Boston, MA--Poll: if you wanted to go to one restaurant for a special meal, where would you choose?

I almost said SRV too. We had another excellent meal there a few weeks back. Again I’m mostly focusing on the food, but the atmosphere and design are very nice there as well.

Special occasion dining has changed, I suppose there is alway L’Espalier for a white table cloth kind of place, though I have not been there in ages. Before it closed I would have recommended Hammersley’s (sniff). Sorrellina and Mistral are always impressive to visitors, though their menus have not changes in a decade.

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I don’t know why I didn’t think of that, it is truly an amazing experience every time. Make reservations well in advance.

With the greatest of respect, I have to slightly disagree. The food is certainly superb, the fish impeccable, the sequencing beautifully thought out, and the presentation lovely. But my experience is that there are shortcomings. One is common to all “bar” experiences: the linear arrangement of diners makes conversation difficult between diner 1 and diner 4. The kind of dinner p_thru has in mind would seem to want conversation (but I might be wrong).

The other shortcoming is that Cambridge/Boston diners don’t always take Cafe Sushi seriously. I’ve sat next to people who needed to be babied through every step and who declined certain courses because “they don’t eat that,” and others who were know-it-alls who insisted on hand-rolls and such like to be inserted between courses. The space itself, at the far end of the counter in a noisy restaurant, doesn’t quite have the atmosphere (for me at least) for a special occasion, as opposed to just a delicious meal.

heh, this made me think of the one time I went to Aujord’hui in Boston, where I was such a rube I didn’t wear a jacket and they had to give me a loaner. Really does seem like that kind of style is totally a thing of the past.

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For me it would be, hands down, Il Capriccio in Waltham. Excellent sommelier. Superior food.

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If you’re considering special occasion restaurants in Boston you really should include L’Espalier.

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I was thinking about this place on my way to work this morning. Seems like they are missing a trick by not making this place a high end Chinese banquet spot–the inside decor would work fine for it, and given the population of Chinese students in the area who have parents coming to visit as well as the hundreds of Chinese tourists I see in Harvard Yard every day, it seems like this would be a sure thing.

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