PARK Restaurant - Cambridge, MA

Park Restaurant is an American restaurant that serves many meat and vegetable options located in Harvard Square at 59 JFK Street in Cambridge, MA. The lights were set to a dim lighting. With it be a hip fully loaded bar, it was very loud and hard to have a conversation without saying "What?". It was cool that this restaurant had an industrial feel to it. The restaurant had a red theme to it as all the booth seats were red colored. The tables were all wood and the chairs were Carlisle metal dining chair. I liked how the walls were covered with framed black and white photos from historic and industrial Boston.

In summary, the atmosphere was nice but the food was okay. For drinks, most of us stuck with water, which was served in a Italian water bottle and kept on the table. I don't know if I was extremely thirsty or that Arnold Palmer was phenomenal - there was a nice blend of iced tea and lemonade and a hint of sugar. We ordered the following: -Warm Corn Bread with Vermont Maple Butter -Roasted Beets Salad -Caesar Salad -Bar Steak -Plancha Roasted Salmon -Oven Roasted Redfish -Farro Stuffed Squash -Roasted Fall Squash (side) -Roasted Carrots and Charred Onions (side) Here are my thoughts of some of these items:

Warm Corn Bread with Vermont Maple Butter

The Warm Corn Bread with Vermont Maple Butter was so delicious, it was gone in 60 seconds. I liked how it was prepared in a skillet and some of the maple butter was melted on top of the corn bread.

Roasted Beets Salad

The Roasted Beets Salad was also a hit. The multi-colored beets were tossed with segmented orange and grapefruit and toasted hazelnut in a light citrus vinaigrette, served on top of a sweet, simple lemon vinaigrette, and garnished with a bed of arugula. The lemon vinaigrette consisted of sugar, lemon zest, white balsamic vinaigrette.

Caesar Salad

The Caesar Salad consisted of chopped romaine hearts, lots of parmesan cheese, and a toad in the hole tossed in a creamy Caesar salad. I felt that the salad was too cheesy and the parmesan stole the show. Their toad in the hole is different than most because it didn't have any meat or vegetables. Their toad in the hole consisted of a square toast brushed with salted butter on each side and toasted on a pan with a poached egg in the middle.

Bar Steak

The Bar Steak consisted of a steak topped with herb shallot butter and served with potato skins filled with gruyere and topped with bacon bites and arugula and frisée salad. The steak was a bit on the dry side, a bit overdone, and wasn't very tender but rather a chewy texture. Did someone taste test the arugula and frisée salad before it left the kitchen? Cause the salad with an olive oil vinaigrette was very sour and thus, hard to ingest.

Oven-Roasted Redfish

The Oven-Roasted Redfish was served on topped of a mashed sweet potato or a sweet potato puree, confit cauliflower, and topped with a cranberry pear chutney, We were a bit disappointed because we specifically asked our server whether this particular dish was spicy since three of us has sensitivity to pepper and spices and our server responded saying not at all. When we received this dish, the fish was brushed with a spicy rub so we couldn't really eat the fish and only the items around it. I did enjoy the sweet potato and confit cauliflower.

Roasted Fall Squash

The Roasted Fall Squash consisted of roasted acorn squash wedges. It was lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. I didn't like occasion bites with a lot of crushed pepper or spices.

Roasted Carrots and Charred Onions The Roasted Carrots and Charred Onions consisted of a medley of carrots and onions. I felt that this side dish was on point. I loved how the carrots and parsnips had a crunch. Unfortunately, our party was too full to have dessert.