94 Derby Street
Derby Street Shoppes
Hingham, MA 02043-4202
781-749-2700
Not Recommended
To put this in the right context, I was already in a bad mood when I arrived. It was raining and cold and the Rustic Kitchen Bistro was not a destination of choice: it was a destination of I-didn't-want-to drive-further. With that said the Rustic Kitchen Bistro did not do much to improve my evening. I walked in to the crowded restaurant and sat down at a still dirty but open seat at the bar. The soft spoken bartender, who finally came over to see what I wanted to drink, was difficult to hear over the din of the barroom. I cannot blame the bartender too much for his lack of attention; he not only had a full bar but also had 8 tables going.
The menu looked promising. I wasn't starving so I ordered simply. A glass of pinot noir, Rustic Bistro Salad and a Margherita Pizza. Like I said, I was in a bad mood. The wine was fine at $8.50 a glass. The salad ($7.50) was average to poor. I sat faced with a enormous pile of mesculm mix clumsily topped with red onions, sliced radishes, cucumber cresents (sliced cucumbers with the seeds removed)and oversized croutons. After removing the onions and croutons to a side plate for disposal I tucked into the salad. To my further disappointment the greens were limp, weak and overdressed with a sweet but otherwise flavorless dressing. To make matters worse was the garnish of a stale and useless parmesan canolli. It had obviously made a day or more earlier and was suffering for it. Salad should be simple, fresh and lightly dressed; finished with course salt and fresh cracked pepper. This missed the target on all counts.
Immediately on the heals of my salad the pizza arrived ($10.50). The oblong pie was just slightly bigger than a slice of a large pizza. The best thing I can say about the pizze is that it was hot. The sauce was insipid, the basil shredded and flavorless. The fresh mozarella was nice but the flavor of the cheese was lost until the pizza cooled.
Maybe it was just my bad mood...maybe.
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2 comments:
Ummm...maybe this restaurant isn't 'recommended'? I've eaten there a few times too (because it is there) and had essentially the same experience. Fine, but not really worth going back to.
Great to see you writing again; honestly, I missed the posts, even though I knew I'd never visit most of the places you've written about. But the writing is so good, at least I could live vicariously.
Anyway, as Lauren suggested in her earlier comment, maybe the rating system needs to be updated. Perhaps, instead of 'recommended,' you meant, 'recommended for immediate shut down."
In any case, good to have you back!
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