amazing food

A friend and I ate at Toscano restaurant in Beacon Hill last night. We had such a wonderful time - both food and service were excellent.

Wine:
My friend and I tried two types of wine from Tuscany - Orvieto and Vermentino. We would recommend both.

Appetizer: 4 cheese tasting plate w/truffle honey
This was one of the MOST delicious dishes I have ever had. I am still dreaming about it. The cheese was so yummy and the truffle honey is to die for! The combination is heavenly!

Main Course:
Pollastrello Con Mattone and The Rigatoni Special
Both quite delicious.

Desert: Tiramasu
The only complaint we had was that desert was just so so. It was not bad, but not memorable at all.

Overall: It was a wonderful and I would go back again.

Items to Note: It's hard to find parking on Charles Street. Either take a cab or the T. The restaurant does have valet parking if you are driving. Also, it's quite popular, I highly advise making reservations via Open Table.

Ristorante Toscano is an upscale Italian restaurant. It sits on the last block on busy Charles Street in Beacon Hill. Request a seat in the main dining room, and specifically, a table by the window. Inside the decor is exposed brick and earthtone-colored paints. A word on the menu: it's Tuscan-style Italian food. Don't go here expecting to get a chicken parm. The Southern Italian and Sicilian dishes are to be found in the North End.

I went with a chicken dish, covered in fresh buffalo mozzerella, and Mrs. H. went with a penne dish and meat sauce. Both were delicious. The wine list is fairly large, but there's only three or four bottles under $40. For dessert we split a piece of tiramisu and a couple of coffees. Our waiter, Peter, was very knowledgeable, attentive, and quick (hey, what more do you want in a waiter?), and the owner/manager came around a couple of times to say 'hi' and make sure we were comfortable.

In closing, Ristorante Toscano is trying to be an upscale restaurant mostly because of their address. They have to compete with the other places on ritzy Charles Street. No worries though: they're succeeding, and without the pretentiousness of some of the other restaurants in the area. Give it a shot.

On our last night in Boston (staying in Beacon Hill section at the end of Charles Street) we asked locals where we could eat well, and took the recommendation to go to Toscano. The pasta dish with the black truffle was one of the best I've ever tasted. This was followed by wild boar which was an excellet choice as well. The waiter really knew his stuff and his help with the wine, though not cheap at $50, was right on the mark and worth it. It was a Sunday night and we asked for the quietest table which happened to be in the corner in the bar and was just right.