Greg's Restaurant — Restaurant in Watertown

Having been craving a hearty portion of beef for a while, I perused through Google looking to locally satiate my need for meat. Though I must’ve passed by the building hundreds of times over the years, I’ve never noticed Greg’s until it came up on the results. This unassuming building by the Mt. Auburn cemetery is a hidden gem. I wonder how many have passed over it for the more contemporary eateries? Having no one to go with, and being a self-conscious type, I almost chickened out but promise of a meal I’ve been longing for said come come just do it.

Greeted warmly by auntie-like staff, I passed through the bustling bar area and into the quieter dining room. Dimly lit and accented by vintage style wall sconces and fairy lights made for a cozy ambiance. Decorated tin ceiling tiles, exposed brick and warm, wood-paneled walls. Plush red leather booths and classic cafe chairs based off the Thonet 18. Like the ending scene of That Girl’s first episode where Marlo Thomas’ character Ann Marie and her potential love interest Don Hollinger sitting at a red checkered table for their first date, I sat down anticipating my own romantic experience with this neighborhood Italian-American restaurant with mid 20th century decor. This isn’t a place that’s “trying” to be of the period. Aside from the nostalgic 80’s hits playing softly in the background, it’s as if the place never changed, and I love that.

I scarcely looked at the menu to be honest, as I knew exactly what I wanted. Prime Rib medium rare with horseradish, a side of salad and roasted potatoes. The salad came promptly, with a plate of fluffy, sesame coated Scala bread and butter. By the time I finished, my hot hot plate arrived on cue, a lovely thick portion of rib meat lightly bathed in jus.

Now though I haven’t had underwhelming prime rib anywhere, I am a known sinner for drowning meat in A1 and horseradish. I did decide to cut a piece and eat it with the jus alone.

Oh dear readers do listen. The flavors bursted vibrantly. A touch of horseradish dotted here and there, but the steak sauce remained untouched through the duration of the meal. The next 15 minutes were just The Psychedelic Furs, Erasure, Madonna, me and prime rib. I don’t remember my surroundings from being in bliss. All the anxiety I had as a solo restaurant-goer disappeared and I transcended.

This is true cozy comfort of a restaurant. Next time he visits, I will bring my British partner to experience what it's like to go to what I now consider "a true American restaurant experience". Maybe I'll come before that anyways because wow, that was lovely.

Thank you for the wonderful food and hospitality to everyone...

I'm going to post on my singular experience last night. I give it a three because it's neither universally,good or bad...just preference of taste and age group. To start off though, as you can see it has a lot of good reviews. However...when they say the "locals" frequent this place...when we got there at 6, the place was packed...with senior citizens. SENIOR citizens. I'd say 80% were 70+, 90% were 60+...One 40-50s couple, and us, a mid-30s couple. You would have thought Thursday night bingo had just let out.

Now imagine if that is the majority clientele, the place and atmosphere would naturally cater towards that age group-and it does. And the fact that this place has been around since 1932...it's clearly dated all around. Again, probably makes the old timers feel good "ah, the good ol' days"...but not really anyone who's not of that generation. Optimistically, it was really educational for us. For example I didn't quite understand the idea of a "side dish" of chicken parmigiana etc (i.e., items that are typically the main dish-was that one of my choices for two sides!?j

The food is certainly "homemade", and nothing wrong with that, tasted just fine, and portions were large. I got the prime rib, she got the veal cordon bleu. She thought it was too salty, so we switched (it was only a little salty to my tastebuds, certainly edible, I enjoyed). Pricing I thought was average at $18-$20 a plate, certainly no steal.

I ordered the special gingerbread martini, which I thought was fantastic. I also ordered two waters when I ordered the alcohol, but didn't get that until the fourth request and the meal was practically done.

Service was slow, but we weren't in a hurry. They were slammed at the time. When we left about 7:30, the place had cleared out, and admittedly a slightly younger crowd was showing up.

I guess I felt the need to write to recalibrate folks unwritten assumptions and expectations that we have a modern...

I've been coming here for decades. It's always been a good bargain restaurant for lunch or dinner. It's always been a great Senior Citizen place with LOTS of elderly people. But despite that and the Early Bird Specials, the prices were higher lately. But with post Covid, that's understandable. Upon opening the door to enter, I noticed a nasty odor. It was almost unbearable to the point where I almost walked out. The waitress was good and nice. I got used to the smell after 10 minutes. But it bothered me what could have been causing the odor. Restaurant and Bar had the odor so it was unavoidable. Overall the meal was good but my Broiled Scrod was overcooked, burned and slightly watery. The Ritz Cracker topping was burned, but it was edible. The people were old. Probably everyone was in their 80's. So I left shortly after finishing my meal. I was disappointed. You think after all these years, some money could be put into SOME renovations. The bar was well lit and festive with hanging white Christmas lights from the ceiling. The Men's Rest Room had ITS own odor too. Considering how I drive by this place and the lot is always full, you could think that the owner could invest some money into renovations. The Dining is so dark and dreary. I guess that Senior Citizens that come here like the dreariness and Darkness and probably don't have the awareness of the smell. Or they probably block out the idea that the smell exists knowing that if they walk out, they would probably miss out on a cheap meal and there isn't a place like this for miles. I'm getting older myself and Yes I can be crotchety and moody. But I can surely recognize an odor that would usually prompt me to leave a restaurant because it was so bad that it left my stomach queezy. One other reviewer said it was a musty odor. I think it was some sort of odor caused by stale food. I probably won't eat here again. I wound up here because I found my Chinese Restaurant was...