drboom's Profile
Geoffrey's in Roslindale
We ate there tonight and were not amused. This isn't really a review of the new restaurant but more a rant of annoyance at the loss of our favorite restaurant in the area.
I knew Geoffrey's was (re)opening in the back bay but I thought that was going to be a second location. I was very wrong. We knew something was off when we walked in and all of the staff were different but they still had the Geoffrey's signage in the entry area. We were going to celebrate my 2 year olds birthday - when a 2yr old asks in a full sentence to 'go to the restaurant and have soup and pizza' how can you say no? Needless to say we were shocked when we say down and the menu is completely new and had none of our favorite dishes. It was even less fun dealing with a toddler very upset he couldn't have the meal he has been asking for all week.
The place was fairly busy given how early it was (we always go out early with 2 babies) and the staff seemed decent. Our food was fine and the owner was our waitress and she was perfectly nice and helpful. The food was priced about average for similar quality elsewhere but no where near the rock-bottom prices of the old Geoffrey's.
To be very clear, the new place may be quite good and I wish them all the best of luck. This is a totally unfair review for them. We, however were very disappointed to have lost our favorite restaurant and not pleased that there was not any sort of indication on the door about new management and the like.
Takeout in Hyde Park or Roslindale
Thanks for the reply. We like village sushi, not as cheap as we'd like for this purpose but definitely in the rotation. We're trying to avoid pizza to keep the meals on the healthy side.
We'll checkout the king. As you know, most middle eastern places will have a decent menu that is kosher style (although halal does allow for mixing meat/dairy), we like middle eastern food and have spent enough time over there to know what it should taste like. I didn't know about them so thank you for the suggestion.
From your suggestion, we just went to the lunch buffet at himalayan bistro. It was very slow (it is school vacation week) and the food wasn't great. We were there just after noon and the buffet tasted like it had been out for a couple of hours already. With all the positive reviews they have on this board, I'm planning to try it again and hope today was just a vacation week fluke.
Thanks,
Jon
Takeout in Hyde Park or Roslindale
We haven't tried townsend's yet but we keep meaning to. They aren't terribly inexpensive though. We had a good brunch at The Hyde a little while back, hadn't thought about them for this purpose but I'll look into it more. Thanks for the suggestion.
Jon
Takeout in Hyde Park or Roslindale
The website's menu doesn't have much in the kosher style - pretty much everything is pork or meat and dairy mixed which is pretty typical of italian restaurants.
Thanks,
Jon
Takeout in Hyde Park or Roslindale
I apologize if I've missed the right thread, I've done quite a bit of searching around this board and I haven't yet found what I'm looking for.
We live in Milton a few blocks from the Hyde Park line near the fairmount area. We've found a number of restaurants (i.e., Geofrey's, the Alchemist, various asian places in quincy) we like to go out to within a 15-20 minute drive but we've found very little we like for take-out.
We're looking for some reasonably healthy and not too expensive places in the area for those increasingly frequent times we don't have the time/energy to cook (we have a toddler and another baby due soon). The takeout options should include some decent stuff that is kosher style (for us this just means no pork, shelfish or mixing meat/dairy, the rest of the kashrut rules aren't important for this purpose). We like a variety of different kinds of food so this is really just about good, inexpensive takeout (or delivery) that is healthy enough to be eaten frequently.
My wife works in Roslindale so anything on the way from Roslindale through Hyde Park would probably do as well at least until she starts maternity leave. We really hoping to find some good options before the new baby comes to ease the load a bit then.
Thanks for the help,
Jon
Fuji Apples....
Costco typically has both asian pears and fuji apples in stock. They are usually (always?) domestic.
Good, inexpensive food in JP/Roxbury/Roslindale?
These aren't ethnic picks but our favorite places in JP and Roslindale are The Alchemist and Geoffrey's respectively. Both good service, excellent prices and very good food.
Suffolk Grille Milton/Canton line (138)
Thanks, we'll skip it then. The menu seems fairly expensive for 'low grade pub food'. We have several places we used to go before the baby in JP, Roslindale and Quincy, I was hoping this would be a good local place. Oh well. Maybe we'll finally try Townsend's (we are in walking distance).
Thanks again for the reply
Suffolk Grille Milton/Canton line (138)
Has anyone been or know anything about the new restaurant that has opened on 138 at the Milton/Canton line? They have some menus online at suffolkgrille.com and there was an article about them recently in the Milton Times but I'd prefer some chowhound reviews. The owner also runs the centerfield's restaurant in Canton - is that a good or bad thing?
Thanks,
Jon
(looking for a local restaurant to go on our first date without the baby)
Best restaurants in the Milton area
We live in Milton near the Hyde Park line and have the same annoyance about few local dining options. We've been meaning to check out Townsend's in HP since it is walkable from us but we've found the best solution is usually to drive the 10 minutes to either Roslindale sq. (Geoffrey's is our most frequent spot), head into JP (usually to the Alchemist) or head to one of the many fine Asian options in Quincy.
Where to purchase Best's Kosher Beef Franks?
I've been looking for the 97% fat free variety of these for a couple of years - ever since BJs stopped carrying them. We had been buying the regular version at BJ's as a substitute but we always found the 97% fat free variety of best kosher even better than the full fat and the best dogs we've ever had. I've looked everywhere and even contacted Sara Lee several times looking for a distributor and had no luck. I'd even be ok if we could find them somewhere far away in the hopes that someone we know will be there.
Please post if you find these anywhere.
Thanks,
Jon
nice restaurant in Northboro area?
Thanks everyone for the advice. We went to Mikaku and it was excellent. The salmon teriyaki was perfect, the beef tataki appetizer was amazing, the chicken udon was very good, the shrimp/scallop dish (not sure which one) was very good with large shrimps and scallops and my maki sushi was very good.
Really an excellent restaurant.
nice restaurant in Northboro area?
We're taking my parents out to dinner for their anniversary tomorrow night and need advice on a decent restaurant in the Northboro area (say within 20 minutes or so). They are into relatively bland american food but I'd prefer to broaden their horizons with something chow-worthy. Otherwise, I'm open to any kind of food (although I probably can't get them to try something they would consider adventurous like sushi) as long as it is a nice atmosphere, very good food and not excessively overpriced.
Thanks for the help,
Jon
Sabur, Somerville
We used to go to Sabur regularly for the first while after it opened and really loved the place. We stopped going a year or so ago after having several consecutive bad meals with mediocre service. It seemed like perhaps they had changed chefs (just speculating, I have no information) and everything went downhill. We knew what the items on the menu were supposed to look at taste like and our complaints as they went downhill went on deaf ears as the waiter would claim everything was the way it was supposed to be - we had been eating there longer than the waiters (this happened more than once before we gave up) so we knew better.
The original staff was great; if they are back, I'd love to hear it so we can try Sabur again but our last lest several meals there were not good.
Jon
Showcase cinemas Randolph 'LUX' level?
Short version: how is the food in the LUX level?
Longer/babbling:
The best (best seats, picture and sound) movie theater near us is the Showcase cinemas in Randolph. They have a surprisingly large food selection in their various food courts but nothing I would normally eat and certainly nothing chow worthy. However, they are pushing their new 'LUX' level which is several theaters with extra plush seating, over 21 only and food/drinks (including alcohol) by wait staff during the movie.
Has anyone tried this? We took a look at the menu last time and the food looks to be standard pub fare and reasonable prices (~$10 an entree). We figured it would be $25ish per person without drinks to eat and watch a movie given how their package pricing appeared to work. I think the tickets were $22 or so and included $5 in food. Since we would otherwise often go out to dinner first, this might be a convenient option but only if the food is decent. So, this is a long way of asking, how is the food in the LUX level?
Thanks,
Jon
Townsend's - Hyde Park
thanks for the feedback. We'll give it a try in the next month or so.
Thanks,
Jon
Townsend's - Hyde Park
I was really looking forward to Townsend's as we live easy walking distance away on a nice day. We haven't yet been however, as a quick look at the menu shows a dinner will cost us twice what we'll pay to drive over to Geoffrey's (our most frequent outing). Is the food that much better? I do realize that Geoffrey's is a bit of an anomaly in their fantastic pricing but, any comments on the difference between Geoffrey's in Roslindale and Townsend's?
I recognize that a big part of the draw for Townsend's is their beer selection but we rarely drink so that doesn't help me much.
From a strictly self-centered perspective, I really do hope that Townsend's flourishes and we get a nice crop of places to eat in that area; I do hate needing to drive to Roslindale or Quincy (we are in Milton blocks from the HP line) for a decent meal.
For those that haven't noticed, their website has a menu at:
http://www.townsendsrestaurant.com/fare.html
Thanks,
Jon
Who has the Best peanut Sauce?
Best I've had is at Amarin in Newton corner. I haven't been to Amarin in a while though so I'm not sure if anything has changed. The other thread about Jamjuli going downhill has me worried since they share (or at least used to) ownership.
Hot dogs
You might mean Best Kosher. If so, the Best Kosher 97% fat free hot dogs are by far the best I've ever had. Unfortunately I don't know anywhere to get them anymore - BJ's only carries the full fat variety and I (as well as my entire family) think the low-fat best kosher are in a different (better) category. If anyone knows where to get these, I'd love to know. I've called the manufacturer before and they weren't much help.
Where to buy Richardson's half-gallons
Do you know of any Richardson's retailers south of Newton? There is a scoop shop in Randolph that sells Richardson's but they don't sell pre-packed. Anyone know of any other Richardson's retailers?
Thanks,
Jon
Where to buy Richardson's half-gallons
I go through a rather large amount of ice cream (actually frozen yogurt and sorbet mostly) - so much so that I have a separate half height freezer (thinking about getting a bigger freezer) dedicated to ice cream. The flavor I go through most is richardson's oreo yogurt. Before I take the long trek from Milton to Richardson's/Jordan's in Reading, I'm hoping there is somewhere closer that sells Richardson's prepacked half gallons for a reasonable price. I know that Cabot's sells a few flavors in prepacked containers but none that we stock at home. There are a number of scoop shops in the area that sell Richardson's but I haven't seen any other places selling the prepacked half gallons. Any suggestions?
Also, I've read the various ice cream threads on the board but there is little focus on frozen yogurt - who makes amazing frozen yogurt I need to try?
To give you an idea of our tastes, currently in my freezer are:
Richardson's purple cow and orange sherbert (out of oreo yogurt)
Gifford's vanilla yogurt and grapenut ice cream (better than Richardsons) (haven't found any place closer than Hannaford's in NH)
Ben & Jerry's cherry garcia yogurt, jamacain me crazy and burried treasure
Haagan Daz mango sorbet
edy's strawberry bars
BTW, I agree with a previous thread that costco has some of the best soft-serve yogurt in the area.
Thanks,
Jon
One night in Montreal - Where do we eat?
6 of us are heading to Montreal from Boston for a bachelor's gathering Tuesday through Wednesday. None of us have ever been to Montreal so we have no idea where to go or what to eat. So, we want excellent food - don't particularly care what kind. If you had to pick the place to take 6 large men craving excellent food after a 5 hour drive and preparing for an evening of bachelor party mayhem, where would you go? We don't have any particular destinations in Montreal so we are not tied to a specific neighborhood.
Thanks for the help,
Jon
Best Challah in Boston Area
Try Rosenfeld's in Newton Center. They also make an excellent whole wheat challah. And I've seen Cheryl Ann's challah at BJ's wholesale clubs from time to time as well.
Any Good Places for Grape Nut Ice Cream? (Besides Louie's)
Richardson's makes a good grapenut ice cream but, if you can find it, I like the Gifford's stuff better. The closest place to get it is in most Hannaford's over the NH border. For some reason (I've asked Gifford's) they don't have any scoop shops or retail locations on the MA side.
Moody St. (area) suggestions???
Ponzu is on moody st. and is an interesting take on 'asian fusion tapas' with excellent food, good service and athmosphere but the prices are a bit high. The small rib plate is overpriced but has an amazing flavor.
Porchai Thai in Wakefield
The best taste at Bangkok on Haven St. in Reading is the ginger soup they serve during lunch during the short wait for your meal. I love the food and the owners do a great job but the soup is the reason I keep going back for lunch at least once a week.
Rami's, Coolidge Corner
I don't dispute that at all. The price is probably quite fair for Boston and certainly not significantly different than I'd spend somewhere else for lunch... I just can't fork over the money without thinking about better felafel for a fraction of the price.
