We have tix for the BSO next week, Wednesday night. Any Onions had any of the food options they offer ? Recs for around Symphony Hall lighter fare ? Not looking for a fine dining experience. One of us eats just about everything, the other not so much. TIA !
1 Like
That’s a tough one. Been years since I dined near symphony hall, and while the options weren’t great then it seems there are fewer options now. Prudential Center is not too far away along Huntington Ave, and Eataly has excellent options for lighter fare.
Personally I think Boston deserves a new, better symphony hall. Contrast the concert halls in LA, Miami, Akron OH (!)…
1 Like
Thank you, Max. Yes, a tough one which is why I turned to the onions. Last night I found two spots close by Symphony Hall - The Westland and Ichiban Yakitori - . They both are possibilities. Ichiban the more exciting and fun. Again, any onions been ?
I just looked back at my post when we last went to Symphony Hall for a daytime Pops concert (Sept 2023). We drove in from Arlington and stopped in Kendall Square to have lunch at mex. The other place we considered is a Korean place, Omi, with barbecuing at the tables which we thought Spring Onion would enjoy, but it looks to be all you can eat, which would be a bit of a waste on us.
I think we also considered Westland, but have not tried it nor have we tried Ichiban.
Good luck with your search. Please let us know if you find anything decent. We’re going back to Symphony Hall in May for the 50th anniversary of Jaws.
Several years back we ate at SRV before a concert and I don’t remember the walk being too bad. I do remember enjoying the food.
2 Likes
SRV is a good recommendation. The walk is very short (just a few blocks).
Lucy’s Ethiopian Cafe is right across the street, but not sure how that will fly with the picky eater.
2 Likes
Haven’t eaten directly in that immediate neighborhood for a while too. But South End looks very walkable, with a lot of options that are 5-15 minute walk away if that isn’t daunting. In addition to those already mentioned there is Petit Robert Bistro, which looks about 10-15 away.
Just amending to say that Yunnan Kitchen is a 16min walk, per Google Maps. I have tried their food, and really enjoyed the few meals we’ve had there. A lot of regional dishes you don’t see on many local Chinese restaurants. For your picky eater, MMV. 
2 Likes
Thank you, all. Interesting suggestions. I’d enjoy all of them. Will post afterwards.
3 Likes
haven’t been to westland in a couple of years — doesn’t look as though the menu’s changed much.
it’s solid —can recommend the westland burger and short ribs.
1 Like
Well, The Westland it was, primarily because of convenience. Yes, the burger is still solid and thoroughly enjoyed with truffle fries. Shared a fried calamari app - reasonable portion larger calamari than I prefer. Smaller, fresher calamari are sweeter, less dense to the bite. I quibble but we ate it. I went with the Tuna Poke Bowl. It was good, the tuna served with ponzu, both black & white sesame seeds. Bowl included shredded carrots, seaweed salad, avocado, mango, both cucumber & radish slices with a siracha aioli over cold sushi rice.
Hard to fault a place trying their best with minimum staff. Some pre-dinner prepping was done as rice was a bit dried out and the burger came out faster than expected. But it was medium rare, juicy and devoured.
All in all a pleasant night with a sweet waitress covering many tables. Would return if going to Symphony Hall again. Hopefully not wading through an entry area packed with Northeastern Engineering seniors celebrating completion of their senior projects.
And, we were thrilled with the BSO event we attended with WGBH, PBS & Ken Burns previewing outtakes of “The American Revolution”, a panel discussion and phenomenal musicians.
10 Likes
Wow! That event was truly your main course that evening.
3 Likes
I attended the same thing - was a nice event. Unfortunately, our pre-dinner wasn’t so successful. We decided to try LUCIE, the restaurant that now occupies the former Brasserie Jo space on Huntington. We were huge Brasserie Jo fans back in the day and haven’t been in the space since. Alas, LUCIE is a bit of a joke comparatively.
The space has been turned into something significantly more minimal than before (i.e. much less comfortable and much less nice; no tablecloths on the tables at this point), the menu is all over the place trying too hard to be globally influenced, and service is extremely lackluster. Basically just a really crappy hotel restaurant at this point.
My spouse and I both opted for the roast salmon entree, which was supposed to be “maple glazed” and instead came out with a 1/8" thick layer of chewy caramel on top. (Think candy apple coating.) I guess I can give the kitchen credit for its creativity; I’ve never before had a fish dish even remotely like that.
While on the topic of Basserie Jo downgrades: Apparently starch is verboten at LUCIE. There was no form of bread service, and the salmon was served on top of some braised cabbage, with zero carb aside from the sticky caramel topping. Which to me made it feel a bit more like an oversized starter than an entree.
Anyway, I highly recommend avoiding that place 
5 Likes
So sad! Brasserie Jo was so great back in the day!
Because we’re too frugal (some would say “cheap”) to pay for parking, we parked at MGH (free on weekends for B) and walked to Symphony Hall. And we ended up eating nowhere near Symphony Hall, at to the average person….Area 4. But I’m posting here for continuity.
We couldn’t remember the last time we ate there. The pizza was better than ever, great service as usual (they let us sit in the bar area, right in front of the Celts’ game with the agreement that we would vacate before 6:45 pm for a reservation).
The Thai crispy rice was one of the best things we’ve eaten in a long time. It was laab-like, lime-y, fish sauce-y, spicy (we were forewarned and it was merely tingly). There were small chunks of chicken which were easy to transfer to B’s plate. I thought it was a tad salty, but B didn’t.
Pepperoni for Spring Onion, with an assist from B. We split the clam pizza, which was awesome (B wanted more crushed red pepper and lemon). Pizza Marvin is still my ideal clam pizza, but this was wonderful. SO loved the airy, charred crust and ate every morsel.
The Jaws program was a lot of fun, although we felt the musicians were under-utilized, especially in the first half. And it only took us 45 minutes ( 
) to walk back to MGH, which was quite pleasant on a clear evening. Kinda fun feeling like tourists in our own city.
ETA: I had a delicious, bracing, steel-dry Sauvignon blanc. I wish I had taken note; it’s not the website. If I feel motivated, I’ll call them to get the name.
10 Likes
Apologies for typos/missing words/syntax issues. I posted this from the Museum of Science earlier today—I brought SO and a friend/classmate. Another classmate was performing with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra at MoS which was the motivation for our visit today—holy cow, these kids are amazing! But as often happens, my little brain was on overdrive trying to chaperone 2 kids. Thus, the poor writing.
Now, time to maximize my Mother’s Day. (How can there not be an emoji of a person lounging, doing nothing?!)
5 Likes
Thanks, digga ! I loved your post. So focussed on your love of Area Four’s clam pizza and Thai crispy rice I almost got in the car to order both. Truth be told I have had that white clam pizza and also find it so satisfying. As an FYI i recommend the white clam pizza at Brewer’s Fork in Charlestown and the roasted mussels done in the pizza oven.
1 Like
Digga, thanks for this lovely post. We aren’t walking as much as we did during the pandemic. We need to get back to it.
Mother’s Day lunch was king salmon on the grill (on sale at WFM) dressed up with Chris Schlesinger’s mango/red onion/jalepeno relish. Grilled some zucchini coins and Japanese sweet potatoes to fill out the meal. Our Spring Onion was celebrating the end of the semester with friends on Nantucket, but our nephew attending Sloan filled in. Lovely weather for a Mother’s Day…
4 Likes
