District 118 Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Newton

Really liking this place. The decor is I guess modern industrial. Very clean looking. Let's start with service first... The waiter we had was phenomenal. Super friendly, personable, on point with suggestions.

The food was very good. Started with the wings...a bit too charred for me but others loved it. Reminds me of the Tuscan wings from Bertucci's (hey man, don't knock it till you try it). Around the table, we got a burger with side of sweet potato fries, lobster Mac and cheese, steak salad, braised short ribs, and gnocchi.

The gnocchi on the menu is lamb but I asked for a different meat if possible. The waiter checked and said he can do short ribs...I was ecstatic. I enjoyed my dish a lot... Flavorful, good ratio of meat to gnocchi, tender.

Burger was solid with fried onions on top, bacon, jalapeno marmalade (we got it on the side) and fries were crunchy on outside, soft on inside.

Lobster mac and cheese was the most popular at our table... salty (good), not too overloaded with cheese, good chunks of lobster meat.

Steak salad was good as well...steak was perfectly medium rare as asked. The eggs on there... Thinking about it got my saliva going. PERFECT... Soft but not runny. Would enhance any savory dish.

Braised short ribs was the least favorite at the table but I still enjoyed it. The sauce was a bit too tangy for some. The plate had 2 chunks of tender meat which required no knife. The mash potato was creamy and paired well with the saucy meat. Brussel sprouts we're good too... Luckily we ordered a side of it as well so plenty too share. The balsamic honey or whatever sauce cuts the bitterness.

Desserts...we ordered the flourless chocolate torta and cheesecake... The waiter insisted we get the carrot cake, so much that he gave it to us on the house. The chocolate cake was a small sliver and cheesecake was reasonable. The carrot cake was the winner... It was big, moist, fluffy. This is coming from someone who would never order carrot cake. The cream cheese frosting was delicious. The other cakes were just alright.

All in all, this whole thing was a good experience. I would...

Jan. 2019, District 118, new local restaurant on Needham St, in Newton. Great after-work place to meet-up with Hubby, a date, friend(s) and or co-worker(s).

We patronize this establishment for an after-work dinner date. As you enter you can't help but notice the wide windows and open space of modern yet kind-of-a rustic look. A long bar section as you enter, and to the left open booths and high-top tables. Greeted by Michael asking if we had reservations, which we did through Open Tables. Michael led us to our booth, quite comfortable, giving us menus & telling us Phil, will be our server.

As we looked over our menus Phil walked over with a large craft of cold water without ice, introducing himself and saying that all the foods here are made from scratch in house, there were many choices. We began with a delicious hummus dip with some veggies and pita strips. Next came side salad and a bowl of chili. Another server Robert, came by our table to assist Phil and brought us the very tasty beef burger and a good portion of lobster mac and cheese, not lacking in cheese or in fresh claws-n-knuckle pieces of lobster.

The date night was a delicious success, as the food met our every expectation, service was quite good, and both Phil and Robert were talkative and helpful throughout the evening. We will most definitely come back again, and we will bring friends next time. This seems like a great place to come have a couple of cocktails and eat...

Came here to celebrate my mom's birthday. Patio is very nice. We only saw a bit of the inside but it also looked very nice. Was pretty empty even though it was 9pm on a Saturday. Waitress was extremely nice and personable. I ordered the seafood chowder and the others in my party ordered the steak and cheese egg rolls. Both were good. For our entrees we ordered Mac & cheese, lamb gnocchi, their burger and the duck breast with mushroom risotto. I thought my lamb gnocchi was very flavorful with a nice robust tomato sauce. My mom thought the duck breast was over done but that the mushroom risotto was to die for. The burger and mac and cheese were said to be just ok. We also ordered dessert. Carrot cake, cheese cake and the lava cake. All very good. Our only issue was we ordered 3 drinks when we sat down. We didn't receive those drinks until right before our entrees came out. There was no explanation during that long period of time just lots of apologies when the drinks finally made their way to us. Again the waitress was very nice and removed a dessert to make up for the super...