Boston - North End Restaurants
 

Need recommendations for North End Italian. Think we ate at Pomodoro last visit (it's been awhile).
Any suggestions or ideas welcome.

If you like casual: Calamari Cafe / Daily Catch. Small place, usually crowded, many dishes served in the skillet they were cooked in. Emphasis on seafood and .... calamari. The black squid ink pasta with ground squid in the sauce is great.

If you want formal, Taranta. The Chef and/or owner is from South America and while there is a little bit of that influence on the menu, most selections are southern Italian and very good.

There's a lot in between the two above extremes as well.

Did some comprehensive research on the North End a little while ago and posted my thoughts at the Chowhound website:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/448599

Should hopefully give you some ideas.

Prezza !

Lemoncello! Giacamo's for a more noisy/fun meal.

Not sure what you want to spend, but I recommend Marco, Lucca or Prezza. You cannot go wrong with these restaurants.

Carmen

if you are looking for high end, i recently had one of the best meals of my life at Prezza. If you are looking for more casual, Pagliuca's is very good.

I'll second Carmen. It is very small and you will most likely need a reservation. The prices can be intimidating, but the half orders of pasta are very filling at half the price.

Let's update this! Euno is the best restaurant now, in my opinion, in the North End...

Thanks for the tip, LoveMaine. We went to Euno tonight and loved it! Best atmosphere, amazing menu and good service.

I have been going to Boston every year for the last seven years, and I have never had a good meal. Finally, a couple nights ago we did. We ate in the North End at L'Osteria. It was the best meal I had in Boston. Their website is www.losteria.com. Also, if you are into cupcakes, there is a little place called LuLu's on the same street (Salem Street) that was very good.

Mers, you've had only one good meal in Boston in 7 years of visits? Wow--just can't imagine how that could happen. Next time ask us here or go to Chowhound for suggestions.

Mers, I'm wondering, too. Where did you go and end up getting substandard food? I've been to a good number of places in Boston and would be happy to make suggestions.

For what it's worth, I've been to L'Osteria and Lulu's. Neither would go at the top of my personal favorites list, though one can do worse in either category.

Regarding Euno, have been there as well, and I'll agree that it's a most worthy North End place. It's not at the absolute top of my personal choice for North End restaurants, but it's certainly well worth going to. Luckily, the North End is not an all-or-nothing place regarding restaurant quality.

I know, it's pretty crazy that we haven't found too many places we like.
Let's see, this trip we went to Ristorante Fiore - There were seven of us and only one person liked their meal.
We tried Durgan Park - that was horrible. We picked it because there were so many good reviews of it.
We also tried Stephanie's on Newbury - didn't like that either.
Finally we tried L'Osteria, I had the Lobster Ravioli, and it was very good. Everyone of us liked their dish.
At LuLu's cupcake shop, I do have to say that the Red Velvet cupcake was very good. The others flavors that I tasted were not as good.
Our last day we ate at Parish Cafe on Boylston, and that was very, very good.

Last year - Atlantic Fish Company, Oyster House, Joe's American Grill, Charlie's. We even tried the California Pizza Kitchen since we always go to the one near us - and it was even horrible.
I don't even remember the other places, but I would love suggestions for next time we go. I will try Euno, and I will check out Chowhound. I know there must be plenty of great food in Boston!

Mers, it's for the most part no wonder you haven't had a good meal in Boston. The only one of these places you didn't like where I've had a good meal (several, in fact) is Durgin Park. Re this place, it's perhaps possible the cuisine didn't appeal -- it's New England Yankee Style comfort food (think potted beef with onions, short ribs, pot roast, prime rib, crock cooked baked beans, brown bread, Indian pudding with ice cream, coffee jello) -- and some people find the food too old-fashioned and stodgy. I enjoy it, myself. This kind of food used to be much easier to find locally, but except for Durgin Park, Parker House, and New England Oyster House, no place offers up this cuisine in the Boston area. Durgin Park does this food better than anyplace else in my experience. Food and service at the New England Oyster House is generally awful -- stick to raw oysters and beer at the bar if you venture here; this place is a real tourist trap. Of course, any restaurant can have an off-day, too.

I've had decent experiences at Atlantic Fish, but it's not a spot I'd put in a short list of Boston seafood places.

Some of the poor food experiences you've had can be chalked up to trying to dine on Newbury Street. There are a ton of places here, most with outdoor sidewalk area dining, but not many places do good food here. Joe's and Charlie's are both mediocre pub grub spots, with the former a little better than the latter. Stephanie's is in my experience horribly over-rated, not much of a step up from Cheesecake Factory in everything but price -- the best things I've had there were desserts, including a good bread pudding. There are a few decent places here I have tried (Trident Booksellers and Cafe, Other Side Cafe, Tapeo, an outpost of Upper Crust Pizza, Emack and Bolio's Ice Cream) and have seen positives about La Voile, but food-wise this is a street to see and be seen, not savor quality food.

Restaurant Fiore in the North End is not a well-regarded place here. Its primary attribute is having the only outdoor rooftop dining area in this neighborhood. My one experience there was okay but not sufficiently compelling to merit a revisit. The place is roundly reviled over at Chowhound.

Glad you went to Parish Cafe -- they're really good. Wonderfully creative and tasty sandwiches.

Give us a shout here before your next Boston visit, and let's all here see if we can steer you to better places. They're out there, promise.

Regarding Newbury street, we went to Bouchee last night, a French bistro. It was very good. We were there early, at 6. It was not crowded till we left at 7.

Mers,

I agree with bachslunch--check in next year and you'll get good advice.

I haven't been to Durgin Park in years and bl's description reminded me that I must go back soon. I am not a fan of Stephanie's at all and can't figure out why it's so popular. I did enjoy La Voile for French food. I also like Bouchee. Joe's and Charlie's are what they are--a good place to get a burger or sandwich at any time.

In the North End, I enjoyed my meal at Taranta a few months ago.

I know - I will have to check in next year when I go - unless the Red Sox make it to the world series - then I can come back in October! I did hear that Ida's, Prezzo's & Tresca's were very good.
The food at Stephanie's really had no flavor. I'll have to try some of the smaller places that were suggested.

Mers, my takes on the three North End spots you mentioned directly above:

-Prezza. Arguably the best restaurant in the North End. Northern Italian cuisine. Only Mamma Maria rivals it, in my experience.

-Tresca. Good, if maybe not top of the heap. One can do much worse here.

-Ida's. My experience here was poor food, decent service, very cramped quarters. Would not recommend.

Note that the smaller places I mentioned in Newbury Street are not traditional dinner spots. Trident and Other Side are breakfast/lunch/coffee/smoothie spots. Tapeo is a Spanish tapas place. Emack and Bolio's is an ice cream take out spot. Upper Crust is a pizzeria. La Voile and Bouchee are more along the lines of sit-down dinner places (haven't been to either). In the close-by neighborhood are two break-the-bank special occasion places that are among the best restaurants in Boston, L'Espalier and Clio. A good close-by alternative is to walk a few blocks from this part of Back Bay into the South End, where the food quality tends to be notably higher.