Anthem and Granary Tavern

After a Friday night spent lounging inside, JO and I were both ready for a fun Saturday night out in the city.  Our friend was celebrating her 30th birthday at the Granary Tavern.  This group of friends is always fun to hang out with because they love the city life just as much as we do and it's always nice to be around like minded people.

We decided to grab dinner first and Faneuil Hall seemed liked the right location.  Sadly, there really aren't many choices in Faneuil Hall that don't cater to a younger crowd or offer overpriced food so our choices were limited.  We ended up with reservations at Anthem.  I've been here a few times before so I was pretty confident it was a good choice.

The pros:  A great atmosphere geared towards a "not young 20s" crowd.  That's definitely a downfall of many places in Faneuil Hall at night but this place has none of that.  The floor to ceiling windows in the main floor dining room allow for great people watching during dinner.  The menu has a variety of offerings from flatbreads, to sandwiches, to entrees.  I also love their champagne cocktail, one of the best in the city, in my opinion.  We got the Korean BBQ chicken wings as a starter and they were delicious- they had a great balance of sweet and spicy without being over the top.

The cons:  Really dim lighting.  I love soft lighting in a restaurant, and with the floor to ceiling windows dim lighting is a must to be able to enjoy the views outside.  That being said, it's almost downright dark in the corners of the dining room.  Another con, I hate that they changed their soft taco appetizer.  That's really the main reason I wanted to go there.  The old version featured your choice of several meats including lobster, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, and pico.  The new version features pickled serrano peppers, cabbage slaw, and chipotle aioli.  Just not the same.  The Greek Salad with shrimp.  The shrimp were simple boiled shrimp that lacked flavor and had a strange texture.  The salad itself had a great mix of veggies and iceberg lettuce base which I'm a fan of.  The problem was with the dressing.  It was a pepperoncini vinaigrette and it was just too sweet, surprisingly, for the salad.

Overall, despite some hits with the food and lighting, Anthem is still a fun place to go if you need/want to grab dinner or drinks in the Faneuil Hall area.

After dinner we headed over to Granary Tavern to meet up with our friends.  The tavern features lots of exposed brick and metal work.  The bar spans the entire back of the restaurant and they also have a downstairs with a bar and tables.  We had gone here last year for another friend's birthday and spent most of the evening downstairs.  I remember it being really nice with lots of space to spread out.  Unfortunately, the downstairs was reserved for a private party so we had to stay upstairs and it was pretty crowded.  I will say the hostess really worked hard to give us a table in the bar space, although it took over an hour for one to free up.  The tavern is a really fun place to go with a big group of people.  There is music playing but it's not so loud that you can't hear the conversation.  If you can get downstairs it's even better.  It's not a place I would go typically, but it's always fun to go out of your comfort zone.