Restaurant Review: Johnnie's On the Side
I walk by this place on a fairly regular basis. It has changed names fairly often; it's been a brewery, an upscale fancy place, another upscale fancy place, and on and on. Each time, the place has failed. Not for lack of trying, by all means no, but mostly because of it's weird location.
It's part of the Bulfinch Triangle - that weird patch of city that is bordered by the new Courhouse, the new Garden, the new Greenway, and the old Haymarket. In the past this place has certainly not as popular as the Harp for dancing, nor the Greatest Bar for sports viewing, nor Boston Beerworks for hipness. It went for classy or niche, and it turns out that when you're going to a concert or a sporting event at the Garden, niche and classy is not really what you need. If you're working downtown or at the courthouse, you want quick and delicious, not fancy and white-linen.
So, now this place is known as Johnnie's on the side, and it's kind of an interesting take on the sports bar. It feels to me that it has the same spirit as Lucky's Lounge - where a hole in the wall underground bar with no sign becomes a wildly popular Rat Pack era drinking establishment. Johnnie's has the same type of vibe -it's just a teeensy bit different from the other places in the area. Which is good.
It's charming, and decidedly less upscale than its previous iterations; with a few couches and chairs on one side, and dark wood tables on the other. It's a vast and spacious room, the ceilings very high, and completely bordered on two sides by windows (the building itself is a flatiron). The decor hit me as such: it's how you think a "college and young professional hip sports bar" would be decorated. It's organized but slightly chaotic. There are Fenway lockers, and Garden seats, and the old Martignetti's Liquors sign.
I went with my fantastic menfriends C and Billy to their Reggae Brunch. The weather was gorgeous, and the mid-afternoon sun reflected brightly inside the room. We were seated promptly, and our servers were both professional and non-stuffy. We had gotten our drinks (mojito for me, mimosas for the mens), placed our orders (the mens got meat and eggs and potatoes, per the dude code; I got the minty fruit salad and a side of bacon, having eaten coffee cake earlier in the day) and settled in for a long overdue chat.
Unfortunately, that was also the time that the band came back from their break.
The music was LOUD, yo. It was great, but it bounced off of every piece of glass on every framed photo, off into the rafters of the huge room, back down and off the hardwood floor, and directly into our faces. We could barely hear each other, unless we shouted in between bites of kinda fabulous brunch fare. But you know what? Before you know it, we were jamming along with the band, getting into it, and being totally fine with occasionally shouting at each other.
And when the band invited the bartender to play drums on a song, I knew it was the right kind of place for me.
Final recommendation: if the music were 25% softer, it'd be an instant classic. But it's still pretty damn good.
It's part of the Bulfinch Triangle - that weird patch of city that is bordered by the new Courhouse, the new Garden, the new Greenway, and the old Haymarket. In the past this place has certainly not as popular as the Harp for dancing, nor the Greatest Bar for sports viewing, nor Boston Beerworks for hipness. It went for classy or niche, and it turns out that when you're going to a concert or a sporting event at the Garden, niche and classy is not really what you need. If you're working downtown or at the courthouse, you want quick and delicious, not fancy and white-linen.
So, now this place is known as Johnnie's on the side, and it's kind of an interesting take on the sports bar. It feels to me that it has the same spirit as Lucky's Lounge - where a hole in the wall underground bar with no sign becomes a wildly popular Rat Pack era drinking establishment. Johnnie's has the same type of vibe -it's just a teeensy bit different from the other places in the area. Which is good.
It's charming, and decidedly less upscale than its previous iterations; with a few couches and chairs on one side, and dark wood tables on the other. It's a vast and spacious room, the ceilings very high, and completely bordered on two sides by windows (the building itself is a flatiron). The decor hit me as such: it's how you think a "college and young professional hip sports bar" would be decorated. It's organized but slightly chaotic. There are Fenway lockers, and Garden seats, and the old Martignetti's Liquors sign.
I went with my fantastic menfriends C and Billy to their Reggae Brunch. The weather was gorgeous, and the mid-afternoon sun reflected brightly inside the room. We were seated promptly, and our servers were both professional and non-stuffy. We had gotten our drinks (mojito for me, mimosas for the mens), placed our orders (the mens got meat and eggs and potatoes, per the dude code; I got the minty fruit salad and a side of bacon, having eaten coffee cake earlier in the day) and settled in for a long overdue chat.
Unfortunately, that was also the time that the band came back from their break.
The music was LOUD, yo. It was great, but it bounced off of every piece of glass on every framed photo, off into the rafters of the huge room, back down and off the hardwood floor, and directly into our faces. We could barely hear each other, unless we shouted in between bites of kinda fabulous brunch fare. But you know what? Before you know it, we were jamming along with the band, getting into it, and being totally fine with occasionally shouting at each other.
And when the band invited the bartender to play drums on a song, I knew it was the right kind of place for me.
Final recommendation: if the music were 25% softer, it'd be an instant classic. But it's still pretty damn good.