Next Door Speakeasy — Restaurant in Boston

Let's get it out of the way, it's East Boston. Signs of gentrification are everywhere, but it's not exactly Back Bay - so, news of a new hidden-door speakeasy was met with both rejoice and crushing skepticism, and unfortunately the skepticism was justified.

The past two years of isolation was a face slap on how expensive bars and restaurants are and that you can get decent results at home for far less. We are, of course, willing to forget all this for a finely-mustached mixologist to wizard up a potion in any setting other than another virtual happy hour - but if you want to charge $17 a drink, you better be ready to play in the big leagues.

In this school yard, you're competing with everything reachable by Uber in 7-8 minutes, which includes the Fed, Mariel, Yvonne's, Coquette, Contessa, and Lolita; none of which are particularly outstanding, but all of which offer a better drinks, better designed ambiance, and better tasting food; but for the same price.

To make sense of it all, you don't have to look further than the menu. There, in prime real estate, is the decoy: Pappy Van Winkle or Louis XIII by the half ounce. This isn't a speakeasy at all - this is a nightclub wearing a speakeasy costume.

It's a little bizarre. The eclectic playlist of throwback saxophone covers and bass-heavy underground hip hop. Lighting that flickers between a little too bright and where-did-you-go dim. Interior design that couldn't decide whether it's going for nautical, art deco, glam, or mid-century modern, and then just decided to do all of it. Air circulation that cycles from worryingly stuffy post-quarantine to oddly chilly and back. Appetizers at $18 each, which the server admitted, "were a little small and you should get a few." Even attempting to offer ceviche in this neighborhood was a bold move - ours tasted like an Italian who visited Peru once and tried to recreate it from the pictures. Good chips though.

And finally, the cocktails. A good balanced drink could have saved it all and made this review just an entertaining note in the margins, but the cocktails were not great. I couldn't tell if it was the recipe or the preparation, but my Lock and Key was cloying sweet, like a yogurt soju cocktail. My company's Take Your Time was smoked about 5 seconds too long and overpowered everything in the glass. After the smoke cleared, any nuance of the Michters, maple syrup, or bitters was run over by a smoldering truck. This isn't the Aviary, but unless it's adding to the cocktail experience rather than detracting from it, this presentation is at best a gimmick. Gimmicks don't bring regulars, gimmicks bring tourists.

The people of East Boston deserve a great cocktail experience. Respect every dollar you take, steal from the best (e.g., Death and Co./Raines Law Room NYC, Gibson DC, Violet Hour Chicago), and you'll be booked for ages in advance. See you in...

My husband and I came after dinner near by around 10:15pm on a Friday evening.I asked the host at Pizza on Porter nicely where is the bar since this is our first time here. She seems on a bad mood or something asked me if I have a reservation. I said no, do I have to make a reservation? (It's only 2 persons at 10pm, I thought it would wait a bit to walk in) She said No, you have to make a reservation. I said OK, try to follow the business rule.

We settled down at the restaurant bar and made the reservation at 11pm. We had a drink at the bar, waited until 10:50pm. Then we walked over to the host, and told her we made the reservation and see if it's ready to bring us in. She was very rude told us: "It's not 11 yet!" Since we drove over an hour from south shore to the city, I want to try this hype speakeasy bar to worth our trip. We went back to the bar and sat another 10 mins until 11pm right on the clock, we walk back to the host again! She said the table isn't ready! The whole back and forth things show that the only power she has to push people around. The whole conversation doesn't show any hospitality. She was mean and rude. While we were waiting to be seated, there were another 2 latio guys came after us, the host who speaks to them and try to seat them first. However, they have party of 6, yet other people weren't arrived yet. So she HAS TO SEAT us. When we FINALLY approach the entrance, she told me there is a password to get in. I was already aggravated by her bad attitude, back and forth just to be seated. She told me there is a passcode on my reservation email, I don't know if she is giving me more hard time or there is something wrong with the email setting, there is NO PASSWORD ANSWER in the reservation email. They tried to be cool to do the sesame door open thing, but they need to run this customer experience again to make sure there is no miss link.

Myself have worked in the restaurant business 5+ years. I haven't see any service as this bad to a customer that the customer didn't do anything to you. If you had a bad day, understandable but be professional don't bring it to work or to your customer who pays you. I feel bad for the rest of the server crew, this girl will bring down your earning. I had a bad taste in my mouth of the night, just by getting my table.

The bar servers are friendly, but I still can't shake off the seating experience. The drinks are above average, have some cool hype in that. With this experience, I wouldn't go near there again. Any other places like Bird of Paradise, Mariel, Blossom Bar, Justine...

The vibe and ambiance inside this pretty well hidden spot is great. It has a much more modern feel to it than other speakeasy's I have been to, but the darker decor and lighting were in keeping with the theme. My friend and I ordered the tuna tar tar. I've never had tuna quite that soft and bland. It wasn't enjoyable and I wouldn't recommend that dish. The charcuterie plate is whatever you want to make it, so that was great. Who doesn't love cheese?The florentine dessert tacos were absolutely to die for. I could have ordered several of them. The florentines had the perfect texture, consistency and flavoring. The filling was smooth and delicious topped with fresh fruit. The drinks are a whole experience which was the most fun part. All of the drinks are of course expertly crafted and not ones you'll soon forget. The espresso martini, which I acknowledge you can order at almost any bar, was amazing. I don't know what they added to it, but I've never had one so delicious and I have done extensive sampling. The part of this experience that was really disappointing was getting into the speak easy. The door is difficult to find until you find it. My friend and I admittedly wandered around the block a few times before we found it which we expected and is honestly part of the fun. When we did find the door we got so excited only to be stopped by a hostess from the pizza place attached to the bar and told that we had to check in at the pizza place. We were a little thrown off but did as told and waited for a hostess to get to the podium since none were there when we walked in. We were then politely chastised for being late (we were 3 minutes late) and I have to note that had we been allowed to just knock on the secret door and give our password when we arrived, we would have been a few minutes early. The greeting upon arrival at the pizza place gave the night a rocky start, but thankfully as soon as we entered the speakeasy, we were greeted by a lovely hostess and had a nice night. I'd recommend trying out this speakeasy experience for sure - with friends or couples, anything would be fun- but make sure you know to check in at the...