Boston Phoenix

2004 Best of Awards

Best Romantic Restaurant: If you still think a romantic meal means oak-paneled candlelit nooks and waiters named Claude, let UpStairs on the Square repaint your mental picture with a vibrant palette and a whimsical mix of patterns, with gilded this and mirrored that, and with service that smiles but doesn't intrude. And if you still think it means tableside caesars and prime rib for two, let chefs Susan Regis and Amanda Lydon reawaken the passion in your palate with evocative wild-leaf salads, pillowy hand-cut pastas, and spiced pots de crème. Once you and your darling have been UpStairs, you're sure to head straight home - and hurry back upstairs.

Best Service: …Walking the tightrope of cordial conduct, waiters have to prove knowledgeable, alert, and flexible. At UpStairs on the Square, they do just that - and make it look easy to boot. …One Soiree Room staffer has been known to get downright conspiratorial in the quest to secure the last remaining special for a customer, while a mixologist at the Monday Club Bar can not only pour the very Vouvray your mouth is watering for but also recommend an excellent restaurant in Halifax, should you need one. But suppose something, no matter how minor, does mar your meal? Consummate restaurateurs Mary-Catherine Deibel and Deborah Hughes will (as we can attest) more than compensate, respectfully and in earnest.

Best Place for a Clandestine Lunch: What's so secret about a restaurant owned by two of the city's most recognizable restaurateurs, run by two of its brightest chefs, and situated smack on a bustling corner of one of the world's most illustrious campuses? Nothing, really, and therein lies your secret - for who'd ever think to look for you, conducting your shady business, engaging in illicit affairs, at UpStairs on the Square? Besides, even the most dogged detective could, upon entering, get so dazzled - first by the Fauvist interior and then by the sumptuous eats of the Monday Club Bar (think lobster pizza and pistachio pound cake) - he'd forget all about you and your companion in trench coats and Ray-Bans. Amid such an extravaganza, your secret is safe.

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