I have season tickets to the Boston Lyric Opera, so my girlfriend and I frequently go to the opera at the Schubert Theater in Boston, Massachusetts. We like to make a night of it, so we always plan for a nice dinner before hand. Conveniently located within walking distance of the Schubert is the Rock Bottom Brewery and Restaurant. Neither my girlfriend nor I are beer drinkers, but we have eaten the food at this restaurant a few times now, and since we have always been delighted, I realized that it was about time I wrote a review.

Apparently Rock Bottom Brewery's are a chain, my review focuses on the one located on Stuart Street, Boston, MA, which is right in the heart of the Theater District. The Wang Center, The Schubert, and the Colonial are right across the street in fact. If you are going to see a show, I would highly recommend the cuisine here.

Since it is freshest in my mind, I shall start with our meal of this week when we attended the final performance of Madame Butterfly.

Decor Have you ever seen Brazil? Remember all the ducts that director Terry Gilliam populated his futuristic Orwellian world with. The interior of Rock Bottom reminds me of this. On floor level, the windows line the street side, giving us a view of the hustle and bustle of people walking around in Boston's theater district. The tables are nice, it has that private club feel to it, with solid dark woods and deep carpeting all around. The restaurant is also quite spacious. A huge bar is in the center, and many people can sit at the bar. Overhead, there is an exposed ceiling revealing HUGE DUCTS. I thought it was rather funny. I saw couples, and groups of friends dining here. Since I have always gone to Rock Bottom before the opera, I have mostly noticed the theater and opera crowd dining here. I would describe it as upscale / trendy for atmosphere. There are plenty of seating options from sitting at the bar, a table or in a booth. The booths are large with plenty of leg room.

Service The service is excellent. All three times we have dined here, we have been immediately seated, the waitstaff came over quickly and took orders for drinks and appetizers, and our entrees also came out quickly. We have never been late for a show because of slow service at Rock Bottom. I would note that one time, our waiter even went to the convenience store next door to the restaurant to get my girlfriend a Coke, because Rock Bottom serves Pepsi. Last Tuesday was no exception. It was quite busy, so my girlfriend was content to order root beer because on this visit, our waitress didn't offer to get a Coke, but our drinks arrived quickly with some bread. Even dessert was brought out shortly after we had finished our meals. Our waitress was also happy to point out things she recommended, and explained what various items were.

The Drinks Okay first of all, Rock Bottom has a WIDE variety of beer. (Read a few reviews on this by our beer experts for an in depth look at the beer, I'm not a beer drinker) I like wine with my meal, and I have never been disappointed here. I ordered Salmon for my main meal, so I had a nice glass of Reisling white wine. It was dry and rather sweet tasting, and it complimented my fish. ( I think it said something like, oh that's a nice mango topping you have there). My recollection is that the wine I had with previous meals was also quite good. Rock Bottom has a large list of wine, martinis and of course BEER. Light beer, dark beer, ale, all manners of beer are present, including many micro breweries.

The Bread Neither of us ordered appetizers, but we did have the bread. It was quite good, and it tasted fresh, and it was served with butter.

The Menu There are a wide range of appetizers here from basic to fancy, i.e. potato skins or shrimp cocktail. Menu includes chicken dishes, seafood plates, steaks, pasta and Rock Bottom specialties. There are several selections in each category, and there are also nightly specials on top of that. It can be quite difficult to choose!

I apologize to my vegetarian readers, I didn't notice whether Rock Bottom features any non meat entrees, although I believe some of the pasta dishes would be vegetarian friendly.

Main meal I had a great salmon with a tropical mango sauce. My fish was moist and fresh and with the sauce it tasted outstanding. I hate it when restaurants cook fish so that it is dry, but my salmon was tasty even without the sauce. My girlfriend had the chicken with a lemon sauce which she really enjoyed. The potatoes were great, I don't know how they mashed them, but they appeared to have been whipped to the point of absolutely lump free perfection and with lots of butter. We both ate every bit of our potatoes. The veggie was string beans, which I normally do not like, but I liked these. On previous outings to Rock Bottom, I have had their Jumbalaya, which was quite tasty. It is a mix of spicy rice, vegetables and shrimp. It was also very filling. I have also had their steak tips which were cooked just the way I ordered them, medium rare. The steak here is also quite good judging by the steak tips.

Desserts Although the dessert section is small it is very delicious. I had a mug sundae, which had coffee ice cream with mint cookies and hot fudge. Last time we split an apple / pear crisp that was in a caramel sauce. I have no complaints on the dessert menu here.

Price You would think that a meal in downtown Boston, a great meal at that, would be expensive. You would be wrong. Our meal was about 45 dollars, and that includes a glass of wine and a dessert. Most entrees are in the 12-15 dollar range which for downtown Boston could be a lot more. Legal Seafoods for example is much pricier. Desserts are all in the $5.00 range. Wine is from $5-7.00 per glass.

Summary If you feel like you've hit ROCK BOTTOM, you are in for one delicious meal. Rock Bottom has great service, great food and reasonable prices. It gets five stars in my book, and remains one of my favorite restaurants to eat at before a show.

Recommended: Yes

Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations Too many to choose!
Best Suited For: Trendy Crowd