This restaurant just opened a week ago and at 6 pm tonight (Saturday) the large parking lot was full and there were crowds waiting. It's in the old Morn's (Thai) site. Anyone tried it yet?

I went in to John Dewar in Wellesley today and was told, when I asked, that their meats are not hormone-free. I appreciated their honesty and was disappointed, because otherwise it is an amazing selection with very knowledgable butchers.

Was in town recently for a wedding and our group of 8 went to Doc's Steakhouse on the recommendation of this board. The steak-eaters in our group unanimously said the steaks were the best they'd ever eaten. I had sea scallops which were perfectly cooked but in an uninspired wine sauce. The menu is all beef and seafood -- no chicken or vegetarian entrees. The only down side of our meal was the salad bar -- it was really awful: limp field greens, some canned items, some not-so-fresh veggies. (My local supermarket does better.)

I really like Nicholas Restaurant, which is a couple of blocks from Natick Center, toward Wellesley. The address is 85 E. Central Street. Greek food in a family-owned restaurant. Last time I was there I got the appetizer sampler for my meal and it was amazing: spinach pie, grape leaves, sausage, meat balls and their special homemade yogurt with veggies in it. Enough leftover to take home next day's lunch.
I've been a regular customer of The Dolphin for 15 years and feel they have become overpriced for the fairly ordinary meal you get there now. The exception would be their lobster/clambake specials, where you get a great deal of food (chowder, steamers, mussels, corn on the cob, etc with the lobster) for around $24. The place is full of senior citizens, and overall it's still a better option than the very expensive seafood restaurants on Rt 9. But I can remember when you could get a huge broiled fish platter for $8.99......
Also, I know it's not "chowhound cool", but our family loves Vinny T's on Rt 9 in Natick. We always get the Spicy Mussels Pomodoro -- mussels in a very highly seasoned red sauce. They accommodate large groups well and it's a great place for kids, too.
Good luck -- let us know where you end up.

I'm in New England, and want to give a 50th birthday gift certificate to a vegetarian friend in Eugene. The vegetarian options seem pretty limited on the web-site menus of some of the high-end restaurants recommended on this board. Would appreciate any suggestions!!

We had a very disappointing meal at William Tell last weekend.
The salad was exceptional -- the highlight of the meal, really: beautiful greens with portions of marinated beets, cukes, and carrots on the side. But the Weinerschnitzel (21.95)was very poor quality veal -- hard to cut and harder to chew. The Swiss Fondue had a sour taste, suggesting it was not made from the traditional Emmentaler/Gruyere combination. Other members of our party got the maple glazed pork chop and Cordon Bleu, which they said were "okay". We all chose the "Rosti" potatoes from the choice of sides, and they looked exactly like Ore-Ida frozen hash browns -- at the very least, they were a frozen product. The vegetable of the day was a broccoli/carrot combo; the broccoli was cooked to olive green and tasted musty, as though it had been stored improperly.
The service was so friendly and competent that it is hard to offer such harsh criticism of this restaurant, but we had really looked forward to this meal after a couple of days of awful Waterville Valley complex restaurants, and were very disappointed, esp for the price.