Stopped here for a late lunch after visiting the marvelous Black Mountain College exhibit at the ICA. While I don’t recommend driving down here, lunch was excellent and remains a bargain not only for the Waterfront but for Boston in general. Four of us shared the fish platter (4 different presentations including sardines, tuna, calamari, and grappa-cured salmon), a round of different olives, a top-notch mushrooms pizza, and the chopped salad. A fine bottle of a Val D’Aosta red for an extremely reasonable price and a single shared desert of olive oil cake, tangerine sorbet, vanilla and olive oil ice cream with candied cranberries and the bill was $130.00. Not to mention the excellent bread and olive oil. Good service, (mostly bad music), and, if I could only get here!!!, this would be one of my favorites in Boston. Maybe they’ll finish construction some day.
We’ve eaten at the Manhattan Babbo (lunch and dinner) and had the same experience. Super food and a quite reasonable price for a ‘special’ meal. Glad you had that experience in Boston.
Babbo is really a great addition to the area. I agree that it is an extremely good value. The bill is always less than I expect. The food is very consistent, and service has steadily improved since opening. We had that fish assortment last week ago. It’s excellent. Their deserts are very good as well; Black & White please.
My kids like it there and they are welcoming to the kids, so we find ourselves there often. As far as getting there an parking, it is much more manageable in the evening when the office workers in the area are gone and that immediate area isn’t as congested. One of few things the Seaport has going for it is easy general access from several directions.
We have eaten at Babbo’s twice, and really enjoyed it both times. The price point is great, and though I am not in that area often, it is a nice walkable distance from the Greenway. I consider Babbo’s to be a really nice addition to the Boston restaurant scene.
There’s abundant parking underground, but unfortunately they don’t yet validate. We, too, have put Babbo into our regular rota, most often for Saturday lunch when its easier to get there. I agree the price point is a pleasant surprise - you really leave with the feeling Batali et al. want to share their love of Italian food with Boston. Try the “house” Bastianich wines - remarkably good values. We are not normally fans of fried food, but find theirs to be very light. The fried smelts (no longer on the menu, sadly) were crave-worthy. We often take a post-lunch stroll over to the waterfront - the federal courthouse has a nice lawn/garden that is underutilized.
Another great meal at Babbo last night. 2 adults, 2 children and one senior. Everyone enjoyed their meal thoroughly. The food is consistently delicious and the service has steadily improved. We have not had a bad meal there. Pizzas were delicious and the kids loved standing on stools and watching them go into the oven. The seafood small dishes are all great and a bargain to get all 5 for $28; Calamari and Tuna were the table favorites last night. Eggplant Caponata was delicious as always, and we enjoyed the charred corn dish as well. We prefer the Chopped Salad with the dressing on the side or they do tend to drown it. The kids huffed a salumi platter while waiting for the pizzas. A bargain at under $150, 1/3 of which was alcohol.
Now if they would just validate parking…
Love the place, though.
