I went back to write a review for the Local in Newton, only to find it was closed. I met a friend here in December 2021, we were both from out of town. Online, it looked like a good spot. Perhaps it was a red flag that nobody else was eating there during prime time dinner hour. We sat at a high top table. The overhead lighting was so harsh I thought I might be in the midst of an interrogation. They had a great beer selection a good food menu, $$$. I got a salad with steak tips, and I very much enjoyed it. My friend got salmon and had to send it back because it was not cooked properly. We had a nice visit in this restaurant, but the dead vibe this place was putting out seems to have foreshadowed things to come.
Alonzo Mosely
I still like going to the Local but I disappointed that their wine selection has narrowed down since I've been there. I admit it's been a while but they used to have a great selection of Cabs and occasionally something new in wine to discover written on a chalkboard. Local..can we go back to that again?
Grant Oakes
Place was very nice, great atmosphere and staff were great, the mussels were very gritty and the pizza had to much parmesan cheese. Apart from that it was a good place.
LisaB
Went for dinner to celebrate an engagement. Average food and quality. Nothing to write home about but a nice ambience. Waiter was fine but not outstanding. Very vanilla experience overall.
BarbaraW
Waited 1/2 for our drink order. Waitress never cam back and asked for refills or checked on us. Waited an hour for 3 dinner salads and one came with no dressing. By the time we got the receptionist to find our waitress everyone was done with their meal, so I took my salad to go. All we got was a lot of ‘oh sorry's'.
ScottM
We had a great meal last night. The waitress was very nice and accommodating. the food was great. The ambiance is exactly how it is written. It is essentially a bar with tables on either side. A bit noisy, but that is part of the ambiance. I'd never been here before but really liked it.
Service started fine - then the waiter completely avoided us for about 45 minutes. There were plenty of staff and not many people in the restaurant. Witnessed most of the staff eating and chatting for 20 minutes at a time in the kitchen. Not impressed. Also, prices a little steep for the portions.
DonnaR
Very good food; great, attentive service. Lots of space between the tables. We were able to delay our reservation at the last minute when we were running late. My husband said the steak tips were the best he's had at any restaurant in awhile. No complaints!! We will be back!!
BruceJ
There are so many options in the Newton area that The Local sometimes is not on our radar. Our recent visit might change all that. The service was friendly and prompt and the food was good. We were in and out quickly.
Maureen Sullivan
This used to be one of our favorite places to go for a delicious bite to eat, the game and a nice glass of wine. Tonight we were charged $29.00 for a glass of the Orin Swift; $10.00 more per glass than it used to be. And you wonder why your bar is empty??? Give us a call when you come back to realistic prices. Your local neighbors??Thanks for your response. It’s the Local, you shouldn’t have to open the menu, Hence our surprise. We continually support or local businesses that work so hard for our neighborhood. We work hard too! :)
First let me say that we have been to Local many times, but not recently because of the pandemic. We have always enjoyed an excellent meal, good drinks with a very friendly and attentive staff. However, this past weekend that was not the case at all. We were seated promptly but it all went downhill from there. We waited quite some time for the waitress to take our drink order, we then gave her our dinner order at the same time since we were obviously ready after sitting so long. Drinks took quite a while and when our meal finally arrived we got our starter and our main course at the same time. No apologies. It also took quite some time for our check to arrive (We noticed another table also waiting). I totally understand understaffing, if that’s the case, but this was just very bad service, and unfriendly to boot.Suffice to say this was a very unpleasant visit.
500daianep
I was in this restaurant and I was very sad with the way the employees treat the people who work with deliveries. make people wait outside the restaurant even in the rain or in the cold. inhuman. It's not about people like that, they're delivery men and they deserve respect. They're working for you right in the middle of a pandemic.
Delightful
We started with Buffalo chicken wings. Pretty good but then it all went south. Soggy, limp, tasteless fries and a cold dried out haddock fish sandwich, tasteless too. My wife's piece of salmon was ok and the kitchen forget her green beans. Did I mention the fries? No better than mine. Our wonderful server deserves kudos.
Stacey
It's really dark inside hard to even see the menu. There was a large party going on in open space on one side of the restaurant which was very distracting. It didn't stop our waiter from stopping frequently to watch the Red Sox game. Food was reasonable but our waiter wanted nothing to do with waiting on our table. No offer for more drinks until our food came out... way too late. It wasn't even busy when we got there. Plenty of people standing around. There was no excuse for such bad service.
Alonzo M.
$18 bucks for a Burger and $11 bucks for fried Pickles? No thanks. OMG. What happened. They used to have a great wine selection. It's pathetically limited now. Five choices of White or Red. Bottom shelf quality compared to a few years ago.
I went back to write a review for the Local in Newton, only to find it was closed. I met a friend here in December 2021, we were both from out of town. Online, it looked like a good spot. Perhaps it was a red flag that nobody else was eating there during prime time dinner hour. We sat at a high top table. The overhead lighting was so harsh I thought I might be in the midst of an interrogation. They had a great beer selection a good food menu, $$$. I got a salad with steak tips, and I very much enjoyed it. My friend got salmon and had to send it back because it was not cooked properly. We had a nice visit in this restaurant, but the dead vibe this place was putting out seems to have foreshadowed things to come.
I still like going to the Local but I disappointed that their wine selection has narrowed down since I've been there. I admit it's been a while but they used to have a great selection of Cabs and occasionally something new in wine to discover written on a chalkboard. Local..can we go back to that again?
Place was very nice, great atmosphere and staff were great, the mussels were very gritty and the pizza had to much parmesan cheese. Apart from that it was a good place.
Went for dinner to celebrate an engagement. Average food and quality. Nothing to write home about but a nice ambience. Waiter was fine but not outstanding. Very vanilla experience overall.
Waited 1/2 for our drink order. Waitress never cam back and asked for refills or checked on us. Waited an hour for 3 dinner salads and one came with no dressing. By the time we got the receptionist to find our waitress everyone was done with their meal, so I took my salad to go. All we got was a lot of ‘oh sorry's'.
We had a great meal last night. The waitress was very nice and accommodating. the food was great. The ambiance is exactly how it is written. It is essentially a bar with tables on either side. A bit noisy, but that is part of the ambiance. I'd never been here before but really liked it.
Service started fine - then the waiter completely avoided us for about 45 minutes. There were plenty of staff and not many people in the restaurant. Witnessed most of the staff eating and chatting for 20 minutes at a time in the kitchen. Not impressed. Also, prices a little steep for the portions.
Very good food; great, attentive service. Lots of space between the tables. We were able to delay our reservation at the last minute when we were running late. My husband said the steak tips were the best he's had at any restaurant in awhile. No complaints!! We will be back!!
There are so many options in the Newton area that The Local sometimes is not on our radar. Our recent visit might change all that. The service was friendly and prompt and the food was good. We were in and out quickly.
This used to be one of our favorite places to go for a delicious bite to eat, the game and a nice glass of wine. Tonight we were charged $29.00 for a glass of the Orin Swift; $10.00 more per glass than it used to be. And you wonder why your bar is empty??? Give us a call when you come back to realistic prices. Your local neighbors??Thanks for your response. It’s the Local, you shouldn’t have to open the menu, Hence our surprise. We continually support or local businesses that work so hard for our neighborhood. We work hard too! :)
Restaurantji Recommends
First let me say that we have been to Local many times, but not recently because of the pandemic. We have always enjoyed an excellent meal, good drinks with a very friendly and attentive staff. However, this past weekend that was not the case at all. We were seated promptly but it all went downhill from there. We waited quite some time for the waitress to take our drink order, we then gave her our dinner order at the same time since we were obviously ready after sitting so long. Drinks took quite a while and when our meal finally arrived we got our starter and our main course at the same time. No apologies. It also took quite some time for our check to arrive (We noticed another table also waiting). I totally understand understaffing, if that’s the case, but this was just very bad service, and unfriendly to boot.Suffice to say this was a very unpleasant visit.
I was in this restaurant and I was very sad with the way the employees treat the people who work with deliveries. make people wait outside the restaurant even in the rain or in the cold. inhuman. It's not about people like that, they're delivery men and they deserve respect. They're working for you right in the middle of a pandemic.
We started with Buffalo chicken wings. Pretty good but then it all went south. Soggy, limp, tasteless fries and a cold dried out haddock fish sandwich, tasteless too. My wife's piece of salmon was ok and the kitchen forget her green beans. Did I mention the fries? No better than mine. Our wonderful server deserves kudos.
It's really dark inside hard to even see the menu. There was a large party going on in open space on one side of the restaurant which was very distracting. It didn't stop our waiter from stopping frequently to watch the Red Sox game. Food was reasonable but our waiter wanted nothing to do with waiting on our table. No offer for more drinks until our food came out... way too late. It wasn't even busy when we got there. Plenty of people standing around. There was no excuse for such bad service.
$18 bucks for a Burger and $11 bucks for fried Pickles? No thanks. OMG. What happened. They used to have a great wine selection. It's pathetically limited now. Five choices of White or Red. Bottom shelf quality compared to a few years ago.