Mad Raven

I don’t typically rate anything on Unilocal,and when I do it’s mostly negative but I don’t have anything bad to say about this place and they constantly have been great, except once when they were slow because they were packed, but I’ll forgive them.

Enjoyed lunch, soccer and a beer here during last weekend’s snow. Very friendly place. Food was good — not great — but good bar food. A nice local place that we’ll go back to. Looking forward to trying out Trivia Night on Tuesdays.

This place was great! I had the bbq stuffed burger which was phenomenal! I enjoyed some Magners on tap which may be why the burger tasted so good! Definitely will be back!

Swordfish tacos!!! Meow.
And a nice cocktail selection to wash the beautifully marinated and prepared morsels with.
Da da da da da da dum!

I got to say they have this rude server named Lisa! Love Kay, she’s classy. Food is great, but not excellent, wished the kitchen stayed open after 10

Got their appetizers, blue moon, draft allagash. It was okay. Appetizer was good. I like that there’s not to many people. The Allagash didn’t taste the same as other places. Definitely a low stress casual place to come after work.

A fun downtown pub with good food for lunch or dinner.

My kids took me here for Mother’s Day. Pros: Attractive ambiance, mid-​City location since we live at compass points away from Boston (N-​S-​W), friendly and pert waitress, brunch menu, and they took reservations. Cons: Pert waitress was inattentive and easily distracted even though I think we were one of two parties she was serving. Had to wait for fresh brewed coffee and then for the check (which she gave to my husband… assuming that the oldest male pays.). She couldn’t figure out how to split the check using credit cards (after all it was supposed to be kids’ treat) — so WE ended up paying. Oh… and I get better home fries, toast and omelettes at my local NH diner for less.

Comfortable pub. Nice wait staff. Someone in the kitchen just does not care. I ordered a French Dip and was served a horrible sandwich. Two pieces of meat that were over done and large pieces of fat through out. The au jus was French onion soup. Sent back without a problem. There is no quality control and the cooks just don’t care. The cook should have just told the wait staff to have me order something else. If you won’t eat it, don’t serve it. Thanks again to the wait staff for fixing it.

This bar has great food and beer selection. I was disappointed at first because they stopped serving Newcastle even though it was listed on the menu. Staff was great. For food, on one visit I had the pot roast, it came with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. It was a ton of food, and very good. Our group also started with the stuffed mushrooms which were also great. On another visit, we went during trivia night, and just had beers and appetizers. The atmosphere is fun, the staff is friendly, they have stuff going on like trivia nights and they have really good food. If I were a local, I’d frequent this place. Parking is on the street.

Primary observation after a few visits: Some of the bartenders are great, some are not. For this side of Waltham, they have a nice beer selection and I really like drinking here on weekdays since it has a more «relaxed» vibe than other places.
I’ve only ordered the buffalo chicken tenders and potato skins from here, and I was not happy with how aggressively salty they were. C’mon I understand that it’s pub grub, but I felt like I was shriveling up by the time I finished eating.
If they have a cocktail menu, I’ve never seen it. This is a beer bar that happens to have a lot of liquor. For this reason, I’m not very attached to this place, but at least it isn’t a chain-​kitschy as Joe Sent Me.

I’ve wanted to go here since I moved to Waltham three years ago. I love the décor and the name. Sadly, we were kind of disappointed. The bar wasn’t very busy, but it was still difficult to get service, despite being seated directly in front of the bartender. In addition, the kitchen closes at 10, even on a Friday night. May update if we go back when the kitchen is open. For now, it’s back to Joe’s for me.

Love this place! friendly staff, terrific relaxed atmosphere, great beer list, and surprisingly great food for a pub.
The traditional chicken curry was out of this world!

Great dinners. terrible breakfast.. We spent 50.00 for 2 of us and not only did everything taste bland and old the portions sucked. they charge you 2.50 for every tiny orange juice you drink. I may never go back for. Dinner because I feel like I’ve been violated with that breakfast …

Brunch was fair. Food good but too skimpy on the home fries on the side. Server very nice but slow. Coffee was funny tasting.

Love the Mad Raven for trivia on Tuesday nights. It is the best in the area, mostly because of Joe and the great staff on those nights. People are pretty diehard and come back week after week without fail. Calamari and pizzas are the absolute most delicious things on the menu. The curry is not bad either. My favorite neighborhood bar for ambience, no doubt!

I have only been to the Mad Raven for dinner (not for a night out for drinks) twice. Both times I have been very satisfied, and I will be returning.
The food is always hot and brought out pretty quickly. The buffalo chicken wrap was exactly what I expected, and the Caesar salad was also delicious. My boyfriend always gets the burger and he loves it.
The Mad Raven is located right on Main St. in Waltham, so on a summer day when the windows are open it can be a bit loud. However, it is still really nice to have the breeze and a view from a window table.
There are some TVs but they definitely do not overwhelm the bar or the dining area. The ambiance is great.
The service has always been great. The last time we ate here our waitress was fantastic — very attentive and friendly.
Overall, this is a good spot. The food is pretty good and very affordable. It’s a great spot for a beer and a burger on a week night after work. We will be returning!

This place is very quaint. Staff is very friendly and the food is delicious. Great place to relax and have a ice cold beer. Definitely recommend it for anyone that’s looking for a place that is laid back and yet very enjoyable.

I had the best lunch here and wonderful afternoon. The steak tips were the Bomb with salad and onions. Nice environment with great bar tenders Matt, Willy. Love the environment almost a little to clean for my taste. ;-)

«And my shadow shall be lifted! NEVERMORE!»
«Is there a balm in Gilead?» This is the question I asked my friend Lenore before we sat down at a cozy wooden table in the very center of the main dining area on a hot, early October afternoon after the lunch rush but before the dinner rush – that down-​time you can have as an old, historical, Waltham Irish pub because your regulars come in, and they watch the Sox, and you all talk about Obamacare or your kids. That’s when I spotted the Raven perched next to our table. On the floor.
«Nevermore,» quoth the Raven. «I would just walk out the door!»
Said I to said sad Raven, «Well, I think I’ll ask Lenore.» (And no, Lenore is NOT a whore!)
And that’s when our server came with the Slider Trio.
Buffalo Chicken slider: excellent. Fresh lettuce, tomato, onion.
Pulled Pork slider: stringy squishy, kinda ew. BBQ too sweet. Too wet.
Traditional burger slider: cooked to NEVERMORE well done, and tasting like lighter fluid and charcoal, only.
Quoth the Raven, «ew.»
Ok. Entrée’s. For lunch. Lunch entrees.
Me! The Raven Roll: $ 7.95 — Turkey, bacon, scallions & Havarti cheese served in a roll-​up with spicy cranberry sour crème sauce.
Dry. Inedible. Onion rings; waiter’s suggestion. Beach sand with onion flavor.
Lenore!
Baked Mac N Cheese? A classic mix of Wisconsin-​aged cheddar and mascarpone, topped with homemade breadcrumbs.
NEVERMORE!
Sausage dog food, overcooked, under heat lamps, pasta gooey, bland, dry, tasteless but edible if you remove the offending sausage and pour salt all over it. Which she did, «Oh, NEVERMORE!»
Went I to the restroom and across the wooden floor until I saw that pesky Raven laughing by the Kitchen door. Never more, quoth the Raven, there are so any other bars in Waltham, and it just doesn’t make sense to waste all your money here on food that’s actually really bad. Like really bad. But the server was friendly, and she took off the sausage and onion rings, and I was like, «Well, you know, these things happen. We’ve been here before, and we never really expect much from Waltham bars besides Sports Pub, or MAYBE Margarita’s – and I heard there’s this place called City Streets in another part of town, and we should totally go THERE next time, cuz Mad Raven sucks. I know the Brandeis and Bentley kids go on weekends or whatever. And it’s history, or something. But that food is really bad, man.»
Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken, leave my loneliness unbroken!
— quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out thy heart and take thy form from off that red painted, kinda cool façade with the hip wooden spheres hanging next to your sign painted red and yellow. Why do people even go here?