Category: Reviews

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of the East Ender.

The balance at East Ender will work best if customers learn to reinforce the equilibrium themselves. The French-fancy stuff on the menu pulls you to a mindset of fine dining that is slightly out of step with what the East Ender is trying to do. So make sure someone at your table skips the wine for a $4 draft beer, and skips the entrée for the terrific burger (made with meat ground in-house, with enough beef cheek to keep things incredibly juicy and tender). Do French fine dining and New England casual cuisine present some irreconcilable differences? Perhaps. But as the French say about what it is impossible to reconcile between the masculine and the feminine: vive la différence.

The Bollard has published a review of The Merry Table.

From start to finish, The Merry Table did a fine job creating an authentic Parisian vibe. With its old-school, painted-wood sign hanging over the cobblestone alley, and cheesy French pop music playing in the background, this place felt like it had been airlifted from the City of Lights and dropped into the Forest City. And though our meal wasn’t inexpensive by Portland standards, it was a whole lot cheaper than a trip to France.

Vin et Grub has published a review of Hot Suppa.

A double bacon cheese burger with a side of mac n cheese.  Was I asking to go into cardiac arrest immediately? Maybe… but I felt that after a long week, I deserved a little bit of bad cholesterol.  The hamburgers were delicious- cooked perfectly- medium, nice and pink on the inside, still a bit juicy, with a mild cheddar cheese, caramelized vidallia onions, and thick cut bacon from a local farm.  The bacon was nice and smokey, and the onions were sweet and soft.

The ongoing burger of Portland series finds the O-Rama review group fanning out this month to try burgers at Portland’s pubs and bars with visits to 6 local establishments. For more mouth-watering burger reviews see the group’s survey of diner burgers and fine dining burgers completed earlier this year.

Chubby Werewolf – Rosie’s

So, will I wait another three years to visit Rosie’s Tavern? Definitely not. The delicious blue cheese stuffed burger and surprising steak fries are enough to warrant a repeat visit all on their own. Plus, there’s that Kobe beef burger that needs trying out. I’d love to see Rosie’s make some improvements to the bacon and the bun, but these shortcomings are not a deal-breaker.… read the full review

Edible Obsessions – Nosh

So, when I finally shut my brain off and just bit into the damn thing… well, I thought I heard those little piggy angels singing. I loved it. I loved the juiciness and the flavor of the ground pork in the patty, which was reminiscent of a garlicky Italian sausage, but the red meat was near impossible to pick out. The bacon and thick cut pork belly were crispy and fatty, though the foie and cherry jam was completely lost in the pile of pork…Luckily, all together, it reached beyond being a novelty and made for a pretty satisfying bite.…read the full review

From Away – Dogfish Bar & Grille

If anything, then, that is my only complaint about the burger at The Dogfish. While all of the individual components of the burger are delicious and well-prepared, that is just so MUCH of everything that it all becomes kind of indistinct. At eight ounces, the hamburger patty itself overpowers almost all of the other flavors on this sandwich; it’s one of the few burgers I’ve had where I found myself wishing for less meat…read the full review

Soooo . . You Really Like Cats, Don’t You – EastEnder

But now with the phenomenal experience I had at Back Bay Grill etched into memory, I’m mildly disappointed by the Eastburger. Although satisfying overall with the house-ground beef cheek patty, the abundance of the whole grain mustard, and the somewhat amusing interjection of caraway with every other bite, the Eastburger is almost easily forgettable in the long run.…read the full review

The Blueberry Files – Gritty’s

Next Wednesday night: you, Gritty’s burger special. Do it. You won’t regret it. You may not come away thinking that it was the best gourmet burger you’ve ever had. But assuming they don’t overcook it (and they’ve been pretty consistent in my experience), you’ll get a great meal for under $20- that includes your beer too, of course.…read the full review

Where is Jenner’s Mind – Downtown Lounge

so this was a good burger experience. i think the price played a roll in my review. at $4 i am more forgiving then at $12. when i go to dtl i have lower expectations and so they are usually met. if i am at a finer establishment with a higher price point i expect more…i think if you need a burger fix with a beer and you only got a few bucks in your pocket, dtl will do the trick. …read the full review

Eat Here. Go There. has published a review of Bintliff’s.

Overall, it was a great brunch with great friends. My husband, Mark, thinks they have the best eggs benedict in town! Unlimited cups of coffee are $1.99, bloody’s are $6.99, the lobster dishes were $14.99, and the plain benedict’s were $11.99. So, reasonably priced for the large amount of food you get. We left there so full we didn’t eat until 6:30 p.m. Now that’s what I call a hearty brunch!

From Away has published a review of Harmon’s Lunch,

The burgers at Harmon’s are thin, and cooked to a solid medium. They are topped with a thick layer of American cheese, which melts and oozes perfectly into the nooks and crannies on the surface of the burger. The “red relish” is a kind of pickle relish/tomato hybrid, and the onions are sublime; slow cooked for so long that they become incredibly sweet, with the consistency of a marmalade.

and a review of Market Street Eats.

The pita that Market Street Eats uses almost requires a new term to be invented; the word “wrap” is no longer really descriptive enough. These are some inspired sandwiches, served by a friendly, conversational staff, in a casual restaurant space that it’s easy to imagine yourself visiting at least weekly.

Portland Bar Guide has published a review of Figa.

The bar menu is chosen specifically by Farrington, with input from her staff. With wine offerings evenly split between reds and whites and available by glass ($7-$15), half bottle and full bottle ($29-$88), there are many choices for a wine enthusiast. Especially of interest at Figa is the sparkling wine selection, with about ten different options it is one of the most extensive I have seen. If you want to try out a few, order the Sparkling Flight ($13), a sampling of Rose Brut, Cava and Prosecco sparkling wines.

The Portland Press Herald has published a review of Shanghai Tokyo.

Shanghai Tokyo has three personalities — one Chinese menu, one Japanese menu and a Thai menu. It would certainly take more than one visit to determine whether a diner is a good match for a place that has 288 items on its combined lunch and dinner menus. (Yes, I counted them.) We zeroed in on the lunch menu, which is much more manageable on its own.

John Golden gives a shout out to Back Bay Grill, Caiola’s, Five Fifty-Five, Fore Street, Grace, Walter’s among others as having some his favorite restaurant bars to dine at.