So I have to report back - with my head hanging down in shame . . . because we went rogue and even with all these great suggestions (which I WILL still use for future downtown excursions) . . . I ignored all your wisdom . . … and was left disappointed.
Before the theater we went to Marliave for lunch. It has been around so long that we decided we needed to say we’ve been. I have to say, we very much enjoyed our lunch. I had the ravioli - which were very nice, a little over sauced for my taste but that is easy to fix with ravioli by just shaking them off. My S.O. had the omelet. I have to say, it has been YEARS since I’ve seen an omelet cooked so well and “old school” - not a hint of color anywhere, soft and cooked through, and not “oily” with too much butter to keep it from sticking to the pan. I was really impressed.
Then after the theater we did go to Liquid Art House. I was VERY disappointed. While I’m still adjusting to the price point of dining in Boston in general, LAH was ridiculous - and the food wasn’t good. Just to list what we had - cocktails: The Ponte (a rye and cognac drink), the cocktail of the day (a blood orange mojito), and a caipirinha. They were fine, nothing special, nothing great but fine. I expected better for $18 (or so) a cocktail. The second Ponte came out with the wrong garnish and actually tasted quite different from the first. I think they either made the Rob Roy from the menu or started making it and switched. We did send it back, they remade with only a little attitude of “it’s going to taste the same but I’ll remake it” under the breath.
For an amuse bouche they offered a lobster bisque (free, so should you really complain about free?) - it was a very solid lobster stock but was so reduced and salty that I couldn’t eat it. It would have made a great bisque if it had some cream in it, which would have also helped to cut the saltiness. They had a special that evening of hamachi collar - it was good, not great, but good. We also had the gnocchi with sea urchin. The sea urchin was undetectable in the cream sauce and the gnocchi were about the size of a dime and dense and chewy. For $18 I think you got maybe 8, dime sized gnocchi and no visible or taste-able sea urchin . . . We also had the Iberico Bellota - which of course tasted great (one of my favorite things) but for $24 (I think) it was a few poorly shaved pieces on a plate . . . maybe I’ve been spoiled from having it in Spain but still . . . for $24 come on put a little effort into it.
So while the room was beautiful and we enjoyed the bar space - and I enjoyed the art (if I had the wall space I would have bought one) - and the servers were attentive and pleasant (other than the one bartender’s moment) - the food was very disappointing and very overpriced. So we won’t be back.
I did see on another thread that Saturday night at Yvonne’s already had a line by 5pm, so maybe we should have tried that.
Teatro looked great from the website - will have to get there.
And Shojo has been on the list for a while . . .
So just goes to show - don’t ask for advice and recommendations and then ignore them . . . serves me right . . .
Thanks for all the input - my list of places to try just keeps growing!