Restaurant review: Aragosta

Photo from Aragosta website

Last week I had dinner at Aragosta in Boston’s North End. This upscale Italian restaurant in the Fairmont Hotel is surrounded by Boston harbor which you can see from their beautiful patio. As the bar photo above shows, the restaurant has a sophisticated and modern decor.  The menu includes typical Italian fare mixed with many local ingredients like lobster, PEI mussels and George’s Banks scallops.

Main plates mostly range from $21 – $33 and while there are many tempting starters, I would suggest trying Aragosta’s shared plate of meats, cheese and fish for $29.  The platter was more than enough for our party of four and was a delicious beginning to our meal.I was tempted to try Chef Daniels daughter’s favorite plate, Orecchiette D’Olivia, Lobster “Mac & Cheese”, but I opted for the “Piatti di Giorno”, which was veal parmesan.  This is a staple plate at any Italian restaurant and a personal favorite.  The red sauce was fresh and flavorful and combined nicely with the perfectly prepared veal; it was my very definition of comfort food. The one blemish to the dining experience was the lack of experience from our well-meaning but clearly green waitress.  When questioned about the menu her responses were stilted and unsure and when glasses ran empty she was slow to recognize or show herself to reorder another bottle (perhaps that’s best – it did save us some money).

I would enjoy returning and trying another dinner, but I think next time I’ll insist we dine outside on Aragosta’s lovely patio.  Aragosta is located at 3 Battery Wharf in the North End, and reservations are suggested, (617) 994-9001.