Publico Street Bistro — Restaurant in Boston

Wow! what a great place smack dab In the heart of Southie. Publico is non pretentious, cool, fun, and casual. The exterior and interior build out is excellent. The seating is very comfortable and you get a good view regardless of where you are sitting. The lighting and music were just right and the overall temperature was very well adjusted ( I notice these little things ) The place was immaculate! Our server ( or should I say servers ) were nice friendly young people that knew their products by heart ( god I respect that !! ) They were all quick to answer my many questions and made great suggestions. The food came out perfectly timed and temped and I can honestly say there was not one dish I thought was under par despite it being a very busy Friday night! The highlights were The Ceviche ( which was a generous portion and had a clean, fresh flavor! ) The burger ( which was lean, juicy, cooked a perfect med rare and served on a great roll with perfectly cooked shoestring fries ) The Bolognese pasta ( great portion sized and came out piping hot and packed with layers of beefy cheesy tomato and herbaceous flavors! The owner managers came over several times for table visits and I watched them hit every single table ( good to see owner managers these days directly engaging the guests ) Overall one of the most impressive new properties my team and I have been to this year. Publico has it dialed in! You really need to go check it out! One strong recommendation is you Cab or Uber there as parking is hit or miss! #publicoboston #southie #boston #restaraunts...

Atmosphere was great. Had instant liking going in; nice wooden decor and a welcoming bear(?) that was memorable. Staff were so friendly! Menu had a relatively good selection of typical brunch. They did a great job serving items hot and freshly cooked. Had that pleasure of having a home-cooked meal served immediately near the kitchen, and I really liked how my Western Omlette had melted cheddar cheese inside and served while nicely hot. The potatoes for the side and the fried chips were VERY GOOD. Actually the side potatoes that came with my Omlette was my favorite part of the meal. Very well cooked, with a tinge of crispy surface, not salty but still a good balance of spices. Loved it. And the juice they served for our sparkling wine - seemed like real juice. Added sweet and tangy, refreshing fruity flavor, so I really enjoyed my drink. The donuts were not sweet (tasted more like pretzels) but they went well with Nutella. I found the Salad selection pretty typical and limited in choice, so did not get one since nothing stood out to me. But I wished there was a way for me to add more veggies, e.g. in my Omlette. Wonder whether there would be options to make things a little healthier (e.g. choice of Salad as side instead of default potatoes, though got no regrets). French toast was bit bland but the maple butter was tasty. Overall really enjoyed my time here. Came out satisfied both in my...

We came for a Love Island watch party that we had made a reservation for, based on the flyer posted on Instagram. When we arrived, we were seated away from the main watch party area and were told we should have included a preference in the reservation memo—even though that wasn’t mentioned anywhere on the flyer or posts.

When we asked if we could be moved, the host told us, “I wish I could make more tables but I can’t.” While we understand there are limits to capacity, the response felt a bit dismissive, and we didn’t feel like much effort was made to accommodate us.

Later in the evening, we participated in a fun contest and were told we had guessed the correct order of the winners. We were given a round of free shots as the prize, which we accepted. However, as we were leaving, a “friend of the owner” who was helping host the event confronted us in front of the entire bar, accusing us of lying about winning. It was uncomfortable and really embarrassing, especially since we had already been given the shots by staff without issue.

That said, the food was great, and our waitress was incredibly kind and attentive—we truly appreciated her service and wish we had caught her name.

While there were definitely bright spots, the lack of clear communication and the way the situation was handled left us disappointed. I don’t think I’ll...