News

I went to News in October for dinner with some girl friends because Wednesday nights there are Ladies’ Night — women get a 3-​course meal for free!
We had been to News for a Ladies’ Night once before and I remembered it being dark and not feeling great after. But it was about a year prior, so I figured I’d give it another shot.
No sickness after (yay!) and the food was actually quite good. The menu does leave a bit to be desired though:
There is no choice of appetizer — it was a Caesar salad (no anchovies) but they did at least let me get the dressing on the side.
The choices for main course were Chicken Parm with Linguine in a red sauce; Salmon (I think with mashed potatoes? I don’t eat salmon, so I didn’t even look); and Penne in a red sauce (I assume for vegetarians). I opted for the Chicken Parm, as then I got the pasta anyway! It was a decent size portion — not huge, but I devoured the entire thing and was full.
Dessert was a tasty piece of cheesecake.
I also had a Raspberry Mojito (I like regular, plain mojitos, but they didn’t offer them and Raspberry sounded tasty). It was a big drink — served in a full-​size water glass — and came with rock candy on a stick and raspberries floating at the bottom (unfortunately, I didn’t get to them quick enough and was unable to eat them as they had gotten squished). When the drink came, my first thought was (that is one clear, weak drink). Boy, was I mistaken! This drink was fairly strong and may have been a large contributor to me cleaning off every plate of all 3 courses.
The restaurant was still quite dark and LOUD. My throat hurt when we left from talking so loud! As I said when we were there, «It’s Ladies’ Night — there should be no music because we ladies chat chat chat!» Plus, they were playing weird music — Korn and Rage Against the Machine and other stuff that didn’t seem quite appropriate.
Two warnings: reservations mean nothing here, at least on Wednesdays. We had a 7:00 reservation and ½ my party checked in at 6:30. They gave them a number and said to sit at the bar. I got there just around 7 and was the last one. My friend talked to the hostess who said they would call us when a table was ready (more than 50% of the tables were empty) and to have a seat at the bar. I checked in 15 minutes later and she said the same thing — pushing the bar AGAIN but emphasizing that «on Wednesdays, because of the free meal, we sort of do first come» — all while TEXTING on her cell phone.
I was hostess, that is not appropriate to do at all, let alone while speaking to paying customer.
So I said «look, we had a 7:00 reservation and ½ of us have been here since 6:30, at the bar.» She looked at the «waiting list» and said «but no one wrote down that they were here at 6:30?» My response «apparently not.» 2 minutes later we had a table — one of the many empty ones.
The other warning is that the service (as evident by my hostess experience above) is not great. We asked for waters, never got them. And the waitress sort of ignored us a bit. I’ve had much worse service, and I understand that it’s a free meal, but we all got drinks — some people got several — and still tipped on the food (it’s automatically put on the bill).
So, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend News on a regular basis, but if you’re in the mood for a fun, free meal with your girl friends, take advantage!

Late night menu = very small, but when you’re drunk it’s highly satisfying. Spin & Art dip with pita chips sure did hit the spot!

Pricey… That is all. Club atmosphere… lol
wait, on the real there’s more; if you don’t work in the industry, expect to wait for a very long time. it’s not 1^st come 1^st serve. swank & great service is given to the highest bidder

came here with a few coworkers for a «coworker just quit her job» party. i ordered a dark and stormy. no dark and stormy available. why does everybody shun the dark and stormy?
anyway, i went on to order a beer, and it was… a beer. other coworkers ordered froofy pink drinks, and a couple ordered the «banana split» … they seemed especially psyched about the sweet concoction that arrived, so it must have been ok, if you’re into froofy drinks.
service was rotten, but i have to give the place 3 stars, because it is slightly different than your run of the mill irish bar or plasma tv bar that i normally go to for these types of parties. also, i’ve heard it is open very late, and when i’m jonesing for a pink drink at three am, it’s nice to know i can stumble over to the leather district for sweet sweet satisfaction. note: this sensation has never come over me, just nice to know that «News» is here if it does.

LADIES NIGHT ??? WHATTT??? no wonder they have a ladies night, its the only way you can get people into that place. The place was still kind of slow. The interior is very nice and the service is shotty. The food is «ok» and the spinach dip is actually good. The prices are cheap. The location is kinda weird, but the waitstaff did mention they are open 24 hours, which is good if you were really under the influence, I guess? They also have valet and breakfast. Again, this is one of those weird expierences.
A

I went for ladies night and for a 3-​course meal that was free, it wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t the best thing ever. I ordered the salmon, which was a little dry, but the mashed potatoes were good.
The wait was really long especially since there were empty tables all over the place! Drinks were very pricey…$ 10 for a Pina Colada… yeah, it was good, but not that good! The music was alright, but it was more club type stuff so it really wasn’t very quiet and I felt like I was shouting the whole time, so if you’re looking for a place to sit down and chat, this isn’t the place.

Ok Ladies Night ummm yeah. The company was awesome. I’m not to keen on paying $ 10 for a piña colada, or waiting over half an hour for a table. The whole go to the bar and drink up thing just doesn’t really work for me.
The vibe was weird, Get Low, and candle light. I felt like there should be a dance floor somewhere, and wasn’t really able to relax as there were screaming ladies sitting behind us. Not a big deal as it is a bar and lounge, but the ambience didn’t call for that kind of behavior even if the music did.
Service? Adequate, barely. Our waitress who got the tip did barely any work and the guys just ran her food. I don’t feel like she earned what she got personally and you know she’s not going to be tipping out a whole lot. Our plates were just set down in front of us and we had just barely taken a nibble when she was like «how is everything?» Any good server knows you wait a few (like 3 – 4) before coming over and asking how things are. I had the steak tips, the fries were ok, the meat was cooked well but seemed to lose flavor after the inital couple of bites. And a chocolate chip cookie for dessert. .. LAME!
Nothing about this place makes me want to come back, though I might try it on a different night. But the meals were free, and $ 15 wasn’t bad for 3 gals.

I give this 4 stars under very strict parameters, namely: between 5 and 7 on a weeknight. Without a car.
Seriously — talk about pretension! This place is in the leather district, in a rundown building on the border with Chinatown, and does VALET? And the menu? Pretentious. I wouldn’t want to hang out with anyone who comes here regularly, but…
…The seats are cozy, the food is good, the free chips rock, they make good drinks, it’s not too loud (during said hours), and it’s near South Station. 4 stars, baby.

If walking from the New England Medical Center T stop, beware… 7pm on a Wednesday in broad daylight will not stop two car honks/​hollas followed by a homeless man holla from occurring. This started off my first experience of The News.
I went here to celebrate my friend’s birthday on Wednesday’s ladies night. We got the private room in the back for the first two rounds before we ate dinner. The couches were shitty and the pillows looked like someone had just beaten them, but the privacy and open doors to the outside made up for it. The waitress had a balancing malfunction while delivering drinks to my friend and I, and in what seemed like slow motion one drink fell off the tray and the other quickly followed, crashing to the floor. Broken glass and sticky floors was all that remained… yet no free drinks! Shucks.
There’s not much else to say about it, food was free minus gratuity/​tax… I got a Mango Martini followed by the Banana Split Martini. Both tasted delicious, but the Mango was mad weak. The salad was tiny but good, the steak tips w/​fries was pretty excellent, and the cookie I skipped cause we had birthday cake instead.
Overall, *shurg* it was alright. I’d go again if bored on a Wednesday.

I’m not sure why News has gotten such negative reviews for the Ladies Night Wednesdays. When I saw them I’d already agreed to go and wondered what I was getting myself into.
The day came and 16 of us went for dinner and drinks. We were kept waiting in the bar until our party arrived, probably 30 minutes. I ordered a raspberry mojito but got mango. It tasted good and had rock candy in it so I went along. Unfortunately, there appears to have been very little or no liquor in it. My friend raved about her rainbow martini which really did have a layered rainbow color scheme *nice touch*.
Once we were seated I elected to split a bottle of wine with one of my friends. They brought us the glasses… but not the wine. While we’re waiting for the wine bottle (how hard is that to bring?) the server began bringing everyone else’s martinis. And then… he dumps an entire tray of them on ME. Me, wearing my fav designer jeans, Centro in pocket and Bally handbag hooked over the chair. Broken glass EVERYWHERE — total pandomonium as the place explodes into recovery mode. The manager did come to see if I was «okay» and the server apologized. Since my phone somehow managed to stay dry and my shirt was black, I brushed it off — determined to enjoy the night.
The 3 course dinner consisted of a ceasar salad, your choice of steak tips (everyone liked and said they were cooked right), stuffed sole, which I had — nothing special but fine, and macaroni and cheese. I don’t think anyone got that. Dessert was a warm macadamia nut cookie with whip cream: quite yummy.
Now, here’s how the catch works: when you finally manage to get your bill — which they will not split and take FOREVER to bring — they have tallied the bill as though you have paid full price for all the food, basing the tax and gratuity off of that, then remove the food charges. Not a bad deal, still.
The manager did give me his card to send him my dry cleaning bill but I had to insist that I not pay for the bottle of wine. He said he had already told the waiter to take it off and bring me chocolate cake — neither of which happened. Oh well, got the wine comped although no cake :(and headed off to Whiskey’s.
Overall, we had a good time. I would give a better review if not for the fiasco, the weak drink and having to approach the manager regarding my wine.

Yeah… this place wasn’t very good. We went for «Ladies Night» a few weeks ago and sat at the bar drinking mojito’s for a half hour until a table opened up.
The food was free so I really shouldn’t complain, but I’ll just say it was like eating in a cafeteria. It was edible. A sad caprice salad, an interesting chicken fettuccine dish and a cake dessert that was still a bit frozen in the middle. When the bill came I only owed $ 9 for the three course meal so again, I shouldn’t complain.
Afterward, we were all going to go to District but the mojito’s we drank were so sweet that I knew that if I went dancing I’d end up losing my free dinner all over the dance floor. So, I cabbed it home. We did see Paul Pierce on the way out of News. so that’s something, right?

My friends and I wandered into News on a Wednesday night after attending a function in the neighborhood. Having skipped the free congealed pizza at the function, we set off to find a decent restaurant on our way back to South Station. In hindsight, we should have stuck with the free pizza.
When we entered News, we were informed that it was Ladies Night, and with the prospect of free dinner dangled in front of us, our cheap little hearts leapt at the thought of getting something for nothing. It was a bit off putting that we were asked (nicely) to please go drink at the bar while waiting for our table, which we planned on doing anyway. Our girly martinis seemed heavy on the sweet and low on the alcohol, so we spent most of our 90 minute wait trying to see what the other girls (there wasn’t a man to be found in the place) were eating and which table would finish first. By the time we sat down to our small portions of caesar salad, chicken parm, and a practically see through slice of cheesecake, we had been there for over 2 hours. As other reviewers mentioned, the food was pretty lackluster (cafeteria type stuff), and not particularly warm.
The feeling I got from News was that they are trying to be an upscale, trendy lounge, but with the cheesy Ladies Night promotion, it just doesn’t work. That Wednesday was one of the strangest I had spent in awhile, and anytime that I leave a bar/​restaurant still hungry and sober, it is going to earn two stars from me.

It was great… for food past midnight.
So the story goes me and the lady went out hunting for food past 10 pm and were struggling to find a place to eat. By the time we walked all the way through Harvard Square and hit Match on Mass ave only to find them stop serving at like 11, I knew that News was the only option that wasn’t Chinese food.
So we went to News and it was pretty slow so we sat right down. Its really nice inside, with leather couches and candles on all the tables. The service was good but the server was a little impersonal, but he was fast and efficient. We got the chicken fingers for an appetizer and they were great, they actually tasted like real chicken as opposed to «containing rib meat» chicken fingers.
The main problem with News is there lack of variety on the menu. You got two options either sandwiches or breakfast. That’s it. I mean I had an awesome Delmonico steak sandwich, but for 18 bucks I want a little more then steak and bread.
Overall you really cant ask for much more from a late night spot. They really just lose points on selection and impersonal service.

News is somewhat out of place in Chinatown (Ok, technically it’s the Leather District, but you still feel like its Chinatown) and some things seem to be out of place in the management here as well. I think their imagined identity, clientele, and the type of people News attracts aren’t in sync.
They have a cool leather-​couch lounge/​dinner/​bar type feel, but the atmosphere here was knocked down heavily by the odd selection of music they insisted on playing: Metallica, Pink Floyd, etc. ?? Seriously, some sort of non-​distracting lounge/​chillout music with a beat or a groove would have been much more cohesive to the overall look/​feel.
edit: No loss that this place closed.

Ok, first I have to start by saying — I had no idea that Kneeland went one block into the Leather District. There. I got that piece of embarrassment and shame outta the way.
So — I’ve heard about News for awhile as the place to go after everywhere else closes… but I happened to land there last night on, what the person I was with and I soon learned, was «lady’s night.» …and, it certainly was. I almost passed out from estrogen overdose — and all the women were definitely dressed to kill… but, uh, there was no one there to kill but other women… and me. (So, «yay me!» that night.)
I remember when «lady’s night» meant that women were offered free drinks as an enticement into the bar so men would follow the call of nature and come into the bar to spend 3x as much money as they would have normally, in a sad attempt to pick up the women. Alas, those days seem to be gone — «Lady’s Night» now seems to be a night for a girl to go out with her girlfriends for a night of wild gesticulations and rumor-​mongering. (Free 3 course meal for the ladies with no minimum for drinks? Um, News? You need to talk to your marketing guys.)
Anyway, I digress. The atmosphere was good for casual conversation, the wine list was very limited, but had good offerings, the drinks were excellent (passed my «dirty martini test» with flying colors), but the menu was pretty sad, actually. Just lame-​ass things like the News variant of spring rolls and coconut shrimp. Still — I can see that being mighty tasty at 1am when everything else is shut down…
So, in a nutshell: go there for drinks and hanging out? Definitely. Go there for dinner? Nah, not so much. And… guys…Wednesday nights. Seriously.

For awhile I’ve been hearing about their Wednesday three course dinner special for the ladies and wondered how and why. After going last night I realized why. With all the attitude problems of the staff here, they’re probably having problems with people returning.
Now I’m not going to say everyone had attitude problems. It was just the women. Somehow the group I was with was yelled at by the «hostess» (I use that term loosely) because of a mistake the waiter made. The men staff there didn’t have an attitude but I’m pretty sure it’s because they weren’t intelligent enough to cop an attitude. And honestly, the food wasn’t so great to warrant a staff with attitude. It wasn’t horrible, but not great either.
I’ve been here once before and received the same attitude problem. Honestly, this is a dinky little place outside South Station. I hate when dumps try to act all NY or LA.
Not to totally discredit this place, since there is one good aspect (both times I went). The bartender was pretty cool and funny. If you go at any time, make sure to sit by the bar so you can deal with him directly. He’s the only saving grace for this place and for that I give it a second star. Once he’s gone, the star disappears.

It’s tough to say bad things about a free dinner, but most of what’s already been said still applies. Small portions, eh food (tho the ceasar salad was pretty good), random annoying fees, expensive drinks. The beer selection was dismal (probably to steer you in the direction of the apple spice martinis) but I’m not morally opposed to drinking Stella all night. Great service, though. And you can’t really go wrong with leather couches.
I’d be interested to try it for late night, but the if I’m in that area after-​hours, Apollo is usually calling my name…

Great hang out place but I lost my voice the following day from having a conversation with some friends in the very crowded and very loud lounge. The specialty mixed drinks were a bit strong but that’s what makes drinks good right?
I gotta try the ladies night on Wednesday! Free dinner wohoo!
On a side note, I will miss my fellow Unilocaler Lucky Karmz L! Keep up the Unilocaling in DC!

Ladies can go here every Wednesday night to get a free three-​course meal with no minimum drink spend. Seriously. My friends and I thought there had to be a catch. No catch.
But, they do set it up nicely to make a few bucks off of you anyway.
When you arrive to an EMPTY restaurant, like we did at 5:30 last night, you’re immediately seated at the bar for ½ hour. The restaurant has a low-​lit, loungey feel, which was nice right after work. So you settle in, the bartender offers to make you a myriad of martinis and before you know it you’ve ordered two of them. THEN they seat you.
Side note: The homemade spicy BBQ chips at the bar were one of the highlights of our night. So good I would have paid for them.
Then you’re seated and brought the first course, which was hummus and pita bread last night. The entrée options were tomato soup, pesto pasta and salmon risotto — all very small portions, but enough to cut the hunger. The chocolate bread pudding dessert was impressive. Bigger than any of the other courses. They did a good job presenting foods that are easy to make in large batches and dole out in small quantities — not that I mind. It was still free!
The only thing I didn’t like was that our waitress was rushing us from the moment we sat down. She didn’t back off until we name dropped — another waitress happens to be my friend’s wax girl. (Not at the same time of course.) I’m just not a fan of being made to hurry up, eat and get out the second I sit down, whether the meal is free or not.
All in all, we paid for gratuity, a couple of drinks and $ 5 valet parking. I don’t think any of us spent more than about $ 25 for the whole night. Not bad for a full meal, some drinks and parking downtown.

Good deal for girls on every Wed Ladies Nite: Complimentary 3-​course dinner (salad, entrée (usually has 3 choices) and dessert) with a purchase of a drink or two!
Also, they open until 5am in the morning, so is a cool place to grab a bite after clubbing around town. They don’t serve alcohol after 2am.
Friendly servers! Cool loungey environment.
Recommendations:
Apps: Spinach Dip
Pizza: White Pizza, Meat Lovers
Breakfast: Steak & Eggs
Martini: Mango or Rainbow
Various Smooties