Bouchee

Whoops… forgot to post this when we dined. Sad to see they have since closed.
Stopped in for lunch. Was immediately seated and had prompt service. Wife had a two cheese sandwich with Brie and I had a most excellent crab cake BLT. Fries were good but their style leaves too many crumbs. Overall a very good experience.

So I wanted to write a review for this some time ago but forgot. I just looked Bouchee up because my sister will be in town and I wanted to take her here. Guess not…
Anyway, I met here with a friend for dinner and it was pretty empty on a weeknight. We sat upstairs and the whole inside was cute. I remember getting the cassoulet and it was excellent. Quite hearty, thick, and it warmed me on that chilly night. Our server was a bit like the weather but efficient enough.
Overall, I had a great time and kept meaning to go back. I only wish I had now!

I’m so sad to see that Back Bay Restaurant Group has closed Bouchee to open a new Papa Razzi. Bouchee was often my go to restaurant when I had business dinners because of their varied menu and consistent service and quality. I have eaten at Papa Razzi a few times and have never been impressed. Over priced, typical chain Italian food that has little personality.
Guess I will have to start making the duck confit salad at home!
I guess Sel De La Terre will have to be my new Monday evening hang out.

au revoir Bouchee. Despite the negative reviews I have found the food always good, the service excellent and the prices very Bostonian (translate: Expensive) Just think instead of Bouchee there will be a Pappa Razzi. Blahhh…

Bouchee gets 2 stars solely because of the waitress who treated us like dirt. Two coworkers and myself arrived here late one evening while walking Newbury Street. We were immediately seated outside as we requested. It all went down from there.
First, reading menus at night in some spots on this patio is almost impossible due to the dimly lit area and the fake candles on the table do not give off any light. It would be nice to provide small flashlights for those having trouble.
Our waitress came over with menus and went on her way. She came back and took drink orders. I wanted wine but could barley see the wine list in the dark and was not offered any assistance by the waitress-​seems she didn’t know the wine menu or any other menu. Two of us ordered tea and the 3^rd companion ordered coke, served in a bottle.
Later she comes back and asks if we have any questions regarding the menu, we say no. She says I will be right back in one minute which becomes 5. I tell her what I want and she isn’t quite sure from her expression. Coke drinker asks her if the bottle cokes are unlimited or if each one is a cost, she says «well of course it is.» Things further went downhill. We had to ask for water. I was never asked if I wanted a refill on the tea. We actually never saw her again after the food came. She never, ever once checked on us. Another waitress looked in on us some, thankfully. Finally, the other waitress asks us how was the evening — and we let her know only to be informed the waitress was new. One would think she would have been working extra hard and nice — not.
Otherwise the food was excellent: Chicken Frites, Bleu Cheeseburger, Buttered Egg Noodles, soup were all very delicious.
The manager did come out and apologize for the service, which was very nice of her to do. They should give up on the bottled cokes (even though it’s a cute touch) and go with fountain service though.

The Gem restaurant of Newbury Street!
I am a big fan of the Parisian bistro ambiance. Wonderful service as well.
French onion soup gets a 5 star from me! I am also a big fan of the beet salad! This is my one ‘must stop’ when I hit up Newbury Street! It is a bit pricey, but, then again, location location location.
Magnifique!

I was shocked at the quality of our meal here — frankly, I don’t give Newbury St much credit for anything but overpriced, mediocre food. and granted, we were starving when we walked in this joint — but my steak frites was damn good, steak tartare, pretty tasty — and my follow diners were equally impressed with their selections.
the price? fairly typical for such a snobby/​touristy area. but the setting is pretty cool — none of that ‘tables all on top of each other’ — the one dig: the acoustics were such that anyone with the slightest of headaches might not survive long in here.

I broke my no Newbury Street restaurants rule (I don’t like overpriced snobbery) for La Voile, was pleasantly surprised and decided to give it another shot with Bouchee. Can we say, worth it?
I took my friend here for her birthday and we loved it from the moment we stepped in. It’s way larger than it appears from the outside, pleasantly crowded without being too loud, spacious yet cozy, and so very French. Gaslight is the only other place where I have seen brasserie décor that matches what I saw in France. Bouchee gets it right from colors to furniture.
The food, while not anything terribly exotic, is standard brasserie fare done well. I had the mussels, which came in some of the best tomato garlic wine broth I’ve ever had, as well as a huge helping of slender French fries. My friend got the basil flatbread pizza and loved it. The pizza was so big, she had to take it home. Service was also fantastic. For a busy crowd, our waitress never lost track of us and never lost that friendly smile. In fact, we even complimented her on how great she was.
Lunch is the real killer deal. Delicious and affordable. And best of all, if you’re like us, you can burn off all that rich, French-​y fatness with some power-​shopping.
Then come back for dinner.

A friend raved about this place, so after we were happy enough after a few cocktails we all rolled up to this joint in Newbury and nabbed a booth on the 2^nd floor.
Let’s jump to the food. We ordered 2 appetizers, 2 entrees and a dessert.
— Escargot: ($ 10) tasty and garlicy, but… 6 escargot, 4 crustini… math, anyone?
— Foie Gras and Chicken Liver Mousse ($ 12): Really really good, however, same problem as the Escargot… tasty, but… 2 considerably large chunks of foie gras pâté, and 4 crustini… delicious, but we really needed more crustini.
— Flatbread (range $ 11 – 13): Tasty, large, and relatively inexpensive. I tried it (our friends were the ones sharing it), and the Gruyère, ham and caramelized onion variety was very, very good.
— Bouchee Burger ($ 26): Sounded tasty on the menu, but they brought the wrong burger. Bleu cheese burger, rather than the bouchee burger. We hate to waste food, so we kept it… the waiter brought us some foie gras and grilled onions to make up for the mistake… but bleu cheese and those ingredients don’t go well together. We tried, but it was just too much.
Dessert:
Lemon Tart ($ 7) was very, very good. This was one of the highlights, for sure.
Waitress took the mistake burger off the bill, which was good. Ultimately, its a good restaurant in a great location.

The food here is wonderful. I have had almost everything on the menu and I have not yet been dissapointed. I strongly recommend the lobster bisque and their mac & cheese appetizer.
They have a wonderful drink selection as well.
The service is just as good as the food.

Fine service, the restaurant has a charming atmosphere, we made reservations for 7:30 and were seated promptly. Our seats were on a balcony that overlooked their patio seating.
Service was prompt and The wine selection was satisfactory.
Again I’ll say that the service was very good here, we ate here during restaurant week and ordered the salmon, and the veal cordon blue. The pairing of salmon with spinach was well done, however the cordon blue was served with overcooked french fries which detracted from the rest of the meal.
I would recommend this place as an excellent date spot, or a nice evening out with friends and loved ones.

I almost didnt go here based on Unilocal reviews… I dont know, it just seemed to fall flat for alot of people, but alas, I was hungry and my feet were tired of window shopping when I stumbled upon this little place.
Maybe it was my lowered expectations, but everything we ordered was delightfully tasty. We enjoyed the escargot, crab cakes, a flat bread pizza and the crème brûlée. My least fave was the dessert, the crème brûlée was a little runny for my taste, but it was ok. The prices werent crazy good nor bad, just middle of the road. Overall, it was a lovely date and the food did not disappoint.

Visited Bouchee on a very, very rainy night — it was a good visit but I just can’t give them 4 stars as I was a little disappointed in my steak.
We started wiht appetizers — cheese racalette and a flatbread pizza both of which were tasty. From there, I got the steak frittes — the steak was «ok» but nothing special. My husband had the cod which was really tasty so perhaps I just made a bad choice in my selection.
The wine list is nice with several good choices by the glass.

I went here one cold, rainy night. I was cold and hungry.
My friend ordered something I can’t quite recall, but I had the fantastic steak frites. They were much better.
I think it was a bit pricey for what you get, in my opinion, that’s why I dropped a star.

Most importantly: Go here sometime and order some form of liquor and a flourless chocolate torte or two or three. They are addictive, and I can’t eat them anymore because I am allergic to them, but everyone who likes chocolate should give them a try, and then I can live vicariously through all of you. The bar, with its friendly and attentive bartenders, is nice and also quieter than most in its realm, and is not a bad place to test out the aforementioned – especially on a cold winter night; during the summer, the outdoor seating area is perfect.
This restaurant is consistently strong. I’ve been coming here for a few years (I live in the neighborhood), ever since it opened, and every single one of my experiences has been marked by good service as well as good food, and my friends and family members never complain. Additionally, I’m allergic to gluten and to dairy, and the staff is always incredibly careful about avoiding any slip-​ups. Each time I announce my allergies to the poor unsuspecting waitperson, a manager appears shortly thereafter to run through the procedures they’ll use in the kitchen to guard against cross-​contamination. This is a very good sign. They’ve yet to poison me!
Back when I was still tormenting myself with gluten/​dairy and making regular visits to the ER, lunchtime favorites included the grilled cheese sandwich and the flatbreads, especially the one involving sausage and grapes and gruyère (or maybe I made that one up – they’re great about letting you pick and choose ingredients to concoct your own – the flatbreads are also great for take-​out). I also enjoy the raw bar with its various oyster options. This was actually somehow the first place I ever tried oysters, and I’ve been eating them ever since. The shrimp cocktail is also nice, and the fries are great – thin with just the right amount of crispiness, served with both ketchup and an aoili sauce.
Nowadays I’m a steak fiend, and for my entrée tend to order the hangar steak, which I totally recommend. I do occasionally branch out, but that generally results in my ordering the steak for dessert.

Bouchee isn’t at the top of my list when it comes to authentic French cuisine. Place to be seen? Cougars looking for a second husband? Yes and yes. However, if you’re looking for atmosphere AND food, I’d choose elsewhere.
I had a pleasant time at Bouchee, but the food and service really isn’t up-​to-​par. Service the entire time was sluggish and downright odd. We had a large reservation, and our table wasn’t ready until about 15 minute after we were suppose to sit, despite me arriving early and making sure the table would be ready. The less than adequate service continued the entire night… only came around once to give us bread, looked at me strangely when I requested more bread with my mussel broth, etc. Was it because we had such a large party? Perhaps. But if you can’t effectively provide good service to a large party, then don’t accept large parties.
My moules frites were just OK. The mussels themselves were large, plump, and perfectly cooked. However, the broth was bland and barely had any vegetables in it. The french fries were good for about five minutes, but the colder they got, the less delicious they tasted… I can attest this is not the case with most fries. b. good’s fries, Garden at the Cellar, Theatro’s, and even McDonald’s fries taste good no matter what!
So, if you want a dining experience on convenient Newbury Street where you can sip a margarita while eating a flatbread pizza or crouque monsieur, wondering aloud whether your waitress is faking her French accent, you’ve come to the right place!

I went here one night with a friend when we realized that Atlantic Fish was closed for renovations (OHNOES). All in all, it was an OK experience that I haven’t felt the urge to repeat. I thought the downstairs area was really nice-​looking and the bar caught my eye for some reason– maybe because I was aching for some beer?
We were seated upstairs, and the waiter was a bit too formal for me, bordering on pretentious, but I get the feeling it’s the same thing at Abe & Louie’s, Atlantic Fish, etc. (Although for some reason I always get the same waiter at Atlantic Fish, and I am so in waiter-​love with that I keep on going back.) I got a burger because nothing on the menu really jumped at me at the moment, and my friend got a salad and the crab cakes. I am a big crab cake whore, and those were pretty awesome. My burger was OK (it tasted way better reheated after a few beers around midnight), but the fries were awesome.
While I thought the place was fine, I didn’t buy into the whole French thing. Like either you do it all the way, or not at all, you know? It seemed that all they had was like coq au vin, and then some potato gratin, and some crème brûlée, and slapped that on the menu with some very normal foods like burgers and caesar salads. Also, they called the green beans by their French name (haricots verts), which, again, I found pretentious and silly, mostly because it was one of the few French words in a sea of English.
I’d probably go back, because this is the sort of place my dad would like, but I’ll stick to Atlantic Fish.

My girlfriend and I had dinner at 530p on a recent Saturday and we also returned later for dessert. The wine menu is large. The foie gras appetizer was stellar. The braised short rib was really good, as was the cod with creamed corn (although the accompanying crepes were oddly crispy, browned, and folded like an egg roll). Nothing was too salty at all (in fact a few things needed a little more salt). If you like drip coffee, I suggest planning on ordering it after dinner – it is delicious (caf and decaf) and we really liked having the steel pot on the table. The profiteroles were good.
The ambiance is bistro-​ish. Slightly bright and no candles on the table. Slightly open and airy. Just slightly too corporate-​feeling and not intimate/​unique (and having the name of the restaurant stamped on the dishes is really lame). But everything is really nice – the furniture, the table ware, the decorations, etc.
The service was above average. Based on other reviews we were going to be OK with a crappy experience, but the hostess and manager were helpful and more professional than most restaurants, the dinner server was new but still did a good job, and when we went back for dessert, we had the same experience. Someone other than the server delivers the dinner plates and our person put them in the wrong place and didn’t seem to care when we moved the first plate ourselves, which was the only thing that was lame about the service.
Overall, I am really glad we went here and I would consider going back to try some of the other things on the menu. The frites on other tables looked really good.

The setting was excellent– tucked below street level where you have a great view of some of back bay’s outstanding buildings, and you can watch the Newbury Street window shoppers pass by.
As for the food, the confit confit duck appetizer and chicken hushwee were both excellent– well prepared with top notch ingredients and flavorful. The gruyère, onion, and ham flatbread, however, was so oily that it was hard to stomach with my eyes, let alone my, well, stomach. I felt I couldn’t eat any more after one piece, and it ruined how good the rest of the meal was.
Despite the great setting, the service simply felt too stuffy (completely agree with ‘all seeing E’). Guess it’s a Newbury Street thing. The servers just weren’t personable and had sort of an air about them.

I am a serious fan of Bouchee on Newbury. I’ve been there a dozens of times and I have yet have any complaints about the food. My all time favorites is there flat bread «pizzas» and their $ 25 Bouchee with fois gras burger. Some may say that $ 25 is a little too much for just a burger but you have to take in mind that there is a huge hunk of fois gras on it! Yummy! Its like buttah! If you go with a group of friends, skip the apps and just order 1 – 2 flat breads. The onion and portbello one is excellent! The escargot in butter and garlic… ehh…just okay. Nothing to rave about. Onion soup was a little too salty for my taste buds but my friends like theirs. Also do try their lamb and salads.
Great date and group place. Service is a hit or miss.
Overall, Bouchee is a great place for a group of friends who enjoy modern French cuisine.