<p>Try Monica’s in the North End then Modern Pastry for cannoli</p>
<p>I’ve had a couple of very good lunches at Trattoria El Panino in the North End.</p>
<p>I suggest using opentable.com to book - you won’t necessarily be able to walk right in and get a table for nine anywhere.
Flora in Arlington - not far from downtown is nice, and parking is fairly easy.
Brassierie Jo in Boston is classic good French, not very formal, but with great service, parking also easy.
Craigie on Main in Cambridge is excellent, but expensive.</p>
<p>Mamma Maria in North Square is very good - just across the street from Paul Revere’s house. It’s in a small, cramped multilevel house - very quaint and unique. The food is more innovative than the typical North End Italian. Make reservations!</p>
<p>We have a large group going to Assaggio on Friday night. I have never been there, but H has been there for lunch before and thought it was alright. The menu looks good and we needed a place that can seat a group of +10. It is on Prince Street.</p>
<p>I think that Piccola Venzia was the North End place we liked.
[Piccola</a> Venezia - Boston Restaurant - MenuPages Italian Restaurant Search](<a href=“http://boston.menupages.com/restaurants/piccola-venezia/]Piccola”>Boston Menus - Boston, MA Restaurants Guide - MenuPages)</p>
<p>While in that area, pick up cannoli from Mike’s Pastry (or Modern Pastry)</p>
<p>The North End (Littly Italy) was full of great places. And maybe because it was summer, it seemed like there was a gelato place everywhere you looked!</p>
<p>This thread is making me homesick!</p>
<p>I’m not a huge fan of North End Italian, but two restaurants that I’ve really enjoyed are (the already mentioned) Mama Maria and Prezza.
[Prezza</a> - Fine Dining](<a href=“http://www.prezza.com/]Prezza”>http://www.prezza.com/)</p>
<p>I’m resurrecting this thread to see if anyone thinks the North End will be fun to wander around on a winter Saturday evening. D has two auditions in Boston this weekend and I’m looking for something simple and fun to do Saturday night, that will give her a little taste of the city in case she ends up at school there.</p>
<p>The North End is primarily restaurants & bakeries. It’d be a great place for a meal, but not for a full evening of wandering. However, just across from the North End is Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, which is much nicer for wandering.</p>
<p>We used to go to Boston every year to visit my nephew who was at Harvard, and we tried quite a few places. I wouldn’t recommend L’Espalier – a bit overwrought and not worth the $$$. Clio (in the Eliot Hotel) was much better. No. 9 Park was fine. For a casual meal, we liked Union Grille on Washington Street and the restaurant in Louis (the men’s store on Newbury St.). We never got to Toro or Stella (2 places recommended to us by the concierge at XV Beacon). But my info is a few years old – said nephew has graduated – why’d he do that? :)</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone-- looks like it’s going to be too cold to do much wandering anyway!</p>
<p>One of our summer visits to the North End coincidentally coincided with a “St Joseph” feast celebration parade. We almost felt like we were part of a Godfather movie or something. Fun evening. Here’s the 2011 schedule (there will probably be similar info for 2012).
[Boston</a> North End Italian Feasts Festa Northend Boston 2011 Feast Calendar Massachusetts 02113](<a href=“http://www.lafamigliagiorgio.com/northendfeasts.htm]Boston”>http://www.lafamigliagiorgio.com/northendfeasts.htm)</p>