we are staying at the Marriott Long Wharf in Boston next weekend. any opinions on this place?
any suggestions for a good restaurant in Fanueil Hall (last time we were in F.H. we had dinner at Durgin Park. it was fine but i'm not interested in doing it again): fun with good food..??
thanks!!

The Marriott Long Wharf is such a great location. You will be a very short walk to the North End. Head to Hanover Street and you will find an abundance of little Italian restaurants. I can't give you any specific names because it seems each time we go, we head into whichever one smells the best! Make sure you get to Mike's Pastry for their cannoli!

A fairly inexpensive restaurant on Hanover which has great food is Dolce Vita. Make reservations.

I've stayed at the Long Wharf a few times - it's a great place. On the waterfront, over a T stop. As for places to eat, the North End is nirvana if you like Italian food, my favorites are Mauritzios on Hanover, and L'Osteria on Salem. For something different, try the Naked Fish just across the street from Fanueul Hall. Really interesting Brazillian seafood place.

I stayed at the Long Wharf once. It's in a very good location, and its a Marriott...so the inside is like any other Marriott. Not bad, but no charm to speak of.

In Faneuil Hall I like both Rustic Kitchen and Todd English' Kingfish Hall. Rustic Kitchen used to be a Todd English restaurant before he and his business partner had a falling out. It's better now than it was, I think. Somewhat traditional Tuscan cooking. Kingfish Hall has pretty wild decor, and typically over-the-top Todd English cuisine. Very fun, and good food. Also, if you want something more elegant than these, Sel De la Terre is very nearby. It's a rustic French restaurant owned by the same guy who owns L'Espalier (which is perhaps the finest French restaraunt in Boston). All 3 of these places will run you a pretty penny, but will be interesting and have excellent food.

I'd like to offer a dissenting opinion on "The Naked Fish". Its actually supposed to be Cuban style food. But it is a chain, and the branch out in the burbs, near me, serves pretty bland food. Most of the fish is mushy, a sure sign that it was frozen. Perhaps the downtown version is better, but I think there are much better places to try.

China cat made some good suggestions. I've tried them all but living here, I tend to eat in the South end and in Cambridge.

I stayed at Longwharf Marriott about 10 years ago on the weekend I got engaged... very nice memories and a nice hotel... I think going to North End for nice dinner is good suggestion. We had our"big"dinner at the Bay Tower Room which has a fantastic view of the harbour BUT.. hubby took me this Sept for our anniversary and it was very disappointing both in terms of service , food quality, quantity and high price.

The view still great .. maybe you can just have drinks there.

back from "weekend in Boston". boy was it cold out!!! but besides that....we were at the Fleet Center on Friday night watching the Celtics fall to the Nets. by the time we got to the Long Wharf Marriott it was about 11:30pm. i did whip out the Marriott Rewards card and smile sweetly at the Front Desk person, but he told me that "only people who stay with us at least 50 times get upgrades". okay, at least i tried. our room overlooked the indoor atrium. this was a plus if you want to sleep late because there is no bright light filtering through the curtains, ever. it could be nighttime all day long. there was a wedding reception in this atrium on Saturday evening, but very civilized. all we could really hear was the polite tinkling of piano keys. on Saturday morning we had the breakfast buffet at Oceana, the hotel dining room. it was very pleasant and our waitress Carmen was a gem. then we went out into the blustery cold and were blown over to the New England Aquarium. this is a small but very well designed place and there is plenty to see: several types of penguins, sea turtles (one as large as a dining room table), frogs the size of a kids fingernail....a 35 foot long anaconda...the Rockhopper penguins (the ones with the tufts of yellow feathers on the sides of their heads that make them look like they're wearing masks) really enjoyed the periodic jets of water that shot up through the rocky ledges. they stood right in the spray and closed their eyes the way some of us do in the shower...there is an IMAX theater on the premises and we enjoyed the "Ocean Wonderland" presentation. it was my first time in one of these places, so it was a big thrill to put on those 3-D glasses.
Faneuil Hall was next on the agenda. it's an easy walk from the Aquarium and it was very very busy. but always something to see. the Lobster Man from Provincetown (or his twin)was happily obliging fans who wanted their picture taken with him.
after asking for restaurant advice and examining the menu at Kingfish Hall, i am ashamed to admit that we ended up ordering room service (great lobster salad sandwiches) and watching the two Harry Potter movies on HBO. oh well. i guess that's testimony to how comfortable the room was, how cold it was outside and, of course how lazy we are!

Sounds good to me! Glad you had nice time.

Definitely check out the one of the restaurants in the Italian district. My boyfriend & I ate at a place that I think was called The Cantina or The Italian Cantina or something like that. It looked kind of dated, so we were a little hesitant to try it. It was awesome though, and there was the cutest, sweetest little old man walking around playing the accordion. I think he was around 90 yrs. old. Very cool place.