Brunch on Sunday at noon, we made a reservation and it most certainly was not needed. That was a plus, and a major reason why we chose this place.
My group of friends all opted for the brunch buffet, which they all thought was fantastic. They had nothing but good things to say about the food.
My issue came from being vegan (I didn't expect anything for me) but other reviews called out the Meze plate as an option. It was on the lunch menu though, and our server told me lunch doesn't get served until 3. I have heard of not serving brunch after a certain point, but not being able to serve lunch until 3?
So I told my waitress that I couldn't have anything else because of the vegan thing, and she acknowledged it and left. Most places will ask their managers/chefs if there is anything they can do, or at the very least, apologize that they can't accomodate. I dont think I've ever sat through a meal at a restaurant with nothing but a soda before, so I guess I can say it was an experience.
Slightly expensive drinks for how little alcohol goes into them but I really can't complain. Always a great atmosphere and quick service. The food is DELICIOUS and perfectly sized. There are always tons of people so make sure to make a reservation! But they will always do their best to get you in.
Really fun place to be on a weekend night (especially for a game) but is equally nice and upscale for a Sunday brunch.
I've been waiting to visit her for a while. I went for a Saturday lunch and quickly confirmed it is the wrong time to go. There were only three other tables in the entire establishment yet our 2 person order was 30mins. We only ordered a burger and gnocchi. No apologies for the wait. That I can forgive though if the food is good... it wasn't.
My burger was super dry, and there is no sauce or anything flavorful which comes with it. The fries were fresh and delicious though I must admit. Liked them more than the actual meal. My partner had the gnocchi and was uber disappointed with how oily and rich it was, to the point she couldn't finish it. We weren't asked how it was, and in fact, I should have mentioned this earlier, the waiter walked away while I was describing how I wanted my burger cooked.
The place is beautiful looking though. Top marks for decor. I'm going to chalk the experience up to a false start and not ever go for lunch again. I'm keen to try dinner and am fully prepared to like and enjoy this place...
Expensive but mediocre food, gaudy decor (think marble bartop and lots of mirrors), Red Hot Chili Peppers playing loudly on the speakers. Something's not right here.
I really wanted to like Foundry on Elm-- I was excited when I found out about this spacious gastro-pub with a great beer menu in Davis Square. But I just can't get over the sense that Foundry just doesn't quite know what it wants to be yet. Upscale hotel-restaurant-style dining for Somerville's over-30 set? An oasis for foodie hipsters? College bar hangout? Their menu is on the expensive side and has some tasty items (this past winter there was a pork crépinette appetizer with fried duck egg and salad, which was very good). But they're not particularly inspired or subtle-- more like heavy and pricey comfort food than anything else.
The presentation can be a little awkward, too. The last time I got their chef's burger, it came with a piece of paper stuck on top with a toothpick on which there was a QR code. The waiter explained it would link me to a voting page for a burger competition the restaurant was entered in. The burgers are good and I'd probably vote for them in a competition, but I'd rather not pay $15 for a burger on which a piece of printer paper was unceremoniously impaled... just sayin'.
I'd start feeling a little better if Foundry started targeting folks like myself who want to enjoy nice food & beer without having too fussy an experience. Perhaps adding a dollar oyster special, a tasting menu, and a small plates menu might make me feel a little more warmly.
I've been lurking about Davis for a bit now, and have been to Foundry two or three times... enough to get a sense of what's what.
I enjoy the idea that they're playing to the gourmet/foodie part of the market, with strange and exotic offerings like artisanal poutine (which sounds better than 'bacon fat over fries') and a tap lineup to warm the heart of almost any beer snob. Â I've also seen multiple people swoon over their flatbread pizza appetizer, at different times.
I have to say, though, that for your money, the amount of service and space that you get is pretty lacking. Â Their double-sided bar strip in the middle of the room certainly allows them to pack more folks in, but I've spent five to ten minutes trying to flag down my server from in the middle of that madding crowd.
I had some excellent draught beers there, but was sorely disappointed by what they called a 'tiki drink'. Â I wasnt expecting full-on Polynesian delights, but the Mai Tai had the sad, lackluster character of a drink that your friend mixed you out of his fridge in the back of the keg party when you told him you couldn't drink beer this week. Â OK for a nasty hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant, but not OK at these prices.
Also, the mezze plate was more like tapas than real mezze. Â Everything was delicious and tiny, except the $12 price tag. Â Oh well.
Foundry has a place among Davis Square's eateries, and boasts top-shelf offerings at top-shelf prices. Â For my money, though, Five Horses is right around the corner and deals more in that mid-line comfort food zone that pleases without breaking the bank.
Went here with some girlfriends one night and had a great time. Lots of great drink choices, got the cheesy cauliflower and truffle fries for apps -- BOTH were seriously scrumptious. Ordered the 4 diff flatbreads to share amongst ourselves, the mushroom was definitely the best one.
Went again with my bf --- got the feta and bacon wrapped dates (something about devils horseman) for app which was SO flavorful and great. He got the chicken sandwich w beets and I the burger, neither knocked our socks off, but would def go back again based on first experience plus the appetizer from second.
Love the place itself....great location, decor, atmosphere, etc. Prob better with a group of friends!
Probably deserves 2.5, but I'm feeling punitive today so I rounded down. I feel like this place is trying too hard and the service is really lacking.
On a recent visit, I asked for toppings for a sandwich on the side bc I have dietary restrictions. When the sammy arrived with everything on top, I politely said I was sorry, but I had asked for things on the side. The runner gave me super attitude and asked if I had told the server that. Um, yeah, I didn't use my telepathy. She then asked me what my restrictions were. I told her and she said she didn't know what was in the toppings, so she didn't know if I could eat them. I explained that that was why I asked for things on the side. I don't know why this was so difficult nor why she faught me on it.
Anyway, the waitress watched this exchange and then didn't follow up. She came back later to ask if everything was ok and didn't notice I didn't have food in front of me while everyone else did. When I explained that I was waiting for a replacement, she didn't acknowledge the error or apologize.
The food itself is just shy of where it should be for the price point, though the addition of the sandwiches is a good option. The tiny little bowl of ketchup they bring is pretentious. Strawberry shortcake was pretty good. Otherwise, nothing was really remarkable. I'm not in a hurry to return. Â To put it simply, it's no 5 horses.
Always delicious! I've never had a bad meal here. This time, though, the service was a little weird - the woman at the front asked us when we came in how long we thought it would take us to eat dinner because there was another group coming in after us for that table...? I thought that was a bit rude - it will take me as long as it takes me to eat dinner, thank you very much!! But once we claimed our table everything was delicious - I had the croque monsieur, which hit the spot (I love that creamy sauce that goes with it). My sister had the pork belly sandwich, and she raved about the blueberry sauce and the horseradish mayo for her fries.
Review Source:I want to like it here. I do. Especially because Saloon, the bar downstairs, is awfully nice and under the same management.
But I can't.
Foundry wants to be more upscale than it is. It touts itself as fine dining, yet there are three problems with it:
The service is almost universally godawful with a few exceptions. There is one waitress there who is consistently friendly and capable. I worked in a restaurant for 5 years; I know it's sometimes hard not to be straight up surly when you want to be anywhere but serving needy customers. I know this and I try very hard not to make your job more difficult. But you have to meet me halfway. Not showing up for 15 minutes: not okay. Taking a drink order and vanishing for another 15 minutes: also not okay. The waitstaff also seem poorly trained in terms of what is in the items on the menu or how things are prepared, which is a management problem. Either train the staff you're hiring properly or hire staff who are experienced in fine dining.
The food is not great. I get that littlenecks are gonna have sand in them sometimes even after rinsing them and there's not much you can do about it, but they shouldn't be so gritty as to be crunchy. Rinsing them is not going to kill you and the clams are already dead, so you should be fine. Their desserts are not bad - the molten chocolate cake with caramelised banana was actually excellent - but I'd skip dinner.
Finally, the bar ... I don't know what's wrong with the bar. Listen, a vodka tonic is the nachos of cocktails. You have to try really hard to screw it up. But sure enough, they made it taste like benzene. The thing with a vodka tonic is that anyone drinking one will know if you're using cheap well liquor. You can get away with cheap vodka in a vodka cranberry or just about anything else, but a vodka tonic both necessitates a call liquor and is a good opportunity to ask if the customer has a preference because the well liquor tastes like ass. This is basic stuff.
I'd write this off as my bad for not specifying, but they also managed to screw up a whiskey sour. Now, I know it's properly made with whiskey, lemons, and sugar, but most places will use sour mix, which is essentially a lemon-lime simple syrup. Somehow, they forgot the sugar and just gave me whiskey and lemon juice over ice. Do you do a taste test before you send out a drink? Most bartenders at a relatively nice place will take a cocktail stirrer, stick it in, and taste really quickly to make sure it's done right; it's like a cook tasting a sauce. Come on, guys; I really want to give you the benefit of the doubt but this is just bad.
I might go back another time to see if they've improved, but I'm not optimistic and I'll be sticking to Saloon, backbar, and the Burren from now on.
I had many an internal struggle with myself on the stars here.
Let me get it right out of the way, I hate Foundry. I hate it here, the food is bad as well as overpriced. The floor staff as well as the host station are disorganized, rude and almost seem as though they're acting as food service employees. I have worked for 15+ years as a food service slave so I understand, I get it, some days this is a shitty job. I went for the first time during the soft opening many moons ago and it was bad. But it was a soft opening so I am not complaining about that. I went again for brunch it was terrible, all the food was cold and unpleasant. Restaurant week? Tried that too, meal wasn't as bad, but it certainly was not good.
So at this point I should have stopped but dammit I had a Groupon and I was going to use it. Why did I have this Groupon? Honestly I'm not sure, I may have been drunk when I bought it. Everyone knows that hordes of Groupon bearing folks aren't the best, they tend to tip not on the full meal but on their discounted price. Did I need to be reminded about that detail from not only the hostess but also our server as well as the food runner? Not really. We order from the very odd gentleman who was our server that nite, lots of drinks (save the pregnant lady) as well as appetizers all around and entrees, clearly not the moves of people trying to scrape a full meal for two out of a Groupon. Plates trickle out, poutine was horrid please just don't bother. The other appetizers were unremarkable at best. Entrees up next, one cold, one overcooked, one undercooked and in perfect 'Three Little Bears' fashion, one was in fact, just right. So I guess a 25% success rate is okay? Either way I've given up here, 4 bad meals was 3 bad meals too many, my own fault but still unforgiveable
But now let me say, I do love how it looks here. I love everything about the decor. 1 star for that.
And second star? That comes from the part of me that hopes that since both The Independent and Precinct (owned by the same guys) are so gosh darn awesome, that one day Foundry may not suck.
It was a busy Sunday evening, and we and and another couple stood there at the front for a good ten minutes while server after server passed us without saying a word. There was no sign telling us to wait or to seat ourselves, and we made eye contact with a few servers who pretty much completely ignored us. Finally the other couple left, and then we did too. We went to the Burren where we were greeted immediately. Don't bother with this place.
Review Source:Davis Square is one of my favorite parts of Somerville. This is a great addition to my list of favorite spots in the area.
Our bartender was super friendly and engaging when it came to our ordering. I didn't get her name, but she was great.
Raw oysters - absolutely perfect. I was so happy to have them, as I usually am, but they were just perfectly cleaned, delicious, excellent mignonette, and cocktail sauce
The bacon-wrapped dates were fantastic although I would recommend they swap the feta out for something a little more salty and rich like a rillette.
The White Shadow Cocktail - perfectly made and wonderfully refreshing with white whiskey, St Germain, mint, cucumber and lime. LOVED IT.
I will 100% be back.
Great food, polite service, & loving that they take reservations (b/c it gets busy).
Chef's burger was outstanding - I think it ranked in a Boston competition recently, or maybe on chowhound. Â Cesar salad and grilled clams didn't disappoint either. Â No complaints. Â Good craft beer list as well.
I ate lunch at the bar today. Â The food was actually really good - I didn't get anything too exotic, just the Cobb salad and their fries with parm and truffle, but I really enjoyed both. Â The Cobb isn't a traditional Cobb, but I liked the changes they had. Â The portion wasn't particularly big, though. Â The fries were done very nicely - and I'm kind of a fry snob.
The service was peculiar. Â No one was rude to me, but the bartender seemed really over her head. Â It didn't help that she had nearly a full bar and not even a bar back to help out until halfway through my time there. Â That's a management problem. Â But it's her problem when I ask for a lunch menu and she doesn't bring it despite collecting menus from other bar patrons and setting them across the bar from me. Â And that she forgets what my first drink was. Â And that she ignored my credit card on the check when I was ready to leave until I actually asked her to ring it up - she had to see it and my drinks were gone, my food was gone, I obviously was more than ready to go.
I will probably be back sometime, but if the service had been even just good, I'd probably eat there multiple times a week. Â As it is, the service didn't make me want to return, especially not at the price point. Â It's not expensive if they have good service, but with mediocre service, it's overpriced.
Want some spiced old fashioneds? How about a great croque monsieur or burger? Saddle on up to the bar on Foundry on Elm for some great service! During my third or fourth visit, I got a table for eight with some friends on a Saturday night, and while most of us only ordered drinks (my companions were very impressed with the craft beer list), service was as attentive as it was at the bar, despite some of the reviews here saying otherwise. Eager to try more food here.
Review Source:The Foundry is a total crowd pleaser--perfect for group outings. I went for my third time last night, and I've found the food and drinks to be consistently delicious. There are lots of big booths, the decor is both kitschy and classic, and there are menu offerings at a range of price points.
Last night, I had the fries with cheese and bacon gravy...and I might need to order them on every visit from now on. I also had the bacon and egg pizza. Though I was disappointed to discover it is actually a flatbread rather than a pizza, it was nonetheless tasty.
I'm sure I'll be back for future visits!
Just upstairs and affiliated with Saloon, Foundry on Elm is the prototypical gastropub with a New England flair. And like any good gastropub, there is a burger on the menu. The 'Foundry Chef's Burger' is a $15 behemoth boasting grass-fed chuck, bacon jam, blue cheese, house BBQ sauce, shaved dill pickles and pickled red onion. You can sort of sense the problems early on, and if you're like me, you think about and predict what the burger will taste like before you even sink your teeth into it. In this case it looks like too many ingredients, many of which are strongly flavored, and it more or less does not come together.
The burger is cooked to a perfect medium rare, and a few initial pokes and squishes yield a juicy burger that looks promising. The toppings and condiments, as expected, are piled high and stacked up on top of the patty all the way up to the substantial bun. A couple of bites into the burger and it's hard to distinguish one flavor from another. The beef on its own is fine, not necessarily lean and odd in the way that grass-fed often can be, but is very neutral and lackluster. The blue cheese is also tame, barely recognizable as a traditional blue cheese. Part of me is glad it's not too strong but I'm a bit disappointed that it's not more detectable. The rest of the supporting players, the bacon jam, BBQ sauce, pickles and red onions are hit-or-miss. I was most excited for the bacon jam, hoping the smokey sweet notes would come through, but if it wasn't listed as an ingredient you'd never know it was in there. I mostly just get hits of acidity from the pickles and the onions (odd that there are two pickled components) and a hefty dose of decent yet unremarkable BBQ sauce. The beef is lost, but again, it's not super flavorful on its own as it is. That could be a seasoning issue or it could just be a lean piece of beef that is cleverly attempted to be covered up with a lot of strong flavors. The bun is tall and soft, holding all of the lengthy list of ingredients in place, and is a wise choice. I opted for the truffle-Parmesan fries, which are quite soggy and bland, despite the aggressive dose of truffle oil and not-so great shaved Parmesan. Sensing a trend here?
It's not so much the price ($15) or the choice of ingredients, it's the care or lack thereof that is taken with the Foundry on Elm burger. A lot of of heavy hitters ultimately end up canceling each other out and you can never disguise ordinary beef as hard as you may try. It's not a fail, it's ultimately just a disappointment and completely average at best. Hard to recommend but unique enough for those looking for something a little different from the norm.
Went back to this place after giving it a one star before, thought, maybe it was just a bad day. It was'nt.
This time it was worse and for the first time if I could give negative stars I would.
We went in and ordered a table, I was greeted by a blonde girl and a darker haired girl as the hostess. They did not even look up or look me in the eye when we came in to greet us, just said, "name", "how many" while staring at the screen, then a colleague came to talk to her and I was left talking to myself as I was ignored. We waited about 30-45 mins, no complaint about the waiting though, that happens.
When we got to the seat we asked for a particular seat and if it was possible to change, they made such a huge deal about it that we just stayed where we were. We told them a 3rd person was coming after our meal so could we get a 3 person table now or can we get one after the meal, we were told after the meal we could just change to another table no problem.
This time the wait staff was very good, no complaints at all about the wait staff or the food, the food was very nice.
We settled the bill and we were then joined by a friend, the blonde hostess was showing him to his seat, and when he said its ok my friends got us a seat she said "so you dont want the seat any more" he said no, she replied "you sure this time, your 100%" she just started being so patronising and sarcastic to him. So then he said ok ill take it and she says "jesus make up your mind".
So we all sit down awkwardly and she is giving me the food menus and I said its ok we ate but the third person may eat something, and she says "jesus christ would youse make up your mind, you ate already?" I replied yes we had to move seats which was actually at the Foundrys request to accomodate a third person. then she says "where did you eat what seat" I pointed to where, then she replies very rudely "did you at least pay". This was a terrible way to treat a customer. Then she rolls her eyes up to the ceiling shaking her head at me.
I spoke to the manager who basically said "yeh shes just having a bad night" no apology, no excuse at all for how she treated us.
This place although it looks very nice and has an impressive alcohol list and has so much potential has very very bad floor staff. This is not all the staff just some. The hostess or reception staff are generally very bad and some of the wait staff can be very rude, or never write down orders then get them all wrong. I have no complaints whatever about the bar staff they know what they are doing. But this place is going down hill fast in terms of service and how they treat people which is why I wrote this second review as its a shame as it has so much potential and it is being ruined by generally bad service.
I made a reservation at Foundry for brunch this past Saturday morning, and it was completely unnecessary. We were the only ones there at 11:00am when they opened, and for another half hour or more. By 12:00pm it got a little busier.
I had a fabulous mimosa, but for $8 I wish it was more than a third of a glass.
My flatbread tasted fine, but it wasn't flat or crispy. It was more like a traditional pizza, with LOTS of parmesan cheese, an egg and bacon on it. It was a bit greasy. I ate a few pieces, and had to stop. The portion was huge, so there was no way I could finish it anyway.
The fella had the eggs benedict, which he finished, and our friend had the breakfast sandwich, which she finished, so I'm thinking I should have just chosen something else.
The blueberry and white chocolate chip scones were AMAZING! I wish there was a continental breakfast option with those scones, jams and cheeses. That would be delicious!
The coffee was good and constantly filled. That's a plus.
I would like to go back and try their dinner entrees, so I'm keeping this place as a solid A-OK.
Having been here on a couple of occasions now, I'll say that you'll find a spacious bar, some great selections on tap, very good sandwiches, high quality raw bar selections, and a nice, relaxed, upscale atmosphere.
The truffle fries are great, the raw oysters and littlenecks are served on the half shell with just the right amount of mignonette sauce, and all around just a fun place to spend a quality hour or so over a Coors Banquet Beer.
Julia F and I have a weekend ritual of searching out good coffee and interesting food, usually on a Sunday morning. This past weekend we decided to try Foundry and were really disappointed.
A few months ago I came to eh Foundry for drinks on a first date and enjoyed my experience. The waitress didn't rush us out and my cocktail was delicious. My brunch experience was not so great.
Julia and I arrived some time around 11 am and the hostess seemed to have a little confusion trying to figure out which parties were together and which weren't. After she tried to seat us with two other groups, she finally put us at a high top right next to the bar. Our server started out good enough, bringing us menus and coffee. We had to beg for extra sugar a couple times, he couldn't seem to bring more than 3 packets at a time. Jules ordered the steak and eggs, I went for the eggs benedict and we shared the poutine.
The poutine was amazing. Everything was pretty much perfect, especially the amazing flavorful and bacony gravy. Both our  ain dishes came with potatoes that were covered (and I mean covered) with paprika. They were bright red and tasted like eating paprika out of the bottle. My eggs were a little runnier than I like, but the benedict on the whole was passable, nothing special. Julia's eggs were right, but her medium well steak came out as medium instead. The steak was flavorful, but she only enjoyed about half of it.
After we finished, we tried to enjoy our coffee, but it was hard with the smell of all that paprika. When our server came to the table Jules asked the server to remove the plates for the smell. I said "There was A LOT of paprika on those potatoes." The server said "Well I don't season them." Really?
So why 3 stars instead of 2? I would come back for the poutine and a cocktail. A meal, probably not.
Went to this place more or less unplanned and had a pretty good time. The service is very good and the ambience is really positive...if I had to rate this place as bar only, I would give it 4 stars. The food is nothing really special whereas the prices were not what I would call "bargain" and for those prices, I would kind of expect a little better. This review might also be somewhat biased because I went to this awesome place "Orinoco" the very next day and that was really awesome for a good price.
So in a nutshell, great location, good service, nice crowd and average food.
Inoffensive and well-located, the Foundry is my standard for Davis Square happy hour. Â Everything is kinda B-grade - the decor, the dishes, the drinks - but then again B-grade can front like A-grade when you're stuck in Davis.
On the plus side, the place is HUGE, so you could throw a party here. They also have a pretty good system for separating drinkers from diners, so everyone gets a comfortable seat.
I've tried a lot of things on the menu, and honestly they were all on the forgettable side, strangely bland. Best bet is the flatbread or soup that rotates with the seasons.
The kale salad is the closest thing to a green vegetable on the menu, but vegetarians beware... it comes with a healthy scoop of pig in it. Actually, if you're a vegetarian, don't even bother with this joint.
Ending on a positive note - one of Foundry's strengths lies in what is NOT to be found there... No creepy old dudes, no bratty undergrads, and no bad artwork or pathetic live music!
3.5 stars. Good tasting food, ok drinks. Â The poutine (cheese & gravy fries) was the comfort food that hit the spot on a cold snowy night. Â The linguine with clams is way too heavy on the chili flakes...completely overwhelms the tiny fresh clams, which came with the shells. Â I had a taste of the pork belly sandwich, which was delicious. The Dee Flowered drink was light and citrusy...more of a summer drink unless they bump up the flavors. Â
The high top tables are WAY too close to each other...I could barely pass through to get to the booth side of the table. Â Server was very prompt and diligent in refilling drinks, bringing our food, etc. Â Very close to the Davis Sq T, so very convenient.
I'm always surprised at how accommodating Foundry is for my big group of friends! Don't be intimidated by the packed bar areas. There are plenty places to sit, eat, and be merry. Good liquor list, nice decor - overall great place for a step up from casual.
Seriously, the pork belly sandwich is AMAZING. I did not want to share. The blueberry bbq (didn't really taste the bbq) was just so good with the contrasting crunch of endives and greens. The bread was a baguette which makes it automatically great. I've also had the Parisian gnocchi. Seriously, the gnocchi is unlike any other you've had - it's so good. It is light and fluffy with the roasted butternut and sauteed brussel sprouts. Really great and creative dishes here.
The service is hit or miss, but dang, drink and eat up.
This is a solid Davis Square affair!
So I walk in with my friend and immediately get seated at the far back of the (mostly empty) restaurant directly next to the commercial dishmachine. Instead of listening to that through the entire meal we get up and walk to the bar. No problem.
I order a bacon bleu burger medium and a beer, my friend also orders. Great.
My burger comes back with swiss and onions. So I speak up and let them know they have sent me the wrong burger. The bartendress assures me the onions are the 'bacon jam' and I must just think that is what they are.. jedi mind trick attempt #1.
So after considering this possibility using my senses of sight, olfactory and now taste, declare that I am pretty sure the cheese on my burger is not bleu. Enter: the manager (or so I assume). 'ok, let me get you the right burger'. To which I tell him not to worry about considering I have handled and started eating the burger...
'no I will get you the right one!'. It seemed a bit overly insistent. A statement rather than a question.
After eating practically the entire swiss and onion burger they come out with another and exchange plates. This burger was raw in the middle, definitely not medium. What a bummer, now I am half way through my second burger and it sucked worse than the first. After stopping due to repulsivity (of situation and food), the bartender and manager tell me 'what a great job Ive done" on my second burger... jedi mind trick attempt #2
The 2 stars go to the bartender and manager for not really considering what I wanted as a customer. And for all the jedi mind trickery. Instead of asking me how I would like the situation to be handled they force fed me grass fed burger... it was service at it's worst. And if insisting a replacement be offered to wrong orders instead of comp is the policy, I strongly urger you to reconsider that. And start considering your customers.
PHEW! Overpriced even for Davis Square, and that's saying something!
I went in for dinner tonight at 7 and took a seat at the bar. The place was mostly empty, but I prefer sitting and watching the warm glow of the back bar lighting through the liquor bottles. It's like firelight, expect safe for indoor use and more common in Boston.
First major complaint: Have fewer stools at the bar. I could barely wedge in there, and I'm a tiny girl, and getting back out again was a pain in the butt. Once we got to the bar, my boyfriend and I, the bartender was very polite and knowledgeable, with plenty of recommendations for which beers we should sample. I wound up with a Dark and Stormy, and my boyfriend had a Dirty B@stard, both of which were spot on to our particular palates.
From there, we got the shrimp sampler, which was nice, but the seaweed garnish was a bit disturbing. It felt like something out a horror film, with weird green bulbs set over chunks of ice, and though the four shrimp were quite well-portioned, the two I got were not completely veined. For $11, I expect a bit better.
Dinner was much better, though. I had the chef's burger, SPOT ON to medium rare, and at $15, it was delicious, if not incredibly small.
Feeling a trend here? TINY portions, TONS of money. Yup.
My boyfriend had the barbecue chicken sandwich, similarly delicious, but with literally twice as much meat as bun. His fries were amazing, though, and at $10, I can see why it's the most popular item on the menu - tasty but literally the cheapest thing they have.
I got a side of brussel sprouts, and lemme tell you, they were hands-down the best thing I had tonight. A little buttery, a little garlic-y, and roasted over the grill. For $5, I would go back and have that with one of their salads for lunch any day.
Oh my my my! Color me impressed!
Thumbs up for having Down East Cider, a local company, on tap.
Another thumbs up for an amazing BBQ Pork Belly sandwich!
Perfectly sized where it wasn't overwhelming and not one of those crazy messy sandwiches where you get sauce everywhere. The pork belly was decadent and so full of flavor and melt in your mouth!
Fries were hand cut and made fresh in house. No complaints about them here, that's for sure!
Foundry has made it onto my recommendations list when someone asks, "Do you know of any good places around Davis/Somerville for food/drinks for a meeting/date/etc.?"
I have only tried one food item at Foundry, but that's cause after trying it once I now always get it. Â The roasted portobello mushroom sandwich is the way to go, trust me! Â Get it with the parmesan truffle fries. Â
The service here has always been good and I like the vibe of the place; it's different from the other places around Davis.
Yet another middling quality Somerville/Cambridge bistro-style restaurant. I was impressed that their menu sticks to the French classics without doing fusion or deconstructed versions of them, but the execution is only okay.
The poutine, which was the reason I went, had shredded cheese melted on it instead of cheese curds, and the bacon gravy tasted unpleasantly of bacon bits, not real bacon.
I decided to get a mussel appetizer for dinner rather than take a chance on the more expensive (but more appealing) boeuf bourguignon or coq au vin being mediocre. The mussels were unimpressive, and they are a hard thing to screw up. The broth was too watery (needed more cream) and didn't add any flavor to the mussels except spiciness from the chilis. I'm glad I didn't splurge on anything fancier.
The beer list was on the small side, and priced a bit higher than I'm used to, but the beers were well-chosen and good.
All in all, it is okay food, but expensive. The restaurant was also noisy from the bar (on a Saturday night, so fair enough), which the management decided to cover up by pumping up the music really loud. The effect was unpleasant.
My boyfriend and I were visiting his brother's family last weekend and they took us out to The Foundry for dinner on Saturday night. What a fantastic place! The restaurant itself is beautifully designed, with mirrors in all the right places and a semi-open kitchen.
The food was delicious - we started out with a cheese plate and a couple of orders of bacon-wrapped dates. Who doesn't love bacon-wrapped anything? Our entrees were all just as good. I ordered the seasonal pumpkin flat bread, but also tried the salmon and the pear-and-arugula flat bread. The portion sizes were perfect, or if anything, on the large side.
Our server (Blake) was perfect. He had that right balance of being attentive without being obtrusive, and in spite of the Saturday night hecticness, remained friendly and calm.
They also had a great wine list. The next time we're in the area this place will definitely be high on our list of places to visit.
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