<p>Looking to take child and friend(s) out on Parents Weekend … moderately priced - maybe good Italian food?</p>
<p>If you order off the cheap end of the menu ($10-$11 each), the pizzas at Sonsie on Newbury are fabulous. In fact, all of the food is amazing and the menu prices vary widely.</p>
<p>North End is the obvious answer for Italian. I’ll leave knowledgeable posters to suggest places.</p>
<p>For dessert, go to Finale. Expensive, but worth every cent. Maybe share 3 dishes among 5 people (or whatever) to keep the price down - but there’s enough to go around if you did that.</p>
<p>Another vote for Finale - who needs dinner, just have dessert! Actually they have some salads and appetizers as well as desserts and coffees, wine by the glass and after dinner drinks. It is a wonderful, and different sort of splurge.</p>
<p>Twinmom:</p>
<p>Are you coming for the Harvard Parents’ Weekend?<br>
Finale in Harvard Square is definitely the place to go. Legal Seafoods still has the best clam chowder. It has several restaurants, one in Kendall Square (from where you can almost see the Stata Center at MIT designed by Gerhy) and a smaller branch in the Charles Hotel courtyard in Brattle Square (the extension of Harvard Square, actually).
Helmands on First Street (nearer MIT) has great Afghan food and is owned by the sister of President Karzai. It’s crowded every day of the week. Tamarind Bay in Harvard Square is the best Indian restaurant. For Italian food, the North End is the place to go. For Chinese food, if you have a car, head off on Mass Ave in the direction of Arlington and go to Qingtao. It’s a hole in the wall kind of restaurant and has dishes that are quite different from those served in Chinatown (Qingtao is a large city in the Shantung peninsula, once under German control and it’s where Tsingtao beer is produced).
If you are here on Sunday, go to Chinatown and Chao Chow City for dim sum. Or you can go to Changsho for the buffet. It’s more expensive than Chinatown, but it has different assortments of dishes.</p>
<p>We’re having a gorgeous fall weather right now; I hope it lasts for Parents’ Weekend and Head of the Charles.</p>
<p>Vinny T’s has several locations, one near the Prudential Center. Very good, reasonably priced entrees $11-18, and will take reservations for groups. We ate with a group of 16 when we were there for BC Parent’s Weekend. We were seated exactly at our reservation time, and there were several large groups near our table. We really enjoyed it!</p>
<p>Hint: don’t park at the Prudential Center–highway robbery on the prices! You can take the T, or find street parking. (We were in a hurry, so got robbed on parking!)</p>
<p>You can’t beat the North End for Italian—go by Mike’s Pastry after dinner for some cannoli and capuccino.
If you are in Cambridge, Marino’s on Mass Ave near Arlington is a wonderful Italian restaurant
Legal’s is truly the best seafood, but very expensive</p>
<p>Another specific North End recommendation: Il Panino. I have been there with a friend who goes there often. They don’t serve dessert or coffee because they want to support the local Italian pastry shops. Which means you can combine this rec with MomofaKnight’s above for a full evening of yummy! :)</p>
<p>Vinny T’s is economical–portions are huge (you can split an entree between 2-3 folks IMO), but it does have the flavor of a chain but honestly you can’t beat the price and the food is not bad
In the North End you will get more “one of a kind” local type restaurants–family owned. When we go, we usually just start walking around beginning on Hanover Street and “window-shopping” the restaurants for menu items and price ( most are posted on the doorwindow). It is a fun place to walk around with lots of local color–</p>
<p>I used to like to go to Joe Tecce’s in the North End, although it’s been a long time (probably 15 years–we moved west in 1992!). Old school Italian. I found a current review, and it would appear that’s still what they provide: <a href=“CitySearch - Your local city guide”>CitySearch - Your local city guide;
<p>Marite - Yes, we will be there for Parents’ Weekend - arriving Friday and leaving Sunday afternoon.</p>
<p>Thanks to all - I am going to print out these suggestions. We will have a car. Do you need reservations for most North End restaurants?</p>
<p>Keep the recommendations coming!</p>
<p>The North End really is an adventure,so go there if you are in the mood for Italian. <a href=“Boston / Massachusetts - mattconti”>Boston / Massachusetts - mattconti;
<p>Be warned, its nuts on weekends, and many places don’t take reservations, altho this is changing (Terra Mia and Antico Forno do, see also opentable.com: <a href=“http://www.opentable.com/start.aspx?m=7[/url]”>http://www.opentable.com/start.aspx?m=7</a>). Do NOT drive there; this is only recommended for locals or the certifiably insane (is that redundant?)</p>
<p>Keep in mind that many people skip desert at the restaurant and get it at Caffe Vittorio, Mike’s Pastry, or the gelaterias (all on Hanover St). Yes its hokey and touristy, and we all do it anyway.</p>
<p>Also check out openlist: <a href=“Yellow Pages”>Yellow Pages;
<p>When we were in Boston this summer, we LOVED Piattini on Newbury. And the North End–just wandering around is so much fun, it almost doesn’t matter what you eat, but defer to those above far more knowledgeable.</p>
<p>The Phantom Gourmet is a Boston television show which reviews restaurants in and around Boston. They have a list of “Great Ate” Italian restaurants in Boston [url=<a href=“http://phantomgourmet.com/ShowPage.aspx?content=GreatAteDetails&greatAteId=1017]here[/url”>http://phantomgourmet.com/ShowPage.aspx?content=GreatAteDetails&greatAteId=1017]here[/url</a>].</p>
<p>I personally like MomofaKnight’s method – we like to just start at one end of the neigborhood and window-shop until a) we find an amazing restaurant or b) we just get so hungry that we pick one. :)</p>
<p>Ah, skip the Italian. Fancy food you can get anywhere.</p>
<p>Head to Bartley’s Burgers near Harvard Square. Just remember to pop an extra Lipitor when you finish.</p>
<p>Ahhh, Bartley’s. Now there’s a memory. Everyone is there - professors at one table, starving students (not) at the next, townies another table over. One place that I do think is gone (or did I just forget where to look) is Elsie’s. Deli take-out down near the houses. Anyone know?</p>
<p>Still, I’d go for the North End on this trip. Save Bartley’s for when everyone’s parents aren’t all crowded into the square.</p>
<p>Harvard Square has changed drastically since my first few years in Boston
Gone are many of the unique little shops/restaurants and now there are plenty of Starbucks and Au Bon Pain etc </p>
<p>Bartleys—great greasy burgers, but do they have bathrooms yet?</p>
<p>Elsie’s gone 
The place kids go to now is Felipe’s Taqueria in the Garage.</p>
<p>Now for real touristy question … is a duck tour fun and worthwhile?</p>
<p>We’ve walked the Freedom Trail in the past, visited the aquarium and the Boston Tea Party Museum … but never did a duck tour.</p>
<p>The Duck Rour is an absolute blast. The tour guides are knowledgable and engaging. The Duck Boat will take you around many of the notable historical points in Boston and then you will splash into the Charles River
I highly recommend it</p>
<p>twinmom,
Agreed that the Duck Tour is a blast! Lumbering around the streets of Boston and then splashing into the Charles River is a wonderful combo. My now senior-in-college was teaching at a summer program in the area for the past two years and finally was picked to chaperone a group of kids who had signed up for the Duck Tour. He had been trying to be picked as a chaperone for this particular excursion for two summers! He and the kids had a great time.</p>