Have been to Via Matta and will second this suggestion. Turner Fisheries is pretty good and Skipjack's is okay as well -- still haven't been to La Voile or Island Creek, both of which have had good things said about them generally. My personal preferences for seafood would be Neptune Oyster (North End) and B&G Oysters (South End) for pricy and Dolphin Seafood (Cambridge near Harvard Square) and Yankee Lobster (Seaport District) for downscale.

Legal Seafoods may be a chain, but I've done well at several of their locations -- have found those at the Pru Center and Kendall Square the least consistent. You'll find naysayers at Chowhound and elsewhere for them, but that hasn't been my experience for the most part.

Thank you cw! That's just the kind of info I was looking for. I think Legal Seafood is just fine, but since I have one nearby I wouldn't choose it when traveling. However, I have tried the Legal Test Kitchen (LTK)at the seaport and that was fun.

For bachslunch: Just remembered a place we went to on a recent trip. Not Italian, but not seafood and not formal. It was in the Lenox hotel and is called City Table. Nice eclectic menu in an attractive casual atmosphere with reasonable prices. Enjoy your trip.

Judy & danon,

I second the recommendation of Erbaluce at Bay Village. It is right across the street from Park Plaza hotel, and I wonder if that's the same restaurant PeaceOut is alluding to in her post earlier.

danon, enjoy your trip!

Big NO to Turner Fisheries

yk, the restaurant I am thinking of was in a modern building, maybe an office complex. That name doesn't sound familiar. But, it was two years ago, it was a trendy place and could be gone by now. I will see if I can find out.

It could have been Via Matta. The menu looks like what we had and so does the interior and the location.

could have been Davios

It could be Avila as well.