Taranta

09/21/09

A really great experience in the North End

by aqua2150 at Citysearch

I first discovered Taranta by word of mouth through my girlfriend. I decided to splurge and take my boyfriend there, when he came to visit me for the weekend. We went on a random Thursday night. The restaurant itself was rustic and romantic and really created "the mood". The menu looked amazing and after much debate, we decided on the mussels to start. Words cannot describe how amazing these mussels were......simple heaven. The mussels swam in an amazing balsamic reduction sauce that was even enjoyed more when soaked up with their home made rustic bread. We were very happy with our experience so far...and then it started to go down hill. Not in terms of the quality of the food, our main dishes were fantastic. But the service was beyond slow. After the mussels we wanted another round a drinks, and had to wait 15 min to order them, and then another 20 minutes to actually get the drinks....our food took about 45 min to come out and we weren't "checked on" once by our server. Again, the food was amazing, but the experience was ruined by the fact it took forever.

I then wrote into the restaurant to let them know my thoughts of the day. The ower actually called me, and then sent me a $250 gift card to make up for the poor experience. I then went back a few months later and was so happy that things were much faster.......the food, of course was still delicious.

• Pros: Mussels! Mussels! Mussels!
• Cons: A bit expensive and not the fastest service

08/07/08

Best place for client dinner with awesome food and service

by MinPinMom1 at Citysearch

I was looking for a restaurant for my boss ( we are in Charlotte, NC) to take clients while in Boston. Often times I find this to be a challenge since reviews are often not true. I went out on a wing when I picked Taranta for my boss to take her clients too. When I arrived at work the following morning I received an email from my boss who was still in Boston raving about the food, the presentation of the food, the wait staff which was awesome and the lovely table Chef Duarte had set for them on the Patio.

Today, she came back into the office with the others who went with her to attend the meeting with our big client. All of the attendees raved about the food. The awesome pork chop that one attendee ate, the lobster ravioli and most of all the service, I could go on and on.

My recommendation would be to take a chance and select this restaurant, I am hoping to go to Boston soon and when I do I am going to go to Taranta.

Thank you Chef Duarte for making me shine from Charlotte, NC 8>)

01/14/08

Great fusion of Italian and Peruvian cucina. A must in Bosotn!

by master_confucius at Citysearch

This small italo-peruvian restaurant located in the heart of the North End knows exaclty what its doing. The cozy atmosphere is perfect for the food they server. There is a undisputable knowledge of both food styles that are blended with perfect synergy. Added to this, the service was superb. Our waiter was very good with wine and food suggestions. Even thou the wine list is very small they have some good choices in a wide range of prices.

If eating something different than linguini carbonara, spaghetti frutto di mare, or ?oqui four cheeses is what you are looking for this is the right place. Do not hesitate to try Taranta. This place definitely has lots of Soul.

05/24/07

Great food and customer service

by perchdogg at Citysearch

I chose to take my girlfriend here in celebration of her birthday and was very pleased. We arrived 15 minutes before our scheduled reservation time but were seated promptly anyways. It's worth noting that this was a Wednesday night around 8 pm. Our waitress was eager and informative when it came to answering any questions we had on the menu, drinks, etc. She gave us ample time to decide on our food, explained some of the finer details of our choices, and let us be. The food was excellent - I recommend the pan-seared tuna dish of this season and especially their signature pork chop dish. The staff was extremely helpful when it came to me secretly requesting a piece of their chocolate tort with a candle for my girlfriend's birthday (the tort was also delicious). Also worth noting that their mixed drinks were tasty, creative, and strong, and complimented our meals elegantly. I will definitely be returning; this quality of food coupled with knowledgeable as well as friendly service is a real treat.

• Pros: Service and food were excellent, very friendly staff.
• Cons: I felt a bit crowded in the dining room

03/25/07

Great food!

by dysphoricmango at Citysearch

I went here with a few of my friends a couple of weeks ago and the food was absolutely amazing. The portions were huge but I can't complain because everything was so delicious. Our waiter was a little too eccentric for my taste but he provided excellent service despite how crowded it was. We arrived a little before our reservation so we went to LuLu's Bake Shoppe nearby (which I highly recommend!). The host was also apologetic for keeping us waiting, even though we had gotten there early. Great experience!!! If you are looking for a dessert, the limoncello flute was great!!! Definitely somewhere I will be going to again.

Make sure to visit LuLu's as well. They had this chocolate mousee type dessert in a chocolate cup that is one of the most AMAZING things I have ever eaten.

• Pros: Wonderful food, wonderful service, friendly staff....
• Cons: none

03/12/07

be prepared to mill your own pepper

by linds2 at Citysearch

I, too, joined Goldfly for what we had hoped to be a fabulous dinner in the North End. As aforementioned, the service was slow, unfriendly, and unprofessional. If you prefer to avoid a night filled with negativity, I suggest not asking for bread, which will only result in a 2 min. lecture on when it will be received, ( only AFTER the order has been placed). In addition, one should not dare to request salt and pepper for their last then flavorful meal. Halfway through my luke warm chicken, the waitress finally came to the table, took the salt shaker and the pepper mill, thrust both at me, and told me to, "have fun." Then, after waiting for over 25 minutes for her to come collect our charge card, she failed to thank us, say goodbye, or even tell us to have a good night. But then again, why would she care, considering her guaranteed 20% tip off our 7 person party. She could have spilled our meal on us and still gotten her undeserved tip. In conclusion, we all agreed, a 25 cent Whopper at Burger King would have been more enjoyable- at least they would have made it our way.

• Pros: nothing
• Cons: everything

03/11/07

Horrible Service, Cold Food, Overpriced

by goldfly at Citysearch

My girlfriends planned a girls night out last Saturday night, and we decided to try Taranta because of its great reviews. We arrived and the host told us to walk up to the 3rd floor, he did not show us the way (rude!). The seating was cramped, and the waitress was slammed--one waitress for the whole floor! She took too long to come over to us, and when we asked for bread after waiting too long, she snapped at us and told us we cant get bread until after we order. She brought us wine and spilled it over the table, and didnt clean it up!! red wine!! I ordered the raviolo special and got 4 pieces of ravioli and it was cold when it arrived. My friends got the chicken, and salmon. The salmon was burned and the chicken was dry and cold as well. For the amount of money we spent, the service was poor, the food was not great. I will not be dining there again, ever.

• Pros: none
• Cons: lighting, crowded, food, service

03/05/07

Worst Service

by elizboston at Citysearch

My family and I went to Tarnata this past Sat. night and had an awful experience. We had made a reservation for 7:30pm and even called ahead to make sure they have valet services and they said they personally do not but we could use Bricco's which is across the street. When we pulled up at Bricco the valet seemed annoyed and said they do not do valet for Tarnata. He valeted the car anyway. We checked in with the host at Taranta and when asked about the valet situation he made up some excuse . . . He proceeded to take us up to the 3rd floor to our table and let us know the bathrooms are on the basement in case we wanted to go before heading all the way up. Anyway, we got up to the 3rd floor only to find out that we were with a party of 16 and another party of 14 (we were a party of 5). They then sat a party of 6 next to us. We sat there for 25 min. before we even saw the waiter come up to the 3rd floor and we quickly realized that there was ONLY 1 WAITER FOR THE WHOLE FLOOR! Having worked in food service myself, I can tell you, that is not how you handle 2 large parties plus additional smaller parties. The waiter shouted that he would be over to us in a min. We ended up leaving, not without saying something about waiting for 30 min. before anyone even came over to the table (by the time we left still no one came over). The waiter continued to argue and say we had not been waiting that long at all - what nerve!! So we went down the street to Fiore and had a wonderful, energetic waitress and delicious food. I would NOT RECOMMEND TARANTA AT ALL! It was awful service and they were rude and not apologetic.

• Cons: Ugly lighting, cramped seating, loud, POOR service

01/11/07

yum yum

by goddesszeppelin2 at Citysearch

WAyyyyyy expensive, but very much worth the wait in lines anytime after 4 pm. Any pasta dish you order is gauranteed to be fully consumed.

09/06/06

Great Apps

by plobie at Citysearch

I took my wife to Taranta for her birthday at the end of August. I read all these glowing reviews so we decided to give it a try as we both love fusion food. We went in the middle of the week and early (around 6) so the place was realtively empty. We were seated right away and was greeted by our waitress rigth away. She was great. She was so helpful and informative about the food. We ordered mussels and the special salad and they were delicious. For our main meals we order the pork chop and the steak. They were very good however not this fantastic meal that others have been writing about. I made a reservation on OptenTable and in the comment field mentioned that it was my wife's b-day. I never mentioned that again when we arrived however they mut have seen this and came to us with a candle for her when our desserts arrived (which were delicious). Like I said the service was great and loved the apps as well as the dessert but our mail meals were very good but not out of this world. I would recommend going there but I would not go anticipating this fabulous out of this world meal.

• Pros: Apps
• Cons: Mail Meals are Good but not out of this world