Strega Waterfront

Could not have asked for better service. We celebrated a special anniversary and they made us feel like the guests of honor. A complementary appetizer (the meatball was giant and fluffy and delicious — a must try!) started our meal and a complementary dessert (decadent chocolate cake) and glass of prosecco completed the evening perfectly.
We had the shrimp and pineapple skewers and loved them. Big slabs of juicy fresh pineapple tasted delicious with the salty parma-​wrapped shrimp.
My seafood risotto came packed with seafood of all kinds. More than I could eat, but I couldn’t stop savoring this delicious dish.
Valet parking is so worth it at just $ 10.
The service was outstanding, very friendly and welcoming. I highly recommend Strega Waterfront, and will definitely return myself.

Great Place, all Strega restaurants are great but this one tops them all. The food, the view, the location oh did I mention the food. Mmmmm…
Ordered the best pappardelle pasta I ever had, well not ever, after all I have had it in Italy nevertheless it was amazing. The drinks are perfectly done and served in a timely matter, the staff is polite and always a look away. A+++++

Easily the best Italian restaurant in Seaport if not the entire city. To start my table ordered the sautéed calamari with red peppers (fantastic) as well as the burrata (buffalo mozzarella was impeccable). For dinner I got the pappardelle Emiliana which had filet mignon bolognese meat sauce. It was also unbelievable. All dishes were portioned well for the price. The service was fantastic. Great wine list and atmosphere. I will definitely go back in the very near future. Can’t get enough of that bolognese.

Without a doubt, we had a five-​star experience. My husband and I reserve «fine dining» for special occasions and I often find myself worried that the price we pay won’t be worth the experience — well Strega did not disappoint at all.
From start to finish, we were treated as though we were very important guests. Our server was friendly and attentive, our water glasses were kept full, our napkins were switched out for clean ones, our table was scraped between courses, just really excellent overall. (Also, our server noticed how we scarfed down the olives put on the table, offered us more and offered to send us home with some.)
The food: the bread was great, the olive oil was delicious (definitely high quality and reminded me of olive oil I ate by the gallon while living in Tuscany). We ordered the meatball and it was delightful, so flavorful and served on a mountain of ricotta. I went with the limoncello chicken and it was great — the portion was generous, the potatoes, roasted carrot and asparagus accompaniment was perfect. I loved the sauce so much I continued to dip bread in it even after declaring that I was «so full». Husband went with a special — the zuppa pesce (I think). First impressions were «is that a family size meal?!» It was huge. There was a ton of shellfish, calamari, and a huge lobster claw and tail. All this and fresh fettuccine swimming in a delicious Arabbiata broth. He was supplied with a cracker for the lobster and his shell bowl was constantly replaced. I snagged a few bites and it was delicious. We actually speculated (since it was a special) at the price and were way off, it was so reasonable!
We were going to pass on dessert and then our sweet server brought us out drinks for toasting. We were impressed and sipped away while waiting for the check. Then he brought us a delicious slice of chocolate cake with a candle, fresh strawberries and syrup. He wished us a happy anniversary. One last tidbit that impressed me: I did not order a drink at the start of the meal as we had recently discovered we are expecting. When our. server brought out our complimentary celebratory toast he brought my husband a glass of prosecco and a glass of sparkling cider for me. This gesture showed thoughtfulness and attention to detail that truly impressed me. We can’t wait to go back to Strega.

I did not enjoy my steak here tonight. It was not juicy or flavorful. My wife ordered a special dinner which consists of half lobster tail, scallops, clamps n etc. It was good but the clamps were not cooked. It did not even open! The waiter took it back to boil n mentioned he would bring it back out. …bit he never did… we did not complain as it was only 2 clamps… it was very rude of him. I did not have a good time dining here. For a 200 dollar meal. I’d expect good service n quality good food.

Went here with my parents and had a great meal. Our waiter was so nice and outgoing and the restaurant was packed and had a great lively vibe. The lamb chops were amazing and the portions were big. A must in this area!

You can find Strega Waterfront at 1 Marina Park Drive (56 Northern Ave via GPS), Boston, MA 2 210 right on the water. The restaurant is at the ground-​floor of the One Marina Park building or Fan Pier Marina if traveling by boat.
This was the crowning dinner from my visit to Boston where our entire team met within walking distance from the office. It turned into a wet evening so we didn’t take in any waterfront views, unfortunately and it was a bit wet walking from the office to One Marina Park but the restaurant itself was warm and very inviting.
The interior is a mix of old-​school charm and modern with a large dining hall with flat-​panel TVs lining the walls near the high ceilings. White tablecloths and napkins are the norm with great seafood options, decent wines and good service. We were served a good Italian baguette with oil-​infused olives with our glasses of a good Bordeaux. Nice touch on the stemware — I totally fall for stuff like this.
The menu was interesting, short-​and-​sweet with a page of salads/​apps/​antipastos and another of entrees, mostly Italian-​based or inspired. I guess the chef/​owner has another place in town that’s a bit famous? A local team-​member mentioned this to us.
Here’s a run-​down of what was ordered by the handful of people on my end of the table:
Spinach and Pear Salad — baby spinach, sliced pears, candied pistachios, gorgonzola, crispy pancetta, raspberry vinaigrette. I normally don’t go for the sweet fruity salads and almost made an exception with this. Unusually, you get a whole pear halved and sliced on the plate. Great balance of sweet-​savory in this salad.
Strega Salad — baby arugula, sliced grapefruit, walnuts, shaved parmesan, citrus vinaigrette. This was my selection and it was quite good — lighter than you would expect and a good foundation for the seafood to come.
Risotto di Mare — chef’s daily selection of fresh seafood, risotto — this was my original selection before hearing about the the Zuppa de Pesce. Clams, muscles, calamari and quite good.
Penne Arrabiata — penne with garlic, oil and spicy tomato sauce — this was a favorite with some of the vegetarians at the table. This was spicier than I expected and quite satisfying. All the pasta I tried was cooked perfectly — a good sign.
Pappardella Funghi Selvatica — homemade pasta served with wild mushrooms and black truffle oil — another vegetarian option — I’m not sure how well this went with some of our Indian diners — mushrooms aren’t common in their traditional food so for some the flavor is off-​putting. The bit I sampled was very flavorful and delicious thought.
Veal Saltimbocca — prosciutto di parma, fontina cheese, sage, white wine demi glaze, roasted potatoes and a couple of asparagus — I didn’t taste this one but those who ordered told me it was quite good.
Zuppa de Pesce — all I heard in the description was «tomato stock with fettuccini, clams, muscles, calamari, fish» and then they bring out the crackers and an extra napkin. Next this gigantic wok comes out with half a lobster — wow, what a dish. For business occasions I try not to over-​indulge and unless I’m paying my own way, order something moderately priced. I’m not sure how much this beast added to the bill but I’m sure I didn’t succeed on being moderate. It was entirely delicious though, with so much seafood I was set for at least a week. If you want to get a feel for this restaurant’s cuisine, THIS is the dish to order.
Service in a word was fantastic — several employees coming to our table took care of anything we asked for and handled all our questions with extensive descriptions (we are a picky crowd as you can imagine). I’d like to try this restaurant again when the weather is a bit nicer. I can imagine the terrific aromas on an open patio overlooking the bay — maybe someday!
(also posted to my food blog)

Great, high energy, high class environment. Attentive servers with a lot of personality and delicious food to boot. I definitely recommend Strega Waterfront for a fun and flashy night out!

Went here for dinner on a Thursday night to celebrate my now husband’s birthday. We started out w the shrimp wrapped in prosciutto w pineapple. These were delicious, but there were only 3 shrimp for $ 15. (so I ate 1 and he ate 2. I let him eat an extra one because it was his bday!). It was mostly pineapple (which would’ve been better if it was grilled). He had the veal marsala, I had the pear and blue cheese salad and added grilled chicken. Meals were OK. Not overly impressed by anything and wouldn’t come back for dinner.

Last night my wife and I had one of the best meals of our life.
Strega Waterfront is such a beautiful restaurant, the staff are professional and well-​trained, the atmosphere is inspiring and conducive to conversation and romance, and the food is absolutely top notch.
The wine selection is very impressive, food is authentic and cooked to perfection, every single step of our dinner was amazing.
We started with rotini de nico and the frito misto, two bottles of a great Italian Pinot Grigio, they brought us fresh bread with olives and olive oil, main courses were the linguini with clams (white) and the divers scallops with pesto and farro. Dessert we had tiramisu and double espressos. This meal was true joy, at times reminding me of my grandparents, at times reminding me of travels in Europe, and other times how grateful I am just to be alive and eating food that is THIS good. I seriously considered quitting my job and going to culinary school at the end of the meal.
Was it «expensive?» You know what, you get what you pay for in life.
I’m So tired of reading reviews that take away stars because they couldn’t feed a family of four for $ 60 or they didn’t get some dumb-​down college kid as a waitress who made them feel like they had a babysitter for the night. This is professional Italian (just like in Italy) service and the food is authentic, as authentic as it gets, and there is a price to pay for quality, for great chefs, severs, wine, waiters, and a beautiful setting on the water: don’t like it, then go eat at Olive Garden and hang yourself afterwards. Rant over.
Anyways, this has been my best meal in Boston in the 8+ years of living here. I wish I could give it six stars.

It is amazing, Never a bad meal. My friends from denver come to boston once a month and the first thing they say is did you make the reservations to strega? I need to tell you all I am a regular here, there is not on thing on the menu that I don’t enjoy. Amazing food amazing service. Can I add I love their martinis. From the minute you walk in you feel welcomed, the service is quite on point and the waters know their wine selection. Until they give me a reason not to come here regularly it will remain my fav.

I recently had a birthday dinner here for my fiancé’s 40^th. The food was great and the atmosphere was electric that evening. It’s a great spot to have dinner but I really don’t think the price equated to the food quality, but the service we had was second to none. I’ve never had better.
I’ll be sure to try it again just because of the attentiveness of the team of servers we had.

On Monday night, we came here for restaurant week. We kept seeing commercials for Strega on TV so we took it as a sign that we should try something new.
The location is absolutely beautiful. It was a nice night so we decided to sit outside and we could see the water from our table. I absolutely love the smell whenever you’re near a large body of water so needless to say, it was a great start to the meal.
The waiter was very nice and greeted us immediately with menus. As a side note, you have to request the restaurant week menu so we did and proceeded to order a few drinks. My only complaint was the speed of service. We arrived right when they opened and were the only customers there so the drinks come out right away. But as it slowly became more crowded, the speed of the service slowed down quite a bit. Otherwise, I would have given 5 stars.
The food was absolutely delicious. I had the beet salad, the stuffed pork and the tiramisu (which was the star of the show). I also stole a few bites of the seafood risotto which was really good. Outstanding atmosphere, great food but the service should have been faster. Regardless, I’d recommend you check this place out if you’re in the area.

So for our 5 year anniversary we had to try a nice place since we weren’t celebrating to much this year. Good thing it was restaurant week this week which made it even better and cheaper. So I made a reservation online, hard part is trying to find parking but that’s nothing on the restaurant. So when your table is read they send you a text, they say is right at 10. Nice booth table close to the windows, we ordered what was available per the restaurant week menu. There was almost nothing wrong with the food, just over all amazing. The staff was awesome they attend to you on a constant basis. Our waiter was fast and super nice, my wife asked him what kind of wine to pair her food with. He choose something really good, they just know there craft in this place. Definitely a place to experience.

I have never written a Unilocal review before, but this place was so spectacularly HORRIBLE that I created an account just to let other unsuspecting diners know lest they make the same mistake we did. We were in Boston this week to visit my cousin and yesterday was our last night, so we wanted to do something special. This was anything but… instead, hands down, it was the worst dining experience any of us have ever had.
First, it shouldn’t say «waterfront» it should say «parking lot front» — that was the view… the water is barely visible from the restaurant. We sat inside but went out by the patio and it was just as far away.
Second, it was restaurant week so we looked at the menu ahead of time and the options looked promising. When we were seated the hostess gave us the regular menus and made no mention of restaurant week. Our waiter (when he finally came to our table… I’ll get to that later) also said nothing. We finally asked him for the restaurant week menus, we immediately felt like subpar diners. If you’re too pretentious for restaurant week, then why the hell do you offer it?
Next, the service was so slooooow and frankly, rude. They took 10 mins to give us water and it felt like another 10 for the waiter to show up. They kept giving people the wrong dishes and would drop them onto the table unceremoniously. For a «fancy» place they didn’t give us new silverware every time and didn’t clean the table well between courses.
Finally the food — one word, tasteless! The bread and olives were ok (probably because they didn’t make them in house), but the remaining courses were salty and not cooked well. There were 4 of us for dinner and nobody enjoyed their meal. It was the worst Italian food (if you can call it Italian or food) we ever had.
After such a bad experience, getting the bill at the end (even at restaurant week prices) was like a slap in the face. If you want excellent Italian food, wonderful service and a nice ambiance this is NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU.
Do yourself a favor and go to Pappa Razzi on Newbury Street instead… we walked in without a reservation the previous evening and it was amazing. I’m writing my second review for them!

Great atmosphere, great service. The food, however, was just okay. For the prices that Strega charges, I feel like the food should be more on par with other places in the Seaport. No doubt fresh, but it was missing a little something. They have an intimidatingly expansive wine list – I’m talking karaōke book sized– so you’re bound to find something you like.
We sat outside on a Friday night for a late dinner and the weather was perfect. I would recommend making a reservation.

This place was awesome. The atmosphere, the food, everything was just well done. The food portions were tremendous, enough to feed a sizable group. I had the Filet Mignon (Medium) and it was fantastic, smooth texture, very juicy and flavor was very good.
Just because I liked to eat, I ordered the Short Ribs to go, WOW, Just WOW. I liked ribs but this place made me love them. They were tender and juicy and just a great late night snack. :-)
I would definitely recommend this place for a date, company gathering or just friends and family. A great staff and an excellent chef.

I was here for the first time on Friday for my girlfriend’s birthday. It wasn’t my first choice, since I’m a steakhouse guy, but I went along with it.
Valet was a great value at only $ 10. I obviously tipped in addition to that. Pretty sure it’s $ 20 at Empire which is next to Strega.
I had a reservation through Open Table, but it wasn’t packed so we could have walked in. Our server greeted us right away, was very polite, and took our drink order immediately.
We ordered the Pappardella for a first course, which was phenomenal. If we come back, we will definitely get pasta dishes. There is nothing like homemade pasta. I also like how they serve it in 2 bowls, instead of family style.
For entrees, she had the filet, which looked very small for $ 54; supposedly 10oz. I’ve been to every steak restaurant in Boston (including Strega Prime in Woburn), and for $ 50 you usually get a 12 – 14 oz cut. I had the steak and stuffed lobster tail for $ 68. My steak was supposedly 8oz, but was bigger than her 10oz cut. The lobster tail was okay. The meat was really tough. It was stuffed with scallops, which were also really tough. I know oven cooking seafood is difficult because you can easily overcook it, but for almost $ 70 I really wanted to be blown away. The steak was cooked the way I asked, but there was no seasoning. I cook filet at home all the time, and a little salt and pepper never hurt anyone. It was served with a plain brown gravy on the side, which added some much needed flavor.
Also worth mentioning that it took 1 hour from the time we ordered, till the time we were served our entrees. We were seated at 9:00pm, and started eating our steaks at 10:15.
We ended up being so stuffed from the pasta that we brought our steaks home. I ended up searing them with butter in a cast iron skillet, and they tasted better (no joke) the next morning as steak and eggs.
In addition to our bottle of wine, we had a couple cocktails. I didn’t try her’s, but my «Boom Boom» tasted like a Jack and Ginger. It was supposed to be Bourbon, Ginger liquor, Mint, Simple Syrup, and Lemon juice. It made no mention of club soda, but it was carbonated. They didn’t muddle the mint, so there was no mint flavor.
In total, my bill was $ 310 including a 20% tip. For over $ 300, I really wanted to be blown away, and sadly I was not. It’s by no means a bad restaurant, I just expected more.
Since my girlfriend is part Italian, I will almost positively have to come back. Next time I will order one of their pasta dishes, and just stick to wine.

Very romantic upscale part of Waterfront. Having traveled here for business a few times, I made sure to make time to go for my favorite Italian dish served here: Strega Shrimp & Scallop Fettucine!
The pasta is made perfect to order and the cream sauce is amazing. Very flavorful, the right amount of saltiness. I usually can’t get enough so I would order the dinner portion. However I did order it for brunch before and they offer“half-size” dish. Still stuffed me for half the price. Happy girl here.

I went here for a business dinner with a group of 10. We started off with drinks at the bar. All the bartenders and cocktail waitresses are beautiful and friendly. Throughout the bar, there were complimentary passed Hors d’oeuvres that included shrimp cocktail, scallops and bruschetta. All were very good.
We were promptly seated for our reservation. There were a few other parties going on at the restaurant and space is tight. The coat check was located in an odd area in a makeshift rack by the bathrooms. It was a bit difficult maneuvering through the patrons of the party that spilled out from their private room into the main dining area.
Service was great. We knew our server from another steakhouse as well as Fiore in the north end. He was wonderful and eager to please. The wine kept flowing and he made sure not one wine glass was every empty. I loved it!
The fried seafood and balsamic appetizer was great. I didn’t see any scallops but the calamari and baby shrimp was plentiful. The burrata (fresh buffalo mozzarella) was creamy and delicious. Everyone was a fan of the Rosetta’s famous meatballs. Each meatball was HUGE and could be cut up into 5 – 6 pieces to share. It was tender and moist. The rollantini di nico was also very good. I was disappointed that we only got one order for a table of 10 but the morsel I had was great!
For dinner, I tried the rib eye and filet bolognese. The rib eye was perfect but I have to admit I was expecting spaghetti pasta for the bolognese. It was good but not what I expected.
For dessert, we split a cheesecake, chocolate cake and a canolli along with some chocolate gelato. All were great but nothing to write home about. They were comparable to other desserts in other restaurants of its stature but nothing left me mesmerized.
I would come here again for a special occasion or for a business dinner. It’s a bit on the pricey side for just a regular date night after all the drinks and food are said and done. Parking is a bit tough and we had to valet our car.