Earls Kitchen + Bar — Restaurant in Somerville

My fiancée and I went to Earl's for valentines day this year. I'll walk you through our experience.

We booked ahead by a few weeks for a 5:45pm reservation at a high-top. We arrived on time, just before 5:45, then waited 5-7 minutes for the hostess stand to speak to us. This was odd, as the stand had no fewer than four people at it, and only one of them was talking to a customer. The other three did not look busy or like they were doing much of anything. The restaurant had numerous empty tables, but was pretty busy. Our best guess was it didn't have the staff to serve a full restaurant.

We were vaguely gestured toward a "wine bar", which was just a regular bar with nobody at it. We sat down after another couple left to be seated. We were given complimentary Champagne after several minutes, and waited another 15 minutes during which time a bartender offered us to come sit at the bar (which we declined), and after which point (around 6:10) we were seated.

We were seated at a regular 4-top table in a quiet corner, which was perfect for us, as we prefer a regular table over high-top, and were worried the place would be too loud when we arrived, as the entry way was extremely loud.

Our server was competent, and suggested a pre-set menu (with lots of choices, so it wasn't really pre-set). She returned quickly with water (and a pitcher), and again a few minutes later to take our orders. We ordered the ribs appetizer, as well as two entrees - one Steak & Sushi, and one Chicken & Risotto.

After several minutes wait, our ribs came out. They were absolutely phenomenal. We're from the midwest, and honestly there is a giant gaping hole in this state for good BBQ, and even though it was Korean BBQ, not midwest or southern BBQ, this was better than any BBQ we'd ever had in the state in several years, no holds barred. The ribs were completely fall-off the bone cooked, extremely well seasoned with a little spiciness without being too much. We were extremely impressed, and would absolutely come back for the ribs (though... unfortunately, only for the ribs).

After another 15-20 minutes or so, our entrees came out. They were hot and looked pretty good (steak medium rare instead of rare, which we expected), and the rest looked well-prepared. Unfortunately, there were definite issues. The chicken and risotto was nothing to write home about. It was a good portion size but not exciting. The textures weren't my favorite but it was fine. The steak (of steak & sushi) was good, albeit felt a little like an afterthought on the plate. That said, there was some serious disappointment when it came to the "sushi". The "sushi" was not raw, instead, it was partially cooked (and really weirdly seasoned) salmon, served over rice. It was not good. I was very excited for my sushi, and I absolutely didn't get it. It was framed as a big part of the entree, and it was, but it was a terrible miss. If it were another night, I would have considered sending it back, but I didn't want to cause problems on a holiday.

So... The gist of it all, the waitress (Eduarda) did an excellent job. She was timely and prompt, and checked in regularly. We had all the information we could want about things, and the things that went wrong were definitely not related to her. The food was very mixed. Entrees left everything to be desired, but the appetizer was amazing. We might come back for appetizers, but definitely have no interest in returning for a meal if this is what we can expect,...

The microaggressions from my server had me leaving in literal tears.

I’ve been to this restaurant more than a dozen times over the past few years and I always get the same thing. The Truffle Tortellini with Chicken and truffle fries as an appetizer.

On this occasion I went because of their advertised 3 course dining special that was advertised on OpenTable. When we asked about the promotion our server said the promotion was over. I insisted that it was advertised as still ongoing. She then reluctantly agreed to show us the menu. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as she was going to get it. Within a few seconds of browsing the menus we decided to not order from the promotional options.

As we were ordering the eye rolling continued. My parter apologized to her because she seemed annoyed when he asked for no pickles on his burger. I went with my usual order. The fries were brought out with sauce that was dried on the top and clearly dipped into several times. I didn’t want to be accusatory so I just asked for an extra one. I did feel a bit grossed out that she brought me a sauce that someone else has been eating but I chalked it up to a mistake. Then the entree came out and it was all wrong. She insisted nothing had changed about the dish. I started to question my memory, but it’s unlikely that I forgot what my favourite dish there was made of. I politely asked for the menu just to confirm if I had messed up and maybe ordered the wrong thing, but the menu confirmed that I didn’t. When I asked her to take it back she rolled her eyes as she took it away. Next thing I know the manager came to the table explaining that the dish was correct. I told her I’d been there several times and had it before. Then she admitted that it was missing one of its usual ingredient and something new was added. She did offer desserts as a form of indemnity but at this point I had lost my appetite. I felt like I was being gaslit. The server’s passive aggressive behavior and the manager’s lying made me so uncomfortable that I left the restaurant crying.

Here’s what would’ve made the experience better:

The server should’ve apologized when she noticed my meal was incorrect instead of rolling her eyes and getting her manager

The manager should’ve just apologized and admitted that the dish was incorrect without me telling her I was familiar with it.

Taking responsibility goes a long way. People mess up sometimes, I get it. But there’s no need to make your guests as uncomfortable as...

Update: I would give this place zero stars, not even one. The manager provided their email, for which I replied to, and they never responded back. This is unprofessional and proves my review. As for that, I would never recommend this place, do not waste your time or hard earned money.

Had a reservation for 6 at Earls to celebrate an upcoming wedding. We were about to order at 1:50 but the happy hour menu started at 2:00pm so server told us to wait because it would be automated for happy hour prices when he punched it into his handheld. At 2:00 the server came back and three of us ordered the sushi tacos that were listed on the happy hour menu. We were never told we’d only get happy hour price if we ordered 1 taco, he asked us how many we wanted and we all said 3. And he knew we had waited to order until happy hour started. Two of us ordered the featured rose wine but were never asked what size pour and did not even realize there were sizes. When the check came we were charged full price for the tacos and $22 for each glass of wine. When we asked about the check, the server said the happy hour price was only if we ordered 1 taco and since we all ordered 3 it was full price, but yet he never told us that when we ordered, and knew we had waited extra 10 mins until 2:00 to order off happy hour. When asked about the wine, he told us he didn’t know there were sizes, we didn’t specify, and “you both drank the whole glass soo..”. When we spoke to the manager, she heard what we said and then responded with “let me go talk to your serve and see what he says happened because I wasn’t there”. It was like we were in high school with he said/she said. They took over ten minutes to remedy our check and never once offered to comp anything or take anything off. The serve finally asked us what we wanted to do in regards to the check, instead of offering to discount or remove something from the check. He never once apologized for not communicating clearly to us or asking what size pour we wanted. I have dined out a lot and several times at Earls, both in the Prudential Center and at Assembly Row; this was one of, if not the most, unprofessional and inappropriate customer service experiences I have ever had. I have always liked Earls but was incredibly shocked and disappointed at the lack of customer service and communication on both the server and...