<p>My husband has a big birthday in October mid week and the only way I can get all the kids home from college/grad school is if we rendez-vous in Boston. Any suggestions for a fun, eclectic restaurant in Boston/Cambridge for a special occasion? Don’t want our own room or function area. There will only be 9 of us. Nice hotels to stay?</p>
<p>Expensive but excellent food: Harvest.</p>
<p>Do you want a fancy place where all are dressed up? I’m reading fun and eclectic as not necessarily fancy. Our favorites in this area for group family dining have included some tapas places where you order numerous small plates for sharing. Very social, not necessarily formal and there’s something about the process that creates a festive atmosphere. Most of these places bring out food as it is prepared and you can pace your order to be sure it doesn’t all arrive at once. Dali’s in Somerville near Cambridge line and Tapeo on Newbury St. are possibilities. If you want a bit more of a formal meal, Bistro 5 in Medford is largely Italian food,delicious and friendly (close to Cambridge/Tufts). Dress is varied there. The Boston area is a wealth of restaurants and there are sure to be a lot of great suggestions here. It will be a memorable birthday. Check yelp for ideas also.</p>
<p>Fun and different might be Ethiopian food. [Asmara</a> Restaurant](<a href=“http://www.asmararestaurantboston.com/index.html]Asmara”>http://www.asmararestaurantboston.com/index.html) Very casual - you eat with your fingers.</p>
<p>Haven’t been there, but for D’s birthday last year, she went to a place called Fire + Ice. Here is a description:</p>
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<p>There’s one in Boston and one in Cambridge. Someone who has actually been there can chime in if the food is good, but when you said “fun and eclectic” I remembered the description.</p>
<p>Fire and ice is a Mongolian grill like restaurant. Great for students, maybe too quirky for adults. When we ate there, the place was too loud to hold a conversation.</p>
<p>Special occasion restaurants in Boston: L’Espalier, Bistro du Midi, No. 9 Park, and Radius. You won’t go wrong with any one of these–food is excellent. Menton is another. I haven’t been there, but have heard it’s excellent–same chef/owner as No. 9 Park. </p>
<p>South End: Sibling Rivalry, Hammersley’s Bistro, B&G Oysters (These three are great, less formal than those above.)</p>
<p>Special occasion in Cambridge: Harvest, Craigie on Main, Rialto. </p>
<p>I went to a new restaurant in Cambridge that Bon Appetite listed as one of the 10 best new restaurants in the US–Bondir. I thought it was great. It’s small, cozy and the staff was really friendly. The chef came out and talked to everyone that evening. He’s really into locally sourced food. </p>
<p>Another favorite in Cambridge is Oleana (it’s always busy). The food is Mediterranean and it’s delicious. The chef makes appetizers that you just don’t get anywhere else, e.g., deviled eggs with tuna and black olives, carott puree, red bean pate, to name a few.</p>
<p>I’d second the recommendation for Bistro 5–it’s in Medford and close to Tufts.</p>
<p>Can’t offer any recommendations of my own, but I am eagerly taking note of all the suggetions here since we just moved to Cambridge. :)</p>
<p>I love Oleana. We stay at the Mandarin Oriental on Boylston Street when we want a night away for dinner and shopping the next morning. For us, it has the best location of any hotel in Boston. It’s attached to the Prudential Plaza, but overlooks Boylston. The food at Asana is also pretty good.</p>
<p>Wow - thank you so much for all of these suggestions!</p>
<p>Thanks for all of these suggestions. I think we will try Bondit for the night of his birthday - for the two of us. For the family gathering of about 15 I am looking for something more casual and fun since we have mostly young adults/students. Does that open up any other suggestions? Many of these seem a bit more formal. Thanks for all of your ideas!</p>
<p>Daughter chose Top of the Hub when she graduated from a Boston university. It’s on top of the Prudential Building downtown, and offers an amazing 180 degree view of the city & the ocean.</p>
<p>Daughter recommends L’Espalier for fine French dining. We’ve had several excellent Italian meals in the North End, but I can’t remember the names of any of the restaurants.</p>
<p>A bit fun/funkier is Red Lantern. It’s new and has gotten great reviews. For ease of everyone meeting there, it’s right across the street from the Back Bay commuter station and easily reached via the Orange or Green Lines. Reservations required. The Back Bay Hotel is one block over - it’s a quirkier hotel in the former Boston Police Department Headquarters.</p>
<p>Legal Seafood used to be the place to go…way back when…</p>
<p>I’ve found the Zagat guide to be very reliable for Boston restaurants.</p>
<p>We were in Boston for D’s graduation this spring with both sets of grandparents, so we spent a week eating in nice places. Our most perfect meal was at Sorellina in Copley Square. The octopus risotto is seriously to die for, and everything else we had there was also wonderful. Sorellina is spacious and fairly quiet so a good place for a larger group. It’s fairly dressy. We ate at Rendezvous in Central Square after graduation. The food there is sophisticated but in a very homey, nourishing sort of way. We always feel well taken care of there. The only thing that’s problematic is that it gets noisy, a problem if you have people with you who are hard of hearing. Ditto Oleana. Oleana is a great small-plate sort of place however, where it’s fun to share, so that might be a good choice for a family gathering. It’s also a good place to go if you have vegetarians with you. We ate at Rialto at the Charles Hotel the first night that all the grandparents arrived and had a very nice meal there as well.</p>
<p>Hotels - the Charles is right in Harvard Sq. and is lovely but very expensive. We always stayed at the Kendall Hotel in Kendall Square because of location (close to D and about 50 yards from the T) and fun/funky atmosphere. Their buffet breakfast, which is included, is very nice. I was scouting out hotels for the grandparents and took a look at the Liberty Hotel in Back Bay. It looked like a fun place but was a little out of the way for our purposes.</p>
<p>I haven’t had a chance to try the area, but there was a recent story in the Boston Globe about the Seaport area restaurants and how the area is the new happening place for young people. I know there is a Legals, a Jerry Remy’s, and a new Mexican place (Papagayo - maybe), among others.</p>
<p>I’ve got one to add for Cambridge–Maharajah. It is excellent Indian food. I took my son there several years ago, and he chose it to take his g/f for his b/d. Its near Harvard Square, 2nd floor, overlooking a square.</p>
<p>We also ate at Oleano’s, and enjoyed that.</p>
<p>What would you suggest for a North End restaurant? Looking like Italian food and the location might work best. Thanks for the great suggestions.</p>
<p>DS in Boston likes Tantara. I had a very disappointing meal at La Summa last month when I was visiting.</p>