincetown until Wednesday, which I'll post about on the appropriate board.

Wednesday when we returned from P-town we had dinner at Grill 23. I made the reservation because it was restaurant week and I thought it would be nice to save some money. We were a little sick of eating by this point and considered canceling the reservation but in the end decided to go, and I'm glad we did. I loved the atmosphere of Grill 23. Based on some things I've read about RW I think we got lucky here as the food and service were very good. Our waiter actually had a peanut allergy himself so he handled that issue very gracefully. Interesting note: he told us he would let the kitchen know about the peanut allergy, but that peanuts almost never show up in anything on their menu so it's not really an issue. I ordered the wedge salad and Denver steak from the RW menu, and my boyfriend had the ragu bolognese and steak. Wedge salad was good but they gave me two HUGE wedges - half a head of lettuce - and I felt bad leaving so much on my plate. He seemed to enjoy his pasta dish, which was a much more reasonable portion size. The Denver steaks were quite nice, nice salty crust on the outside and perfectly med-rare on the inside. By looking at the steak I'd have thought they'd be tough based on the graininess of the meat but it was actually pretty tender. The steak came with a twice baked potato, creamed corn and a steak sauce which I also enjoyed. For dessert I had a butterscotch sundae - delicious of course, and he had a chocolate marquis dessert which he seemed to enjoy, but it came with a "cocoa nib tuille" which tasted completely burnt and inedible.

On Thursday I had made lunch reservations at Sel de la Terre thinking we'd do the RW thing again but their RW menu was pretty sad and unappealing, so I had a reuben sandwich and he had a panko fried chicken dish. I didn't like my sandwich. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was but it didn't work for me. The panko fried chicken however was good, and it was served with squash which made it nice and summery. We ordered a blueberry clafoutis for dessert to share. Clafoutis isn't really my thing but it was pretty good. Service here was good with many different people checking in on us (but not to the point that we were annoyed) and our table by the window made for a nice view. I'd give this place another chance, probably for dinner.

Friday was our last day in the city. We had Sox tickets that night and had dinner at Island Creek Oyster Bar beforehand. I loved the look of this place. We started with oysters, of course, and got recommendations from our server who made some good picks, I think. We also tried the oyster sliders which I really liked (what's not to love about deep fried seafood?). I had fried clams for my main and my boyfriend had the famous lobster roe noodles. My clams were delicious but the $28 price tag was a little hard to accept. Come on, it's a basket of fried clams! The fries were buried underneath the clams so by the time I uncovered them I was pretty full, but they were good fries (not as good as Neptune). He seemed to really love the lobster roe noodles. I had a couple bites and agreed.

All in all we had a VERY successful trip, food wise, and the excellent dishes far outnumbered the disappointments. Only thing is I'm afraid to look at my credit card statement.

Thanks again to everyone who posted in my itinerary thread, and all you hounds who contributed to threads I read when researching my trip. Couldn't have done it without you!

Thanks for your response! I do appreciate the updated visitor's guide - I previously read and enjoyed the older one. Thanks for the suggestions on what to do and where to go.

I had Strip T's in mind when we thought we were going to have a car but since decided against driving, I had thought it would be too much trouble. How hard would it be for us to get there? I appreciate the Oleana suggestion and have looked at their menu but my boyfriend doesn't really like Greek food so I thought this was similar enough that he probably wouldn't be interested. I'll show him the menu and see what he thinks.

I also have a followup question. Do you (or any other readers!) know of anywhere in the general vicinity of our hotel where we can get good coffee? Drip, Americano - we aren't picky, as long as it's delicious :)

Hello folks,

My boyfriend and I are visiting Boston for about 2 weeks on Monday. We are coming from St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. I wasn't planning on making a "please critique my itinerary" thread but I figured why not?

We are staying at the Inn at St. Botolph and we're not picky about food, with the exception that my boyfriend is allergic to finned fish (shellfish is OK) so obviously sushi is out . Here's what we have planned so far:

Monday: arrive 12:30 pm. Maybe try Toro for supper - is Monday a good night for getting a table?
Tuesday: no plans so far
Wednesday: Bruce Springsteen at Fenway - !!!
Thursday: no plans
Friday: dinner at Craigie on Main at 8:30pm
Saturday: brunch at Russell House Tavern 11am, dinner at Myers+Chang at 8:30 pm
Sunday we leave for Provincetown, return Wednesday (if anyone's interested we're staying at the Arie House and have dinner reservations at Victor's, Napi's, and the Red Inn)
Wednesday: dinner at Grill 23 at 8:30 pm (restaurant week, hope it's not too crazy)
Thursday: lunch at Sel de la Terre at 1pm, Red Sox game later on
Friday: Red Sox
Leave Saturday morning.

Other places we're planning on checking out are Pizzeria Regina, Aquitaine, Island Creek Oyster Bar and Neptune Oyster, probably for lunches. On Red Sox and concert days we'll probably just grab quick bites before the game and do dinner after, or just graze on hot dogs and popcorn at the park.

I'd appreciate any suggestions for changes or improvement you may have and any favorite dishes at the above mentioned restaurants. Also, if there are any cool things we should see or do that I might not read about in a travel guide, do tell!

Thanks :)

I know this topic is old but if it's not too late I would urge you to try Chinched Bistro. It is one of the most exciting restaurants in St. John's right now (and my personal favorite). Easier on the wallet than many of its inferior neighbors too!

You will not find your socks knocked off at Blue on Water (I've been there for brunch, dinner and lunch and was totally underwhelmed all 3 times - maybe just bad luck?) but Raymonds and Atlantica are both great. Atlantica has a car service which will pick you up and drop you off for around $60 round trip - the food and views are worth it in my opinion. Call them well in advance and ask to reserve a table by the window.

You're also close to Chinched Bistro and Aqua which would both fall into your "funky" category while being far superior (and probably less expensive) to Blue on Water. These are places where you can try some interesting twists on traditional food. I especially love Chinched Bistro - we've been fairly regular customers since they opened and are always impressed with the food and service.

Enjoy!

I'd just like to add that Atlantica has a car service that will pick you up in St. John's and drop you off after dinner for somewhere around $60 round trip. The cost, to me, is totally worth it - yes, it is THAT good. I prefer Atlantica to Raymond's but both are fabulous.

I can't understand why Blue on Water has such a good reputation. Times I've been there the food ranged from just OK to completely inedible (in the latter case, the server didn't even ask why I hadn't touched my meal before taking it away) and I find service awful. For the price there are many better options.

Chinched Bistro is my favorite place and I can't count how many times we've eaten there since they opened about 2 years ago. They seem to change the menu every time and the food and service are always fabulous. They serve small plates in the downstairs bar for a bit of a different experience.

Hello folks, it's been a while since I got back from my Florida vacation but I've been meaning to make this thread ever since. I didn't make a thread asking advice before I went but I did get some great recommendations by browsing some of the older threads on here. We managed to have some great meals!

Jackson's Bistro, Tampa:
I decided on this place for our first dinner because we were in town for a Lightning game and wanted to treat my parents to a nice meal. This is a great place to eat before games because you can park in their garage (many free spaces when we were there) during dinner and then walk over to the Tampa Bay Times Forum, less than 5 minutes away. They'll validate your parking at the restaurant so it ended up being very cheap and we avoided the traffic around the forum. We had dinner on the outside patio with a lovely view. The food wasn't exactly fine dining but it was quite good. I had calimari for my appetizer and for my main I had a red snapper special. The fish was very nice and delicately favored, and the polenta that accompanied it was delicious. My dad had clam chowder and a steak, which he raved about. Mom had crab cakes and French onion soup. She talked about the focaccia they served before the meal for the whole trip! This isn't necessarily chow-worthy food but it was perfect for our purposes.

Garibaldi Mexican Cuisine, Kissimmee:
My parents are NOT Mexican food enthusiasts. My father has been known to comment "if I was born in Mexico, I'd have starved". My sister and I love it so we convinced them to check out Garibaldi one night. Everybody absolutely loved their meals. Portions were very large and very inexpensive, and the food was delicious. I had chilaquiles, while the others had fajitas, flautas, and burritos. My two year old nephew loved his quesadillas, as well as the music. We didn't feel out of place at all having him with us and the waitress was very good with him. We went on two-for-one margarita night and quite enjoyed those as well :)

Disney's Magic Kingdom:
Thanks everyone for the Dole Whip recommendation! It's almost enough to make a person want to go back there :)
We had breakfast that day at Crystal Palace Buffet so my nephew could meet Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore. Obviously we weren't expecting much but I was pleased to find the food better than your average breakfast buffet, with some healthier options (fruit, granola, yogurt) and not just bacon and waffles. We hadn't planned on sitting down for lunch but we desperately needed a break from the heat and crowds so we had lunch at the Liberty Tavern. The burger and fries were actually pretty good! My sister, on the other hand, did not enjoy her vegetarian burger with tzatziki.

Cafe Tu Tu Tango, Orlando:
Can't say enough good things about this restaurant. We went in on a busy Saturday evening with no reservation, and only had to wait probably 20 minutes for a table. The atmosphere is great and my nephew loved watching the artists working and the belly dancer who performed during our meal. This is the perfect place for small children because if they get excited and start screaming like he did, nobody notices because the noise of the other diners and music drowned him out. I can't remember exactly what we had but here's what I can remember: marinated olives with feta, hummus with pitas, some sort of spicy shrimp dish (my favorite), calimari, pot stickers, alligator bites with dipping sauce, pork tenderloin, pork ribs, and salmon sliders for the little guy. Everything was delicious and we ate every bite. The beer selection was impressive as were the mojitos. This place is a MUST as far as I'm concerned.

House of Blues, Downtown Disney:
Ate here with my sister before seeing a movie (parents and nephew stayed at home). We had planned on going to Raglan Road since it reviews well here, but decided on the HoB since we were nearby. I wasn't expecting much but the service was really friendly and attentive and I had a tasty shrimp and grits dish. My sister had a burger and fries and enjoyed her meal as well. This is pretty high quality casual dining with a good beer selection and I would go back.

Denny's, Cocoa Beach:
I tried with all my might to convince the family not to go there. The food was inedible. Some of the worst I've ever had in a restaurant. Avoid!!!

Steak 'n' Shake, Kissimmee:
My parents' suggestion. Cute diner decor, unremarkable burger & onion rings, tasty Butterfinger milkshake. We don't have those in Canada as far as I know so it's worth checking out if you want a chain type fast food place that isn't McDonald's.

Smokey Bones, Kissimmee:
We had lunch here one day because it was nearby where we had been shopping. Everyone seemed pleased and their "Bones Brew" beer was pretty good too. As far as those types of casual restaurants go, this place is one of the better ones I've been too.

All in all we ate better than I had expected, given the size and age range of our group and the fact that food wasn't one of the focus points of our trip. Thanks again Chowhound for your research and help!

Well, I'm just back from a wonderful trip to NYC. I thought I'd update this thread in case anyone is curious how we made out!

- Friday when we got in we were on a tight deadline as we had tickets to Swan Lake for 8pm, so we made reservations at Rosa Mexicano in Lincoln Centre. They had a prix fixe "Fashion Plates" menu that we ordered off. I'm not a lover of Mexican food but we did love this place, and service was great (we arrived about 40 minutes late due to some bad Google Maps directions and they still seated us!).

- Sunday we took kathryn's suggestion and went to Cookshop before the game at MSG. The bacon is so smoky it tastes like it was cooked over a campfire!

- Later on Sunday we went to Artisanal for dinner, since it was near our hotel and fondue is not available in restaurants where we live. Boy, does this place stink of cheese!! But the fondue (we had the Artisanal blend) was delicious.

- Monday was Valentine's Day, and as I mentioned here I was hoping to find an un-romantic place to eat. We ended up going to Motorino which fit the description perfectly. Sure, they made heart shaped pizzas and served chocolate covered strawberries for dessert, but it was so loud and crowded in there it felt pretty casual.

- Tuesday we went to the Stanton Social for dinner. We had 5 plates and all were delicious. The waitress suggested we get 5 or 6, but I had read that 4 was sufficient for 2 people, so we went for 5 and really we could have done with just 4. That didn't stop us from eating it all though :)

- Wednesday was my most anticipated meal - wd 50. Unfortunately we had had a spicy lunch and I had really bad heartburn when we made it to dinner, but I still managed to make the most of my meal. Although we loved the food, we were a little confused and disappointed with the service. Service was very attentive at times, but then they would do things like take your drink glass and not offer another. Most disappointing for me was that they didn't offer us a kitchen tour, but they did offer it to the tables next to us, and other tables throughout the time we were there. I'm not sure how they decide who to offer this to, but it really put us off this restaurant.

A couple other notes:

- We never did attempt Serendipity (relief for me)
- We enjoyed some frozen yogurt at Forty Carrots in Bloomingdales
- I had the Snowball custard at Shake Shack yesterday and loved it!

-----
Forty Carrots Cafe
1000 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10022

Stanton Social
99 Stanton Street, New York, NY 10002

Rosa Mexicano
9 E. 18th St., New York, NY 10003

Motorino
349 E 12th St, New York, NY 10003

Just to clarify, it's not having dinner with another woman that makes me uncomfortable, it's the idea of people assuming my sister and I are a couple! I would be no more comfortable going out to V-day dinner with my brother.

Good point - I'll see if I can convince her to check out one of those spots

I know, that's why I want to avoid romantic dinners!

Hi again folks! I'd like to thank you for all the advice, I've done lots of research into those links and our trip is starting to shape up :)

I'm bumping the thread to ask another question: Where would you suggest we have dinner on Valentine's day? I'm trying to find somewhere we won't feel awkward and am starting to think we should just eat takeout in our hotel room. Thoughts?

Thanks so much for the thorough reply! Looks like I've got lots of reading to do. I read about Bloomfield somewhere (New Yorker maybe?) recently and was intrigued.

We will likely be spending time in all of the shopping areas you mentioned, although nothing is set in stone. For lunches I would prefer to just grab a quick bite than have a long, multi-course meal as we'll likely have lots of activities planned during the day. On my last trip to NYC my boyfriend and I ate a lot of sub-par pastries for breakfast and hot dogs (blech) for lunch because we could never find anything suitable and quick in our immediate area. I'm hoping to avoid that this time.

We're open to most cuisines although we don't eat much fish. $50 pp before tax, tip, drinks is reasonable to me.

One more thing... my sister wants to go to Serendipity for frozen hot chocolate (I know, I know) but I hear the food isn't very good so I don't want to waste a meal there. However on the website they say they don't take reservations for dessert. Any idea how long we might wait to get in there? I was thinking maybe we could have dinner at one restaurant, then later on head there for dessert only.

Thanks again!

Hello folks, I've been lurking here for a while (since my last trip to NYC) but this will be my first post, so here goes:

My sister and I are visiting from February 11-17. We're staying near Herald Square. We don't have much planned thus far, but we will be going to the Rangers game on Sunday the 13th. We'll also be doing lots of shopping. What I'm looking for is some recommendations for food - maybe a couple of nice dinners and some less expensive, some breakfast spots near our hotel, maybe a Sunday brunch before the game, and nice (but not dragged out) lunches near shopping areas. We'd also appreciate recommendations for cocktails and anything you think we should check out while we're in town.

We're willing to travel (within Manhattan) for good food, and our price range is pretty flexible but we'd rather not be splurging on big expensive meals every night. We just want some advice to help us make the most of our trip. Thanks!