80 Thoreau — Restaurant in Concord

So you miss the burger. I get it. It was good. But to fixate on its absence from the menu would be to miss the essence of this wonderful place, and the dedication of a team who takes care to offer a small but beautiful menu celebrating seasonal, farm-fresh ingredients by coaxing them into the best versions of themselves. Case in point: I do not like radicchio. I took a bite of my husband’s radicchio salad and nearly ate the whole thing. I have never eaten radicchio treated so well. All of the ingredients harmonized perfectly. It was savory and almost caramelized, heady and divine, with none of the overt bitterness I usually dislike. I can no longer say I don’t like radicchio. The lamb shoulder and duck entrees were lovely, with generous portions of the main protein, well-seasoned, moist, tender, perfectly cooked. If I had to quibble, I would wish that there had been more of the supporting ingredients on the plate to make many more balanced bites. Still, the dishes were excellent and well-conceived. Cocktails, wine, dessert… all spot on. (Oh, that miso-peanut butter cookie! Almost made us forget about the chocolate custard it came with.) I’ve been coming here for many years, pre-, post-, and during Covid (take-out), and throughout all of the changes and disruptions, they remain an exceptional dining experience. Comfortable, unpretentious, and relaxing. Don’t come here if you need a burger, or if you are a picky eater, because the menu is small. Always has been. I don’t know why they no longer have the burger; they are aware of how many people are disappointed. I’m sure they have a good reason (whether economic, labor-related, or artistic) that those of us not in the restaurant industry wouldn’t predict or understand. Maybe they’ll bring it back someday. But in the meantime, 80T is a gem of a restaurant deserving of its...

Although I usually refrain from leaving negative feedback for local businesses, I feel compelled to share my recent experience at 80 Thoreau . Despite being one of my favorite restaurent , my latest visit was unfortunately marred by disappointing service from our waiter.

Unfortunately, our waiter failed to meet the basic standards of service throughout our meal. Despite walking by our table multiple times, he never once inquired about the quality of our food or whether we needed anything else, including drinks for the children. Not once !! We even had to raise our hand to get his attention and he seems annoyed . However, the quality of the food and the warm welcome from the host remained as exceptional as ever.

Additionally, we experienced a prolonged wait of approximately 50 minutes for our (adult food ) to be served, which was challenging with children in tow.

When I sought clarification regarding a charge on our bill, the waiter’s response was unhelpful and curt. Instead of offering an explanation, he simply mentioned that a $10 discount had been applied by the manager, leaving me feeling confused and unsatisfied with the interaction.

Despite the undeniable quality of the food, the overall dining experience was overshadowed by the inadequate service provided by our waiter. I sincerely hope that this feedback will encourage improvements in service standards at 80 Thoreau with attention to customer satisfaction, I believe the restaurant has the potential to maintain its status as a beloved establishment in...

I came here for restaurant week with my wife, and so I want to point out that this means we got 6 dishes, and also ordered 3 cocktails.

We had zero disappointments. Which is insane.

I'm not going to focus on praising the food, because I'd rather call attention to the impossibly delicious cocktails. The first two cocktails we ordered were the Paper Plane and the Too Soon. These both have a single fruit juice added, but they both hit the incredibly rare trifecta balance of sweet, bitter, and alcohol taste. These were two of the best cocktails I've had in a long time.

My final cocktail was a Sazerac, and that's a straight alcohol cocktail. To be fair, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it very much, but I wanted to order it because I was just so blown away by the first two drinks, and I wanted to see what a pure alcohol cocktail from here was like. The Sazerac smelled amazing, but since it was a mixture of straight up alchohol it wasn't really my thing in terms of taste, but again I was expecting that so I can't say I was truly disappointed. However, my wife, who HATES straight alchohol cocktails, actually said this drink wasn't bad, and drank half of it! That's high praise indeed.

I'm more critical of higher end restaurants than cheaper ones, but I can't think of valid complaint about my meal here. Great food, cocktails, and service. I'll be returning here in the summer to check out their...