Rosebud Diner, 2023 reboot [Davis Square, Somerville]

Regional Dining Discussions Boston, New England
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The Parsnipity family ended up needing a walkable dinner option the other night with an out of town guest who’d declared a fascination with diners. Thus, we decided to check out the newly re-opened Rosebud. It was purchased, briefly closed, then reopened with a new chef with an Indian background and the promise of some new flavors.

For those who don’t keep close watch on Somerville politics, there’s been a great deal of back and forth about the firing of the former staff. Myself, I decided to keep out of it and am generally of the mindset that businesses can close, sell, reopen, etc. Whether it was done in a kind and considerate way to the staff, I cannot say. So let’s leave that out of this for now and focus on food.

The atmosphere delighted our guest, and of course one must dine in the front part of the diner car. We were all set to order chicken and waffles, which is on the menu with an intriguing Indian spice bent, green chili waffle with a gluten free option, and fried curry leaves, but unfortunately they were unable to make waffles the night were were there. Big bummer as basically all of us had settled on that. Should have been stated up front IMO. Most of us settled on fried chicken sandwiches, and the spring onions went with pancakes and French toast plates. Nothing interesting about those menu items, but they filled everyone up. Our guest ordered the vegetarian Indian chili and said it was good but too spicy- we weren’t on a food-sharing basis with this guest so I can neither confirm nor deny.

I really liked the GF bun on my fried chicken sandwich, but the chicken itself was cooked to death and quite tough. Also not a great size portion for $19. I also wasn’t asked anything about my gluten issue, so while I personally do not need to be strict, there were a few warning signs that would cause me to not advise anyone to eat here who had celiac.

On the whole, I found the food comparable to how it’s always been here- filling, greasy, some parts rather tasty but nothing I’d go out of my way for. To be fair, we also really didn’t sample the parts of the menu that looked like the chef might have had more creative leave with, so that’s on us. If the atmosphere and location work for you, it can fill a niche. We did not sample drinks for various reasons but they do have an interesting cocktail menu advertising $10 cocktails which is pretty good these days.

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So, I tried to be generous above in my review, but it had been a year since I ate at Rosebud and I never felt the need to return. However, last night some friends suggested meeting there and one of my friends who is a vegetarian said she had had multiple excellent meals at the current Rosebud so I agreed despite some hesitation.

I’m going to cut to the chase: this place will be out of business in 6 months max. If not, I will buy any Onion a drink at the bar. But not food. Nope.

The front diner car part, while adorable, has always been noisy and hard to regulate temperature in, so we asked to be seated in the main dining area as the whole point was conversation. The bar in the main area, which was mostly empty, had a TV displaying “best EMD playlist” at a shocking volume. We asked for it to be turned down, and then asked again later for different more appropriate dinner music, which caused a woman sitting at the bar to comment “thank you- I HATE this music.” I guess they were trying to create a dance party vibe, but that was inconsistent with them later trying to clear our unfinished drinks and asking us to leave as they were closing… at 9:45pm on a Saturday night.

Considering how many staff seemed to be circulating, it took a very long time to get drinks. The drinks (now $14 for most cocktails) were actually pretty good, so that was the bright spot. Although I ordered something with gin, shiso and cucumber, and there was no shiso present either visibly or in flavor, and the drink was pink for some unknown reason as nothing in the description should have caused it to be pink. Whatever; it tasted good. Unlike my prior visit, they did have the chicken and waffles, so I ordered the gluten free version after asking twice if they used a pre-made GF waffle or cooked it themselves. They did make it from scratch, but “cooked” it was a stretch- it was gummy and gluey. Again, no follow-up questions about my GF order as far as allergy. The chicken was a paltry strip with little to no flavor. This wasn’t a food-sharing crowd except for an appetizer of cheese toast, which I couldn’t eat due to the toast having gluten, but which was reported to be very spicy and went partly uneaten among my 3 other dining companions. We had to flag down staff each time we needed anything including rounds of drinks. I really don’t understand the situation here, as despite being quite empty at 9:30 it seemed very odd to start kicking us out. Again, I’ll meet anyone at the bar, my treat, in 6 months if it’s still open.

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Rosebud always frustrated the hell out of us the few times we tried it. It’s sad - I remember all the excitement about the initial opening. I’m pretty sure we haven’t been there after we moved out of Teele Sq back in 2010; actually, maybe once when Spring Onion was a tot, thinking he would be delighted by the diner car aspect. But I have no memories of that meal. I re-read your previous post and had no idea about the staffing issues. I can’t imagine how much money they are hemorrhaging in that high-rent space. Sounds like they need a reboot of the reboot.

PS I’d gladly join you at the bar!

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That is really sad.

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Okay- you’re on. Come May 2025, whatever exists in that space, we’ll sit at the bar & make the best of it!

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Us, too. We gave up on it years ago, actively bad as it was.

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