Reviews of Bar Boulud (Restaurant)

Theodore Hellmann

Dog friendly - inside and out! Upscale, gourmet French restaurant with great ambience and refinement.

Isabella WolfsKeil

Came here on a whim, I really enjoy all of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants. I’m giving this restaurant a one star because of the service. The serves have zero knowledge about the food and wine they are serving.

Ipek Salahor

Very elegant. Try the cosmopolitan with an orchid ice cube

Lauren Barlow

The waiter Danny, was the worst server I’ve ever had. Did not refill our drinks. Mess up my check and over charged me.

Lemon Roe

The worst service I’ve ever had. The waiter I had was terrible took almost 50 minutes to take our order and did not even come over to refill drinks. The pork chop was dry and over cooked. Do not go here if you have to be somewhere after.

Richard Alpert

A classic. Great bar. Super French bistro fare.

Rami Dalal

Great service and environment in the Mandarin Oriental. Beautiful street view and great drinks and food.

Lev Agranovich, EA MSA CFC PA CDFA

Bar Boulud, Boston is a French-inspired bistro and wine bar from internationally acclaimed chef Daniel Boulud. Specialising in classic brasserie fare, Bar Boulud is known for being one of the best French restaurants in Boston with its seasonal New England inspired menu and signature charcuterie from renowned Parisian charcutier Gilles Vérot.

blair sinnott

Terrible coffee but good service

Gabriel Giella

Exquisite. The atmosphere in the restaurant is lovely with the soaring wooden motif giving the impression of alfresco dining under the trees. If spaghetti with bottarga happens to be available when you’re there, order it without question and thank me later! Also a nice spot to grab a perfect dirty martini. Classy, not stuffy. Always great.

Yoel Kelman

Really nice place. Upscale, great service, very pleasant. Nice to meet people or work alone on some emails on your laptop.

Michael Angelo

Delicious food. Well worth the visit.

A& A

Great place for work dinner. High quality food, service and location. It is NYC's Daniel's restaurant in Boston.

Marcy Weiner

Exceptional!

james igoe

We had breakfast, as well as met a friend here for drinks, as we were staying at the Mandarin Oriental. The interior is crisp and new, the service was attentive, and the food, as well as the drinks, tasty.

JT Aldridge

The prices are a shade over most good restaurants, but it is worth it. They don't try to reinvent classic food, but they don't let it be boring either. The gougeres were light, but had a great cheese flavor. The lemon sole amandine, was exquisite. It is so easy to mess up a delicate fish, but it was perfectly cooked, as was the sauce and sides. If you come here, you should sit back and enjoy the food with a nice bottle of wine. Don't just run in for a quick bite. ---- Just went back yesterday and discovered that a few of the cooks left and were replaced. I am happy to report that as a customer I would have never had a clue. Management is doing its job. I had the scallops and my wife had the sole which had a rice side. Both were excellent.

Aaron Bosshardt

The oysters we're excellent. We ordered the ones from Martha's Vineyard.

Craig Pressley

Great place, order any duck confit item on the menu and you will be glad you did. The best Vesper in Boston? I argue yes!

Paul Thurrott

This is a nice, modern, and Americanized take on the Daniel Boulud restaurant experience. It's not as stuffy and old fashioned as Daniel in NYC, thankfully, and it assimilates a lot of the local flavor, which is nice. We didn't see a lot in the way of classic French cuisine per se, though the duck breast on special was fantastic, as were the shishito peppers starter. The charcuterie is a great choice for the table. Expect to spend big bucks here, of course.

Keith Orr

Burger sauce was way too vinegary. Slow service. This is a good place but nothing special.

Eli Gelfand

(Translated by Google) Summer (Original) Yay

I T

Bartender proactively filled up my half full glass of champagne and then charged me for 2 glasses. A pretty low class move for such an establishment...

Alison Kan

Very affordable food during Dine Out Boston. They have a set menu for about $25, where you can choose your appetizer (Francine salad or avocado toast), entree (salmon, pork chop, orecchiette pasta, or confit duck), and dessert (coconut cheesecake, chocolate tart, or ginger beer float). Our server was very nice and the food was great!

Mike S

Was there for dinner. Not very good and quite expensive!. Perhaps brunch is better.

Tim Girian

Great restaurant !

Jonathan Kwan

Restaurant week menu, the price is amazing. LENTIL VELOUTÉ: it's great, not the green bean one but still good, my mum didn't like the after taste tho. COQ AU VIN: Looks awesome. The chicken leg is just so so to me, they made the black meat taste like white meat, and the side dish (pork and scallop) are totally dry. But the red wine taste is great. CARAMELIZED APPLE TART: the caramel ice cream is amazing, the apple slices are a bit too thin, the apple taste could be a bit stronger.

Jordi Segalés

Expected way more from a restaurant affiliated to a good hotel and a recognized Chef

Jack Hammer

Great wine list, incredible food, super service. Not much more to say! Enjoyed every minute.

Andrew Kan

Great food at good prices during the Dine Out Boston event. There is great service here. We ordered the Francine Salad and Avocado Toast for appetizers, the Orecchiette, Confit Duck Leg, and Grilled Pork Chop for the main course, and Coconut Cream Cheesecake, Strawberry Ginger Beer Float, and Tab's Equatorial Chocolate Tart for dessert.

Kamlesh Chhetty

Went in for Dine Out Boston. Had the pre fix menu options. The cocktails are eccentric ( Old Manhattan with Popcorn!!) but delicious. We also got a cocktail which was served in a tea cup. Food was tad disappointing though. The salmon from the pre fix menu was bland and over cooked. The hanger steak was well.. chewy.. desserts (chocolate gateau and the panna cota) were fine but nothing to be raved about.

Marcel Gröls

Everything pretty okay - but the price-performance ratio is just pathetic. A restaurant like that couldn't survive in Hamburg, Paris or London.

Stella Mandagi

We had a wonderful brunch here on a rainy day. The service and ambience were great. I would recommend this place.

Hamza Malik

It was a really nice atmosphere here, we liked it very much. They have these comfy chairs that felt like a throne, lol The staff there were really welcoming and friendly, thanks you all for making it a lovely night. And a shout out to Walter, he was awesome, thanks for your kind demeanor, it is really appreciated!

Mark Shellrude

Love it. Dog friendly patio & canine menu options make it all the more awesome.

David Eggert

An excellent menu with a good variety of options. The service was outstanding, quick and attentive throughout the meal. Our meals were both very good, each course arriving in a timely manner, without feeling rushed. I would highly recommend eating here if you are in the area.

Brittany From Boston

Delicious food, gorgeous ambiance, wonderful service. Was entirely as wonderful as I expected! Will definitely return! Loved the melt-in-your-mouth coq au vin for dinner and then the fresh-baked petit madeleines for dessert. Lots of table seating, also a nice bar section!

Testing Samsung Austin

Good

Joey Brode

A comfortable but elegant environment, where we were served a uniformly excellent meal. My cappelletti in broth with vegetables was fresh but pleasantly complex. Classic boudin blanc, a simple and wonderful side of spinach, a gorgeous porcini topped salad -- and the dessert was an untraditional, but very lovely, "ile flottant". The food, service, and ambiance are squarely in the French tradition - even to the point that you will do better with the wine list than with the cocktails. Expensive, but the consistent quality is unusual, and worth a lot in my book.

Alessandro Bahgat

Really good food: their charcuterie board and their ricotta terrine were remarkable.

TJ T

Located within the Mandarin Oriental Boston, this place offers one of the best dining experience in Boston. Service staff is very courteous and shows initiative. I had breakfast here and the buffet spread though small is pretty good in quality. Dinner offers curated choice of food but I especially liked their wide range of wine selections. Overall, this place offers very pleasant dining experience and will definitely be back!

Younghee Kim

One of rare restaurants where food is delicious and sodium content just right. No more drinking buckets of water after the meal here. In other words, perfect!

Willow Glitter Toast

Boston has a food problem. Well, this is mainly an upper end food problem. I want to love these restaurants, I really do. However, tired of hard poached eggs and bland other-region cuisine pocking my three years of residence, I usually would end up with a lobster roll in hand. Cliche? Maybe. But f'in good. Enter Bar Boulud. Tucked along bustling Boylston, this fully approachable restaurant both in terms of price and ambiance is just what I needed to have some faith restored in this great city's culinary scene. Having dined for both breakfast and lunch, I can say unequivocally that this is my best experience with a higher tier restaurant in Boston. Eggs Benedict done right!? Wha???? Prepared-to-perfection burger, you say? Yup, I do say. All this with incredible service and soothing ambiance!? You got it. Having moved on from the city of Boston and my omnivorous ways, I am excited to see what Bar Boulud can whip up on my next visit.

Bronwyn Owens

In a word - salty! Everything had too much salt. I had the Provencale Salad and Duck, both over salted. My partner had the Boudin Blanc (white sausage) with a leek puree. The leek puree was the best thing I tasted. Service was ok, especially helpful with the wine list which is a bit challenging if you are not a wine connoisseur, but the server never asked us how our meal was, just if we needed anything which I thought was a bit odd.

Henry Gotten

It could be better

Michael Collins

Came in for a late lunch on a Saturday to the new Bar Boulud located inside the Mandarin Oriental. First, the location is gorgeous. It has a french winery/bistro feel as some of the walls are covered with what looks like wine cases, nice concept. I should start with my biggest disappointment though, in what really should have been a highlight, the service... After a great welcome by the manager we sat down and were eventually greeted by our waiter. The only time we saw our waiter from that point on was to take our order and to get the check and offer dessert. When plates were taken after the appetizers we were left without silverware for about 5 minutes into our entree. We were also left without beverages for extended periods of time. This is the kind of restaurant where your glass of water (or any glass) should never be empty. Normally it would warrant a 3 star review but since they've only been open for a week I'm giving them a bit of a pass, but for this caliber of restaurant the service was unacceptable. The food on the other hand ranged from good to excellent and I would return to try other items I didn't try on my first visit. Here is what I tried: Rillions - if you've had Latin food before you may have had chicharrón's and these are very similar. These were far superior to any Latin version of the dish I have had before. These fried pieces of pork belly were perfectly crispy on the outside while being juicy on the inside. Perfectly executed and cam with some Dijon mustard that had hints of horseradish. Shrimps Al Ajillio - Shrimp in a garlic cream sauce. It's as delicious as it sounds. The shrimps tasted fresh and the sauce was perfect for dipping the complimentary fresh sourdough bread they provided. This dish also had a great presentation, I like when food looks like art. Super Green Spinach - it was super and it was very green. Great side dish, even for someone like me who steers clear of veggies generally. The French know what they are doing. Croque Madame - House made ham, melted Gruyere cheese on toasted white bread with a béchamel sauce. Topped with a farm fresh egg. This dish was not only heavenly and rich but the presentation was gorgeous. For those not familiar with french cuisine I would compare it to a lunch croissant in terms of its flavor profile. Frenchie Burger - topped with tomato mustard and confit pork belly, which I found to be more or less similar to bacon. It came with a side of fries and was cooked perfectly. The burger, like all the other dishes, had a great presentation. While the burger was perfectly good, I've had better in this price range. Macaroons & Chocolates - Small dessert plate for about $6 that has 2 small pieces of chocolate and 2 mini macaroons. A good ending for someone with a sweet tooth who may be starting to get full.

Lee Fay

Lobster role is excellent! I normally do not like any sauce on food, but the sauce is this roll is so mixed with the lobster, it makes the taste really comfortable and light. Highly recommend!

Frederick Wright

Consistently excellent - service, food, drinks, and even acoustics. A meticulously designed space for a romantic evening, patio dining, hanging out with colleagues after work, or even enjoying an over-the-top brunch. The charred Spanish octopus was one of the best things I've had in Boston in a long time, and the daily handmade pastas are consistently worth the carb load. To be honest, I had put off going here because I was intimidated by the reputation, but I found the prices quite reasonable and the atmosphere relaxed and confident, not pretentious.

Sarah Hollenbeck Valelly

FANTASTIC, FAB, WONDERFUL- I LOVED IT!

Sheheryar Kabraji

Excellent sole and beef tartar. Prompt and polite service.

Alexandra

Breakfast: - morning weekend service as well as food need to be improved - had the continental buffet - most of the items had been sitting out for a while, not replenished - eggs and potatoes arrived cold - told the server, he left the table; I ate my food as I was hungry, and as I finished, he brought a second plate of the order; the gesture was very nice, but I had already finished my plate

Matteo Alvaro

Excellent. Among the best restaurant I’ve been in town! A bite over the average prices but totally worth it! Both food and wine simply exquisite!

Rainice Lai

Surprisingly unpleasant experience. My friends and I were basically being ignored for 30 mins after sitting down with no servers to take order or even bringing us a glass of water. We tried to talk to the hostess for three times. She was very nice and sadly we never got ANY kind of services. We left the place after wasting our time for nothing. Horrible service.

Steve Doherty

Great place for lunch!

Faça a Vida Valer a Pena

Excelente lugar com um ambiente visual agradável, bons pratos, bons vinhos e um bar com bebidas variadas. Servem bons lanches também. Uma ótima experiência, recomendo!!!

Katur Patel

Came in here during their winter dine out Boston lunch menu. The service was great from start to finish. I was seated promptly for my reservation and offered to check my coat. The dine out Boston menu had at least 1 vegetarian options for each course and I started with the Leek soup. It came out quickly and had a very creamy texture with a crispy waffle cut chip in the center for some crunch. The soup came out lukewarm but would have been much better if it was slightly warmer. For the 2nd course I choose Catavelli with broccoli rabe. It also came out lukewarm and would have benefited being a bit warmer but tasted good none the less. The sauce had a punch of garlic but overall a good flavor. Finally the dessert was the best part with a trio of ice cream dusted with nuts. I will definitely come back here!

Lila Nazef

Great French experience. Food was authentic, wine just exceptional and the service perfect It’s a 5* desserts are authentique and just delicious

Ian Placido

Check out the DineOut Boston menu

Kim Paes

Sophisticated and elegant

T G

I don't normally write reviews, but felt I needed to do so for Bar Boulud. I took 6 close friends there for dinner, and quite frankly, wish that I had not. This restaurant exemplifies everything wrong with establishments run by "celebrity chefs", or at least their reputations. The service was embarrassing - to be honest, I am not even sure who our actual "server" was. Our table was intermittently visited by various servers, and the manager eventually had to come over to take our order after being there for an hour without being asked for our dinner requests. When the food finally arrived: our lemon sole and salmon dishes were frankly cold, the pomme frites were cold, the salmon was chewy/fishy, the bread basket tasted stale, and the seafood tower had at most half a lobster and 4 shrimp surrounded by an abundance of ice. When I mentioned the problems to the manager, he said he would "mention it to the chef", and take care of the problem. His way of taking care of the problem was to give us a small plate of gum-like confections for dessert, followed by our bill for almost $800. I would strongly recommend choosing another of Boston's better wine/dining options. This was a very disappointing evening, and I was frankly surprised that the manager did not seem to care. It tarnishes the reputation of a renown "celebrity chef".

Leah Xylona

The environment at Bar Baloud is graceful and beautiful. The host was absent, coming back to the desk and then walking away again, which gave us almost 15 minutes to stand around and take in the lovely space. Not a soul offering a greeting, though many passed by. When the host finally returned, she was apologetic and led us into the almost empty dining room to our reserved table. I was delighted with how luxurious and spacious the velvet booth was for our party of five. There is an excellence to the people who are behind the scenes at Bar Baloud with their perfect brunoise, light emulsifications, and ideal timing on proteins. The charcuterie board took me back to France with its delicate flavors. The pickled purple onions and frisee salad added a balance of acid and crunch to the creamy pate and terrine. I wanted to love my main as much as the appetizer but the seafood fra diavlo was underwhelming. There was an absence of acid (I asked for lemon) and a lack of heat for a Fra Diavolo. There were four mussels and an equal scattering of tiny calamari pieces--- that was it for the seafood. I mean, it's calamari and mussels-probably some of the most plentiful and pedestrian creatures in the sea- why were they so lonely on this plate? All of the other entrees were well received by my companions, the loup de mer probably being the favorite, but the real stars on the table were the wine, cocktails, and mocktails, which were all balanced, creative, and delicious. Perhaps Bar Baloud is a better choice for drinks and apps? I had a bit of fomo seeing other salads and small plates coming out. Regardless, Bar Baloud is a treat you should give yourself.