Hamilton Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Brookline

I rarely write reviews same day but this place is getting an even more rare 'before I take my coat off'. I've always hesitated going to this place. For four years I have questioned the vibe and used that as an excuse to do something a bit more gentrified. I made the spontaneous decision to visit this place a few weeks ago and glad I chose nye to do so. The moment we entered we were greeted and sat, immediately. The host/manager was a woman with a good smile and friendly attitude. She helped us navigate a traffic jam at the door which is really appreciated bc I am cold adverse due to a medical thing. Within seconds we were on our way to a table. Once sat, she Ensured we were comfortable and took her leave. An attractive young black man w dreads (or twists?), Solomon, then came to our table. He acknowledged that he arrived sooner than anticipated but wanted to get waters dropped asap. We thanked him and asked he return in 2 minutes. 1min later, the same woman came to check on us, ensuring we had been greeted by the server, which we had. Almost on the dot Solomon came and we were ready to order drinks. I ordered a martini, disgustingly dirty. The flavor and make was perfect, however, the martini was served warm which is not preferred for an upgraded martini (requested mid shelf). I was shocked but not turned off and Solomon promptly grabbed some ice. Bartender should receive feedback on the martini, or the server should ask. Imo, you shake it for this purpose so technically it wasn't made correctly but maybe it's a restaurant culture thing, which is common in Boston. No biggie, had no issue throwing in a cup of ice and staining back into the glass, chilled. Wings were amazing, among the best I've had, especially after the closing of article 24. Solomon recognized our interest in the wings and got us some additional sauces to try. They all tasted great but we're pretty thin, leading to poor "stick" on the wings. This is also normal and as long as additional sauces aren't $.50 or whatever ridiculous standard some of these, often lesser, places do that just irritate the customer for over a .07 cent profit mark up. Always. Solomon was great, stellar really. We made this choice after being pissed off by another establishment in the area just yesterday, looking for a rebound. Between Solomon and the host, this may be our new lil spot. Final feedback is to perhaps consider a solution for the technology. Playlist was fantastic throughout but it frustrated customers to not be able to see what song was playing. I welcome you to reach out to me, I am about to consult and can help with solutions very cheap. Not a sales pitch but this really matters for something like Nye where you may make the choice every year to be open the following year based on the data, I could visibly hear and see ppl staying "what song is this? " Which TV is playing" " it's out of sync" or " that crackling speaker is driving me crazy". I was fine, perfect even, but in a slightly different scenario this would irritate me. Overall, 11/10 and can't wait to go back! Oh yeah and wings won't seem to be breaded, which is strongly preferred 😂 I hate the tempura wing crap that's normal in more gentrified places, the ones with less personality. Almost forgot, there was also someone there dedicated to bussing, refills and dropping initial waters, black man w similar hair as Solomon. These positions keep the vibe up and I do not frequent restaurants that don't hire in this position, where it's separate from a host but not fully a busser or barback. This is a good sign of the restaurants understanding of the depth of service they intend and probably explains why everyone looked so happy and participated in...

FORWARD: Normally, I only leave positive reviews, but feel other customers may not want to spend this much money for the risk of receiving the same low-quality food I just experienced at this restaurant.

BACKGROUND: I chose this place based on customer reviews, photos, and menu item prices (looked like great quality cuisine), and proximity to us. We were celebrating a milestone and wanted a nice meal a level up from the usual. This visit took place on Thursday, March 30, 2023, at suppertime.

OUR SERVER: Service was good when I could get our server's attention. He was humble and aimed to please, but seemed exhausted / distracted, so I was reluctant to point out all the things wrong as they kept emerging as we progressed into and through our meal.

THE BAD: I was extremely disappointed with the food, especially having ordered one of the most expensive items on the menu: $24 Scottish Salmon with red pepper sauce, fried spinach, and mashed potatoes for myself, and the Grilled Chicken sandwich with upgraded Truffle Parmesan Fries for my daughter.

When my plate arrived, it was cold to the touch. The salmon was warm, with one very small hot spot. The potatoes were cold and "breaking open" under my fork into large, hard conglomerations/lumps - they appeared to be leftovers or long-sitting after original prep, stored in a fridge most likely, then hastily scooped onto my plate without thorough reheating and remashing. That was unpalatable, so I gently mentioned this to my server, requested they be heated, and asked for some butter and salt to give a bit of flavor as there was none. At this point, the only item on my plate was my piece of salmon, which was on approximately 2TBS. of "fried" spinach. The spinach was, at best, ornamentation. It was not fried, but burnt (and rewetted?) and tough.

About 10 minutes after finishing eating my salmon, which was perfectly cooked (but it was weak-flavored and seated in a pool of equally bland red pepper sauce) my kind server came back with a small cup of half the volume of my original serving of potatoes, hot and mashed this time, but they were still very flavorless, as if made only with water; and I was given no butter or salt. At this point, I could only choke down a few tasteless bites.

Meanwhile, my daughter was content with the grilled chicken sandwich, but did not receive her upgraded fries. She got regular house French fries - and I didn't want to bother our server again, so we thought to just eat the house fries... but they, too, were unpalatable. Perhaps they were left too long in cooking oil, or cooked at too low of temperature, or worse, perhaps recooked after being stored away: they were very grease-laden, nearly translucent, tough, and flavorless. So I apologized to our server for the trouble, and asked him to please bring the upgraded fries we'd ordered, hoping the truffle oil and parmesan would offer some taste. Alas... the truffle fries were hardly any better - there was barely any parmesan and the truffle oil, if any, was not detectable. The white dipping sauce was strangely vegetable oil flavored.

No salt / pepper available, even upon request.

THE GOOD: The non alcoholic IPA, "Run Wild' which I ordered was good, with a medium hoppy flavor, Served in a can alongside an ice cold beee glass. Thumbs up 👍

Grilled Chicken Sandwich - thumbs up from my teenager 👍

HOST & SERVERS: Friendly, Humble, Quick. Will light the glass lantern on your table, if you ask....

I don't typically write many reviews, Unless something is SO bad that I want to issue a "buyer beware", or if something is SO good, I want to say "please go there". This review is definitely a... PLEASE GO THERE! I was doing some business in Brookline one afternoon. Being 90% plant based (10% pescatarian) I Google searched for an Impossible Burger near me. Hamilton's came up. I had never been there. I called first to ask if their burgers were cooked separately from their meat Burgers. I am 100% non-meat eating. Cross contamination gets me VERY sick. Unfortunately it's really difficult for me to get impossible at many different establishments that "say" they offer them. They're typically cooked together with non-meat items. Makes no sense, but I guess that's MY opinion. Hamilton's assured that they would make My burger in a separate pan for me. I was elated. When I picked up my order, everything was in different containers. At first I thought it was the wrong order. My server was nice enough to separate everything so that my Fries , lettuce and tomatoes wouldn't wilt or get soggy, and my burger bun wouldn't get squished. Customer service...✔ When I got home and saw the SIZE of the burger I realized what she meant by squished bun. The burger itself was massive! By looking at it immediately I thought it would lack Flavor because of its thickness. WRONG! When I put the burger together and bit into it, I was Amazed and in love! Flavor...✔ It was so juicy, good and cooked to perfection! Arguably the BEST impossible burger that I have ever had from a non-vegan restaurant! I almost thought I was eating real meat. I kept looking at it after every bite with amazement. I'm still in shock but I know that it WAS a plant based Burger because otherwise I would have gotten Extremely ill. I live in Boston. But, as they say... have car, will travel. I can't wait to go there again! Great job Hamilton's! Thank you! Youve definitely gained an impossible Burger customer! And I've already spread...