Le Meritage

Last night, my girlfriend and I went to Le Meritage, one of the restaurants in the Boston Harbor Hotel. One of my friends was organizing a dinner there, and thought we should come. We looked at their menu on line before we went, and although ambivalent, and we figured we'd give it a try.

The restaurant is very impressive - crystal chandeliers, old maps of Boston on the walls, and a great view of the harbor. And because they attempt only one seating at dinner (some tables rolled over, but most didn't), we were given as much time as we wanted to to sit and chat. And it gave us an excuse to dress up.

Our ambivalence about the menu was, in the end, well justified. The menu had many many interesting dishes - two of which were meat-free.  Also, they offered two salads (which were not on the menu). So we were able to try everything.

Onion Soup - The waiter brought around a taste of onion soup as an amuse-bouche. It was quite good.

Salad - Mixed greens, presented wrapped in cucumber. I thought the presentation was cool (as a cucumber, I suppose).

Tomato Soup - A thick soup with half cherry tomatoes in it. The waiter brought over a bowl with the tomatos in it, and then poured the soup in at the table. Good, but not as good as the soup at The Cellar.

Risotto - A very delicious dish, with squash and orange peppers. I don't know if I've ever had bad risotto - but I liked this quite well.

Dessert - For our party of seven, we got two orders of the sampler. It was eight different dishes, which I liked because there were only five desserts on the menu. There was a creamy lemon dessert topped with ginger that was quite good.

The food was good, but unimaginative and unmemorable. There was nothing special about it. It doesn't make me say "Wow" or "I wish I could do that," but a rather  technical "This is very good." Which is very nice. But at over $75 per person, I want to be blown away, and I wasn't.