Boston's by the Viaduct

Last night, we three along with my Mom and nephew Joe decided to try Boston's by the Viaduct in Canton, a redo of the former Nick's Place.

It wasn't pretty.

Around 8-10 years ago, the old Nick's was a decent family restaurant with an expansive menu, specializing in Greek and Italian. Friendly, competent servers took good care of you, and for a decent price.

Hey... you folks over at Boston's by the Viaduct... this is what a North End sausage sub is supposed to look like. Note the crusty toasted Italian roll, that the veggies are fully cooked and the sausage still retains some of its flavorful juices. Seriously... you guys need to watch The Food Channel.

We should have known something was amiss when we arrived around 6 PM, Sunday evening. Nick's used to be packed at that time, and a wait of thirty minutes or longer not unusual. We were seated right away--two other people in the dining room, two in the bar. When the waitress came, she seemed put-out and somehow harassed, despite a lack of customers to harry her. Boston's thing is sort of a food tour of Beantown; their menu sub-divided into sections titled, North End, Quincy Market, Haymarket, and the like. I doubt any food made on those premises would pass on the natives, for sure... and there aren't all that many tourists to rip-off around Canton.

And so the place was empty... the word of mouth we somehow missed must have been vile.

To make what could be a long story short, Joe ordered the Nacho appetizer for his main dish: cheap, thin, stale, flavorless nachos, no cheese to speak of, a sprinkle of jar salsa and lump of bad guac. (Uncle Bill... these nachos suck.)

Grammy and May had Steak Tip subs, what little meat there was overdone and tough. My 'North End' sausage sub was a joke... bad bread, A HALF of a tasteless, dried-out sausage topped with a spare scattering of uncooked peppers and onions.

It's hard to believe that food professionals are running this ship, or that you can be that bad by accident.

I'll give Boston's a 0.5 for getting a bacon cheeseburger cooked to order and their fairly decent, crispy onion rings, but I think I'm being generous since everything, including the drinks, had a high-end price.

Go at your own peril... you'd be much better off in the North End.

Boston's by the Viaduct 399 Neponset St.. Canton, Ma, MA 02021 Phone: (781) 828-7878

Rating: A Dismal 0.5 out of 5 Tomato Salads