Parm — Restaurant in Boston

2 out of 5 stars Disappointing food, undertrained staff, and an awkward ending.

Stopped in on a Thursday night around 7 PM, and the place was nearly empty—which in hindsight should’ve been the first red flag. While the bartender was friendly enough, it was clear they hadn’t been properly trained on either the food or the spirits behind the bar. Basic questions about the menu and drink options were met with blank stares or vague guesses.

The food didn’t do much to turn things around. The meatballs were fine—basic and just okay. The chicken Milanese was dry and underdressed, lacking seasoning and seemingly forgotten by the kitchen after frying—no salt, no finish, just bland. The shrimp piccata was the biggest letdown. The shrimp were rubbery, overcooked, and tasted a bit fishy, suggesting they were past their prime and maybe left in the pan too long in an attempt to mask that fact.

Another strange element: the blowers and fans in the room were so loud it felt like we were dining inside a wind tunnel. You could barely hear the music in the background over the constant whooshing noise. Not sure if anything can be done about it, but it definitely made for an odd, almost industrial-feeling atmosphere that didn’t match the vibe they seemed to be going for.

But the worst part of the experience came at the end. Instead of discreetly presenting the check and letting me review and pay in peace, the bartender brought over a handheld Toast device and hovered while I completed the payment—including selecting the tip. This practice is becoming more common, and I absolutely hate it. It’s tacky, awkward, and creates an uncomfortable pressure dynamic. I always tip, and I tip well—but having someone stand over me while I do it feels presumptuous and low-class. It left a sour taste in my mouth that eclipsed everything else.

Parm might look the part, but between the underwhelming food, untrained staff, uncomfortable atmosphere, and awkward service model, I won’t...

This place was disappointing on all fronts. (1) the service was horrendous. I say this as someone who was a server for 7+ years and who has a lot of leeway and patience with wait staff. They put up with a lot. But to wait nearly 20 minutes just to get water glasses when they were NOT busy is just not okay. (2) The quality. It was that of a sleepy suburban Olive Garden. The only difference is that this is set in a trendy "instagram" atmosphere. I ordered the eggplant parmesan, and after waiting 30 minutes for it to arrive, when I cut into the dish, it was literally frozen. Like, had ice crystals still on it. I tried to get my server's attention to rectify the situation and when that didn't work, I had to literally carry my plate up to the BOH window to the manager (who, btw, also saw me waving my hand around like a crazy person and blatantly ignored me). They did bring me out a new dish relatively fast and the flavor was good, but then I overheard a nearby guest request to have his meal microwaved, so I don't think this was an isolated incident. (3) Drinks were awful. I ordered an old fashioned and it came with Kalua and on the rocks. Neither of which should be in what is probably one of the most well known cocktails in the U.S. My partner ordered a Negroni that also came on the rocks. That one tasted just okay but that's not typical way to serve that drink.

This place has a lot of kinks and training to work out before its ready to be open to the public. Save your time and money and check out literally any other Italian restaurant (of which there are many in the area) for a better experience.

Note: we also sat next to an influencer who was given copious amounts of free food and wine in exchange for a good review and posts on her stories. Be weary of any 5 star reviews...

The only thing good about this place is their outdoor patio. The server we had literally had no idea what she was talking about most of the time. My friend has a gluten allergy and asked before hand if they had a gluten free menu (they did not) and then asked if our server could point out what appetizers are gluten free. Our server said that the sweet and sour cauliflower was gluten free. We ordered it and it came to our table and upon first look the cauliflower was clearly battered and fried. Obviously this is not gluten free. Thankfully my friend has a gluten allergy and does not have celiac, however, if she did have celiac and did not notice the batter on the cauliflower that would be a dangerous situation. We had to ask another server if the cauliflower was actually gluten free and he said no. When we told our server that the cauliflower is in-fact not gluten free (which we should not have to tell our server that works at this restaurant that a dish is not gluten free), she made up a lame excuse of “sometimes they don’t batter the cauliflower”. So when people order the cauliflower they get a different dish each time? What? Thankfully they took the cauliflower off the bill, only because we asked. The food was very subpar and not hot. They have a very limited drink menu and could not make basic drinks. At the end of our meal we asked if we could split the check and she said that we had to split it evenly. Which normally would be fine but I worked in restaurants for years and used the same POS system they used, Toast. You can easily split the checks with that system I used to do it every single day when I had a serving job. Either our server was lazy or this restaurant literally doesn’t train their servers. Never coming here again. Very...