Monteverdi — Restaurant in Cambridge

New Italian restaurant with a nice waterfront view of the Charles River.

Recently took a visit for dinner, drawn by the newest venture from Chef Seth Greenberg, who also manages Columbus Hospitality restaurants.  Given the pedigree, I had high expectations. Like most Columbus Hospitality spots, Monteverdi sticks to a “less is more” philosophy, offering classic Italian fare with a casual twist. The menu featured familiar dishes you'd find at North End restaurants, but with a bit more flair.

We initially had a hard time picking appetizers as the menu didn’t have many intriguing options. Eventually, we settled on the whipped ricotta and pepper-crusted beef carpaccio, and both turned out to be excellent choices. The whipped ricotta, served with a side of smoky grilled bread, paired beautifully with the natural sweetness of silan (date honey). Meanwhile, the beef carpaccio, carved fresh from the kitchen, was a classic dish topped with fried capers, arugula, parmesan, and lemon. It was a refreshing and enjoyable dish—definitely worth the wait.

From the entrees, we opted for the Linguine Vongole, Pork Milanese, and the Truffle Polenta. The first two were just okay. The Linguine Vongole had a highly acidic flavor from the wine sauce and lemon, leaving a taste somewhat reminiscent of cheese, which I wasn’t a huge fan of. The Bone-in Milanese was thicker towards the bone and thinner at the edges, resulting in uneven cooking—the meat near the bone was perfectly juicy and tender, while the edges were a bit overcooked.

Surprisingly, my favorite dish from the entrees was the Truffle Polenta. The medley of vegetables, from pearl onions and cauliflower to mushrooms and baby carrots, paired smoothly with the creamy polenta. While the truffle flavor was barely noticeable, the occasional burst of garlicky goodness from the garlic chips made it interesting enough.

Despite its grand opening a few weeks ago, Monteverdi hasn’t attracted a lot of crowds. The food here is good and simple, but perhaps not quite on par with Greenberg's other upscale Boston restaurants . The menu prices are very reasonable (except for the pasta), so I’ll definitely come back for brunch...

Went to Monteverdi for a friend’s birthday dinner last night - party of 6. Food was great and plates came out of the kitchen quickly. Good attentiveness from the runner and the bus boy, but our server was notably absent. Don’t know if they were understaffed or what but took 30 minutes for our drinks to arrive after we ordered, they arrived after our apps. Server never came back to ask if anyone needed another one, we had to ask the bus boy to hunt her down and send her over. This was about an hour after we were seated. She offered us Parmesan with our pastas but it never arrived. One of our desserts never arrived. Annoyingly they seemed to have two managers in suits observing the room, they should have rolled up their sleeves and circulated to see if any of the tables needed anything. We had allowed two hours for dinner and had to chase them for our credit cards because we needed to leave to catch a show after we had given our cards to settle the bill and waited 25 mins for them to come back. Apparently the card system went down and then one of the managers complained that we had wanted to split the check when we told them we had to leave. In fact we had to chase the manager 3 times for things. It was awkward because it was my friend’s birthday and we wanted her to have a special night.

I have had many lovely meals at the sonesta restaurant over more than two decades but our experience last night makes me question why I would go back with so many other great restaurants...

Star rating not accurate. Here’s why. I only went for the bar but did have the focaccia appetizer and that was delicious. Also the wine I had was good and drinks were ok. Expensive but i learned that’s just Boston. However, women beware the bartender “Banks”. He cut me off after 1 glass of wine at the bar at 10pm, they started cleaning up acting like they were closed or closing. But spoke to me like it was my fault I was being cut off. However their hours are until 11pm on Saturday.. so riddle me how the other 2 men sitting at the bar didn’t get “cut off” and another man was able to go in and come out of the bar with drinks at 1045.. so I went back in and asked why not me, and he shoved me off again as if I had done something earlier to offend or upset him. I was nothing but nice and respectful to this bartender all night and even left him a tip because he made me feel like maybe I did do something wrong. But after realizing it was only because I was there without my husband, or another male figure, that he felt he could speak to me that way and get away with it. I hope that management sees this review and takes care of the problem, the hotel is aware of the issue as well (though they are separate entities) apparently I’m not the only one to have an...