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Massimino's
With lunch, dinner, and a notable wine list, Massino's lives up to its critical acclaim. Accolades included being voted "Best of Boston" in Boston Magazine, rated "Excellent" by Zagat and "A precious gem" by Travel and Leisure. View Less …
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“The wine cellar is cozy and charming but, like most North End restaurants, space is at a premium so we had to stand at one end.”
“the food was very good, the service was good except they forgot the birthday cake.”
“This girl made an italian espresso martini, which i've since tried to order at several other places, but is no where near as good and she made my wife a drink from where she was from in canada called a "Quebec Bissou" that is now my wifes favorite drink”
“Wonderful restaurant, great food, good service, very comfortable.”
“Right from the start our waitress was extremely attentive and offered several menu suggestions.”
“Massiminos is a great North End restaurant.”
“Waitress was rude an inattentive, and even removed our olive oil bottle from our table in the middle of dinner to give to another table, then did not return it.”
“the food was very good, the service was good except they forgot the birthday cake.”
“The bill came, and we discovered that though the bottle of wine she'd brought us was $25 more expensive than the wine we ordered, we were only charged for the cost of the bottle we'd ordered.”
“For the record, we DID find a very nice restaurant with excellent eggplant parmesan and outstanding service about five minutes from Massimino's in the North End and they seated us immediately without a reservation.”View Less
Just like other reviews, reservations mean NOTHING!.
Looking forward to a nice meal but a little concerned ahead of time with the cavalier way they handle reservations from other reviews.
Had made a 6:00 p.m. reservation prior to a 7:30 Celtics game on Wed. March 16. Got there ontime but was told there would be a 45-minute wait. So if I ate at 6:45, I'd have to shovel my food into my mouth.
What a complete joke! Anyone reading this, BE AWARE!!! They don't care about reservations.
I'll NEVER go back!…
Feels like Italy!. What a cozy little place! I walked in off the street w/out a reservation and they sat us right away. Right from the start our waitress was extremely attentive and offered several menu suggestions. We took her suggestions and boy am I glad we did - food was phenominal. I will definately be going back in the near future and would highly reccomend anyone that is considering a night in the North End to try Massimos!…
Best food in the North End. Massimino's is me and my wife's favorite place in the North End. After trying most of the Italian spots on Hanover, we haven't found anything as good as this place. They treat you like family from the moment you walk through the door and make you feel at home. It's one of the best atmospheres if you're looking for a quaint, cozy place enjoying outstanding cuisine. The portions are bigger than most and typically costs less than the others. I highly encourage anybody looking to stray off the beaten path to try Massimino's...as we will continue to drink and dine with them!!!…
DO NOT GO HERE!.
Do I have to give this restaurant one star? I would give it zero stars if that were an option. I can't comment on the quality of the food because we didn't stay long enough to find out. That's how
poor the service was. I am not usually one to write reviews on these sites, but I am so disgusted by my experience at Massimino's that I feel compelled to share it. Let me also add that we came here because Massamino's was highly recommended to me by a friend who said that "the eggplant parmasean is outstanding and the atmosphere and service is good." You can imagine how disappointed we were.
So here's our story: My date and I had a 6:00 pm reservation which we made three days ago, and when we arrived, the "hostess" (if you can call her that), hastily informed us that there would be a 30 minute wait. There were two other couples behind us who had made reservations as well and they were told the same thing. The hostess's explanation was that whoever took the reservation did not write it down and because there was a game in town, she didn't have enough seating. (Umm that is their problem, not ours)! She wasn't even apologetic. She just told us to "go down to the bar and get yourself a drink." When I told her that neither of us planned to order alcohol, she said "oh then you can't go down to the bar. They really wouldn't like that. You'll have to wait up here." Because the restaurant is in cramped quarters, there wasn't anywhere for us to wait, or sit down for that matter. About 10 minutes later, she led us downstairs to the bar area (presumably for a table?), but then left us standing there without seating us. When I asked one of the waitresses if she could be of assistance, she said something about needing to grab a check and then ran off.
Needless to say, my date and I were not impressed. I asked to speak to the manager and was told that he was not in tonight. Finally, my date told the hostess "There are plenty of other places that serve eggplant parmasean in the North End that will seat us." And we left. Had I been here on my own, I would have put up a bigger fuss, but because I didn't want to embarrass my date, I just decided to move on to greener pastures.
Clearly, Massimino's cares more about making a profit during a game night than honoring existing reservations. I don't care how good the food is. We are not giving these people our money. I was appalled by the rudeness of the staff, their lack of professionalism and the non-existent service.
For the record, we DID find a very nice restaurant with excellent eggplant parmesan and outstanding service about five minutes from Massimino's in the North End and they seated us immediately without a reservation... so it's nice to know that such places do exist.…
Below par service & food.
Massimino's proved mediocre last night.
We started with a drink downstairs while waiting for a table. The wine cellar is cozy and charming but, like most North End restaurants, space is at a premium so we had to stand at one end. No matter, the wait was only about 30 minutes.
We ordered a glasses of chardonnay and Chianti. The former was delivered promptly but, then, another employee pulled the bartender aside, and whisked him away. Another man took his place and filled the order for which I paid. Before he gave me change he was replaced by yet another man who gave me incorrect change--at least according to the price we were quoted. When I pointed out the error, he condescendingly sneered the price?which had risen $1.00.
We were seated upstairs in a corner beneath a speaker blaring dance music. A woman behind us sat so far from her table--her knees were about even with the table's edge--that no one could pass to reach us. Three different servers, rather than politely ask her to scoot up decided instead to serve us over the diners and dinners at the table beside us. We had to reach out for our plates and glasses and place them on our table while the waitrons either leaned over the couple's table passed Chianti our neighbor's reeling face. Rather than deal with this inconvenience too often, the employees chose to check on our needs infrequently.
The meal itself--sausage w/ vinegared peppers & potatoes and chicken saltimbocca--was so-so. The vinegared peppers were good--tender and tangy--and the roasted potatoes, excellent but the sausage was overcooked so that it was dry and chewy. Tthe sausage may have been good but I can't say because they cooked the flavor out of it. The chicken was fine but I am pretty sure the ham with it was not prosciutto and the herbs and spices were all but nonexistent. The side of pasta was all right with good tomato sauce.
To be fair, others I've spoken to have had good experiences at Massimino's. Would that I had joined their ranks.…
