Atlantic Beer Garden
146 Seaport Boulevard
Boston, Ma 02210
617-357-8000
Menu: Upscale bar food
Kid Friendly: Weekend days, or weekdays, nights seem to be older crowd/
Prices: Average for the area portions are large for what you pay
Atmosphere: Typical sports bar. Waitstaff where's local football, baseball, basketball jersey's Very Loud.
When the weather starts to get cold, but the sun is shining, I have this desire to go for long walks and shop. Today was one of those days. Lou and I took a walk over to the Seaport District to hit up the Christmas Festival at the World Trade Center. He wasn't too thrilled about going, but once he was there, he thought it was a pretty cool event. As craft like festivals go, I think this event has some of the better items to choose from. My favorite buy was wind chimes made out of a Jaegermeister bottle for my brother on law. Red neck wind chimes. Who could ask for more? Here's a shout out to the woman who makes them. The Crafty Peddler http://www.uniqueglasschimes.com/.
After all that shopping we worked up an appetite. Since we had walked to the Festival we figured we had been on our feet for about 3 hours so we opted for a close restaurant. The Atlantic Beer Garden. This restaurant opened about a year ago in the Seaport district where there used to be a Chinese restaurant for years. The location is at the top of the parking lot for Anthony's Pier 1. Although Anthony's has a huge parking lot, don't think you can park there for the Atlanic Beer Garden. There is a parking lot attendant in the paid lot next to Anthony's who is like the parking police. He will flag you down as soon as you try to pull the okey doke. Good thing we were walking today. We had been at the Beer Garden about a year ago when it first opened. We hit it up after work and there was a HUGE after work crowd. The acoustics aren't the best in the restaurant and that night it was extremely loud. Drunk people always get louder and louder, and when sports are involved it ups the ante. Surrounding the restaurant on ever wall, and every few feet are flat screen tv's to watch the games. Boston is a huge sports town. The one thing I can say is the guys who opened this restaurant made a wise choice of location and theme.
I never visited the chinese restaurant that was in this building previously, but I imagine these new owners were working with good bones. Across the back of the restaurant is a wall of glass doors that opens to a patio overlooking the harbor. There is a stairway inside that leads to a roof deck with great views of the Boston skyline, and in the front of the restaurant there is a patio for al fresco dining. The main room is very large, and with the back patio, the roof deck, and the front patio, it makes for a lot of dining space. The other thing that stands out to me about the Atlantic Beer Garden is there is no place in the Seaport with as laid back a vibe as this place to go after work and have a drink. It gives off a little more of a party atmosphere than other places in that area, and no other bar features sports. You would have to go fairly far into Southie to find another sports bar in the area, or brave the traffic and parking prices of Faneuil Hall. Parking in the Seaport District is only about $8 to $10 a day, when 1/2 a mile away in downtown Boston it is anywhere from $30 to $45 a day!
One of the reasons we chose the Beer Garden today of course was our tired legs and feet, but Lou also had a hankering for some good fish and chips, and we assumed they probably had that on the menu. We had been there once before, and most good pub like places in Boston have a fish and chips entree. We were right.
The restaurant was loud again just like I remembered it from our first visit. It wasn't AS loud, but the acoustics really are bad in the place. I wonder how it is when the back doors are opened. For drinks Lou went with our typical water, but I ventured out and got an unsweetened tea! Ooh so dangerous. I guess we just don' t want to waste calories drinking them. For lunch, Lou was hungry so we started off with some boneless buffalo chicken tenders. These got an A+ in my book. The tenders themselves were each a healthy portion. There were about 5 on the plate. The blue cheese was plentiful. The breading on the chicken tenders was light and not overpowering. The sauce wasn't too hot, and the carrot and celery sticks on the side were fresh and crisp. Chicken tenders are a staple on a lot of menus these days, but not every place pulls them off well.
For lunch I opted for the veggie panini. It had strips of eggplant, squash, zucchini, and even though the menu description didn't say it, I swear there were pickles in there. It said it was topped with a marinara sauce and mozzarella. I tasted the mozzarella, but if there was marinara sauce, it was very light. I didn't mind that much. The panini was good, the vegetables were a bit tough to bite through, especially the eggplant. I think it is just hard to to do eggplant on a sandwich like this. Lou got the fish and chips he had been craving. Both meals came with the choice of fries or curly fries. I got regular fries, Lou curly. The curly fries were $.95 extra which I think is wierd, but whatever. Honestly, I think all restaurants should offer something healthier from fries to choose from. I know you can often substitute, but I just don't think it should be the norm. The fries were nothing special. I am sure they get the typical Kraft foods frozen fries most restaurants get. The portions were very large. Lou really liked his fish and since it was so much, he brought half of it home to enjoy later.
The price for our meals was $35 for one ice-t, chicken tenders, fish and chips, and a panini. I would say that is about average for the area. The portions were well above average. The staff at the beer garden is always attentive and friendly. I remember on both visits seeing a manager actively involved in managing the front of the house of the restaurant. This is always a good sign of a well run place.
To sum it up, the Atlantic Beer Garden is what it is. A neighborhood sports bar, in a cool location with solid food, solid wait staff, and tv's galore. it is clean, the staff is friendly. A great place to hang out after work or have a casual weeknight dinner.
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