Parla

Just great — delicious creative cocktails from Matt on his first shift with top motch hospitality all around — I WILL be back

Great place. Smaller than what you’d expect. But the food and service is worth it. Came about ½ hour early from our reservations and the staff was great accommodating us. Had a wonderful dinner. Will definitely be back.

Amazing food! The vegetable gnocchi was out of this world! A definite must if you’re in the North End. Great service too!

This review is for cocktails only. I absolutely recommend this place for cocktails. The place is small, and the bar only seats about 5, but 9 of us came in and enjoyed 9 different cocktails from the menu. The bartender was on her first day, and the managing bartender helped her make everything perfectly. Every single drink was rockin’. They had an impressive selection of liquors, and house-​made infusions like the crowd-​winning habanero jack honey whiskey. Try the French Connection, Blackberry Aviation, French 75, Bee-​Sting Julep, and French Connection.

I’m a sucker for fusion and creative cocktails and I was ready to like Parla. Our drinks were great but entrees mediocre – we ordered the pork belly ramen (too salty) and ahi tuna on noodles (tuna was good, noodles bland).
Service was slow, even on a Tuesday night, but that’s typical for the North End. I lived in the NE for 4 years – if you want a quick dining experience, call ahead for takeout or head to Ernesto’s.
This probably isn’t the best option if you have food restrictions. I went with a pescatarian who has a dairy allergy and gluten sensitivity. Granted our waiter was 4 days into the job but he was absolutely clueless. Luckily the chef helped us out, but he basically told us he wouldn’t have bothered if it weren’t such a slow night. Attitude aside, the menu is pretty limited.
I’d come back for drinks, and maybe throw in an app.

I really wanted to like this place more.
First off — based on the reviews, I was pleasantly surprised how wonderful the service was. They couldn’t have been more accommodating. Although, they looked completely surprised when I showed up for my 8:30 reservation. They apologized they didn’t have a table ready and gave us a round of free wine.
The atmosphere is beautiful. Unfortunately the food is mediocre at best, which was really disappointing considering how many wonderful restaurants the North End has. I would probably eat somewhere else and just come here for a cocktail next time.

Parla is a super cozy spot in the North End and perfect for celebrating a birthday with a loved one. The décor is very cool and exuded lots of warmth from the lighting and wood accents on the walls.
We ordered the pork belly, arancini, and the lamb fettuccine to share. It was all so tasty! The lamb fettuccine is a must; the lamb was so tender. I’ve never had anything like it and would def order it again. The two small plates and one entrée was the perfect amount of food for two!
Reservations are definitely a must!

I’m all for fusion/​modern Italian food, and I was initially excited to try out this spot. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed.
I ordered the ramen. Yes, the ramen. Why? Because if you’re going to stretch your menu, this is as far as it goes, and I better try it. Plenty of authentic Italian restaurants on this street, so clearly this is not where you go for that.
The noodles were not even and had some dry spots. The broth was far too salty for any average diner. I also tried the seafood pasta dish. While it’s not terrible, it’s not amazing either.
The décor of the restaurant is nice, the location is spot on, so I’ll give them that. Otherwise, the food is mediocre.

Finally a north end Italian restaurant who can cook the pasta al dente !!!
Dishes and a wide variety of tastes, a place to recommend.

I came here with a group of friends. Everything was very good, food-​wise, but the service was fairly dismal. The waitstaff basically ignored us most of the time and we had to flag them down whenever we wanted anything. I thought our server was just overworked until my friend pointed out the three women standing around behind the bar, so not sure what was up with that.
It’s a little different than other places in the North End, definitely. It’s got a more modern, upscale feel, and the space is much smaller than some of the big, older places (though some of the older spots are quite small as well). It’s right across the street from Modern Pastry, so we popped in there for dessert rather than waiting another hour.
Overall: the food was good enough that I would consider coming again if I had hours to spare, but not if I had any other appointments or plans afterward.

This place was mediocre, avoid it. The cocktails are $ 12 on average, which is mid level prices for a cocktail bar, but the quality is all over the place.
Maybe the bartender I had was new and untrained, she put a negroni, and later a martinez, into a shaker when it should be stirred, to limit dilution, and didn’t use any citrus peel nor maraschino cherry. She didn’t use sweet red vermouth, instead used dry white vermouth with simple syrup, didn’t have any orange bitters, and later called me a difficult customer for requesting custom cocktails. It’s a craft cocktail bar, ordering custom cocktails and paying a lot of them is the point. On the upside, they used Bar Hill gin (amazing quality and local from Vermont), and had 2 bottles of Genever.
The food was good, entrees are about $ 25, but had smaller portions, so expect to order an appetizer too. Great location right near the entrance of the North End. Overall, until they train their bartenders more and improve the quality, pass on it and check out a place like Drink, Wink & Nod, or Saloon.

Dropped in on a whim — looked inviting. We sat at the bar. The cocktails were unique and quite good. Ordered the mussels and lobster ravioli special. The ravioli were very, very good (my wife knows Italian food and declared them excellent). The mussels were darn fine too. It’s a slightly non traditional approach to the food so if you’re looking for über traditional it’s not quite that but excellent if you are looking for Italian with an interesting twist. I would come back without hesitation.
The only caveat was the servers were initially pretty quiet. But in their defense I now live on the west coast and service out there is typically very gregarious and it could quite well be my expectation was out of sync with the east coast.
The owner stopped by the bar and chatted with us for a bit an even bought us a round — nice guy and very interested in taking care of his customers. I’d send friends here.

I made a reservation for a Friday night after not being able to get one for awhile-​I was super excited about this place.
When we arrived for our reservation on Friday night, only a third of the tables were full. We ordered some small plates to share and cocktails, with the intention of ordering main dishes. Our meatballs were incredibly bland and dry, the salad was pretty much just a plain bowl of arugula, and the fried polenta was rubbery and sad. My cocktail tasted like overly flavored, syrupy prosecco. My boyfriend’s whiskey drink was much better. We barely saw a waitress considering how empty the place was — I finished my drink long before eating but was never asked if I would like another. Finally, realizing that ordering entrees would be a waste of time and money, we paid and left.
Oh well!!!

Parla is a great addition to the North End. It’s definitely skewed towards «millenials» with its techno playlist (almost too minimal at times) and modern speakeasy vibe. The food was pretty good, the service was very good/​attentive and the drinks were good as well.
Food — 3.5 stars: Overall the menu here is creative and fairly affordable. The only entrée I’ve had was the seafood brodetto which is a type of seafood stew with light broth. It didn’t set my world on fire, but it did have a good amount of seafood for the price. The rest of the menu looks really interesting and tasty so I will have to come back to try more. For the small plates, I had the Wild boar meatballs, mussels and Shrimp with polenta. The meatballs were tasty, filling and a good value. The mussels came with a spicy broth (not enough broth for my taste) with red chili peppers and panchetta
Drinks — 4 stars: They have several good craft beer options which is hard to find in the N. End. The cocktails are interesting and creative, partly due out of necessity since they only have a cordials license have to have some type of sugar in each cocktail (except for rum because of it’s sugar content).
Service — 4 star: Paolo, the manager, seems to be holding this place together. He waited on us or was involved in waiting on us on both occasions. Despite that fact that it looked like several people were being trained, I had no major qualms with the service or timing of the food.
Request: Can you please post an updated menu online, possibly on your website instead of Facebook, or at least have a more up to date menu on Facebook.

After walking by this interesting looking place a few times over the summer, I ate here for the first time last night. Great cocktails, great food, friendly and helpful staff — a great evening away from the miserable weather outside!
We had the 5-​course tasting, which was a nice mix of flavors and textures. The cioppino was insanely flavorful and the veal cheek fettuccine was melty heaven.
Definitely coming back to try some dishes off the regular menu and, of course, to sample more cocktails.

Service is Outstanding at the Parla! The ambiance is awesome and the drinks are excellent.
The food presentation is very cool and i would give it five stars but the food quality is only slightly above average.

Not impressed at all by this place starting from the minute we sat down. The waitress greeted us and listed off 5 things that were 86. I tuned out immediately and was already thinking to myself how can a restaurant run out of so many things, it happens but shouldn’t. I came with 3 other friends and we decided to order a bunch of apps to share.
Mussels — Would have been good but they were cold. The broth was a white wine with seasonings, again would’ve been great to dunk my bread in but it was cold and didn’t taste good.
Burrata Fritta — fried burrata which should be warm since its fried was cold and the sauce that it came with tasted like canned prego sauce.
Veal meatballs — they were one of the better things we ordered and the sauce was pretty tasty
Polenta fries — they were also good but cold, I don’t understand why everything was cold and tasted as though they were nuked in the microwave for 10 secs. The tomato sauce that they came with was good and didn’t taste like prego.
2 of us ordered the Old fashioned and those were good but pricey!
I really wanted to like this place because of the cute ambience but I wasn’t impressed at all. Make sure the food is hot and you don’t run out of items. I definitely understand it happens but 5 or 6 things that were not available is kind of bad.

Parla, knocking it out of the park again!
Before I go into detail, important update: Parla DOES take reservations now. Be sure to call ahead.
I loved this place when I went a few months ago. After our return visit, I love it even more!
I was pleasantly surprised to see how much the menu had changed. They still offered the oxtail aracini, a favorite, but nearly every other dish was new. Based on our last positive experience with Parla’s pasta, we got the lamb fettuccini and the lobster ravioli. Both were to die for. If you like black truffle, get the ravioli– I think that may have been the flavor that made the sauce so tasty. But, I suspect you can’t go wrong with any of the choices.
And! Cocktails! An awesome selection and everything tasted great. I had (two of) the Daisy Pusher. SO GOOD. If you’re a gin drinker, you’ve got to try it. It was the best new cocktail I’ve had in awhile. My friend’s twist on a Moscow mule was also great.
The servers are also all really sweet, which makes the experience that much better. I can’t wait to go back!

Hanover’s parlay in to Prohibition chic purveys polarizing tastes, one small plate at a time.
KG was gung-​ho about this spot since its opening, and booked a table via email two weeks in advance. When we arrived, there was no evidence of the reservation — a sure-​fire disaster on a summer Saturday night. We started to dig out the paper trail, but were told we’d be have a table set. Score one for the staff!
The interior is a Pinterest board to Boardwalk Empire: bubble light signage, barrel ends, industrial seating, backlit bottles. The extensive cocktail list had me salivating, and the comestibles — both small plates and entrees — featured new and novel twists. We adored the oxtail arancini ($ 7), and while my tentacle-​averse better half didn’t bite, I gleefully demolished the baby octopus salad ($ 13), a beautifully plated long set of merely halved, and mighty meaty cephalopods dressed in a miso marinade, with a citrusy yuzu gremolata, pickled radishes and a squid inky olive oil. The «oh god this is good» train kept chugging during my entrée: a lamb leg fettuccine ($ 22) with toothy, handmade noodles, loads of well-​seasoned protein and so much spring pea-​ness, I thought it was boosting Viagra. See kids, that’s called wordplay.
Unfortunately, there were quite a number of missteps. The BarnBurner Old Fashioned ($ 12), a maple bacon infused bourbon sweetened by bacon fat simple and dashed with smoke bitters, was missing its promised candied bacon garnish (we were later told, «it’s only served during brunch»), and had the taste and mouthfeel of oily maple syrup. The Manhattan Immigrant ($ 12) takes a wonderfully bottled High West pre-​mixed Manhattan, and kicks it with hazelnut liqueur and mole bitters. It was more balanced, but watery and short poured even still. I did, however, enjoy the Bee Sting Julep ($ 10), copper mugged like a boss and based with a habanero honey whiskey. Be forewarned: there’s serious heat if you order as is, and according to the Full Spice description on the receipt, you can request ‘em to go easy on you. Baby.
Despite having only five or six tables, we went incredibly long stretches without seeing our server (who doubled as a bartender). Dropping in after drinks or dishes are set is 101, and we didn’t get a quality check til halfway through our entrees. Fine for me, but her somewhat bland, medium-​rare hanger steak ($ 24) was plated deep purple and she didn’t want to seek out the server a second time (first was when I asked to replace the BarnBurner) to get another minute on the fire, or a pinch of salt. The very wet burrata fritta and the rye/​blackberry Sacco and Vanzetti were similarly middle of the road.
Would I return? More than would, I will go back with fingers crossed this was a weird and untimely experience. Til then, the striking contrast in execution seats Parla at a promising three stars.

I had dinner at Parla last week with my brothers. This is a newish speakeasy with a nice ambiance and different/​interesting menu. The cocktail list is also extensive and has something for everyone.
We started off with the wild boar meatballs and arancini. I enjoyed both, but feel that I’ve had much better boar meatballs at Tip Tap Room and arancini at Umberto’s.
For dinner I had the ramen noodle carbonara. I liked it, but it comes in soup form and for some reason I did not expect this. My brothers had the prosciutto wrapped chicken breast and pan seared scallops. I loved the scallops, and the chicken breast was great as well. All in all,
the food was prepared very well and we enjoyed our experience. It’s nice to have a non-​Italian option in the North End.