The Phoenix Landing — Restaurant in Cambridge

This review is specific to a Tuesdsy night music event at The Phoenix Landing. It's not about the restaurant or overall establishment.

On specific Tuesday nights at The Phoenix Landing is one of Boston's only recurring Techno events for serious It's been this way since I first checked it out in 1998 when Red Light Productions was the only true Techno gig in a 68 mile radius of the city at that time (1996 or 97. Boston and, underground Techno just never got a long for some reason.

Between 1992 and 2019, I've only caught trails of two or three Boston based event creators and promoters that peddle in the genre of underground Techno, and the latest crew that hosts this night at the Phoenix on specific Tuesday nights.

But there's reason for optimism; a surge in interest globally and here in the US for Techno..... true...... Techno... for smoothing the chaotic mind like my own.

This night is nothing like a Bijou Club presents: Chris Lebing club j5ams here, no disrespect at all to Mr. Lebing, but the music style on this night is more pure, unabated, along the lines of producers like Keepsake, Joe Farr, Oscar Mulero, or Ritzi Lee. The music, the local/crew DJ performances, and crowd vibe are all legit from what I've experienced in the last few years. I come from the very early days of NEAU and eventually NEW techno warehouse events .When early NYC warehouse and secret location events following the epic Storm Raves, when (Sonic) Groove Records was in Brooklyn, and was planning to move to it's eventual Carmine St address in Manhattan's lower East Side, and as "Sonic Groove" . My point is.... I wouldn't call something "legit" unless I truly believed that when it comes to Techno and event promotions.

If you've been searching for a true Techno night, this is the best game in town; at the time of this review (May of 2019), that I've found anyway.

Check it out if it sounds like what you're looking for. Or even if you're not familiar with the sound, or unsure of what you want for music, then come check it out anyway. It's a good time, decent vibe, very good music (MHO), all of which have always been serious rarities around the Boston area.

FYI: am in no way affiliated whatsoever with the promoters who run his Tuesday night. I'm on my own, and...

Took me sometime to write this because of how much I loved coming to this place but now walking past it gives me the ick. I was out with my cousin a few Mondays ago -30th June(who was visiting Boston) for the first time and was showing her all of my fav places. I took her to Phoenix landing. For some context- I’ve almost quit drinking since March and I had not touched alcohol that day. My cousin had 1 drink. We re 30 year old women who have full time jobs and we were just going home. I went to Phoenix Landing and I asked for lemon drop shots for her and my friends because that was the first drink I tried when I moved to Boston in 2023. I was giving my cousin a walk down the memory lane. The bartended said “ we cannot serve you alcohol.” And I asked why. She said “you all are very drunk”. And I asked how did you determine that. And she said “you all are very loud”. And obviously that’s one thing we Indians hear the most from racist white Americans. But I still asked very patiently - “how did you determine that were drunk? Do we have slurred speech? Did you measure our breath? Did you do a breath analyser test? Like how is “being loud” an indicator for drunk”. So suddenly her other saviour white bartender came and asked us to leave because I was being aggressive. Idk what I did that escalated it. It was totally uncalled for. If you’re a person of color- avoid going to this racist place. Some of my fav people host events here for infra and other collectives but just avoid this racist place. and I really hope that white spineless bartender realizes what she did. Funny part is that other girls (obviously white) were served alcohol - even though they were louder than us - and obviously more drunk. Shame...

Came here for Wednesday night trivia for the first and last time.

Thankfully someone in my party of five arrived around 6:20pm to snag a table because it was packed. There's also seating outside for those who want to participate. The bar also seemed to always have folks who came solely for drinks.

The trivia questions spanned a variety of topics and levels of difficulty, where only one or two of us in the group knew the answer. They also had creative formats, although apparently a portion of questions that were presented in GIF form didn't load for some groups.

What we struggled with however was just how loud the place gets. It was difficult to hear the hosts (and each other) even though we were seated right by the front, as tables around us were screaming and cackling all night long. We could text the hosts questions and concerns, including to turn the volume up, but then other people would ask to turn the volume back down. We also didn't anticipate how long it'd be, with it lasting around 2.5 hours. The hosts were also trying their best trying to navigate technical difficulties with the mic cutting out in the middle of sentences.

As for food and drinks, I got a can of Downeast Cider and Hoisin BBQ Chicken Fingers. Nothing special, but that's as can be expected at a generic sports bar. Since an influx of people come in for 7pm trivia, definitely expect a wait for your food.

Overall, it's a fun place to do trivia, but if your hearing isn't great and you don't enjoy asking people to repeat themselves a billion times in a...