Bar Boulud Boston review

Overall rating: 84

Food rating: 83

Bar Boulud Boston: Beautiful Space; Good Food

We went with friends to Bar Boulud Boston, who had enjoyed the New York Bar Boulud. I'd had a hamburger in one of the Daniel Boulud New York restaurants many years ago, but otherwise have not eaten in any of his establishments. The restaurant had opened very recently, and we noted a number of negative reviews about the food and service the day of our reservations, and seriously discussed canceling and going elsewhere.

Bar Boulud is in the Mandarin Oriental, and there is valet parking for the hotel that is discounted (to $19) if you eat at the restaurant. That made parking easy, if expensive. We were greeted as you'd expect at a fine restaurant and the service was attentive and appropriate, so whatever had been others experience, we had no problems.

The space itself is beautiful with wood floors, wooden arches perhaps reminiscent of a vineyard, a glass wall looking onto Boylston Street, and beautiful tables and chairs.

Two of us had cocktails that were good but quite expensive, and glasses of wine were also very expensive; beer seemed more normally priced. Bread was brought out that was  a perfectly nice crusty bread.

For appetizers, the cold lobster aioli was fine but not particularly interesting. Similarly, the cauliflower soup was pleasant but not remarkable. One person had the onion soup, which he felt was excellent and one of the two best things we had at dinner. One person go the Salad Lyonnaise made with chicken liver, and this was tasted by all and felt to be the one really tasty dish of the evening. Two of us shared the Shrimp al Ajillo which was fairly dull and had very few shrimp for the price.

For main courses, two of us had the lemon sole which was nicely prepared and a large amount of fish. One person had the burger, and felt that it was underseasoned for a high-end restaurant burger. One person had the Spaghetti au Citron in a clam sauce; it was tasty but a bit overly salted.

For dessert, the Maple Pear Coupe was okay but nothing special. We shared a basket of Baked Madeleines which were nice, but again nothing special; we commented that they would have gone well with a chocolate dipping sauce.

The overall experience at Bar Boulud was nice enough -- certainly better than the early reviews had suggested -- but the food met the expectations created by the reviews: it was nicely prepared and pleasant, but there was no wow factor as you might expect from Daniel Boulud's first restaurant in Boston. The prices were not unexpected for the location (in a very high-end hotel), but were too high for the food. Eating at the soon-to-be-closed Hamersley's Bistro would be a bit more expensive but provide a much more exciting meal.