My daughter, her husband, my 13 year old Granddaughter and myself will be spending 3 days in Boston before driving to Maine.

We have tickets to the Blue Man Group at the Charles Playhouse, will do the Science Museum, Duck Tour, and Freedom Walk.

Can anyone suggest good restaurants by the Theatre District, North End and Newbury Sreet (we're staying at the Newbury Guest House) that would be enjoyable, but casual ?

Also, we will need a car rental on Sunday morning when we leave. Got any suggestions on picking one up from the Airport or somewhere near Newbery Street?

There's PF Chaing's and California Pizza Kitchen in the Theater District. Try Stephanie's on Newbury Street. There are many good, casual restaurants on Newbury, so you probably want to walk around to see what appeals to you. The same is true in the North End. We like Giacomo's, Artu and L'Osteria. Have fun.

HI--just my two cents--and worth every penny !!--but I would skip the chain places, PF Chang and CPK--esp if you are from CA where there seems to be a CPK on every corner!! If you want Asian in the theater district, I suggest trying Pho Pasteur. Otherwise, stroll a couple blocks to Chinatown and try a local place.

There is a relatively new restaurant called Ivy on Temple Place, which is in close proximity to the theater district that you may like. The concept is like tapas, small plates, with somewhat of an italian theme. Look on the web site www.ivyrestaurantgroup.com You would order lots of small plates of things you like and pass them around the table. You can make a reservation on www.opentable.com

No need to trek out to the airport to get the car -- many of the big rental companies have offices someplace in the Back Bay/Copley area.

The Bristol Lounge in the 4S is popular and convenenient pre and post theatre. There is also a Legal Seafood in the area.

There are so many great places in the Northend, I agree to walk around and choose one that appeals to you and is busy. One of our long-time casual favorites in Pagliuca's. Others, a bit more upscale, are Prego and Sage. Trattoria Scallintella is more expensive, but they have a fantastic chef's tasting menu.

Michele Topor has a Northend Culinery Tour that is so interesting. My teens loved it, and learned a lot about the immigrant history of the area, and about healthy cooking/eating.

Enjoy your vacation!

The best italian restaurant in Boston La Famiglia Giorgio's on Newbury street. Paul

We made a pub stop at Jacob Wirth in the theater district; 2nd oldest restaurant in Boston I believe. We just had wine, but great ambience!! Might be worth a look.

Davios is another good choice.
Your grandaughter wuold like Fire and Ice.

Thanks for all your help. I'll take notes and bring them with us.

You will LOVE Blue Man Group!! (Great for all ages - ask for earplugs! I am not kidding. You need these)

Skip Stephanies ... too expensive and the consensus on Chowhound.com is the quality is down. If you want to research some places, I recommend these websites:

http://www.chowhound.com/newengland/...on/boston.html

http://www.phantomgourmet.com/

http://www.bostoncitylinks.com/newburystreet.html

http://www.northendboston.com/

Also, the Northend market tour IS awesome

http://www.northendmarkettours.com/

You will have so much FUN!!!

Sorry, I disagree about Stephanie's. The only reviews I could find on Chowhound date back to 02/03 and there are only a couple.

Just got back from Boston. We ate at Skipjack's which was semi-casual. We waited an hour, but walked up and down Newbury st while waiting. My wife loved the lobster. I had ribs.
Duck Tour was great. Also, taking the Walking Tour on the Freedom Trail is much better than walking alone.

We rented a car one day - took the T to the airport terminal where we got off and boarded the rental company's shuttle.

correction: Took the T to the airport and first rode the airport shuttle to a terminal, where we then boarded a rental company's shuttle.

Was just at Stephanies on May 23. The three of us like to eat and had been looking forward to trying Stephanie's.

We were really disappointed. Portions are HUGE, but quality was not all that special. Service was sloppy, and our server just disappeared 1/2 way thru the meal with no warning. Never saw him again!

We enjoyed Aquitaine, Great Bay,(both more formal), and Giacomos in the North End.

Our Alamo car was from their office across from the Aquarium.

seetheworld,

I am on Chowhound everyday - and I see plenty of posts about it. (Not every post has "Stephanie's" in the subject line) I was just reading one the other day about the $20+ mac and cheese. (It was under the "comfort food" thread I believe.)

I would have NEVER said anything about people complaining about it on Chowhound IF I was talking about posts made 3 years ago! - If you like that place, fine. We all have different opinions ... But if someone is only going to be in town for 3 days, I have an obligation to let them know that their money can be better spent elsewhere. (So MANY great places in the area!) What they want to do with that info is up to them.

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