Sonsie

Cuisine American (New)
Price $$$ (31-50)
Rating 5/10
Last Visit Nov. 30, 2019
Location Boston: Back Bay
General Notes

Sonsie is an interesting (New?) American restaurant on Newbury serving up a variety of dishes with various international influences (I think I even saw a Thai crispy noodle dish on the menu when I went). At least for dinner, I would characterize the food as average - decent but nothing particularly noteworthy. The ambiance of the restaurant is quite nice though (especially if you can get a window table), and would probably be an excellent option for a nice brunch on a weekend stroll through Newbury.

Positives

> The restaurant itself has a pretty nice ambiance. I think the tables on the inside are a bit too dark for dinner service, but the tables by the window (where you can do some people-watching!) are excellent. Would probably also be very nice for brunch.

Negatives

> I normally don't comment on this, but the service was remarkably slow considering that the restaurant wasn't super busy at the time. I came here on a Saturday night (I found it quite surprising that it wasn't super busy at the time, although perhaps this had something to do with the fact that it was Thanksgiving weekend, or maybe people frequent here for lunch more often).

Dishes Tasted
  • ★★☆☆ 8oz Pineland Farm Burger -- House-made bacon, marrow onions, gruyere, pickles. A decent but unspectacular burger. The burger was juicy but perhaps a bit too greasy for my taste - as a result of this and the fact that the patty was placed at the bottom, it made the bottom bun quite soggy. I would have liked much more onion (those were delicious), and the cheese somehow felt poorly distributed across the burger. The burger badly needed a bit more acidic or subtly sweet to lift up and brighten the flavor.
  • ★★☆☆ Black Spaghetti -- Poached calamari, chourico, espelette seafood broth. I actually enjoyed this dish quite a lot. The composition of the dish is a little weird. A ton of mussels/clams at the top in a tiny, deep bowl makes it quite difficult to actually consume the spaghetti. The flavorful broth doesn't adhere to the spaghetti very well, and the spaghetti was slightly overcooked. That being said, the flavors are quite nice and the dish has lots of potential. The dish is also quite large for a starter - good value.