Uva: Wine Bar Turned Gourmet Dining!
Written: Mar 15 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great wines at bargain prices. Great food.
Cons: Not such bargain food prices!
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| vickie's Full Review: Uva |
I first ate at this restaurant a couple of years ago after it received a write-up in the Boston Globe. While it does serve pizza, the epinions illustration above is definitely misleading.
The Wine:
This restaurant is really known for its wine list-the food is good and the restaurant is lovely, but everything here is really about wine. The wine list changes VERY frequently, but there are usually about 80 selections by the bottle with half a dozen choices available by the half bottle and half a dozen by the glass. Most of the wines are produced and distributed in small quantities and the mark-up is amazingly low, making this a great place to try out new things! The Wine List proudly declares that all of the white wines are available at either 42 degrees or 58 degrees and it's very easy to have them provide an ice bucket for your table. The red wines are served at 58 degrees and the restaurant is happy to decant any wine if you simply request it. We are champagne freaks and love the fact that we can go out for dinner here and have a whole bottle of Veuve Clicqout Brut for less than $40!! The wine selection tends to be a combination of domestic, European and Australian wines and you can find some real values. When I visited recently there were over 20 choices for less than $30 a bottle and an additional 7 choices between $30 and $40/bottle. The prices of the food is a different story!
The Food:
Prices for the food have definitely escalated in the past couple of years. Once moderate, prices are now steep and , while the food is excellent, there are so many spectacular dining choices in Boston that I am not sure I can recommend Uva as a "first tier" selection any longer. Certainly we do not go here as frequently as we used to!
Salads and antipasti range from $6.25 (Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted Almonds and Apples) to $10 (Confit of Duck and Wild Mushroom Tart with Glazed Chestnuts and Preserved Apricots). My two personal favorites are the Caesar Salad (served for 2) and the Watercress Salad with Roasted Beets, Blue Cheese and Walnuts.
Pastas are a good value here (as well as the House Specials, which I'll describe in a minute), ranging in price from $13 to $16. The choices change frequently but there are almost always vegetable, cheese and seafood selections available.
Entrees are expensive. There is no way around it! The usually range from $16 to $20. They are elegantly prepared and presented and the fish selections are my personal favorites. They usually also have chicken, fish, pork and beef choices. Recently they offered Sea Scallops on a Mushroom tart with Celeriac Puree and Mushroom Oil as well as Pork T-bone with Sweet Potatoes, Confit of garlic and a natural jus-neither of which I tried but drooled over as they passed by on their way to other tables.
The House Specials are the few things that appear with regularity on this menu (the pizza choices being the other) and they are always prepared for two people. Monday through Thursday Uva features a Whole Roasted Chicken with Risotto and Natural Jus for $34, Fridays and Saturdays feature a 40 oz Roasted Beef Rib Chop with Potatoes, Greens and a red Wine Jus for $42.
Pizza
Yes, they do serve (incredibly good) pizza! The basic pizza costs $9.50 and for an additional fee you can can add additional toppings. For $1.75 (each) you can add olives, garlic, fresh herbs, tomatoes, onions or scallions. For $2.25 (each) you can add pancetta, eggplant, spinach, pepperoni, anchovies, fennel or roasted garlic, For $2.75 (each) you can add peppers, sundried tomatoes, clams, sweet sausage, artichokes, gorgonzola, fresh mushrooms or braised chicken. And yes, they are REALLY good.
Other Info
The ambiance at Uva is upbeat and somewhat trendy, although very relaxed. You will be very comfortable in jeans or dockers. The dining room is a large L-shape (holds about 70 people) and the kitchen is nearby but not "in your face." There is a separate area near the entrance for pizzas, take-out and a wine bar. This is a neighborhood trattoria in an Alston neighborhood of stately old apartment buildings. The wall along the street is all glass so the place has a really open feeling. It is decorated in soft earth colors and the dining experience is nice, not necessarily intimate. It's noisy-we've avoided coming here with hard-of-hearing relatives because they wouldn't understand a thing anybody said! Parking on the street is really tough, but they have valet parking so it is not an issue. Reservations are accepted only for groups of 6 or more.
I really like this place-always have. You will not have a bad meal here. However, with the current pricing and the wealth of other great choices available, I can't say that it is my first choice to recommend to someone.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
vickie
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Location: Waltham, MA
Reviews written: 75
Trusted by: 112 members
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