Nightshade Noodle Bar — Restaurant in Lynn

For our anniversary, I wanted something contemporary and celebratory without being overly formal. We decided to celebrate in Boston, and I stumbled across this restaurant that wasn’t on my radar.

We arrived 10 minutes early for our 8:15 PM reservation and were seated right away. We loved the vibe, the music and the bright green from the plant accents in the space. The team noted our anniversary, which was appreciated. The champagne I had pre-ordered arrived a little later than expected—menus were placed first and I almost asked about it—but once delivered, it felt special.

Our server Christopher was the highlight of the evening. He was warm, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic about the beverage program. He explained the restaurant keeps track of guest menus and notes likes and dislikes for future visits. We really liked him so we trusted him to guide us.

The first course was excellent—crispy chips with dip and caviar, perfectly balanced and playful. Unfortunately, after that, the pacing and execution became uneven. By 8:50PM, 45 minutes in, we had only been served one course while tables seated after us were already on their third. Then, the next few courses were dropped in quick succession, which made it hard to enjoy either the food or the pairings. Food was served, even when someone was in the restroom. With only one 21-course menu served per night at a single seating, we expected a long evening, but the uneven pacing made the number of courses ahead feel overwhelming rather than exciting.

The beverage program was a strength. Wines, spirits, and even a Vietnamese gin martini were boutique and thoughtful, but it was often unclear whether each pour was meant for one course or several. Presentation and service details were also inconsistent. Several dishes were served in very dark bowls in a dim dining room, making them hard to see and appreciate. Some courses were served as one small dish to be split between two guests, such as the pasta course where clumped noodles made dividing into two bites awkward. Flatware was only reset once, so most of the meal we had used utensils sitting on side plates.

Culinary balance was another challenge. Instead of the bright, fresh balance I associate with Vietnamese-inspired food, many courses felt weighed down by sauce, acid, or spice. Even my fiancé, who rarely critiques food, remarked on it. He struggled with two dishes where the black pepper was so aggressive it made them hard to eat. I found a shrimp roll especially difficult to finish, and several dishes were oversalted. The meal often felt unbalanced rather than refined.

The manager stopped by early in the meal to clarify a Chartreuse request. While the interaction was polite, it missed an opportunity to connect with us on details the team already had in our notes, such as the fact that we were celebrating an anniversary and planning a trip to Vietnam. For restaurants aspiring to Michelin or James Beard–level recognition, those personalized touches are what elevate the guest experience.

At the end of the night, our bill for two with pairings was around $1,000. A service charge was included, but it was not clear how it was distributed to the team, which left some uncertainty in closing an already mixed experience. By contrast, our dinner the next evening at Sarma offered seamless pacing, warm hospitality, and exceptional food at a fraction of the price.

As someone who has spent my career in hospitality, I know how hard teams work and how difficult it can be to hear criticism. I also know that as a guest, it is easy to put on a good face in the moment, which I did, not wanting to add pressure to the team. But reflecting afterward, I realized that if this had been one of my own restaurants, I would want to know.

To be fair, there were bright spots. Christopher’s service was outstanding, the beverage program was creative, and the opening course captured the excitement I had hoped for. But inconsistent pacing, uneven flavors, and overlooked details left the experience well below expectations, especially at this...

Before we go into why this is a 1 star review.

I will start with affirmation and from a business perspective.

I think Night Shade Noodle bar made a fantastic business that fits a need in the area it's located in. Their business model gives the people of Lynn and surrounding areas, a upscale night out without traveling into Boston.

Based on their clientèle, they have taken not commonly eaten asian food and packaged it in a way that will appeal to them. Therefore exposing them to new flavors and experiences.

From a business perspective, this is a home run.

These dishes are commonly found in Chinatown in larger quantities.

For example, their sticky rice and coconut milk with pork floss. It's just a dish from Thailand; mango sticky rice. Pork floss is commonly found served with congee or on a sweet bun. So they removed the mango and paired it with pork floss. The coconut milk, sticky rice and pork floss was executed well, on par with Chinatown standards, nothing exceptional.

There was another dish, served in a small cup/bowl. I don't remember what all the ingredients are, however what I remember is vermicelli noodles and nuoc mam ( fish sauce ) and perhaps a protein. Again, it was executed well but it was literally one bite. This dish is commonly found in vietnamese restaurant. It's very cheap and served in big quantities.

So now I will address why this is a 1 star review.

Food:

We got the 9 dish blind tasting.

The first dish we got was chips, egg based dip, and cavier. Chips and cavier is a classic pairing. Creme fraiche is also classic pairing. The cavier was entry level quality, the chips were store bought and the egg based dip was over powered by dill. Good cavier should provide a good brineiness and saltiness however, this entry level cavier is more palatable. The chips and dip should enhance the cavier taste, however this dish was just store bought chips and a dill dip with cavier acting as a luxury component.

The egg noodle dish, the noodles had a play dough consistency. They use flour from one mighty mill and extrude it thru a pasta maker. Egg noodles should not be extruded and this was not executed well. I think they have a branding problem as they call themselves a noodlebar however lack noodle dishes. The owner said 2 years ago, they will focus on making more noodle dishes, it doesn't seem like that promise was fulfilled.

The other 7/9 dishes were mediocre at best however what made it terrible was the excessive use of dill. Attached are some photos of how much dill they used. I feel that they used this much dill to make the food less adventurous for their clientèle's palate, giving them comfort in trying different asian flavors. However, dish after dish, our palate was overloaded with dill and couldn't taste any of the other flavors. At one point, we just remove all the dill ourselves.

Service

The service here was quick and but not responsive. What I mean by that is they created an ecosystem for themselves that gives them a false sense of excellence.

However, this boosted some pretentiousness. I'm using the word pretentious loosely here and will explain why I am using this word.

One server asked us how the food was, we told them it was an excessive amount of dill, which they responded proudly that it's the head chefs signature topping. They totally ignore our disappointment, and proceeding to bring out the rest of the dishes with exceedingly more dill.

Another server was able to empathize with our unhappiness with the meal. She did her best to check in on us, however our gentle approach in telling her this wasn't good made no difference. They seemed shocked that we didn't praise their food like everyone else and didn't seem to care to figure out how to make us happy as stated on their website "with your preference in mind". In other reviews, the owner responded with telling customers to let us know in person and they will make things right, this was not fulfilled either.

Our diverse group of friends all agree that it was not worth the...

We've been wanting to try Nightshade for a while, and finally got around to it! Overall, we tried some really unique and tasty dishes, but I'm not sure if the price point is justified given the lack of choice. Here's a recap of our experience.

Drinks: We got the moon rabbit after asking for the sweetest drink which was very limey, not too strong, and overall tasty. We also tried a non alcoholic cocktail which was very good, spiced and like a sparkling mulled cider with a bite to it.

Service: Our server was very kind and gave us bubbly for our anniversary. The servers alternated in bringing us dishes and expressed enthusiasm for each dish.

Number of courses: We got the 9 course after debating for a while whether we would rather try more things or have more of each thing. In the end it didn't seem reasonable to get the 14 course for double the price of the 7 course when it was the same total amount of food, but I'm not sure how the food actually scales differently per number of courses

Things we loved (S tier): Uni creme brulee: Delicious salt and some sugar/cinnamon atop a perfectly smooth liquidy custard atop delicate and soft uni. It was certainly unlike anything I've tried before, and I like it the best of the experimental seafood custards we've had at different restaurants in the past. Pork floss sticky rice skewer: I wasn't expecting to like this much because i don't like pork floss or coconut, but this was really unique and good! The pork floss was surprisingly tangy while also being super fluffy, and the sticky rice soaked up the coconut sauce beautifully. Very delicious and special.

Things we really liked (A tier): Dungeness crab pho noodles: A good amount of lump crab meat and very flavorful broth. Definitely on the salty side, probably due to a lot of parmesan cheese mixed in. Subtle truffle flavor. Black cod: The cod just melted in your mouth and the sauce was a sweet claypot glaze. Portion size was pretty small though.

Things that were good but wouldn't get again (B tier): Caviar: The caviar came with this whipped egg dip that was creamy but relatively light given its creaminess. The flavor and texture profile was not that different from the salty caviar so it was a bit hard to distinguish them. The chips tasted like Lays potato chips. East coast vs west coast oyster showdown: The west coast oyster had some grape foam, overall kinda sweet and the oyster was on the fishier side. Much preferred the east coast oyster which was more savory. Duck tongue with kabocha squash: We did ask for no duck and they assured us there wouldn't be duck, but we did end up getting served two duck dishes. This dish was pretty good -- flavorful pickled vegetables, crispy and soft squash, and crispy duck tongue.

Things that were meh (C tier and below): Sticky rice with foie gras: We were also given a sticky rice topped with duck foie gras. it was reminiscent of mitarashi dango. Once they realized they had given us the duck foie gras, they gave us a replacement dish which was the same sticky rice and sauce but with mushrooms instead. Overall i liked the mushrooms but I didn't think this dish was very good. The sauce was pretty similar to the black cod and the rice cake was similar to the pork floss dish. Salted chocolate mousse: The mousse was extremely salty, to the point that salt was almost all we could taste. I hope it's not normally like this and they messed something up this time (maybe they replaced some ingredient with salt?). After a meal of delicious seafood, this was not a pleasant way to end the experience.

If I went again, I would definitely get either the 7 or 9 course, just because it seems like a lot of items are excluded from the 5 course, and more than 9 courses gets quite expensive.

Overall I'm glad we finally got to try this very unique restaurant. Things I would get again: uni creme brulee, dungeness crab, pork floss sticky rice skewer, and black cod. But I guess if we came back, we would want to try a different set...