It opened today, will you go?
Drat! We missed the opening by a few days while in Boston for Thanksgiving. We will def. be stopping in next time. The entire Center is a fun food shopping experience on your way to or from the Fine Arts Museum, a walkable visit, on a nice weather day.
hoping to get a report from the ground from the s.o., she’s going tomorrow. looks promising. I mean, there’s a canoli cart.
At some point when I am in the area on a weekday I will check it out. When I can determine when the crowds are manageable I will bring my kids as they enjoyed the one in NYC. Will I be rushing over there or waiting in line to get in? Hell no. Though there are few places I’d do that for.
Eataly is interesting and will provide a nice one stop shop for some quality ingredients. It’s the closest thing we have to one of my favorite spots on the planet (Peck in Milan), albeit a bastardized version on steroids. I’m one that doesn’t see Barbara Lynch’s involvement as a positive and will be holding onto my wallet if eating at one of the “restaurants” she is involved with.
I’ll get around to it eventually but wont make a special trip.
I go to the one in NYC quite often and the Chicago one maybe once a year, so there’s not much wow-factor for me.
Way too much of the stuff at Eatalies is grotesquely overpriced.
But you can sip wine while to meander about 
Has anyone tried the fresh pasta (to cook at home?) I couldn’t logistically bring any home from NYC when I was there last year, but it looked worth trying.
I’ve had the fresh pasta once or twice in the past in NY. It was good. I’ve had their ravioli many times. It’s always been superb, with thinner “skins” than, say, at raffetto’s.
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Oh, thanks, fooddabbler. We’ll give it a try as soon as the dust settles. (And the holiday company has visited.)
heh, the report from the ground today says that there’s a giant line waiting to get in the place, so she’s heading for a food truck instead of bothering to go in
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Had lunch yesterday at the pizza/pasta restaurant area around 12 noon. It was crowded, but certainly doable with just a short wait. I had the seafood salad to start and pasta vongole. Loved the salad, the pasta wasn’t great, but it was interesting somehow. Tasted the arugula salad-simple & delicious. No wine for me(teaching), but i will be back for pizza. The Barbara Lynch seafood restaurant looked good, but a little pricey for my lunch.
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A co-worker went this weekend. She says that line of people who appear to be waiting to get in are actually in a line to be seated in a café just inside (even if they don’t mean to be). She says if you go in by the Boylston entrance near Caffè Lavazza you can go right in. I am not really clear on where she means but assume if you are walking around the area it would become clear.
I had a meeting in the Pru today and swing by Eataly afterward. I have to say it was a bit of a letdown. Crowds weren’t too bad at lunchtime. The wait in line at the sandwich counter was only about 5 minutes. The mortadella sandwich I got was meh, despite being starved I threw half of it out. The meat was surprisingly stingy for a $10 sandwich and despite featuring arugula and balsamic the sandwich managed to be quite flavorless.
As far as grocery items I could have rushed through and missed a bunch, but the selection seemed to be more limited than the mid town location I have been to in NYC. The quality of the fish and butcher counters looked quite good with the prices being a bit less than Whole Foods, New Deal, Savenors, etc. However I was very disappointed that they try to steer you to pre-packaged salumi rather than having enough staff to adequately handle cut to order. If I’m paying $25/lb for prosciutto I don’t want pre-packaged meat cut 2 days ago.
If I worked in the immediate area I could see picking up dinner fixings there occasionally, however it’s not somewhere I’d go out of my way to shop at. There really was nothing I couldn’t find elsewhere. I regretted not going with my initial inclination of going over to Coppa for lunch.
Headed by for a first visit today around 2 PM. The crowds were overwhelming, the wait at “Pizza e Pasta” was 2 1/2 hours. Oddly Babbo (Seaport) was nearly empty, our plan B (and I found street parking). Though Eataly looks like it would be fun with about 1/4 as many people, I was a bit shocked. Not sure when/if I’ll try again.
whoa. I’n not sure there are any Boston places I’d wait that long to get into.
We were there at about the same time. With the same reaction. Took about an hour looking around and picked up a few things for some friends we’ll see this week. Nothing I HAD to have but a few interesting items.
Did not get into the wine store at all.
I would stop in during a non-vacation weekday sometime, to get a better view of things.
We ended up getting Thai food for dinner, no wait and Jack Abby beer.
It is so crowded! I really wonder how much the sell. It is impossible to shop with all those people. They must make most of their profits from the restaurants.
I can’t imagine going back. Everything looked good (meats, cheeses, etc) but wow … the crowd. I want them to be successful and I’m sure they will be, sounds like they have the business model worked out from other locations, but why not just be a huge restaurant/mini self contained food court?
Because “…they have the business model worked out.”
You answered you own question.
Discovered they way to shop Eataly - I was there at the 9 AM opening today (Saturday) and had a leisurely shopping experience. Parking under the Prudential was free (I was out in under an hour, not sure how long the parking validation suffices). And a good thing because I succumbed to “shopping while hungry” syndrome. House-made straciatelli to go with roasted beets tonight (cribbed from a dish we had at Terra), 3 types of bread. Tried one of each of the Italian breakfast pastries - my SO loved the coronettes with pastry cream - not too sweet.
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The validated parking rates online state up to 4 hours $14. Is it free if you leave within an hour?
I was out in just under an hour, and it was free. Don’t know what the official policy is.
