They allow ins and outs, cheap parking nearby, bouncers let you stage dive, 5/5
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Charlie Redden
great neighbors
Billy Addison
The staff is fantastic. The food is always solid. Their weekly events are great. Bob and Sadie at the bar are incredibly cool people. Thursday is the best night because they have DJ Sparky hosting karaoke then and it's always a fun time.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Hamburger and Salad
Ryn W.
I was severely disappointed. This bar refused to serve myself and my friend (both adult women), for appearing "young." They then escorted us to two additional establishment doors (while still in possession of my friend's identification), to tell bouncers not to grant her entry for "false ID." Middle East staff continued to say they were "almost 100% sure it was fake" (while this is a valid, state-granted drivers license). They did not attempt to use an ID scanner. While we are glad to appear so youthful, we were very disappointed in the staff's choices. At the very least, please use an actual ID scanner. In addition to this, it is wrong to take anyone's identification off of the premises.
Jiayin Zhou
the sound system is amazing here!
Atmosphere: 5
J Hindsight
The last real venue around in Boston for mid sized shows. I grew up in this place along with the Rat and have seen countless punk, hip hop and hardcore bands here. Thank god they haven't sold out, we don't need any more corporate places to blend in with the rest of them.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 3
Robert Corcoran
Be careful if you here on a night when they let one of the venues get to overcapacity. Just another station nightclub fire situation waiting to happen
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Zach Dombi
zero concept if this is a good restaurant or club, what I will tell you is that Emo night rules here. Cheap drinks and great cover bands. Bring a $50 bill and go nuts.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
John Conti
Always a great time!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Alyssa “SwissMiss” Noble
Haven't been there here in a long time, but I used to see bands there often and really enjoyed it. Small, intimate place so you e got a great view no matter where you are!
Great show great bar and got to see deadlands they were great
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sara Mystik
Venue is exciting, bar is a deal , and does host exciting shows, however with small mistakes like walking the wrong way - security WILL act overly aggressive , yell and put hands on you even while you are complying.My partner is visually impaired - while looking for the restroom she walked inside of the empty venue in the back of the restaurant- we complied as soon as we were called but security still advanced upon us and acted extremely aggressive, yelled and corned us. I had a hand put on me as we were desperately looking for the exit door (actually labeled EMERGENCY EXIT, right by the STAFF door).It’s quite ironic when security makes you feel LESS safe than being around the club’s own patrons. I needed to relieve this tightness by talking to security supervisory calmly - they each became defensive, lied about putting their hand on my back, and cussed us out (2 bearded white men, blonde white woman).At a high level this venue feels unsafe for women, queer people and possibly other minorities concerning the nature and ratio of the security staff. This incident and the review posted by Jake leads me to believe that these same security staff will side with abusers in the venue if that still ever was brought to concern.I can only recommend this place if they had a significant change in security staff.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 5
Service: 4
Matthew Metz
The Middle East has always been great for punk shows.
Atmosphere: 4
Service: 3
Christian Sullivan
Very cool. I sure hope no one decides to build a hotel on top of all this.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jake Nimons
Guy was very aggressive to my girlfriend and shoved her. I stepped in and told him not to touch her. Guess who got kicked out? This bar is not a great place for women.Edit: bouncer is friends with the person who assaulted her. Fantastic place for women!
They allow ins and outs, cheap parking nearby, bouncers let you stage dive, 5/5
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
great neighbors
The staff is fantastic. The food is always solid. Their weekly events are great. Bob and Sadie at the bar are incredibly cool people. Thursday is the best night because they have DJ Sparky hosting karaoke then and it's always a fun time.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Hamburger and Salad
I was severely disappointed. This bar refused to serve myself and my friend (both adult women), for appearing "young." They then escorted us to two additional establishment doors (while still in possession of my friend's identification), to tell bouncers not to grant her entry for "false ID." Middle East staff continued to say they were "almost 100% sure it was fake" (while this is a valid, state-granted drivers license). They did not attempt to use an ID scanner. While we are glad to appear so youthful, we were very disappointed in the staff's choices. At the very least, please use an actual ID scanner. In addition to this, it is wrong to take anyone's identification off of the premises.
the sound system is amazing here!
Atmosphere: 5
The last real venue around in Boston for mid sized shows. I grew up in this place along with the Rat and have seen countless punk, hip hop and hardcore bands here. Thank god they haven't sold out, we don't need any more corporate places to blend in with the rest of them.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 3
Be careful if you here on a night when they let one of the venues get to overcapacity. Just another station nightclub fire situation waiting to happen
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
zero concept if this is a good restaurant or club, what I will tell you is that Emo night rules here. Cheap drinks and great cover bands. Bring a $50 bill and go nuts.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Always a great time!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Haven't been there here in a long time, but I used to see bands there often and really enjoyed it. Small, intimate place so you e got a great view no matter where you are!
Atmosphere: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Great show great bar and got to see deadlands they were great
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Venue is exciting, bar is a deal , and does host exciting shows, however with small mistakes like walking the wrong way - security WILL act overly aggressive , yell and put hands on you even while you are complying.My partner is visually impaired - while looking for the restroom she walked inside of the empty venue in the back of the restaurant- we complied as soon as we were called but security still advanced upon us and acted extremely aggressive, yelled and corned us. I had a hand put on me as we were desperately looking for the exit door (actually labeled EMERGENCY EXIT, right by the STAFF door).It’s quite ironic when security makes you feel LESS safe than being around the club’s own patrons. I needed to relieve this tightness by talking to security supervisory calmly - they each became defensive, lied about putting their hand on my back, and cussed us out (2 bearded white men, blonde white woman).At a high level this venue feels unsafe for women, queer people and possibly other minorities concerning the nature and ratio of the security staff. This incident and the review posted by Jake leads me to believe that these same security staff will side with abusers in the venue if that still ever was brought to concern.I can only recommend this place if they had a significant change in security staff.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 5
Service: 4
The Middle East has always been great for punk shows.
Atmosphere: 4
Service: 3
Very cool. I sure hope no one decides to build a hotel on top of all this.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Guy was very aggressive to my girlfriend and shoved her. I stepped in and told him not to touch her. Guess who got kicked out? This bar is not a great place for women.Edit: bouncer is friends with the person who assaulted her. Fantastic place for women!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1