Prima Italian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Boston

Decent Italian food and service but discriminatory hostess

Recently took a visit to try this new trendy restaurant in Charlestown. The first impression was a bit chaotic. A sprawling bar dominating the center and diners constantly moving around created a vibe less of an upscale steakhouse and more of a bustling, chic tavern.

Upon arrival, we hoped to snag a window seat. Since we had an early dinner reservation, they were empty, and the ambiance looked inviting. The hostess, however, refused. Her reasoning? The seats were "reserved for larger groups". Yet, as the evening wore on, we noticed Caucasian groups of two occupying those very tables. When questioned, she tried to brush it off with an excuse about cancellations. She was clearly discriminatory, but since the majority of the patrons were Caucasians, they can probably get away with such discriminatory service at front.

Fortunately, our evening took a turn for the better with our server and wine director, Jeronimo. He went above and beyond to amend the initial misgiving, even offering complimentary drinks and an appetizer. While we refused to accept multiple times, he brought out surprise drinks for us regardless.

Turning to the food, the dishes were a mixed bag. The meatballs stood out, beautifully seasoned and delectably moist. However, steak tartare was one of the worst I’ve had in Boston. Endive caesar was too bitter and the warm vinaigrette at the bottom made the steak tartare lukewarm and soggy, rendering it unappetizing.

For the entrées, we opted for the Linguini Vongole, Ribeye, and the Veal Prime Rib. While the Linguini Vongole and Ribeye felt a tad too plain, especially for their price point, the Veal Prime Rib was a masterclass in flavor, beautifully balanced between tender meat, smoky and sour complements from the horseradish and house au jus. To cap off the night, Jeronimo brought forth a dessert cannoli on the house. While it couldn't rival the ones from Bova's, it was a delightful touch.

Our overall experience was tainted by the initial interaction with the hostess, leaving us wondering if Prima is truly welcoming to all. This experience might not pertain to most groups of people coming here, but it’s also important to note that their food is not as good as what some people portray on the...

I know they are still relatively new but it's been open long enough I figured our experience would be better by now. My wife and I recently visited Prima for brunch, which we were so excited for! We had been a couple times previously (both for dinner) and enjoyed our first visit, didn't care for it the second. While we were there for brunch the restaurant was only half full at the time, which we were a bit surprised, but also happy to see as it can get really busy at certain times. It took us close to 15 minutes after ordering to get our coffee and another 45 to get our food, which came out cold. My wife ordered the eggs benedict which couldn't have been more disappointing. I understand some people like extra soft eggs, but this was borderline raw and sat on top of a piece of untoasted bread, raw tomato, and uncooked prosciutto. It was also smothered in a tomato sauce that didn't taste right. I wish it was just regular hollandaise! That took 45 minutes to prepare? Also there were supposed to be "crispy" potatoes on the side and not one of them was crispy, it didn't even look like they were roasted in the oven or seared, they weren't even brown. I got the French toast, which was decent, not great. The benedict was borderline inedible so we ended up splitting the French toast.

I want to be clear this is 1 truly bad experience in 3 visits, the restaurant is absolutely gorgeous especially this time of the year and the location couldn't be more perfect especially for me as a I live in the area, BUT the food has not been good the last 2 times we have visited. I'd like to give it another shot, but this brunch experience really left a mark. I'll definitely pop in and sit at the bar and a grab a drink or two, maybe an app. The bar setup and overall ambiance is quite nice. But if I want a higher quality meal and better service I'll prioritize booking the other excellent Charlestown restaurants over prima, which is really too bad as I had such high hopes for this place. I do hope things change and prima sees this and can make adjustments as the restaurant is great for the Charlestown community and I do want...

We booked it 28 days in advance for my wife’s birthday and gave the occasion when we called to book it.

When we arrived they took us to bar table that people had all their drinks and huddled around it with some spilled. the hostess moved us to a regular booth all good due to “a cancellation”. If someone tells you it’s a birthday and you only have a bar table that is something that should be noted.

Then when ordering the apps the server pressed me for my order since it was a steak he said it was taking a very long time. I hurried and picked one expecting it to be coursed out. Before our third appetizer came he was trying to serve me the steak. It was strange since he did not have my wife’s dinner and he said he’d never seen one come out that fast. I told him when I did get my steak I would like a new one obviously. At a normal steakhouse if they made this mistake you wouldn’t even know because they would just make you a new steak at the correct time.

Thirty five minutes later he brings me the same exact steak now it was extremely dry and not rare but medium to almost medium well. I didn’t even take a bite at this point I was very frustrated. I wasn’t going to wait 30 minutes for a new steak. I felt being served the same steak was obviously intentional. I sent it back we packed up my wife’s dinner and went home. No one apologized and he told me it wasn’t the same steak the shape and the dryness was exactly the same it was frankly insulting.

I thought you should know this type of experience when you are planning to spend $400 on dinner is not acceptable. I’ve never in my life had a steak not cooked correctly or being attempted to be dropped off before the apps at a steakhouse. That is why we frequent them.

I wrote this to them and got no response. Their pretentious attitude that we faced when we didn’t get apologized to that night or after writing them will hurt the business in the long run.

You are the hip new spot but eventually that fades and I doubt if you don’t change your attitude you’ll be in business in a few years. The blurry picture is below imagine paying $100 for that...