Tavern in the Square

The much awaited Tavern In The Square opened this week and we ran over to check it out. The first thing you will notice is that this place is big huge. The generically unimpressive front door opens to a cavernous restaurant/bar. The interior is clean and new with wood floors and unassuming striped carpet but the true nature of this establishment as a sports bar shines through from the plethora of flat screen and projection TVs on almost every inch of the walls.

Interior of Tavern in the Square

We started with one of their featured appetizers Buffalo Calamari ($9.99). The heaping plate came with full calamari as-well-as rings, jalapenos, a healthy dose of blue cheese and an unusual topping of carrot shavings. The buffalo sauce is fairly mild and shouldn’t dissuade anyone from trying this tasty treat.

Buffalo Calamari

For main courses we chose the staple of all sports bars: a burger and, for those who are less meat-centric, a marinated feta and avocado salad with grilled chicken.  The burger choice was the Bacon and Blue Cheese stuffed Burger ($11.99). Grilled to a perfect medium rare and loaded up with heaps of blue cheese the burger and side of waffle fries were just what I was looking for, juicy, full of flavor and delicious.

Close-up of the Bacon Blue Burger

The marinated feta and avocado salad ($9.99) was just as massive as the burger. We added the grilled chicken ($2.99) but found that it was not needed because the salad was stocked with white beans and pistachio nuts giving a healthy dose of protein. The greens were fresh and snappy and the salad had interesting and surprisingly good mix of flavors.

Feta Salad with grilled chicken

Even though we were stuffed from our meals (we even took 1/2 the salad home) one item on the desert menu was too tempting to pass up.  Super decedent and loaded with more calories than I can even imagine, the Fried Snickers dessert ($6.99) is a Southern treat. Wrapped in a light crust and deep fried, a snickers candy bar never tasted so good.

Fried Snickers

Tavern in the Square is not your typical Salem eatery, it’s a little too polished and forced.  Hopefully its personality will emerge over time.  With pub trivia on Wednesday and DJ’s Thursday – Saturday, I’m sure the twenty-something crowd that goes to places like Sylvan Street Grille in Danvers will flock to down town Salem and enjoy our newest tavern.

Price: $$
Atmosphere: B
Drinks & wine selection: B
Food: B+
Service: B+
Overall:  B+

I hope that when the good weather gets here and the Taverns doors open up that all the condo owners who buy directly above will understand what they have done and not bitch and moan about it like some other new down town condo owners.

How can a fairly decent sized Italian restaurant be hidden away in down town Salem? By putting their entrance on a desolate side street.

Open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday I occasionally see people in Ristorante Gioia but its always empty when I go in. I felt like I was in a before segment of Chef Ramsays Kitchen Nightmares all alone in a restaurant on a Friday night.

We were greeted and seated in a nice table by the window so we could watch the people walk by as they started their night out. The restaurant was clean and decorated with Tuscan influences (minus the ceiling tiles). Our wait staff was attentive and helpful, answering the questions about our selections. The appetizer menu was interesting offering up some items not found elsewhere in Salem. We opted for the Mozzarella Davinci ($8), a brick of baked mozzarella stuffed with prosciutto seasoned and topped with red sauce.

Ristorante Gioia’s menu abounds with traditional Italian favorites making the choice difficult. I went with the Vitello Saltimbocca ($20) while my companion chose the Ravioli di Aragosta ($20). The veal served with pasta on the side was prepared in a white wine sauce was nice although a bit tough. The lobster in the lobster ravioli seemed a little bland and slightly overpowered by the garlic (perhaps due to eating lobster early in the season) but that didn’t stop it from being totally consumed.

Deserts at Ristorante Gioia are purchased daily from Modern Pastry, a legendary desert shop in Boston’s Italian North End neighborhood. Most prices are around $5 and you can’t go wrong with any selection. I chose the cannoli as it’s one of my personal favorites.

Of note this Italian restaurant has a nice selection of wines and beer but look elsewhere if you want a cocktail. As we have seen with many other restaurants in Salem this is a beer and wine only establishment.

Atmosphere: C
Drinks: n/a beer & wine only
Food: B
Service: B+
Overall: B-

With 16 years of history in down town Salem I figured Cafe Graziani had to be doing something right. Boy was I wrong.

Here at theSalemInsider.com we are always looking for a good breakfast. Nobody I talked with ever mentioned Cafe Graziani so I figured it’s time to give it a try. The first thing I noticed when we walked in were a bunch of uncleared tables. I usually take this as a good sign as a sign of a busy restaurant. Unfortunately in this case it was a sign of being understaffed.

The waitress was quite friendly and attempted to make a personal connection with all the patrons and the menu prices were very reasonable. That is where things started to fall flat.

Our coffee was luke warm at best, and tasted horrible. I got the ham and cheese omelet which was paper thin and made with what appeared to be one extra thin slice of ham and one piece of cheese, it too was cold. The side of “homefries” were nothing more than chopped potatoes with a shake of parsley on them, slightly warmed – not cooked through.

There are plenty of great breakfast locations in Salem, this is not one of them.

Atmosphere: D
Service: B
Food: D
Overall: D

resh Taste of Asia is one of the newest sushi and Asian cuisine restaurants in downtown Salem. Within the first days of it being open we decided to give it a try. The wait was long, the wait staff frazzled and inexperienced and the entire place just seemed completely unprepared. After a 15 minute wait we were finally seated and had to order off of take-out menus because their regular menus weren’t ready yet.

Our drinks came (we both ordered Mai Tai”s) and were completely undrinkable. The steamed Beijing Ravioli appetizer was tasty but the dinner of Lemon Chicken was disappointing (and for the price didn’t even come with rice-hey that rhymed). We left unhappy and decided to wait a few months for them to work the kinks out.

Overall Rating: F

A few months later we gave it another shot.