Grana at The Langham, Boston — Restaurant in Boston

This is the beginning of a sad story,

On June 8, I had a reservation at 12 pm to celebrate my birthday at the beautiful and elegant GRANA BOSTON restaurant. Experience that became quite extring and unpleasant. My reservation was made 3 weeks in advance and I tell you that it was changed more than three times,

1. the day I made the reservation, the person who took my call accepted my requests and advised me regarding the menu and programming of my birthday party.

2. a week before my reservation I call again to ask about the menu that they had not sent me and I am surprised that my reservation had never been made because it was never confirmed as a result of the fact that my email was badly written. And after much insistence and asking them to please open the space for me since I had an invitation made with date, time and place, they were able to accommodate my reservation at a different time than I already had written in my invitations.

3. Then, 2 days later (I don't remember very well exactly) They call me back to tell me that it was not possible to attend a party of so many guests, I tell you that from the beginning I was clear with the number of people for my reservation (20 guests)... And other times again the manager reassures me in a not very polite and disrespectful way so as not to extend the call, and tells me that everything is fine that they are waiting for me in my reservation on Sunday, June 8 at 1 pm.

4. As a result of these changes and in particular due to the time change, 6 of my guests cancel their arrival at the restaurant on Sunday 8. This same day I called the restaurant again to make the change in the reservation and the manager tells me that my reservation will be in 4 separate tables and that apparently they will have to move the time one more time, to which she gives me as a suggestion to go to the restaurant next to MARIEL BOSTON while they can prepare the table that was supposedly already reserved and with the clarification that for each canceled guest they would charge me a surplus and that they definitely only had a table for 14 people, that is, I had to talk With two more people of my guests so that they didn't get to the reservation.

5. you will wonder why at this point in the situation I did not cancel the reservation; it was important to me and according to the birthday theme that my family had planned to be celebrated in this place, because I already had the photographer on the way to the restaurant and part of the guests, understanding that these last changes were just 1 hour before the reservation.

6. When I made the call to change the reservation on Sunday 8, the person who answered the call told me that she had received the information from her managers that I had approved the table of my reservation in 4 separate tables. In the middle of the reservation the "MANAGER" approaches to ask how everything was, the truth was an experience full of many negative emotions, And now as the MANAGER believes that right at that moment in front of my guests I will answer a question like that.

Finally, on the first day of the call to the restaurant, the person who answers the call says that I can take my cake and that they can keep it for me, but on the day of the reservation and in the middle of all my guests, the waiter approaches to clarify that he will see an extra charge for having the cake. And even worse as a result of the fact that the desserts that they had told me they were going to give for the celebration never arrived at the table, so we found ourselves in the need to ask them to break the cake.

He only left as a suggestion to the restaurant, to be much more coordinated with the information that passes from one employee to another and that his manager, who I really don't remember his name, was a woman, try not to say in something that his client has not approved.

Greetings and like you of twenty guests that I really don't know if we want to return to your restaurant, TAKE CARE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS ... have an...

The saddest part about Grana is it could easily get a five star review if they wanted to. The staff were exceedingly nice; but were clearly overwhelmed and the kitchen backed up.

We were staying at the Langham and breakfast at Grana was included. I'm grateful, because Grana is exceedingly expensive ($27 for an omelette!) and I wouldn't have paid the retail prices willingly otherwise.

But the first issue isn't the food, it's just getting seated. There is a long set of stairs leading up to the host stand. The issue is there's no room by the host stand, so if there's a line, you're waiting on the stairs. The hostess when we visited physically went to the floor of the restaurant to look and see which tables were available; doing this took 1-2 minutes, and doing it every time a party was to be seated meant when there were 5+ parties in line to be seated meant you were waiting 10+ minutes just to be seated.

But we finally got seated, all good. Except that it took ten minutes for our waitress to just come by - but when she did, she was exceedingly apologetic. We ordered our coffees and food in one go and she disappears.

Another full ten minutes pass, and our water glasses haven't even been filled. I have to go and flag our waitress down, and she apologizes because they're "out of tap water" (...how?) but she will bring by a complementary bottle of still spring water.

Minute 40 (10 waiting + 30 at the table) rolls around, and we finally have water. Our coffee is also brought, but because we had ordered the coffee 20 minutes ago, the hot coffee is cold. We had to send it back.

Minute 45, our hot coffees arrive actually hot.

And then there was a large wait for our food. It was another full 15 minutes until our breakfast - keep in mind, we ordered banana bread and eggs, not something that is terribly complicated - to arrive.

The banana French toast was amazing, as is the sticky bun. But the eggs Benedict was so disappointing, because it was flavored so well, but it was severely over cooked. At this point it's been an hour and I don't feel like sending my food back, so I eat it, but disappointed the entire time that the $30 eggs Benedict came out with the eggs over cooked.

I would not...

Ambiance: The Grana at Langham is a beautiful restaurant that is located inside the lobby of the former Federal Reserve of Boston. Featuring high ceilings and large shimmering chandeliers, most of the original interior of the old bank is kept intact as part of the decor of the Grana, which adds character to the ambience. The biggest examples being the federal reserve seal in the middle of the floor and the portraits of 8 reserve presidents of past hanging on the wall. Near the entrance, there's a display of modern art in the form of a giant wire head sculpture, which contributes a subtle but nice touch of contemporary character to the mostly classical federal style.

Service: The wait staff were professional and were quick and attentive. We had reservations and were seated immediately upon arrival. Our waiter was friendly and was always around when we needed something. They were a bit rushy when trying to take our order, which I didn’t like.

Menu + Food: The food in general was presented very nicely but overall was very disappointing in flavor and not worth the price point. We went during brunch, and I found the offerings were unique compared to your typical brunch menu. We ordered the “Spill the Beans” Espresso Martini to drink, and I thought it tasted pretty average. To start, we got the “Big Meatball” which is literally a giant meatball served with fried spaghetti and tomato sauce. The inside of the meatball was a bit too pink and undercooked (maybe it was too big) and it was severely lacking in flavor. The sauce could’ve used more seasoning as well, as it was rather bland. For the main course, we ordered the eggs benedict with potatoes and pulled beef. Everything was cooked fine on this plate, but it was again critically lacking in flavor and seasoning. Even after adding salt and pepper ourselves, the taste was still disappointing.

I would not recommend going to the Grana, at least not if you’re hungry. If you’re just looking for somewhere with an eye-pleasing ambience to grab a drink with friends then it’s fine, but still wouldn’t be my first choice in the area. If you are looking for somewhere to eat brunch, I would not...