Il Capriccio Review

Il Capriccio: A restaurant in decline

Overall rating: 78

Food rating: 75

Il Capriccio, like La Campania, provided a chance to eat Italian food in Waltham that was as good as all but the very best restaurants in the North End. It was expensive but elegant and had a number of signature dishes, such as their porcini mushroom souffle, that were spectacularly good. It was a place we would go for anniversaries, birthdays, and other celebrations, and to take visiting family out for a great meal.

I hadn't been there in a couple of years. My last visit was with a large group and the food was only okay, but it was hard to judge given the difficulties in serving such a group at once.

This week I went again, and was sorry to find that the food and atmosphere have both declined.

Service was pleasant but inattentive. For instance, we had to ask for bread to be served, though when it came was perfectly decent crusty bread served with good olive oil.

A glass of pinot grigio was fair at best, though admittedly not very expensive. An appetizer of Gorgonzola and pear ravioli was overly salty, overly rich, unbalanced (there was no taste of pear), and overall very mediocre. For a main, I had the chicken schnitzel, which was also oversalted, had a mustard sauce that overwhelmed the dish a bit, and was only okay.

You can get food of this quality or better at Sweet Basil or Fiorella's, both for less money. The atmosphere isn't as elegant at either of these, but Il Capriccio is feeling worn and tired. It's no longer a place I could imagine taking someone for a marvelous romantic dinner, either for the food or for the atmosphere. I'm sad about that.

Elephant Walk (Waltham) Review

Overall Rating: 50

Food Rating: 50

Elephant Walk (Waltham): Not sure what's happened to them

We've been eating at Elephant Walk for many years, both in Waltham and in their other locations, but hadn't been there for a while for no particular reason. I saw a Groupon for them a few months ago and purchased it. While sometimes Groupons are a marker of restaurants to avoid, we were happy to have the discount, and we finally made it there on a recent Saturday night as the Groupon was expiring.

The Elephant Walk restaurants have always served off a Cambodian menu and a French menu. The original version of Elephant Walk in Waltham only had the Cambodian menu and was called Carambola (if memory serves me correctly), but it became "Elephant Walk" a number of years ago and picked up the French menu as well. It's a casual restaurant, with a much less fancy/happening feel than the Boston version, near enough to the Landmark Cinema to walk on a nice evening. Parking is also easy.

On this recent visit, and though others also likely had expiring Groupons and it was Saturday night, the restaurant was only about half full. Despite this, service was surprisingly slow. We were seated in a location where intermittent blasts of air were hitting us seemingly from the ceiling, though I had trouble telling if this was from a fan or related to the door opening and closing. They also changed the layout of the menu, making it extremely confusing. Dishes are repeated in multiple sections (Cambodian, Vegan, Gluten Free), and overall it's just hard to figure out what's available.

We ordered some drinks to start that were okay but nothing better. Some crusty French bread came with butter and was standard but nothing special. I ordered the avocado soup for an appetizer. This in the past was really one of their wonderful dishes and a reason to go out of the way to eat at Elephant Walk, and it was very good but not as amazing as it had been in the past. Two of my dinner companions ordered coquille St. Jacques, and both complained afterwards that the scallops were terrible -- clearly not fresh and perhaps close to turning bad.

For an entree I got a tilapia special that was underseasoned and scorchingly hot on the inside making me wonder if a microwave was involved in the preparation. I tried one of my companions braised short ribs, and this too was underseasoned and fairly uninteresting. We didn't stay for dessert.

I looked around on the web before writing this review, since I don't want to make a negative judgment on a single event, but others seem to be concerned that Elephant Walk isn't what it was. Also, this was a Saturday night and the experience was mediocre from start to finish.

I hope Elephant Walk finds a way to get the Waltham restaurant back up to its former level, and that the other Elephant Walk locations haven't also slipped so far. For now, I would suggest anyone considering going to Elephant Walk at least be aware that it may not be the same experience they might have had in the past.