Ivy Restaurant

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Overall Rating: Sick Meals (86 out of 100)

49 Temple Place
Boston, MA 02111
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Phone: 617-451-1416

Located in the Ladder District, Ivy Restaurant serves up delicious, Italian-inspired plates, great wine, and reasonable prices - in an energetic, urban environment. Whether you're planning a night at the theater or just want a sick meal in the heart of Boston, Ivy presents an outstanding option.



Our History at Ivy Restaurant
Our first visit to Ivy was on a Friday night at 7:30pm.

Appetizers
Ivy offers small plates and "Per la Tavola" selections, served communal and priced for two. For appetizers, we honed in on two of the communal offerings, choosing Caesar salad and the "Italian butcher block", each for $10.

We received an ample portion of Caesar salad - more than enough for two. The salad included delicious, toasty crostini that tasted soft like a sponge. The Italian butcher block consisted of thin sliced cured salami, prosciutto, soprasatta, and capicolla, served with fresh fig compote and marinated olives.

Another enticing option for the table is "Formaggio", a selection of Italian cheeses, fresh fruits, toasted walnuts, and Tupelo honey, for $14.

Rating: 8.8

Main Dishes
Four large plates, including Steak Fiorentina and pan seared cod, range from $17 to $25. However, we explored Ivy's small plates, covering a wide variety of cuisine and ranging in price from $7 to $12. After careful consideration, we opted for arancini stuffed with prosciutto and fontina, pappardelle with creamy veal ragu, seared scallops and pancetta, and lamb rib chops.

To our surprise, the small plate portions were generous. We received four large arancini, an overflowing bowl of pappardelle, soft, substantial scallops, and three tender lamb rib chops with citrus bean ragu. At $44 for four dishes, we experienced a filling, tasty range of starch, seafood, and beef. We left Ivy ready to plan small plate selections for our next visit - perhaps macaroni and cheese, shrimp arrabbiata, sesame tuna, and petit steak tagliata?

Rating: 9.1

Drinks
Choose from over 60 bottles of wine for just $26 per bottle. Reserves are available for $44, $55, and $77. There are two full bars.

Rating: 9.3

Service
We never quite figured out who was waiting on us. Otherwise, service was average. Plates were cleared a bit too quickly - sometimes before we were finished. Our selection of small plates arrived on the heels of our appetizers.

Rating: 7

Ambiance
Exposed brick, dim lights, and a modern design give Ivy a hip, urban feel. Contemporary music beats in the background; you can feel the pulse of the city as you enjoy sick food and drink. Downstairs, the Cava cocktail lounge provides a cozy setting for a pre- or post-meal cocktail.

Rating: 8.7

Et Cetera

Trivia: Ivy hosts a weekly wine tasting that features four wines, three small plates, and an assortment of fine cheeses. Read more

Menu: Check out the dinner menu

Reservations: Ivy is on OpenTable

Transportation: Valet for $15 or park in a nearby parking garage. The closest T stations are Park Street or Boylston on the Green Line and Chinatown and Downtown Crossing on the Orange Line.

Dress: Casual

Hours: Dinner is served Tuesday and Wednesday from 5pm until 11pm, Thursday and Friday from 5pm until midnight, Saturday from 4pm until midnight, and Sunday from 4pm to 11pm. Ivy is closed on Monday.

Labels: Downtown-Crossing, Italian, Ivy, Sick-Meals

posted by The King of Sick Meals @ 2:35 PM 0 comments 

Mantra

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Overall Rating: Failure (58 out of 100)

52 Temple Place
Boston, MA 02111
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Phone: 617-542-8111

Overpriced and sterile, Mantra makes a mockery out of fine dining. Want to go clubbing in the Ladder District? Mantra is a potential destination. Looking for sick meals? Don't go here. Mantra represents the antithesis of sick meals.



Our History at Mantra
Previously, we only visited Mantra to go dancing. For dinner, we recently tossed a bunch of money in the garbage on a Saturday night at 7:30pm.

Appetizers
Mantra fuses French and Indian flavors with seafood, poultry, meats, and produce. Our party sampled several appetizers that illustrated this fusion style of cooking, including spiced scallops and tandoori stuffed quail.

Spiced seared diver scallops were served with mango, cumin, black pepper relish, and red pepper coulis. This rub delicately complemented the large, tender scallops. The tandoori stuffed quail was served with balchao sauce and a tiny portion of mustard mashed potatoes. We liked both appetizers, but four scallops for $19 and unspectacular quail for $17 is highway robbery.

Other appetizers include a tasting of oysters, saffron tandoori shrimp, and "menage a foie". For $23, the cleverly-named menage a foie gives you a variety of miniature delicacies: torchon of foie gras with winter fruit compote, pate with black truffle and brioche toast, seared foie gras with lobster, morel and goat cheese dumpling, and sour cherry Chambord gastrique. If you like foie gras, do yourself a favor: forget Mantra and go to The Butcher Shop.

Mantra peddles a bottomless supply of naan while you await your meal.

Rating: 7.5

Main Dishes
Overpriced to the extreme, Mantra's dinner menu includes pork tenderloin roulades, grilled rack of lamb, veal tenderloin, deconstructed tasting of game hens, fresh coconut herb crusted halibut, and steamed marinated gulf prawns.

Our party tried the veal tenderloin for $32, the deconstructed tasting of game hens for $39, and the fresh coconut herb crusted halibut for $39.

The veal tenderloin, served with garlic spinach, herb Idaho potatoes, and port glazed madras onions, was undercooked. The deconstructed tasting of game hens - quail, squab, and duck breast - was served cold with broccoli raab and mediocre yogurt, mustard, chili, and fig dipping sauces. Mantra's "fresh" coconut herb crusted halibut tasted like a dry, bland slab of fish with a few breadcrumbs sprinkled on top. We detected no coconut in the crust. Accompanying curry leaf coconut sauce resembled a pool of mayonnaise.

The halibut dish was supposed to include grilled asparagus, bean sprouts, and peppers. Adding insult to injury, we received three asparagus, a few red pepper slices, and bean sprouts - all "barely steamed" more than grilled.

To put it lightly, the menu over-promises and under-delivers.

Rating: 4

Drinks
Cocktails, sometimes carelessly mixed, go for about $10. Like everything else, much of the wine list is stratospherically priced. On the other hand, Mantra made several mean martinis, helping us forget the calamitous cuisine.

Rating: 7.6

Service
The staff wandered around like zombies and seemed bored as they awaited the main event - the transition of Mantra from a restaurant to a club. Our waitress took forever to deliver drinks, and it was no wonder: we watched as she took our drink orders and then went behind the bar to mix the drinks. Bartenders were missing in action. Sid Vicious cleared our plates.

Rating: 5

Ambiance
Cold, airy, and empty, Mantra has no heart. We felt as though we were intruding on preparations for the evening's clubbing activities. Signs of the previous night's clubbing showed up on dirty curtains. Men relieve themselves on ice; a few hours into a visit, the bathroom becomes downright raunchy.

Rating: 5

Et Cetera

Trivia: Mantra makes a better nightclub than a restaurant. Slip in before 10:00PM to avoid a $20 cover and sip a drink in the smoke-free hookah den.

Menu: Check out the menu here

Reservations: Mantra is on OpenTable

Transportation: Park in several nearby garages or valet for $15.

Dress: There is no reason to go here unless you want to go dancing. With this in mind, dress for a night of clubbing, or go elsewhere.

Hours: Dinner is served Monday through Saturday from 5:30PM to 10:30PM.

Labels: Downtown-Crossing, Failure, French, Fusion, Indian, Mantra

posted by The King of Sick Meals @ 6:45 PM 2 comments