While our stay in Boston, we visited Earls Kitchen + Bar inside Prudential Center. We walked up to a hostess and asked for a table for two. She told us to right up the stairs. Once we were on the second floor, I asked for a table for two again, to a different hostess. She told us that the tables are first come first serve seating. Interesting but a bit confusing, as there were several different types of seating as well as table size… We took a nice roomy booth that can seat around four or five people.
It was rather quiet and not busy at all. So other customers with just party of two were sitting at large tables as well. It is always nice to have more space. The restaurant was large, with plenty of seating. They had a bar up front near the entrance, and another bar in the back with several TV screens for sports fans.
A bad thing about a restaurant on a slow evening is that the service can also be slow… It took a good while for a server to come over to our table. And since there was no menu on the table until she brought them over, it took us a while before we could see their menu offering.
We started off with a cocktail, Sunset Mai Tai ($11.75), made with rum, triple sec, toasted avocado nut, lime, and pineapple bitters. It was beautifully made with nice gradation, depicting a sunset. Sweet but not overly sweet, nice flavor. I thought was quite affordable, and a very nice drink indeed.
For food, we decided to order a small items to share. First item was Korean Hot Wings ($14.50), with spicy red pepper glaze, fried onions, and sesame seeds. I really like Korean wings, and here at Earls Kitchen + Bar, they have done a great job! They were tangy with a nice little kick, packed with flavor! I could’ve had a large bowlful of these babies!
Then, one of my (many) weaknesses, Truffle Fries ($7.50) with their custom salt and pepper blend, and truffle aioli. The fresh ground pepper was really nice. The fries were thin, soft and potato-y, and the truffle aioli had a nice flavor of truffle. Soooo good!
We decided to order one sushi item to share. They only had a handful of sushi dishes, and we went with Dragon Roll ($15). It is made with marinated ahi tuna, avocado, yam, tamago, spicy mayo, and tobiko. The rice was undercooked or dry, causing them to be a bit tough, which was disappointing. The sushi roll itself was ok, fresh and tasty. Nothing really special though.
The last item we shared was Scallop Risotto ($26), made with seared scallops, tarragon, cauliflower, and braised mushrooms. We told our server that we were going to be sharing this dish, and they separated the risotto into two plates! How nice! It was refreshing with a nice lemon flavor. Cauliflower was cooked well, still firm enough to give slightly crunchy texture. Scallops were huge, plump, and tasty!
We decided to end the dinner with dessert. We chose Sticky Toffee Chocolate Pudding ($9), warm pudding cake, chocolate and toffee sauces, with vanilla ice cream, and candy snap. Toffee was warm/hot in the center, nice size, moist and dense. It was drizzled with warm chocolate sauce, and some caramel sauce as well. Ice cream was perfect with it. Candy snap was way too hard. Not really edible which was disappointing…
We had a nice dinner here, with tasty drink and food. There were few negatives, such as the service being very slow, and the temperature of the restaurant was too warm to the point it was kind of hot and uncomfortable. Other than that, we enjoyed ourselves at a roomy and comfy booth. I recommended Earls Kitchen + Bar to colleagues, and they all had a nice experience. I don’t think I will order the sushi again, but everything else was quite good. A nice place for a business and casual eats!
Earls Kitchen + Bar – 800 Boylston St #107, Boston, MA 02199