Best Restaurants for Special Occasions in Charlestown

Our experience here was okay, though slightly disappointing as I had very high hopes. We arrived 10 min early for our reservation and the hostess seemed kind of annoyed. There isn’t a good area to wait, so we felt in the way. Once seated, our server quickly greeted us and was attentive and awesome throughout our meal. We were served focaccia with a purée which I believe was white bean and pesto, though the person who brought it didn’t bother to tell us. I had the arugula salad which was delicious, followed by the wild boar ragu which was oddly filled with cherry tomatoes and had an overwhelming flavor of bell pepper. Disappointing and decidedly not Tuscan. My companion had the bolognese which we were very excited about, but it was seemingly finished with a lot of heavy cream rather than simmering the dairy earlier in the process. It dulled the flavors and gave it a fatty mouthfeel. Again, disappointing. On ambience, it it was a visually appealing dining room; however, the noise level was intense (and I’m not old/sensitive to that sort of thing). Overall, our excellent service was the highlight of this meal. We will not return here. Too many other places to try.

We enjoyed our dining experience here a lot. The food was well prepared and flavorful. I was surprised to see zucchini flowers on the menu in December but they were so stuffed and fried, the freshness wouldn’t have mattered. Ambiance lovely. Service was great though perhaps not as attentive as other places. Food was delicious, but everything seemed overly complicated rather than letting just simple but high quality ingredients sing, as I’ve seen done so well in Italy. I’ll definitely return!

It was a great experience overall though the noise levels were higher than I expected.

I rated the noise level as energetic due to my group. We came for our team holiday dinner and there were 10 of us and we were a rowdy group. The appetizers came out hot and fresh and we dove right in, starving from a long work day. We laughed so hard, shared bottles of wine, and our server Ben was incredible and was so attentive. Everyone ordered different entrees and two got the daily special and all loved their meal. Will definitely be back!

One of my favorites in the North End. Can’t go wrong with anything on the menu but the carbonara is my favorite!