Fat Hen

"We went to Fat Hen pre-covid and they offered a wonderful four course meal. I decided to revisit for a special occasion. The doors were locked at 5:06 despite our reservation at 5 pm. Odd. We signed up for the chef’s experience, which over the phone was mentioned as a way for the chef to offer dishes they were experimenting with as extras. There was nothing offered during our experience that was extra and nothing made mention of the fact that it was the chef’s experience. No chef came to speak to us. The beet salad was a pile of beets and dressed, Mediterranean style greens. It lacked brightness due to lack of acid and the plating could be improved. There was no additional herbs or garnish. Just pistachios, beets, greens and goat cheese. The flavors were very muddied. We received a bucatini carbonara that I had been looking forward too. It was extremely salty. My husband remarked that it was like a can of concentrated campbell’s soup. The pasta was not cooked enough, even by al dente standards. When we mentioned it to the server she said that since we already ate so much of it she wasn’t gonna do anything abt it. But there wasn’t even an apology or discount. The steak was alright. But there was a large pat of anchovy butter on top that was rock solid- a pat of butter 3 inches wide and half inch tall which was very large - usually maitre’d butter is softened but this looked like it was straight from the freezer. It was very tough to spread and also made the steak taste worse. They also forgot to put the uni on top until I flagged that it was missing. There was also a small bristle I found… like something off of a brush. Overall one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in a while. Not sure what happened to this restaurant. Would not recommend."

"I had read good reviews about this restaurant and was excited to try it. We ordered the cacio e Pepe angel hair pasta and the wild mushroom gemelli to go. Each dish was 24-26$. The servings were tiny to the extent where it seemed like they had given us someone’s leftover. We ended up getting food from another restaurant afterwards. The pastas were dry and had no flavor at all. We were so disappointed. This was a rip off. I don’t know if dining in would have been a better experience, but I otherwise do not recommend this place."

"Such a wonderful restaurant and the food and the wine was amazing. There are very few upscale less traditional Italian restaurants in and around Boston but this will now enter the rotation of places I will go regularly. The pastas were amazing and the service was beyond impeccable. I recommend the chefs course, which was a small dish provided by the chef made uniquely that day. Overall an amazing experience and will definitely be back again!"

"My husband and I have been to Fat Hen twice (even years apart) and had a fantastic experience both times with delicious meals and superb, personalized service. I recommend the “Chefs Table” experience which comes with an off menu dish selected by the chef. We had mussels and pasta - perfection. Highly recommend."

"Delicious appetizers Mains were hit or miss - the rigatoni was way too salt - the tortellini with duck was ok - the pasta with shrimp was delicious Unfortunately despite their airco being on it was uncomfortably hot Staf was kind and doing a great job especially since it was sooo hot"