My pants would tend to agree that I should probably take a break from the dining-out circuit, at least for this week. That aside, my husband and I have been lucky enough to try some really tasty restaurants lately. Our meal this past Saturday night was certainly worth sharing a review on!

The Scene:

We decided to try Steel & Rye in Lowers Mills Milton, MA (link below to website). A few different people had suggested this place for dinner – not sure why it took us so long to try! We live in Dorchester and are always looking for nearby yet outside of the city dining options.

According to my Dad, this place used to be an old ambulance bay. You can tell by the high/industrial ceilings that it used to be something along those lines.

As we drove up I noticed the hanging lights on the outdoor patio and the glass windows that allow you to see into the perfectly lit space. I was surprised to see how big it is. Also, pleasantly surprised to see that they offer complementary valet parking. In the city, we’re used to $20+ valet parking not including tip.

The place was definitely hopping. But, we had made a last minute reservation through Opentable.com and were seated immediately. We got a booth which made me very happy because I always prefer booth seating to regular chair seating (so much cozier!). They have a lot of different seating options – tables, booths, bar-front…I didn’t even get to see the entire place because it’s that big.

Right off the bat I was impressed by the décor – I guess I’d call it industrial ciche.  We were right next to a window with this funky, old school light fixture above our table …it was the perfect lighting in my opinion. The ambiance was upscale yet laidback.

The tables were nicely set, picture perfect!

Service was spot on from the very beginning. Throughout our meal – we were checked on regularly by multiple people. Our water was refreshed, plates cleared quickly – all in all, they had the service down to a science.

Now, the food & drinks…

DRINKS:

• I started with a glass of cabernet sauvignon the “2012 Joel Gott, 815 Cab Sav, Cali” ($11). I am definitely not a wine connoisseur, but it was delightful – super smooth. I would have ordered two but I decided not to run up a $22 tab on wine alone (maybe another night!)
• Nick, my husband opted for the: “Pimm’s #95 Cup” cocktail which consists of: pimm’s, house cucumber vodka, lemon, mint, tiki bitters, ginger ale. I don’t recall the price but someplace between $10-$12. It was definitely worth it – such a refreshing drink which looked almost too perfect to drink

• Nick’s second drink, which he had with dessert, was the: “Cold Bruiser” cocktail which consists of: privateer silver reserve rum, fazenda cold-brew coffee, cacao, walnut, ginger. Also somewhere between $10-$12. This was definitely a unique drink – an oversized ice cube filled the round whiskey glass. If you like coffee, you might love this drink – you can definitely taste both the coffee and rum. At first I wasn’t sure how much I liked it but it went down really smooth and the ice cube kept it nice and cold

FOOD:

• For an appetizer we did the fried green olives ($5) and the grilled bread ($7). Two ‘snacks’ that sounded quite simple but were presented really nicely and tasted super fresh. Just the right amount to eat without ruining your main course!

• In addition to this they served 2 complimentary slices of what looked like brown wheat bread…seemingly homemade. It had a sweet taste to it and was served with soft butter. I decided to skip because I knew it’d fill me up – my husband enjoyed the bread! Definitely a dense start to the dinner but tasty
• For the main course, I had the sweet corn, leeks & morels homemade ravioli ($23). It was very delicious. You could tell the pasta was homemade. The corn was extra sweet which I enjoyed. I think there was 5 or 6 oversized raviolis so a good portion. I couldn’t finish it all…as usual, Nick had not problem polishing it off

• Nick had the carne asada with flash fried shishito peppers, roasted onion, oregano mojo, cotija cheese, lime ($34). I really liked the presentation – it came out on an iron skillet. Nick said it was delicious…I was literally saved only a morsel. Which was fine because he likes his meat medium/rare which I prefer medium/well

Now for the final course of the night – side note…no, we were not “celebrating” anything which you may think by the seemingly large dinner we treated ourselves to. We just decided to go out on a whim…hey, it was Saturday, it was “treat yo’self” time for The Moores.

DESSERT

• This is where I decided “yes, I need to write a review on this place” because they really nailed it home with dessert. We got the “Snickers in a Bowl” (I mean, need I say more?) which consists of peanut semifreddo, nougat, dulce de leche & praline ($11). It wasn’t easy to decide on that dessert, believe it or not. S&R has a great dessert menu that offers a lot of different flavors…I can’t wait to go back and try more. I always appreciate when a restaurant has a unique dessert menu vs. those typical you-know-they-were-frozen options like the brownie sundae and lava cake. It’s hard to put into words the tastiness of this “Snickers in a Bowl” dessert – but it was more than a store bought Snickers could ever deliver. Chocolately, creamy, chewy, hazelnutty, and just plain gorgeous to look at too

All in all, we definitely recommend this place for drinks/apps/dinner/dessert. Be it for a weeknight treat or to celebrate a special occasion. The bill was a bit higher than we anticipated for a dinner outside of the city but between the quality of the service, setting, drinks, and food (oh and not having to deal with traffic, hoards of people, or expensive parking in the city) it was worth the splurge. If you’re looking for lighter fare and a more reasonable bill hit up the bar area for “snacks” and cocktails, perfecto!

If you live in/around the South Shore or Boston area, check it out!

Click here for link to Steel & Rye website.