BiNA osteria

As Restaurant Week came to a close, the boyfriend and I realized we didn’t take advantage of anything… threw caution to the wind and gave BiNA osteria a try.
The problem? Nothing was really memorable.
Both of our appetizers had more flavor than the entrees. My ravioli was the most memorable part of the night, and I can’t even tell you anything about it.
The cocktails are tasty, though… you can tell they put a lot of thought in their libations… interesting combinations, fun twists on expected drinks.
If only they put that much thought in their food.

My partner and I decided to try this place out after another restaurant turned out to have an hour and forty five minute wait time. After fighting through a (rude) crowd to get to an inattentive hostess just to find this out, we were pleasantly surprised that BiNA could seat us right away. The host even apologized for having to set up a table, which took two minutes, max.
We both got the Fashionably Late (a take on the Old Fashioned, as you might expect) and found it tasty. Our server handled our case of the giggles when I ordered the Young Lettuces quite well («Don’t worry, they’re old enough») and checked in with us frequently without hovering.
Anything listed under entrees was quite generously sized, as was my partner’s mushroom risotto (which she enjoyed enough to take home and eat the next day), but my ricotta gnocci (heavenly!), listed as a first course, was perfect for my entrée.
I found the décor a little… odd, as it reminded both of us of a public restroom, and the prices might keep me from visiting every time I go to the movies (particularly the price of cocktails), but it was stellar for a date night.

I went to BiNA Osteria for lunch during restaurant week. I saw the menu and honestly wasn’t quite sure what the courses meant/​were but I thought it looked good so wham bam 45 seconds later I got a ressie through
. Normally, I extensively research restaurant week options, I didn’t in this case and that’s a shame.
It’s a shame not because the food was bad or anything (I’ll get to that), but because it was essentially the same price to order off the regular menu as the restaurant week menu. Well, probably a little cheaper since I doubt the desserts would cost only $ 3, but they didn’t have em on the lunch menu. My dining companion and I decided we’d prefer 2 of the tasting course plates + a standard lunch entrée over the restrictive list of restaurant week ($ 3+$ 3+$ 14 = $ 20. RW lunch? gasp! $ 20.11 RW worth it? We didn’t think so).
I had the chicken liver pâté and the warm mushroom confit from the tasting/​tapas style menu and the porchetta sandwich. My co-​worker got the clams and the mussels from the tasting menu and the shaved asparagus salad.
I tasted everything we ordered and while everything was good nothing really stood out or impressed me. The best thing I had was probably the pâté, which was rich and creamy on a super crisp crostini bread– what really made the dish work was the yellow raisins (I like raisins) that studded the pâté and gave it a little something more than just the creaminess with the almost kiss of metallic flavor (I assume from the iron content) of the liver. The mushrooms were good, but didn’t really taste like mushrooms to me. There wasn’t that earthiness I want from mushrooms– there was more of a lemon flavor from whatever they seasoned it with that made it a lovely, citrussy dish, but it could have been anything let alone mushrooms.
The porchetta sandwich came topped with «hot peppers» that actually tasted more like sweet red/​yellow bell peppers to me, and arugula with some sort of pesto spread and a side salad of greens in olive oil. When I have a sandwich of pork, especially porchetta, I expect a certain saltiness and the sandwich was fairly bland until you got a bite full of peppers. The salad on the other hand was salty, but in a pleasant way, so I actually put the salad on my sandwich and it improved it a lot. I don’t know maybe they’re supposed to be eaten together but usually a sandwich and salad are partners but not in-​my-​mouth-​lovers.
The ambiance is sleek and hip. The service was very good. My one slight gripe is when I asked for change for my cash and got 3 $ 5 and a single back when 20% after tax is $ 13. I had extra ones so she got the right tip, but when servers do that kinda thing they’re more likely to get shorted a few bucks with me if I have no other change.
The $ 3 tasting plates were nice, but I probably wouldn’t go for them again unless I was just snacking.
Cocktails are ~ $ 12 so fairly high and the one my companion got, while very tasty, was small and tasted like the Shaddock from Silvertone but more expensive in a smaller glass. My house red (thanks Unilocalers) was very good and reasonably priced at $ 8.
Like I said, the food was good but nothing that makes me want to go back (but nothing that makes me not want to go back either). The sandwich and salad for $ 14 was a hearty lunch and if you get it, seriously try putting some of the salad greens on your sandwich.

A dinner party at BiNA Osteria left me with both positive and negative impressions.
First the positive: service was EXCELLENT. The entire staff, from hostess to bartender, servers to manager were all on point, full of both professionalism and personality.
I was really impressed with the house wine; the super Tuscan Sangiovese blend is exclusive to the BiNA restaurants, and was surprisingly tasty for an inexpensive house wine.
The food started off excellent; highlights among the small bites included a creamy chicken liver crostini and a mouth watering prosciutto wrapped fig. The beef carpaccio appetizer was absolutely delicious, and the young lettuce salad was fresh and crisp.
Unfortunately, the meal took a turn for the worse at the entrée; my sirloin was fatty, bland and overcooked (ordered medium rare, but was served grey all the way through), and topped with a gorgonzola butter which overpowered the tastebuds.
All in all, I didn’t have a bad experience at BiNA, but I expect a kitchen at this level and price point to be able to cook a steak properly.

BiNA Osteria has so much potential. The concept is cool, the atmosphere is good, the location is great and the menu is creative. The food that I’ve had there is really good. The wine that I’ve had there is REALLY good. However, the 3 stars missing from this review are well deserved because the service is horrendous.
My four coworkers and I felt really uncomfortable during our experience. Our server… I don’t know if he was brand new or not but there were so many things wrong with his performance and approach.
Everything was going along just smoothly until the bill came. I know I know, it’s not super fun to split a bill when everyone is paying with cards… however you should expect this especially when it’s a business lunch or what have you. We had to split the bill four ways on cards, and then I was paying cash for my glass of wine.
We were about to write down how much to put on each card, when the waiter goes «no just give them to me I’ll split it» and we said «how are you going to know how to split it?» and he goes «oh I remember what each of you got» and we said «um… but do you know our names? How do you know which card applies to who?» and he kept repeating himself and not making much sense.
So we went on to write down how much to put on each card. I then made things easier by very simply giving my cash for the wine to my friend who then just asked to tack on my wine to her card. Simple.
It’s taking surprisingly long for him to bring us the cards back and when he does, everything is screwed up. Someone’s meal is on someone else’s card, my wine isn’t even charged… chaos.
He then says, rather than apologizing «oh I did this for you guys but normally I can’t even split a bill like this when it’s busy. But I did it for you guys because it’s not that busy»… um no you’re not doing us a favor here.
THEN I pay for my wine in cash ultimately since it was never charged and he tries to say oh wait no you owe this this and this too… which wasn’t the case.
Just a horrible experience all around. I will NEVER ever go back there and neither will my coworkers which is too bad because that place has really delicious food and wine, but it’s not backed up by good service so no thanks.

I stopped by Bina when I was in the area after a movie. My friends and I had drinks outside. The staff was wonderful, friendly, well-​informed and attentive.
The décor is gorgeous, bathroom elements definitely one of a kind from the bright colors, mirror over the unique wash-​basins & M/​W cutout on the Mens & Womens doors.
I will definitely be back!

Restaurant Week here in Boston is quickly coming to a close, so I’m going to take full advantage over the next few days! Today for lunch, two of my friends/​co-​workers and I are going to try Bina Osteria. None of us have been there before today, and we all found the menu to be very inspired.
There were quite a few choices for our first courses… decisions, decisions! My top choices were probably the Little Lamb Meatballs with Goat Cheese Fondue, the Sea Urchin Warmed in Olive Oil, Preserved Lemon and Lardo, or the Warm Mushroom Confit. How do you even begin to decide between such tempting options??? Turns out, I didn’t have to! We all shared! The sea urchin toasts with lardo were decadent, and I’m glad we shared! The hint of ocean that I got from each bite was very refreshing. As for the lamb meatballs, they came in a delicious tomato sauce which blended so nicely with the bite that the goat cheese flavor offers. Both the meatballs and the mushrooms came in these adorable little warming pots. The mushrooms were very comforting and warm, with a lovely forest-​y flavor to them.
For the entrée, we had our choice of four different options. Again, we all ordered different things so we got to try almost everything there. The Grilled Shrimp Salad with arugula, citrus, green olives and shaved red onion was very tasty. The shrimp were grilled to perfection and the little pieces of pink grapefruit made my day. I love when unexpected ingredients show up in a dish that would otherwise seem mundane.
As for the Shaved Porchetta Sandwich with grilled red onion, provolone and hot peppers, it was kind of like a different take on a Cubano. There was arugula on the sandwich as well and it offered a great peppery flavor for the pork and mild provolone. The hot peppers were an added bonus! The bread was crispy but not crumbly and was easy to eat. I have a pet peeve about sandwiches that you can’t bite into easily. This one was great!
Finally, the Spaghetti with Tomato, Basil and Parmigiano Reggiano — FRESH PASTA! Need I say more?! We asked before ordering and the waitress assured us that all their pasta is made in-​house, and was it ever! It was very flavorful and deliciously al dente. It was a nice helping as well, and topped with some fresh Parmigiano. It was an excellent bowl of comfort food on this cold and rainy day.
We had a lovely lunch at Bina Osteria today. We decided to go with the 2-​course for our lunch since we had to get back to work. I also had dinner plans this evening, so I didn’t want to go overboard on the desserts at all, and I knew I’d be getting one at Radius. This was a lovely break to an otherwise stressful day!

This particular restaurant is a good spot for dinner before a movie or a show. We went just before seeing Mary Poppins —
The presentation — both of the space and their food — is impeccable — just beautiful. I was disappointed that after spending $ 88 on dinner (2 entrees, 2 appetizers and 2 drinks), I was starving an hour later. The portions are small — but the quality of the food was great.
Great ambience and good service — just have a heavy lunch if this is your dinner destination!

BiNA Osteria (owned by the same peeps that own Bin 26 and Lala Rokh) has undergone a complete transformation. They have a whole new kitchen staff and a whole new wait staff. The goal of the Bina’s is to recreate rustic Italian food with a modern twist.
I was lucky enough to go here a few nights ago to try out the new menu, and Holy Lord was it amazing. The chef sent out an oyster topped with a limoncello foam. It was the single greatest oyster I have ever had. It’s not on the menu yet, but I urged both the owner and the chef to make it a staple on their menu. The oyster was paired with a sweet and bitter cocktail with an orange twist. I have no idea what was in it, but it was really refreshing and could definitely get me into trouble on a hot summer day.
After the oysters we tried out the Stuzzicare menu ($ 3 little plates). We had the sea urchin which was incredibly rich, the lamb meatballs with the goat cheese fondue (I could eat the fondue with a spoon) and the warm mushroom confit. We also had the Warm Insalata Di Mare (octopus salad) and it was delicious. The octopus was grilled to perfection and when paired with the arugula and the poached potatoes it is definitely a dish I will get again. We had a really light citrusy wine with this course and it was great.
The chef then sent out a ricotta gnocchi… YUM! All of the pastas are handmade daily, and if you go to BiNA they are a must have.
For my main course I had the diver scallops. The scallops were good, the flavors were clean, but I probably wouldn’t order them again. He had the Cavatelli (ragu of rabbit, pear and truffle cheese) and it was freaking amazing. The chef told us that he lets the rabbit sit in a red wine brine for a FEW DAYS… my mouth is watering just thinking about it. The rabbit was plentiful and tender, and this dish really really sang. We had another white with this course… I can’t recall the name but it was unique and tasty.
Lastly we had the chocolate cake. Delish! Paired with an Old Vine Zin it was the perfect way to end the meal.
BiNA is now a top shelf place to eat in Boston and I highly recommend checking it out.

Sometimes you need to differentiate between a place you go to after work for drinks and a place you go to for solely for dining purposes. This is one of those places… That said, the food really isn’t that bad, a little pricey? Yes, but don’t order the entrees and expect their $ 30 price-​tag to translate to the best meal you’ve ever eaten because like so many that have gone here and experienced a big let down, it just won’t leave you feeling good about spending all that money.
Better yet, order a bunch of apps with friends! At a reasonable $ 3 a pop they’ll not only be plenty to go around, but for the value they’ll suit most people’s tastes just fine. Some of my favorites include the Warm Mushroom Confit, Rustic Chicken Liver Crostini, and the Little Lamb Meatballs. All a drinker’s delight!
The wine menu looks great! Standard markup, but what else is new; at least they offer variety, and from the most sought regions. Staff is generally attentive and most nights are slow when there’s not a show scheduled, so this makes for a perfect date spot (speaking from experience!), with couches in the lounge, a sleek bar, and contemporary twist on an otherwise quasi-​traditional menu. Pick a bottle up from the adjoining market on the way home and just enjoy the unique and fun times that can be had at a place that deserves a tip of the cap!

The location might be a bit odd. The décor may seem a bit ‘euro-​snob’. The clientele might be totally random (which it is), but this place is pretty amazing.
I work across the street from this place, and while I haven’t really eaten there much, it’s a great place to grab one of the best cocktails of your life after work. Seriously… the cocktails here will change your life. Hats off to the inventive bar staff at BiNA and to the management that lets them experiment with tea infusions and odd ingredients… those experiments have led to some of the best tasting and most interesting cocktails in the Boston bar scene.
Not only are the listed cocktails great, but the bartenders are pretty adept at making whatever you’d like — and seem to specialize in vintage, classic cocktails. They are very knowledgeable when it comes to classy booze and will gladly answer any questions or steer you in the right direction if you aren’t quite sure what you want.
If you like expertly prepared classic cocktails with a twist (and don’t mind paying a lot for them) then this is the place for you. Sure it’s spendy, but it’s worth paying $ 12-​$ 14 for an amazing cocktail than paying $ 10 for a cocktail that tastes like something you drank out of a bathtub in college. Right?
As for the food, I’ve only had a few things, but haven’t ever been disappointed. The cured meat dish is great. I’ve had a few of their other appetizers and have always been happy with the food — the pizzas and pastas are great too.
The staff and management of BiNA know what they are doing. The place is usually slow and quiet, but the cocktails and staff are hard to keep quiet — and that’s a great thing.

All of the stars are for drinks. The food here is unimaginative, the portions are meager, and the place echos with the emptiness of impending failure and the desperation of servers who know they aren’t busy enough. It’s also really pretty expensive.
Good bar though. I had an aviation which was quite good, and my wife had a cocktail made out of tea that she liked a lot. Another reviewer suggested this place for deli takeout. I also suggest drinks takeout. (C’mon MA government, get on it!)

Okay. I planned a work event here. Mediocre meets excellent head-​on in what could’ve bina solid 4 star review. (hiyo!)
The event organizer, Maria, was charming on the phone, although took her time returning my phone calls and emailing me a contract. Overall, though, she was warm and accommodating. Three stars.
When we arrived, we were treated like royalty, gently nudged into a bar/​lounge area, and expertly handled by Keith, our bartender/​manager du jour. As the planner, I was given the extra-​special love, my glass never left empty, the foam from the «standard» on tap Dogfish Head 60 minute (is this how the other half lives?), never off my upper lip. Five stars, truly. Smashing job.
Result? Both I and my colleagues were – how to put it delicately? – hammered out of our gourds. With not nearly enough food to soak it up. The food charge came to $ 42/​head, and though some plates seemed to be worth it (the roast beef, prosciutto-​wrapped rabbit pâté, spoonful of shrimp tartare, yum x a million), others (cardboardy pizza squares? really?), not quite. I had requested some «simpler» food in addition to the schmancy, and that pizza was a bit of an insult. In all honesty, I think everyone was too drunk to care how much food there was, but I, the amex-​touting, reputation-​hinging contract-​signer, was disappointed. And tanked. 2 stars.
Hip, slightly sterile and futuristic interior, good food in teeny bites, excellent service – overall, a nice place to bring the 20 – 30 coworkers you ultimately want the most dirt on as the night progresses.

A solid three stars. My boyfriend and I came here with Groupon in hand on a Thursday night. The place was absolutely dead, so the service was great.
I don’t love the modern, upscale style of the place that much. It doesn’t say «delicious Italian establishment». And the food itself was fairly decent, however the menu did not describe the finished product accurately.
My boyfriend and I ordered an arugula salad and the endive appetizer to start. The arugula salad was delish (but that’s hard to mess up). The endive appetizer included mascarpone in it’s description, but I saw absolutely none of it. I was expecting an endive leave stuffed with mascarpone and pancetta, but we got a weird salad with chopped endives instead. It was tasty enough though.
For my entrée I got a half portion of the squid ink pasta and my boyfriend got the duck risotto. The squid ink pasta was described as having parmagianno reggiano and marsala sauce. I wasn’t completely sure what that meant, but I ended up getting a heavy cream sauce, which I wouldn’t have ordered if I had known. Luckily, the half portion is absolutely tiny, so it wasn’t too overwhelming, although it was salty. The duck risotto was good, although had a heavy smoky flavor.
Overall, it was a good meal, but not great. I probably wouldn’t be back.

My friend and I did the tasting menu here and it was pretty disappointing. Nothing was horrible, but many things were under-​flavored, under-​seasoned, under-​salted and just plain underwhelming.
The best dish was definitely the Squid Ink Spaghetti. The black noodles were nice and chewy and the sauce actually had taste! The worst was probably the carrot soup, which was bland and totally flavor-​less. Everything else had potential but was compromised by a lack of flavor. Portions were definitely generous, but when the food is subpar, that doesn’t really matter.
Cocktails are good but severely overpriced for the money you pay. I got the Carampana, which was tasty, but came in the tiniest little tumbler-​like shot glass. For $ 12 – so not worth it. Service was pretty good. No complaints there. And the restaurant is very Sex and the City chic with a sleek, modern, chrome-​white, age of Apple kind of look. The clientele reflect this too – very gorgeous, hip and urban.
They throw some fun events here during the summer, so I wouldn’t mind returning for that. But if I’m in the area and craving good Italian food and drinks, I’ll go around the corner to Teatro (next to the AMC) for a mindblowingly good meal.

I’m torn on how to truly rate this restaurant because the food was great, but the service was as slow as it gets and the drinks were just okay.
Upon arrival we were seated right away on the patio, which was a good sign. Our waitress couldn’t really give us any recommendations on drinks, which was disappointing. Throughout the night I tried 3 different ones and all were just okay.
Everything on the menu sounded fantastic so we decided to order a few appetizers and each do a ½ portion of pasta. Our appetizers, the mesclun salad, the rabbit pâté and the mussels were all amazing. My pasta, the pappardelle, was fabulous, but my favorite was my girlfirend’s maltagliati, which was a homemade chestnut pasta — delicious!
Luckily, our group of four had a lot of catching up to do and kept good company because the service was painstakingly slow. If the service and drinks were a bit better, this place would be out of this world!

Was at the same birthday party as Julia, and have to agree. The servers were getting mobbed by starving patrons, so people in the back maybe got two bites to eat the whole night. On top of that, the food was horrible. i think i could have jumped in there as executive chef and gotten at least a two star.
Their website advertises the low prices given that they’re in the Ritz Carlton. All I can say is, you get what you pay for.

Oh my god! this place is horrible! I would give it a one, but our service was really great. I had heard of this place long before it opened because I was going to do a pastry «apprenticeship» here. I’ve always been into food and though I’d be giving my labor free, it seemed like a good chance to learn some skills and also do something for myself whilst attending grad school which makes me want to shoot myself a lot.
Anyway, we came round here on Friday when Shutter Island had sold out for the next three showing. Menu looked good, though pricey, but we went in. I ordered the eggplant parmesan and side of spinach, and the roommate had the chicken on portobella mushrooms and prosciutto.
Got the bread basket, which was aight (I’ve seen better). Had some focaccia style bread, a more rustic, crusty loaf, and some little bready balls which I think were just extra pizza dough baked off. Came with some really «fruity» olive oil («greenest» tasting stuff I’d ever had — like chewing on a leaf. Perhaps that is good?) to dip in.
Food finally arrives, and my eggplant dish is a really big size, but it’s essentially sliced eggplant, layered sauce, and cheese. The eggplant just didn’t seem cooked through enough (didn’t have a soft texture, but that kinda raw spongey feel). The spinach, though I wanted to like it, was so salty it even made my cankersore throb. And the chicken dish — the chicken was overcooked and the portobella mushrooms tasted like charcoal. Oh yeah, and it was this tiny ass portion.
Service was great and all and everyone was very attentive, but honestly, the food SUCKED!!! I think the bill was around $ 55 with a glass of wine (the chicken itself was like $ 28). I want to, but am scaerd to try Bina alimentari, which is their sandwich joint next door. Wow. This just had to be one of the worst eating experiences ever.

A quick review here for a stop by for a late dinner.
Service was great, all the nice touches like taking our bags to the coat check and moving the table out and back in when we sat.
Decent wine selection, would like to see more, especially more locally sourced ones (just as they admirably try to source locally for meats and dairy)
Good bread, rosemary butter
Beef tartar prima was fantastic, celery foam perfect for it
Complimentary balsamic marinated cherries stuffed with foie gras were insanely good… I would definitely pay for them
Two plates of risotto for secondi were the best part of the meal… flavors had been slowly cooked in and it was rich without bearing the taste of the butter. There were a lot of little additions to pick through and try.
Sea bass with lobster was the most flavorful dish. The sauce was outstanding and the small cuts of lobster went well. The fish was very good but a little light on the serving size. We had to break back into the bread basket to finish the dish.
Didn’t stay for dessert but I don’t imagine they’d disappoint.
Overall a perfect late night dinner and a long-​overdue sample of what will hopefully be a good run for a new restaurant.

This was another stop on the wine crawl i was on. The atmosphere here was very relaxing, but uncomfortable. Its all that modern crap that is «in» but it looks really awesome inside. Its bright and clean.
One of the appetizers was very simple, chunked fresh parmesan cheese and a bowl of the most delicious honey I’ve honestly ever had. I dipped it in, never having tried that and it was amazing.
I probably won’t go here just because its not my style… i dont like drips of sauce on a huge, white platter with a teeny thing in the middle called food which costs $ 40 but if you like that kind of thing then this might be a place for you.
I rated it well though because I found nothing bad about it at all. very interesting all around!