Last Saturday four of us went to Carrie Nation, a place where we have gone and have recommended because of its good food, cocktails, service, and environment. Unfortunately this visit had little of those qualities. We sat in the main dining area and were met with a very loud TV showing the World Cup game of the night. We politely asked for the volume to be reduced and, reluctantly it seemed, it was slightly reduced. It seemed that very few diners were watching game. (Over the course of the tournament I had sat at many bars, this one included, with the volume off or lowered. ) While we were never quite sure who our waitperson was, (they use team approach) we eventually had one of the staff take our drink order and another our food order for oysters and four entrees. The drinks arrived and we waited for our oysters, which did not appear. Eventually our dinners arrived and we asked about the oysters and told them we no longer wanted them, they were to be our appetizer. The waiter said he didn't know we wanted them before our food and that they were on their way. None of us would have ever thought we would need to ask for our oysters first. One of our party ordered the mussels with “white wine, cream, chorizo, French fries, grilled bread”. What he received was a dry bowl of mussels and some bread, no sauce (why the bread?) and no chorizo. It was sent back and a salad with salmon was ordered as a replacement. During the entire course of this meal we were never asked if we would like another round of drinks, we finally flagged down a waitperson and received a couple of more. Our lesson from this is if you go to Carrie Nation sit at the bar, and if the bar is full do yourself a favor and leave. The manager comped the oysters and the inedible mussels but in my opinion there should never be a need to comp a meal, it should just be made and served correctly the first time, or in this case first AND second time.
Stephanie
While Carrie Nation itself was a lovely establishment with competent, capable bartenders and great entertainment, I'm forced to post a 1 star review because of the bouncer. And before we start, I am not the type of person to have negative customer service interactions - this was an insanely bad experience, and I am compelled to leave this review due to the horrendous interactions that numerous people in our group had with the bouncer that night.
We came to Carrie Nation early in the evening after a wedding, and he quite literally tried to deny entrance to the bride once the wedding guests were inside. This was one of many incidents he caused - the bouncer created so many problems throughout the evening that we will literally not be able to tell the stories of this girl's wedding without cursing his incompetence. He was rude, denied entrance capriciously to people who politely said they didn't even want to drink, they wanted to go talk to the bride before the wedding was over, and caused issues for numerous people who were honestly, not even intoxicated and very politely asking about getting the bride herself inside to see her entire wedding group. He made us have a miserable experience and I would really ask that your establishment instruct your bouncers to be more capable at handling groups.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 1
Chris Karavoulias (BostonGreekGeek)
So this review is for the drag brunch on Sundays since I couldn't find a separate entry for it and you obviously you don't go to the drag brunch for the food. They do have an option to go an hour before the show to have brunch from the buffet which isn't bad for a buffet brunch. Only slightly better than most hotel buffet breakfasts. But it is convenient to be seated where you will be for the show and have your brunch before the show starts
The show is fun and you may be picked to interact with some performers (especially if you are me who always gets selected at any show like this). Your best option is to go along and have fun. This makes it a better experience for you, those with you and everyone attending ;)
Fun dancing, music and shows and even though I'm not reviewing the food options I do have to mention that they bring you water as soon as you sit and that is always one of the first things I look for at restaurants.
Isaac Hernandez
A bouncer walked across the street (no cross walk) to Emmets around 12:50am today and instead of waiting for me to finish parking, he verbally threatened to pull me out of my car and insulted me and got racist assuming where I'm from. I literally had to record a VIDEO to make him BACK AWAY, it was so unnerving and unprofessional. It's hard enough driving drunk customers home but when staff is intimidating uber drivers with physical violence its just unacceptable. It's just the reality of what people of color have to deal endure but nobody sees.
Katherine
Amazing experience! The fish and chips are unbelievable, as well as the caesar. one of my favorite places in Boston
Nate Millina
Atmosphere of this place is very classy. We got drinks and they were delicious. Service is top tier, they went out of their way to help us.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Maya Holt
Came here tonight after our Pride celebrations and had an awesome time! Cocktails are a must-try! The food was amazing and came out super fast. The NY strip steak was so fresh and full of flavor. Our server, Sarah M, was really attentive and friendly. We left just as the band was starting, but they seemed great! Hope you have a great time in Boston!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Bob E
Being annoying about closing at quarter to 2 when you actually close at 2 isn’t fun. The bouncer needed to let go of some stuff and he chose to let it go on his customers which is not ok.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Chris Louise
The place has a nice atmosphere and good band. However, it is not a Speakeasy. It is a restaurant with a speakeasy theme. The drink had too much elderflower. I ordered the beef entree and wish I tried something different.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 1
Sahil Arora
VERY RUDE STAFF. Extremely rude. Not only did I not get a drink they gaslight me into thinking I was crazy for waiting for 30 mins at the bar.
The bouncer was extremely aggressive, it was definitely his first job!
I’ve been going here for 5 years but after tonight you’d be lucky to find me not calling the statees(mass state troopers) on the number of underage kids that were there.
Terrible place! Never again. So sad, we’ve been going for so long
Staff was friendly, professional and accommodating the issue was the food was very average
Eren Akdere
Refused entry solely because my international ID is from another country. No flexibility, no apology — just flat-out dismissive and rude. Discriminatory attitude and zero professionalism. Avoid.
gonca akdere
They were so rude. You cannot enter the bar with international driver license and seems they see Europeans as security problem.
Service: 1
Nicolas
I'll never return here again. Your restaurant has gone downhill. The service was horrible. The food was not what we had prior. I'll never return.
Lali B
Love this place but the dj Wyatt guy is terrible. He seems to be stuck in 2010. Trash outdated playlist. It’s 2026 hire someone better.
Last Saturday four of us went to Carrie Nation, a place where we have gone and have recommended because of its good food, cocktails, service, and environment. Unfortunately this visit had little of those qualities. We sat in the main dining area and were met with a very loud TV showing the World Cup game of the night. We politely asked for the volume to be reduced and, reluctantly it seemed, it was slightly reduced. It seemed that very few diners were watching game. (Over the course of the tournament I had sat at many bars, this one included, with the volume off or lowered. ) While we were never quite sure who our waitperson was, (they use team approach) we eventually had one of the staff take our drink order and another our food order for oysters and four entrees. The drinks arrived and we waited for our oysters, which did not appear. Eventually our dinners arrived and we asked about the oysters and told them we no longer wanted them, they were to be our appetizer. The waiter said he didn't know we wanted them before our food and that they were on their way. None of us would have ever thought we would need to ask for our oysters first. One of our party ordered the mussels with “white wine, cream, chorizo, French fries, grilled bread”. What he received was a dry bowl of mussels and some bread, no sauce (why the bread?) and no chorizo. It was sent back and a salad with salmon was ordered as a replacement. During the entire course of this meal we were never asked if we would like another round of drinks, we finally flagged down a waitperson and received a couple of more. Our lesson from this is if you go to Carrie Nation sit at the bar, and if the bar is full do yourself a favor and leave. The manager comped the oysters and the inedible mussels but in my opinion there should never be a need to comp a meal, it should just be made and served correctly the first time, or in this case first AND second time.
While Carrie Nation itself was a lovely establishment with competent, capable bartenders and great entertainment, I'm forced to post a 1 star review because of the bouncer. And before we start, I am not the type of person to have negative customer service interactions - this was an insanely bad experience, and I am compelled to leave this review due to the horrendous interactions that numerous people in our group had with the bouncer that night.
We came to Carrie Nation early in the evening after a wedding, and he quite literally tried to deny entrance to the bride once the wedding guests were inside. This was one of many incidents he caused - the bouncer created so many problems throughout the evening that we will literally not be able to tell the stories of this girl's wedding without cursing his incompetence. He was rude, denied entrance capriciously to people who politely said they didn't even want to drink, they wanted to go talk to the bride before the wedding was over, and caused issues for numerous people who were honestly, not even intoxicated and very politely asking about getting the bride herself inside to see her entire wedding group. He made us have a miserable experience and I would really ask that your establishment instruct your bouncers to be more capable at handling groups.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 1
So this review is for the drag brunch on Sundays since I couldn't find a separate entry for it and you obviously you don't go to the drag brunch for the food. They do have an option to go an hour before the show to have brunch from the buffet which isn't bad for a buffet brunch. Only slightly better than most hotel buffet breakfasts. But it is convenient to be seated where you will be for the show and have your brunch before the show starts
The show is fun and you may be picked to interact with some performers (especially if you are me who always gets selected at any show like this). Your best option is to go along and have fun. This makes it a better experience for you, those with you and everyone attending ;)
Fun dancing, music and shows and even though I'm not reviewing the food options I do have to mention that they bring you water as soon as you sit and that is always one of the first things I look for at restaurants.
A bouncer walked across the street (no cross walk) to Emmets around 12:50am today and instead of waiting for me to finish parking, he verbally threatened to pull me out of my car and insulted me and got racist assuming where I'm from. I literally had to record a VIDEO to make him BACK AWAY, it was so unnerving and unprofessional. It's hard enough driving drunk customers home but when staff is intimidating uber drivers with physical violence its just unacceptable. It's just the reality of what people of color have to deal endure but nobody sees.
Amazing experience! The fish and chips are unbelievable, as well as the caesar. one of my favorite places in Boston
Atmosphere of this place is very classy. We got drinks and they were delicious. Service is top tier, they went out of their way to help us.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Came here tonight after our Pride celebrations and had an awesome time! Cocktails are a must-try! The food was amazing and came out super fast. The NY strip steak was so fresh and full of flavor. Our server, Sarah M, was really attentive and friendly. We left just as the band was starting, but they seemed great! Hope you have a great time in Boston!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Being annoying about closing at quarter to 2 when you actually close at 2 isn’t fun. The bouncer needed to let go of some stuff and he chose to let it go on his customers which is not ok.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
The place has a nice atmosphere and good band. However, it is not a Speakeasy. It is a restaurant with a speakeasy theme. The drink had too much elderflower. I ordered the beef entree and wish I tried something different.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 1
VERY RUDE STAFF. Extremely rude. Not only did I not get a drink they gaslight me into thinking I was crazy for waiting for 30 mins at the bar.
The bouncer was extremely aggressive, it was definitely his first job!
I’ve been going here for 5 years but after tonight you’d be lucky to find me not calling the statees(mass state troopers) on the number of underage kids that were there.
Terrible place! Never again. So sad, we’ve been going for so long
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Restaurantji Recommends
Staff was friendly, professional and accommodating the issue was the food was very average
Refused entry solely because my international ID is from another country. No flexibility, no apology — just flat-out dismissive and rude. Discriminatory attitude and zero professionalism. Avoid.
They were so rude. You cannot enter the bar with international driver license and seems they see Europeans as security problem.
Service: 1
I'll never return here again. Your restaurant has gone downhill. The service was horrible. The food was not what we had prior. I'll never return.
Love this place but the dj Wyatt guy is terrible. He seems to be stuck in 2010. Trash outdated playlist.
It’s 2026 hire someone better.
Food: 1
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