The Beehive

05/10/2008 Posted by sonya32575

Myself and 3 others had dinner at Beehive last night. While the staff was very personable and accommodating, the atmosphere left a lot to be desired. We were sat by the back door in the bar area, which was extremely drafty. The staff made an effort to try to find us another seat, but we would have had to wait at least 1 hour. They were very apologetic. It was so loud that we had to scream across the table..and this is BEFORE the band started playing. The drinks were not good and after ordering the lousy Bavarian Ice Tea and a horrible martini, I gave up and just ordered a glass of pinot grigio..which was warm! I figured they couldn't screw up a glass of wine, but I was wrong. The bibb salad was described as having lettuce, olive oil, and parmesan. What we received was a big chunk of lettuce with some pepper on it. No cheese, and we couldn't taste any olive oil. The paella was adequate though. When we went to the ladies room, it was not clean and there were 2 girls vomitting in the stalls on either side of me!! gross!! I won't bother to go back...

Pros: staff is personable

Cons: too loud!, lousy drinks, very limited parking..you have to valet or forget it

03/17/2008 Posted by citykidd

Went on a Friday night...packed. Had a bunch of food, most impressive was the jar of picked veggies that they bring to your table with your dishes. The room is really cool... lots of brick everywhere. People seemed to enjoy themselves. Recommend if you want a cool bar to hang out in and grab a snack.

Pros: Cool place to hang out

Cons: Weekends tend to get too crowded and you end up waiting in line to get in

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful

03/17/2008 Posted by manxxwar

They make you wait outside in a line, as if you're in New York City and there's a great band inside. And once you get inside, it looks like you stumbled into someone's basement. The exposed-brick thing is done to death in Boston. Atmosphere is minimal. It's crowded. Downstairs is slightly better - more room to get around, but evil workers will continually hassle you to "keep this path clear". How about you design a better floorplan? The music was pretty good - live jazz stuff which I like, but the headliner was over an hour late and by that time we were ready to leave. Bartenders were all right - attentive, fun to talk to. The tables in front of the main stage are a total mess- you'd have 1 person taking up 3 tables for no reason. A little attention from the staff would allow for many more of us who were "in the way" to actually have a seat. I don't recommend this place.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

03/05/2008 Posted by rlski

The atmosphere is great but the music is too loud to have any decent conversation. The manager should be fired. He was not only rude to me and my friends who were just trying to enjoy a couple drinks at the bar, but rude to his staff as well. Obviously doesn't know what customer service is, someone should knock him off his high horse.

Pros: live music, good drinks

Cons: management

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

03/03/2008 Posted by beantown23

I have been a loyal patron of Pho Republique for quite some time now and have NEVER had a bad experience, they have all been fantastic in fact (even when waiting for over an hour, its worth it) so when I heard about Beehive and that it was owned by the same person I couldn't wait to try it. The experience was appauling. While waiting for our table I overheard the manager say to a couple without reservations "its Sat night no reservation, no table, what do you expect?" I grew up in a family with numerous restaurants and have had every job in a restaurant from hostess to bartender so many times I am more "understanding" of off-nights and always give them the benefit of the doubt. The manager at Beehive should be fired immediately, the only saving grace of the night was the apologetic waiter that admitted he was embarassed by his manager's attitude and actions. I can't believe the owners allow him to be the face of the restaurant. Our table wanted to have cocktails first then order, (seems quite normal when out with a group of friends on a Sat night ) when the manager came over and said "I have turned away over 50 people tonight, when you have a reservation you should order immediately." I have never heard of such rules in my life. We actually joked about having a hidden camera on us. The appetizers were nothing special, the fondue was as thin as milk, the mini wellingtons were made from pillsbury cresant roles...I can't say anything about the entree's as we left the restaurant shortly after. I can't seem to understand why a restaurant who's target patrons are young professional's feels the need to treat them so poorly. I have never seen a manager who thought so highly of himself and was so sure of his restaurant. There are far too many fantastic places in Boston to have an attitude like that.

Pros: waitstaff

Cons: apparent confusion that trendy means obnoxious

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

03/03/2008 Posted by Celts

I went to this place over the weekend with a party of about 30. We were put in the upstairs right next to the bar. Although our seats were in the bar area we were told numerous times by the owner that we were not allowed to stand. We had two big tables so obviously we were going to be standing up and talking to the other people at the other table. All the people at the bar were allowed to stand but we werent, it just didnt make any sense. We were rushed into ordering by the owner because he wanted to flip the tables, not a good idea when you're serving a group as large as ours. Someone had asked him to give us a few more minutes and he said; I dont need any problems from you guys or you can leave! The owner was so rude that half of the group refused to order anything because we didnt want to give this guy any of our money. I'm really missing what all the hype is about. The menu didnt have anything that stood out and the atmosphere was terrible. I thought I was going to a nice place, and the bill reflected a nice place, but grafitti in the bathrooms? You can write anything you want on the walls of the bathroom, it looked like an old high school bathroom with immature writting on the walls. Also the wait staff looked like they just got off the skate park. One of ours had a mohawk, ear gauges, and was coved in tattoo's real classy. I have no idea what this place is going for but with all th options in the south end this should be your last choice.

Pros: someone said the grilled cheese was good.

Cons: OWNER, waitstaff, service, atmosphere, not good for groups!!!!!!!

03/03/2008 Posted by aeb31

My boyfriend took me to the Beehive on Saturday, 3/1 for a surprise birthday party. I was so excited to not only be going to the Beehive for my first time but to then walk in and see 25 of my closest friends and family was extremely exciting and overwhelming. Unfortunately, immediately after entering into the upstairs bar area my surprise and excitement turned completely sour. The manager on duty (a miserable man) immediately started giving my boyfriend grief about the fact that we all weren't seated and ordering food. My boyfriend kindly informed him that we have all just arrived and that we would like to mingle and catch up with everyone before taking a seat. Now mind you when my boyfriend made the reservation he said we would be drinking and ordering apps. The manager continued to stare everyone down and make them feel completely uncomfortable. His exact words to one of my friends was "Take a seat and shut your mouth." Our intentions were to stay at Beehive all night long drinking & eating. I work in the hospitality industry and I know with 25 young professionals who were all drinking & eating apps the Beehive was looking at about $3,000 + in sales from us. Well.....we quickly ate, paid our bill, tipped out waitstaff graciously (who were more pleasant than the manager) and walked out of there at 8:30PM bringing our business elsewhere. Worst customer service ever by a manager it was absolutely jaw dropping.

Pros: Martini

Cons: Customer Service

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

03/03/2008 Posted by bosox55

I recently went to Beehive and still can't figure out all the hype. The menu was fine, nothing too special but definitely some options. The beer list was weak. I think they had 4 bottles to chose from. I didn't go there to get drunk but they had 4 options and one was Miller Highlife? The wait staff was fine. Our waitress was nice didn't do anything above and beyond her duties. The managment was horrible. The group i was with had a couple questions about the dining area and menu. The manager proceeded to tell us policy is policy and basically if we didn't like it, we could go somewhere else. He didn't seem to realize that if you keep a large group of people happy they will spend a lot more money. I feel bad for the waitress because if her manager was nicer, she probably would have got an extra $20 on top of tip.

Pros: grilled cheese?

Cons: management, drink selection

01/24/2008 Posted by keninbostn

So, the Beehive has it all down... cool location, funky, bohemian look, groovy (if not somewhat too eclectic) menu, and a fashion forward staff. Well, as well all know you do need a few more things to be successful. In this case, I think the Beehive and all its worker bees need to work on its service in a big way and step the food level a notch. If all that happens, everyone will be happy. The waitress came over... she seemed nice enough although not as friendly as she looked. There was no reciting of specials, her name or any of that... they're too cool for that I guess. She basically wanted to take our order and that was it. So, we puzzled over the menu, which looks cool for a second, but then it seems more like someone took ten menus, cut up the listings and thew them all in the air... whichever came down first would make it at the Beehive (fondue, paella, grilled cheese, sausage, whatever...). And then we waited... and waited... no one came by for a long, long time. Finally the waitress said that she spoke with the chef and the food should be ready soon. Hey, thanks for speaking with the chef. And we waited and waited. After a little while longer out came the entrees (the aforementioned paella and the roasted chicken). The chicken was pretty good, but it was atop mostly flavorless polenta. The brussels sprouts were much better than any I've made, so they get points for that. The paella truly would have been unrecognizable save for the yellow rice, which was more of a risotto. I tried some and it seemed to have nothing in common with real paella (either the Goya variety or the true Spanish-in-Spain original). At this point I kind of felt bad that I had suggested this place. At least the band was getting good.

Pros: It looks cool

Cons: It's not

01/14/2008 Posted by leia084

This place is cool - you know it, they know it, the people in line down the block know it. We arrived around 9:45pm for dinner and were first told it was a 2.5 hour wait, only to be led (past the line for the bar) downstairs to a table minutes later. It was quite crowded, though tables were definitely clearing up by the time we got there. The menu was interesting but not exactly extensive. My boyfriend had the baked sole and I had the spinach pie - his was so-so ("baked fish in red sauce, not worth the price"), mine was delicious. As a vegetarian I find many restaurants add non-meat options as an afterthought and they often aren't up to snuff with the rest of the menu. The combination with the cucumber/greek yogurt salad was inspired and extremely enjoyable. The scene was hip, if a little contrived. Live jazz that was too loud to be background music but not really (at least from where we were sitting) spectacular. We debated staying after our meals were done, but decided to head to Gaslight for post-dinner drinks. If you don't mind a potentially long wait, it seems like a really fun and unique place to go out for a few drinks. The food is hit-or-miss, and for what they charge I think it's something they need to work on. Cocktails weren't too expensive so drinks rather than dinner seems to be a safer bet.

Pros: scene

Cons: price for so-so food