Category: boston

We ate **so well** in Boston!

While we had a bad hotel experience, the location of the hotel was really good – there were so many good restaurants within easy walking distance!

For lunch one day, we went to Legal Seafood. Legal is usually one of the first places most people think of when it comes to seafood in Boston. We started out with sharing a bowl of their famous clam chowder. It was excellent. I had a lobster roll, which was lobster (in just a bit too much mayonnaise) on Texas toast. Av had the tuna and shrimp plate, woodgrilled. One of the best parts of our meal were the drinks – Av had a (very fresh) Sam Adams on tap, and I had a Red Tide Bloody Mary. It was wonderful!

One night for supper, we went to Smith and Wollensky. There are Smith & Wollenskys in other cities, but neither of us had ever been to one. It was after 10pm, and thankfully they were open until 11pm, so we were in luck. I had the most delicious Caesar salad ever, and Av had the best lobster bisque he has ever had. For our entrees, I chose a Filet Oscar, which was a 10 oz. filet over asparagus topped with bernaise sauce and crabmeat (it was Amazing). Av had a larger filet. Everything about the meal was wonderful – the service, the food, the atmosphere.

For dessert, we went to Finale Desserterie. I’ve seen this place mentioned several times, including FoodTV. We picked up things to eat that night and again later, including a slice of carrot cake (average), a triple-chocolate chip cookie (very good), and a couple of cupcakes (the icing was unbelievably good). YUM!!

 

Room: This was our first stay at the Boston Park Plaza. Unfortunately, we didn’t like our room at all; of all the hotels we stay in every year, I can honestly say that over the last five or six years, I can only think of three other hotels that we have truly hated. This is a new one. The room had holey and threadbare towels, holey sheets, a window shade that was tattered, a hair in the shower that didn’t belong to us, an air conditioner that didn’t work sufficiently, gnats, etc. The commode was one of those industrial-type, the kind that were in use at rest areas years ago – obviously not replaced during renovation, which flushed at about 140 db. There was no daily newspaper service, internet was $10/day, and parking was $36/day. A convention we were attending was based here so we decided to try to make the best of our stay. Sadly, several others in our group expressed that their rooms were no better than ours – even before we relayed our experience. This is a historic hotel – so there are some things, like small closets, that you might expect. The general uncleanliness of this hotel, however, is not something that one might expect.

Lobby:The lobby here is overall nice, as is the ballroom. The floral arrangements are silk, but overall the hotel common areas are what one might expect from what was once an upper-end hotel.

Service: Valet service was slow. Overall, the valet and bell service seemed not to be motivated.

Food: We did not dine at the hotel; however others on our hallway ordered room service, and their trays were left out for hours and hours.

Extra: The best thing about this hotel is the location. It’s only a block from a T (subway) station and either in the building or on adjacent blocks are: Bonfire (a Todd English restaurant), Finale, Smith & Wollensky, Legal Seafood, and other restaurants.

Our experience is this: never again. This was my first time to Boston, and I really like the city, but this hotel was (I hate to say this, but….) the worst.