The James — Restaurant in Needham

It had been a few years since I had been back to The James and glad I did cone back. The menu is now something I can really dig my teeth inro and they have worked space magically. Plus they have added an impressive outdoor eating area. It still can get loud, but who cares when you have the rest, and I almost forgot to mention the bands they bring in. Great music, and a fantastic feel.

Below was the review I wrote several years ago. I wish I only had good things to say, but I don't.

First the good: this was our second time because we really like the small feel, the decor and really nice waiters/waitresses and owners. The food was good enough to try again. Also the first time we could here ourselves talk without saying, "what'd ya say" or "I can't hear you." The only food item we liked this time was a shrimp kabob on top of heirloom tomatoes.

Now for the bad: the sound level was ridiculously load. Felt like walking out as soon as we got there. The menu is limited, which can work. I had a beef pie that was absurdly salty and spicy. I also needed to dig around to find the meat. I was feeling sick for the rest of the evening. Liz had the muscles that had way too much onions going on, plus the muscle meat itself was pretty small.

I hope they change the menu or they cook with less salt, spices and onions. If they did that I tell if the food is any good and would consider trying again, but only during less...

We chose this for an anniversary celebration based on the great reviews. I mentioned the anniversary in my online reservation, but I don't think they noticed. Good food, although some things are a bit pricey ($30 for the pork chop; $8 for a small round of soda bread). Unfortunately, our evening got off to a bad start because of poor service. Our server brought menus and asked if we wanted drinks, but she then didn't seem to want to wait a minute while we selected from the cocktail menu. She said she would give us a couple of minutes, but then after 15 minutes of waiting, during which we never even caught sight of her to flag her down, I had to get up and go find her. We ordered our drinks and an order of the soda bread. The drinks came promptly, but the soda bread took another 10 minutes. I had the James martini which came in a small coupe glass which made the drink overpriced for the size ($14), but it wasn't icy cold. Shaken or stirred a martini should be cold. In retrospect I wish I had mentioned it to give them a chance to fix the problem. From here on the meal went all right, but it was hard to overcome the bad start. The host who seated us and brought some of the items was very nice and solicitous. The food is fine but not spectacular for the price. I do want to like this place and will try again and hope for a...

Oooof. This place was a doozy. We had reserved a large table for a group of 10. I arrived last, maybe 15 minutes after the rest of my group. When I arrived at the table, there were 4 bottles of wine- but no wine glasses. They were waiting on glasses to be returned from other guests. That's inexcusable. You know in advance you're going to have a large group- have glasses available. The appetizers were bland at best. We ordered the duck fat potatoes- which tasted like simple, unseasoned, mostly boiled potatoes. Not good. The soda bread was a massive disappointment. Our table of 10 did not finish either of the appetizers. My meal, the seafood stew, was so salty and spicy, I could not enjoy it. It was hard to tell if it was too hot, too spicy or too salty. It was not edible. I'm not familiar specifically with the taste of Old Bay seasoning but I was told by another person at my table that there was WAY too much of it. The decor is pretty kitschy- weird doors separating tables- interesting wall paper/stone walls. Part tacky, part cozy- kinda fun. Had the food been good, I would have enjoyed the aesthetics more. With everything as it was, I found myself asking- what is this place?! To top it off, my cocktail arrived well after my food. Such a bummer as it's location...