Tia's

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Overall Rating: Sick Meals (86 out of 100)

200 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA 02110
View Map
Phone: 617-227-0828

Best known as a Friday-after-work hotspot, Tia's is the place to be for sick meals on a hot summer night. Bask in the sea breeze, feast on fresh seafood, and drink in a vibrant scene on Boston's waterfront.



Our History at Tia's
Our fifth visit to Tia's was on a Saturday night at 5:00pm.

Appetizers
Tia's appetizer menu is filled with tempting seafood such as peel n' eat shrimp, steamers, littleneck clams, mussels, and Wellfleet oysters. Prices range from $5.50 for clam chowder to $14.95 for fried coconut shrimp.

We got started with twelve peel n' eat shrimp for $12.95. The shrimp were large and the cocktail sauce packed a punch with just enough spice.

Complementing Tia's seafood offerings are boneless buffalo wings, margherita pizza, and several salads including Asian barbeque Atlantic salmon salad.

Rating: 8.6

Main Dishes
Entrees focus on steak and seafood, including Tia's famous lobsters. Seafood selections include Boston scrod for $19.95, fish and chips for $18.95, and char-grilled marinated swordfish for $24.95. Mesquite grilled marinated steak tips go for $18.95 and a New York sirloin steak is available for $24.95. The menu includes one and one-and-a-half pound lobsters. Tia's "House Specialty" is a one-and-a-half pound baked stuff lobster.

Treating ourselves on an early summer night, we indulged in the baked stuff lobster. Tia's masterfully mixed heaping chunks of crab meat, scallops, and shrimp with mouthwatering buttered almond crumbs to deliver a truly sick stuffing. The lobster meat was sweet, tender, and substantial. Fantastic French fries and tasty coleslaw complemented this lobster feast.

Although a bit pricey at $44.95, Tia's baked stuff lobster is certainly in the running for the best baked stuff lobster in town.

Rating: 9.1

Drinks
A bottle of beer starts at $6. Martinis and "summer favorites" such as a Patron mango margarita go for $11-$12. An affordable but limited selection of whites and reds are available starting at $7.50 for a glass or $28 for a bottle.

Rating: 8

Service
We asked for pre-cracked lobster claws and our waitress cheerfully obliged, but the claws were later served un-cracked. Delivery of drinks was on the slow side. Otherwise, our waitress was pleasant, and the service was fair.

Rating: 7.8

Ambiance
With patio seating, a sick Long Wharf location, and a jovial, booze-happy crowd, Tia's is a highly recommended spot on a sizzling Boston summer night. But get there early to avoid an hour+ wait for coveted patio seating.

Rating: 9.4

Et Cetera

Trivia: Reserve Tia's outdoor patio for a sick summer party. Pricing starts at $100 for 50 or fewer guests. Check out the fees and terms.

Menu: Go here to view the menu.

Reservations: Tia's does not accept reservations.

Transportation: There are several nearby parking garages. The closest T station is Aquarium on the Blue Line.

Dress: You may dress casually.

Hours: Dinner is served every day served until 11pm.

Labels: Seafood, Sick-Meals, Tias, Waterfront

posted by The King of Sick Meals @ 9:24 PM 0 comments 

The Barking Crab

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Overall Rating: Not So Sick (69 out of 100)

88 Sleeper Street
Boston, MA 02210
View Map
Phone: 617-426-2722

Located along the Fort Point Channel, The Barking Crab offers up a spectacular view of the Financial District in the casual atmosphere of a coastal clam shack. Unfortunately, abysmal service and progressively worsening seafood leaves one with the impression that The Barking Crab is a wildly-popular restaurant that may be entering the throes of decline.




Our History at The Barking Crab
Our fifth visit to The Barking Crab was on a Friday night at 9:00pm.

Appetizers
Appetizers range from $8 to $14 and include fried calamari, mussels, Jonah crab claws, fried clams, steamers, fried sweet & spicy beer battered shrimp, and barking crab cakes. A selection of soups and salads are available for $5 to $10. We opted for the Jonah crab claws as well as an order of fried clams.

The Jonah crab claws disappointed. We expected large chunks of sweet crabmeat; we didn't get it. After smashing open a crab claw with a rock, the last thing you want is sparse, bland crab meat. While we enjoyed the fried clams, there weren't nearly enough for two people. Our waitress inexplicably down-sold us from a large portion to a small portion.

What happened to the peel & eat shrimp?

Rating: 6.7

Main Dishes
Entrees range from $12 to $24 and include fish & chips, pan seared salmon, baked scrod, grilled ribeye steak, and platters such as fried clams, fried scallops, and fried oysters. Crabs and lobsters are available at market prices. Sandwiches are available for $8 to $14, including a cheeseburger, a lobster roll, and a crab salad sandwich. Sides range from $2 for coleslaw to $5 for onion rings. Normally, we stick to the fried platters, but on this evening, we explored two "specialties": the baked scrod and the pan seared salmon.

The pan seared salmon fillet was served with a red pepper relish that smelled like wet dog and didn't taste much better; we can't remember enjoying salmon any less. The dish included steamed rice, black beans, and bok choy. On the other hand, we enjoyed the scrod's delicious almond crusted topping.

Our recommendation: go with the fried stuff.

Rating: 6.6

Drinks
Historically, The Barking Crab served only beer and wine, but a full liquor license is on the way. An alcoholic beverage menu presently features 17 mixed drinks ranging from $5 to $8, including a margarita, a sea breeze, and a Bloody Mary. Draft beer is available by the cup or pitcher. Affordable whites and reds are available by the glass or bottle.

Rating: 8.2

Service
The bartender held patrons in open contempt. Pouring a drink seemed like a huge inconvenience. No matter how nice the customer, he found a way to showcase the huge chip on his shoulder.

Table service offered little improvement. Bus staff surrounded our table like vultures, twice trying to clear half-finished plates, and once succeeding in swooping away a quarter-filled wine glass.

Crab staff seemed bewildered regarding the restaurant's transition to a full liquor license. The bartender left us with the impression that no mixed drinks were available. The hostess explained that all 17 mixed drinks on the alcoholic beverage menu were available. Finally, our waitress told us that roughly half of the 17 mixed drinks were available. Huh?

This place could use a good housecleaning.

Rating: 3.8

Ambiance
At The Barking Crab, it's all about the ambiance. The half-indoors, half-outdoors shack is perfectly situated on the Fort Point Channel, offering sick views of the Financial District. Crab traps intertwined with white lights, mermaids, buoys, rock music, and loads of beer transport you to sea.

A word of caution: if you plan on hitting The Crab on a Friday or Saturday night, get there early. Otherwise, you may wait over an hour to be seated.

Rating: 9.4

Et Cetera

Trivia: Live music is played on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

Reservations: Reservations are accepted for parties of six or more.

Parking: The Barking Crab offers free parking in a small lot. Additional parking is available in an adjacent lot for $10 per hour and $3 for every half hour thereafter - with a maximum charge of $19 until midnight.

Dress: You may dress casually.

Hours: The Crab serves food seven days a week from 11:30am until 11pm.

Labels: Not-So-Sick, Seafood, The-Barking-Crab, Waterfront

posted by The King of Sick Meals @ 12:31 PM 0 comments 

Anthony's Pier 4

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Overall Rating: Sick Potential (75 out of 100)

140 Northern Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
View Map
Phone: 617-482-6262

Legend has it that Pier 4's late owner, Anthony Athanas, once caught a cab at Logan Airport, and asked his cabdriver to transport him to the best restaurant in Boston. Reportedly, without any knowledge of Mr. Athanas' personage, the cabdriver brought Mr. Athanas to Anthony's Pier 4. Mr. Athanas slipped the cabdriver a cool $1,000 to keep up the good work.

Fast-forward to 2007: your cabdriver is not likely to bring you to Pier 4. You can't beat the harborside location, but it's no longer the sickest meal in town.



Our History at Anthony's Pier 4
Our third visit to Anthony's Pier 4 was on a Saturday night at 7:30pm.

Appetizers
Appetizers include oysters, clams, smoked salmon, and shrimp cocktail as well as soups and chowders such as lobster bisque and clam chowder. Prices range from $7.95 to $18.95. We tried Pier 4's apple and maple cured smoked salmon as well as fresh, delicious Norwalk Bluepointe oysters. The smoked salmon was served was onions, capers, crab meat and wheat bread.

While awaiting our appetizers, Pier 4 paraded a strange mix of complimentary dinners rolls, raisin bread, pre-packaged breadsticks, and house-marinated mushrooms. It felt like a full meal, and then a server plopped two oversized popovers onto our plate. Imbibe conservatively on the pre-meal fixings or you may require a wheelchair by the end of the evening.

Rating: 8.5

Main Dishes
Seafood dishes range from $21.95 for broiled Boston scrod to $37.95 for whole dover sole. Steaks and chops range from $34.95 for a Black Angus New York Sirloin to $49.95 for a specially aged prime 18 ounce New York Sirloin. Lobsters are also available, including whopping 3 to 4.5 pound behemoths.

We decided to order broiled Georges Bank sea scallops as well as fresh sauteed halibut. The taste of flour was palpable as we tucked in to the sea scallops. While the fresh sauteed halibut, served with raspberry vinegar sauce, met our expectations, the accompanying rice was unspectacular.

Rating: 6.8

Drinks
Pier 4 features an extensive, famed wine list, but there are very few reasonably-priced options. Small, shot-sized martinis disappointed.

Rating: 7.5

Service
In making our reservation, we asked for a window seat. Pier 4 could not guarantee window seating, but we were told to remind the hostess when we arrived. We informed the hostess of our preference, and without further discussion, we were immediately seated - not near a window, even though window seats were clearly opening up in minutes. Within five minutes of sitting down, we asked to be re-seated near a window.

Our waiter lacked enthusiasm and buzzed around our table like a bee.

The service at Pier 4 is usually better.

Rating: 6.5

Ambiance
Overlooking Boston Harbor, the large, open room exudes a distinct old-New England feel. Framed, autographed photos fill the wooden walls as you enter the restaurant; name a famous politician or celebrity from the past 40 years, and there's a fair chance they've dined at Pier 4. Unfortunately, the sparsely-filled room gives one the impression that Pier 4's best days have passed.

Rating: 8.4

Et Cetera

Trivia: Anthony Athanas immigrated to the United States from Albania at the age of 5. He went on to turn abandoned landfill on Boston's waterfront into one of the most successful restaurants in the country. Anthony's four sons now own and operate the Anthony's Pier 4 family of restaurants.

Menu: Check out the dinner menu

Reservations: Anthony's Pier 4 is on OpenTable

Transportation: Park for free in Pier 4's obscenely-sized parking lot.

Dress: Casual

Hours: Dinner is served Monday through Thursday from 4pm to 10pm, Friday & Saturday from 4pm to 11pm, and Sunday from 4pm to 10pm.

Labels: Pier-4, Seafood, Sick-Potential, South-Boston

posted by The King of Sick Meals @ 7:28 PM 0 comments