B-Side Lounge

I live south of the Charles these days, but even so I’m going to miss the B-​Side Lounge, even if though there’s promise in its replacement.
I’ve been once or twice of an evening, but for me the place really shines for brunch on Sunday afternoon. Decadent food and a relaxed atmosphere… and of course it’s still one of the few places that stocks a goodly variety of top-​of-​the-​top shelf whiskeys. (This latter bit draws me more so than the food, honestly !) But I’m already missing the bacon, bacon, bacon and eggs, which apparently is just a fond memory for the clientele — my waitress couldn’t even find someone on staff to tell her what it was, let alone prepare it. Ah, well. Their bacon is still worthy, although there are other worthy bacon establishments.

RIP

I was there for brunch on a recent weekend — had to go in the midst of all the speculation about them being sold and changing leadership and whatnot… especially since I kept hearing about how they have the best brunch ever!
And boy… changing my travel plans just to make brunch at this place was SO worth it! You don’t get much in terms of ambiance — it’s obviously a dive-​y bar with booths. You also don’t get much in terms of service — they seemed a bit befuddled and I had to use my knife to stir my coffee since we didn’t get spoons. Whatever, I didn’t care too much about that.
Coffee was good, and the food was DELICIOUS. Oh my GOD — those sweet potato biscuits with that white sausage gravy… MMMMMMMMMMM. Warm, fresh baked and slightly sweet biscuits with that thick sausage gravy… I didn’t even order this dish but it’s definitely the one that stands out foremost in my mind. And in my tummy. It was SO good. Lactose intolerancy be dammed, bring me more gravy!
I had the duck confit (which was also very good — just the right blend of crispy fattiness) with a sunny side egg and sauteed spinach served on toasted english muffins.
But that biscuits and gravy dish takes the cake, hands down. And I think it was only six bucks! Dude… get it. Run to B-​side and experience these heavenly morsels before they switch hands!

The B-​Side is not my favorite. The fondue is good and they make a yummy mojito, and that’s kinda it. The atmosphere is kinda run down, and not in a fun divey way. They won’t seat you at a table if you aren’t eating which kinda blows because the bar is small. If you’re standing around and in the wait staff’s way they will bark at you. The women’s restroom is nasty, I have actually seen men coming out of it when the men’s room was full.
Eh, you can do better.

I’ve only been once, for brunch. The prices were reasonable, and the portions were huge. As for flavor, it was okay. I ordered huevos caballeros, which sounded vaguely Mexican and I love me some Mexican breakfast food. I got eggs scrambled with a bit of mild salsa and some cheese, artfully presented in cold flour tortillas. Not terrible (I ate nearly all of it). Pretty to look at. Just not what I was hoping for. I added hot sauce and dug in. The potatoes were kinda good. Coffee was crappy diner coffee, though my guess is that coffee is not their thing. I should have ordered a brunch cocktail instead, but I refrained as I was meeting new people.
As for service, I arrived late so I was appreciative that my food arrived quickly. But other than that I was too caught up in meeting a table full of new people to notice anything myself. But others at my table (see Amanda H) noticed, and rightfully so. I did find it silly that someone asked we needed anything else, then told us to ask our waitress for whatever it was when she came back. Why did you ask? Just give the message to our waitress or don’t ask. There were few people in the place, so it’s not as though they were swamped.
I wouldn’t travel from Dorchester again just to eat here. But if invited to meet folks there, I’d give it another try. Maybe it needs to be after dark… or maybe I should have had a bloody mary with brunch.

This is an enjoyable little place in Cambridge. I’ve been here a handful of times and always enjoyed it. It’s not really a place to go drinking with the boys, though you could do that if you really wanted to. It’s more of a meet and greet with some couples you know, or a date place. The food is really very good, but it’s not for the faint of heart… vegans and allergies beware! My favorite are the steak tips with garlic mashed. They also have these wicked blue cheese fries that I’ve never tried, but Larry loved them, and whatever the Lar says, goes!
B-​Side is full of young hipsters having fun, but it’s not frathouse rowdy, which I like. It’s crowded as hell and getting a bartender to pay attention to you when it’s busy can be difficult unless you’re willing to shove people out of your way. Comfy booths and good drinks round out an overall good experience. Have fun trying to find parking around here. It’s not near the T either, which makes it suck that much more.

Y’know, I just wasn’t impressed. I wanted to love the blue cheese fries. That very combo was a staple of my college diet, but they just weren’t great here. I know, I must be crazy. But it’s true. The drinks were good. A scooch on the expensive side, but not ridiculous.
I also wasn’t wowed by the atmosphere. It was just a pseudo-​hip bar with booths and too much natural light. I dunno, I expect my bars to be a bit dark, even in the daytime. Again, maybe I’m crazy. It seemed like it used to be smaller and really cool, but then maybe they expanded, took down a wall and ruined everything. That’s just the story I made up in my head for what was wrong here.
I’ll give them another try, but I just wasn’t picking up what the B-​Side was putting down.

I’d been wanting to go to this place for a while after seeing it’s successful ratings and popularity on multiple sites including this one and hearing about it constantly from one of my friends. So one night after heading home from a Bruins game, my buddy and I not wanting to part ways quite yet, we decided to head over there for a drink and some grub.
Unfortunatly for us, by the time we got there, they stopped serving food; that sucked but it did our wallet a favor considering that their food is way overpriced. I looked at the menu and was shocked at home expensive it was. I go out a lot and it’s the first time I’ve seen a pulled pork sandwich hit $ 11. Honestly.
But there is one thing that in my opinion enabled them to escape with minimum review damage and a whooping four stars and that is their drinks menu. They have some classic cocktails that you can’t really find anywhere and that’s I’m very fond of. Pimms! Singapore Slinger! Caiparinha! Even the mojito! FINALLY A PLACE THAT POURS THESE! WHOOOHOO! And for that alone, I’m a fan.
Needless to say that I had alcoholic drinks as my main food group and dinner that night. Well worth it.
The décor itself is pretty cool and trendy and finding parking in the evening or night isn’t usually too hard.
The bartenders are knowledgeable and actually talented compared to most I’ve seen in Beantown; they know what they are doing. And it reflects. Definitely a chill place; I will be back!