Masa

Recommends

uesaptnyc

Joined 3 years ago

My FAVORITE brunch place in Boston. I discovered Masa from a friend and decided to try it out. I went to their Saturday brunch and was very impressed. It soon became my favorite brunch place. I highly recommend the Plaintain Empanadas for appetizers and their Eggs Benedict for your entree. Their complimentary cornbread with delicious spreads is enough reason to go! Sadly, I guess everyone else in Boston thinks so as well because over the past few years this place has gotten so popular that their brunch wait is ridiculous. Be prepared to wait about 45-60 minutes to get a table. :(

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CertainCharms

Joined 3 years ago

Tasty brunch on the cheap. So when I'm craving a tasty, slightly upscale brunch, but my wallet is feeling particularly light, this is my destination. On Saturdays 10a-3p and Sunday from 10-11a, they have Fiesta Brunch, a prix fixe for $7.95. You have the choice of one appetizer (plantain empanadas, granola with yogurt, fresh fruit) and an entree (eggs benedict, huevos rancheros, chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs), as well as coffee or tea.

You start with the cornbread. Ah, the cornbread. I would die happy if I had the recipe - it smells deliciously sweetly of vanilla and comes with molasses butter, cranberry chipotle jam, and apricot habanero jam. Fantastic. I have been known to ask for at least one more basket of it, especially if you can get the blue corn pieces of bread and they are warm.

The service is not very attentive, my water glass often running dry, for instance, exacerbated by a long wait for food, and noisy atmosphere. Definitely make a reservation, it's tough to get a seat otherwise.

After waiting quite a while, you'll get your food, and if I can say one thing, it is: get the empanada. Though, if you're going to choose the other options, they are alright as well, nothing to write home about. The pancakes are very, very sweet, but nice and fluffy. The scrambled eggs are very good - even though the menu says 'creamy', I call them completely done, not runny. The huevos rancheros are pretty good, though the beans have been pureed to death. The eggs benedict make a good effort, but I hate avocado 'sauce'. Where are the slices?

All in all, it's a good way to spend brunch, with options for all.

Doesn't Recommend

jecb

Joined 7 years ago

HORRIBLE! No wonder you're always empty Masa.... HORRIBLE! One star is being generous. Went here on Saturday morning to try brunch to celebrate my bday. Was with my husband and 16 month old son. We got there at about 10am, when the place opens. Needless to say, it was empty. We got seated, and the guy put us at a 2 person table. It was a bit of a tight squeeze with the 2 of us plus the high chair, so we scooted to the 4 person table right next to us. A woman came by to give us a dirty look about it (she looked like she might have been the manager). I said, "sorry it was a little tight is it ok we scooted over?" Apparently not. She asked if we could move my son to a spot that wasn't so "in the way". In the way of what? There was NOBODY in the restaurant. I asked if we could leave him, but she continued with her stink eye and complaining. Reminder - NOBODY in the restaurant. So we sat and checked out the menu, started feeding my son and waited...and waited..and waited for someone to come take our order. Finally, my husband went over and said "we're ready when you guys are". This waitress comes over, who had to have been the most unfriendly face I have ever seen and looked like she should be on suicide watch, and takes our order. My husband asked, "What's a Mexican omelette?", to which she replied "Just an omelette". Um, thanks for the clarification. She takes our order, then comes over to pour our water, which seemed like it was the biggest chore of her life. I asked if she could fill half a glass for my son. "Of water?" she asks with her puss face. No with Vodka, I mean seriously? At that point she left, and I said to my husband, let's get the heck out of here, I don't need to pay for this kind of treatment on my birthday (or any other day for that matter). The manager saw us get up and leave and didn't say a thing. I understand now why Masa is ALWAYS empty. Yes, we have a kid, but get used to it Masa, you're in the South End. We left and went over to Stephi's on Tremont, where we were greeted with Crayons, a kids menu, fabulous service and deelish food! Thanks Stephi's for saving the day!

Doesn't Recommend

Guru1

Joined 4 years ago

average food and the worst customer service in the South End. I had been to Masa a couple of times, both times I thought the food was sub par. On my third experience the food was awful, my server brought me the wrong order two times, I waited 55 minutes for tapas which was overcooked and they refused to remove from the bill. Management did no seem to care about my experience whatsoever and seemed severely irritated and defensive when I brought this to there attention

I have the opportunity to dine in just about every decent restaurant in Boston due to my profession, and would recommend Taco Bell before I ever mentioned this place to anybody.

Recommends

FrancisKeys

Joined 4 years ago

Decent Food, Poor Customer Service. I've lived in the South End of Boston for three years now and have eaten out repeatedly at Masa. On the positive note, nice place, great ambiance., Salsa on Thursdays. Every evening during happy hour they have $1 tapas by the bar (For $10 great tapas assortment that is very filling), and other discounted menu items - they're great. Dinner in the main dining room is also great, including delicous brunch on Saturdays and Sundays (nut crusted texas french toast!).

The huge and unfortunate drawack is the customer service. Everyone from the hostess (who snapped at my guest to hurry up and decide if he wanted to sit at the bar or in the dining room b/c the seat would get taken), the waiter (inattentive), the bartender (I've seen her on multiple occasions cut customers off and slam down drinks on the bar out of frustration when it gets busy), to even the busboy (told our table to move our own plates so he could set down the next course, bad timing all throughout the course). And these all occured on seperate visits.

So in the end it's a tradeoff, food and atmosphere for consistently bad customer service.

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Tiffany M

Joined 5 years ago

Where an Arizonan in Boston goes for Southwestern food. Someone took me here when I said I was homesick for Arizona and this helped me feel better.

I LOVED the cornbread and the assortment of interesting butter and jams that were served with it. We got the breakfast tacos to share from the tapas menu and I ordered the BBQ Mac and Cheese for an entree, which was very heavy - which was to be expected, but I ended up being disappointed by it. I wish I had gotten something else. The cornbread was enough to make me happy about the whole experience, though. They use blue corn, which makes it even better!

I missed the Southwestern-look that you see everywhere in Phoenix restaurants! I will come back here when I'm homesick again because there are very few places in Boston to get this same Southwestern experience.

Recommends

dvautour

Joined 8 years ago

Good but not great. If you want upscale TexMex, this is it. A bit on the pricey side but the food was very good. The wines were way over priced. By 10 times or more in some instances. I know because I have bought some of the same wines at the store and the South American vineyard itself when I traveled there. The desserts were just ok.

The service for us was good when we were there. Overall, I would say it was a good experience with good food but not great. The atmosphere was a bit pretentious for what amounted to a tex mex place.

Recommends

bonvivant25

Joined 6 years ago

Great prix fixe for restaurant week. I went to Masa for the first time last night during Boston's restaurant week. The food was great- even though 'chipotle seasoned new england clam chowder' sounds disgusting, it was actually pretty good! The server wasn't very friendly, but no big complaints the hostess was very nice.

The place was cute, in a great location, and they clear out the tables in part of the restaurant for free salsa lessons & dancing after dinner.

Recommends

pluperfect

Joined 4 years ago

Impeccible service, great date atmosphere. Went to Masa last night to catch up with an old friend. Our server was attentive but gave us plenty of space. In addition, he was friendly, offered great recommendations, and our food was delicious! And the jalapeno margarita was unique and had an awesome, spicy kick!

Doesn't Recommend

ChrisLinkos

Joined 4 years ago

Good food, badddd service. The bartender was a capital B! Rude, not caring, inconsiderate. One of the worst attitudes I have seen. If the tapas were not good and a deal, I would have walked out!