L'Andana

11/05/09

Mediocre Food, Appalling Managment

by myncrave at Citysearch

We go out to eat several times a month at comparable restaurants. Some of our favorites: Turner's in Melrose, Dali in Somerville, East Coast Grill in Cambridge. I had high hopes for L'Andana, but in the end was left disappointed with the quality of the food and the management.

Food:

The truffle fries are fries. There was nothing special or amazing about them. The Caesar salad, crab tortellini, rigatoni bolognese, creme brulee, chocolate mousse, and chocolate cake were also nothing special. The calamari was greasy, as was the doughnut dessert (with the ever unpleasant greasy aftertaste). Certainly not worth the price. My husband had the seasonal duck which was very good, but that's as far as my praise goes.

Service:

I asked for a club soda, and got a tonic water (thank god quinine doesn't kill me!). We also had an unfortunate service incident that was brushed off by management in the end.

If the prices were ratcheted down, and the management improved, I would have given this a mediocre rating. Taken together, it was certainly NOT worth the price, and not a great experience, hence my one star rating.

P.S. It seemingly requires valet parking (at least it did on the evening we went), which seems absurd and pretentious for Burlington, particularly given that they were valeting to the parking lot that you drive into and that is at the steps of the restaurant.

• Pros: The duck was good, the atmosphere was nice
• Cons: Food mediocre given the $$$, experience with mgmt terrible

06/08/09

Great food service was perfect

by overeater8 at Citysearch

Living far north of Boston. I don't mid making the trip for a sox game. Other than that I love that this is close to home. My first time, we decided to stay close to home because it was raining cats and dogs. I was thrilled that a valet greeted us with an umbrella and ushered my wife to the door. At first I was nervous because he didn't give me a slip.... But once inside it was warm and dry and we ate at the bar. The bartender was perfect. He recommended the tuna and a steak. Steak was probably the best I had ever had. I was pleased to learn the couple seated next to us eats there almost every week! I decided to the take the rest of the steak home. The manager introduced himself on the way out and when we walked outside by some miracle the valet had our car parked out front and he ushered wifey to her seat with an umbrella again.

two weeks later when we went back and the valet and the bartender greeted me by my first name and were excited to see us again!!! I will gladly make regular trips to this closer than boston establishment.

Glad to have valet in the heavy rain, felt bad for the poor guy he was soaked :(

• Pros: Helpful, friendly staff, excellent steak, close to NH
• Cons: none

06/02/09

Hands down

by italian4ever at Citysearch

My wife took me to this place for our anniversary. I was blown away from the time we entered the restaurant to the time we left. I had the filet right off the wood grilled and it was perfectly cooked and delicious, my wife had the chicken milanese and loved it! It was a Saturday evening and the place was packed, great energy, great food and great service. What else could we have asked for?

Thank you L'Andana!

• Pros: Excellent service
• Cons: Valet service with a huge parking lot