Grill 23 & Bar

This continues to be the best steakhouse we’ve ever been to. Service is exceptional, the 100 day aged prime rib is unbeaten in any steakhouse I’ve been to. The starters and sides, from wedge salad (this was only half the salad I was splitting with my wife) to shrimp cocktails, are always good and their wine and spirits menu is extensive. If you’re coming to Boston and looking for a top notch steak, you can skip the rest and head right here.

Update; 2nd visit. Just as good as the first, if not better. Trust the wait staff. Trust the somms. They know of what they speak. Food once again solid. Completely bullet proof experience whether you are a 1 top or a party of 14. These people know and understand hospitality very very well. Period. End of story. I had a great experience at this iconic Boston steak house. You might think that after 40 years, G23 might be mailing it in. Nope. They are still bringing their A+ game. G23 understands sincere hospitality, food, and wine, and I know that’s hard to believe with a place with so many tables. Tim understood the menu, the preparation, and the dishes really well and made some fine recommendations. Tori (sommelier) has an excellent working knowledge of the *very deep* wine list and did what a top drawer somm should do: guide her customers to a bottle that they will like and away from ones that they might not like without upselling or relying on a lot of condescension or meaningless, flowery language (mission accomplished!). She is one of the best somms I have ever met. Food: excellent. Things that are seemingly easy, but are really not so easy when it comes right down to it (like caviar service or sautéed spinach) were spot on the money. In fact, the caviar service was better than I’ve seen in some Michelin 3 star establishments. (NB: Caviar service is not just opening a tin of caviar and throwing it on a plate with some eggs, onions, capers, and crème fraiche). Along the lines of attention to little details, the salt and vinegar chips served with the tartare were excellent: not greasy, not too salty, not too vinegary. To Pastry Chef Valerie Nin: your creme brûlée is what you would find if you looked up creme brûlée in the dictionary. It is honestly one of the most refined examples of the dish I have ever had. Is CB simple? In concept yes, but in execution, CB is not simple at all. The milk and cookies were exceptional. You might think ‘Cookies and milk? Come on, I want some fancy schmancy dessert for my money.’ But these are perfect in their own whimsical way: warm and gooey and delish. Simple in concept? Yes. Executed perfectly? Yes. And finally, to the kitchen: I have no idea how many people are in the back of the house but given the number in the front, the number of seats, and the number of covers that they did on a Saturday night, the kitchen did an amazing job. There was at least one very large (20+) party that I could see and plenty of other butts in seats elsewhere, and yet the kitchen didn’t miss a beat with any my courses, even when I threw a few (unintentional) monkey wrenches into the works. Large parties (and my antics) can very often cause trouble for a kitchen, but not here, not in the middle of a very busy Saturday night service. This was a display of impressive cooking and impressive management. Overall, this was a really memorable experience. You say you have a special occasion to celebrate? Bring it. Large groups? Bring it. Solo? Bring it. Kids? Bring it. A+.

We made reservations without realizing the chiqueness of the restaurant. We were two adults and two kids (aged 8 and 5). We were nervous that the wait staff would be annoyed with the kids - it didn't seem like a kid-friendly restaurant since there were no kids' menu. But boy, were they so ever nice and attentive to iur needs. The food (I had the BBQ salmon and my husband had the filet mignong) was delicious! For drinks, my husband had the old fashion, and he seemed a bit disappointed that it was watered down, but I had the rose sangria, and it was quite nice. For dessert, we had the coconut cake. It was a pretty big piece - definitely to be shared!