We love thistle and leek. The steak tartare and mushroom risotto are some of our favorites. We were a bit nervous when we brought out 10 month old since it’s a bit of a nicer restaurant and we couldn’t get a table outside. He does great at restaurants but still don’t want to feel like we’re bothering people. We shouldn’t have worried. The staff made our baby feel so welcome and were so friendly and kind. We can’t wait to go back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cameron Behringer
Wonderful food and cocktails. Definitely order a lot and share it all.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Bent E Sorensen
This place is great. Six stars.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Marina Kovarsky
A true neighborhood gem. Inventive, meticulously, executed, yet playful menu, outstanding cocktails, and wine selection. Deeply intelligent and thoughtful service.
Jake Bridges
Chickpea sandwich for lunch was exceptional.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Robert Lynch, Jr.
Excellent food - interesting and executed well. Octopus is tricky to cook and they did the best I’ve had. Great atmosphere and service too.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nancy d'Hemecourt
Thistle and Leek is my favorite restaurant! Everything about it is perfect! Brendan the maitre'd, Katie the bartender, and the hostess are so friendly and easy to talk to. Thistle and Leek is my favorite restaurant of all time! The location, the atmosphere, the staff, the food, the refreshment choices, and the ambience are amazing! Everyone is so nice. Every dish is delicious. The wine and beer choices are vast. The service is amazing. The location is perfect. And the price is reasonable. And I can't make these dishes at home as well as this restaurant. I love dining at Thistle and Leek!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ada Chinda
Incredibly expensive for tiny serving sizes. I was expecting each dish to be twice as big based on the cost. The food flavor was just ok, drinks were good (but also small). I found this place from reddit and I think it's very overhyped. We ended up leaving dinner early and eating the rest of our meal from somewhere else
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Yana Pikman
This is Newton center’s hidden gem! Delicious food and wonderful atmosphere. we sat outside on a beautiful night. The octopus was divine! loved the tomato salad, risotto, rosti. They closed at 9 but let us stay much past, without feeling rushed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Pamela Zhou
the food here is great! i highly recommend the bluefin tuna if you like acidity, the risotto, and the zucchini a la plancha. since it’s small plates, prepare to order 4+ per person. the ricotta cheesecake was fluffy and perfect! however, the service could use some improvement. during a busy weekend night at the dinner rush there was only one server attending to the whole patio area. additionally, the dishes took a bit to come out. we waited 20 minutes for the shawarma chicken to arrive and when it finally did there was a long hair in it and we had to send it back. the hostess apologized and asked me if we would like a new one, which i appreciated. the food was good but for a price point like this i would expect moderately better service.
Food is a mixed bag. Some dishes are excellent; the beet salad, lamb meatballs, and risotto. The broiled oysters, though, were a complete fail—the large oysters were not really broiled so much as warmed under a broiler so they were just warm, large, raw oysters. Focaccia was ok. Pavlova was another fail; the meringue was bland, hard rather than crisp, and the bit of rhubarb on top had none of the bright flavor you might expect. Service was excellent and they have a nice selection of wines available by the glass.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Gabrielle Lopez
Love the ever changing menu and simple concept. No frills, just quality.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Anthony Pannozzo
I wasn't expecting to be blown away when my friend suggested Thistle & Leek. Good restaurants are a plenty in this area, but multi-layered flavor experiences are rare anywhere. This place combines friendly, 'everyone knows your name' service with a menu you would expect from a Beard nominee in some hip downtown neighborhood. What to try? Everything. Pretend you are a food critic and visit several times over the course of 2-3 months to check off each item...but start with the mushroom ragout....that alone is worth the visit.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Donal Waide
Top notch experience. Great service and some nice wine glass options.
Parking: Street parking to 6 p.m. opposite and outside restaurant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Mushroom Ragout
David Jones
first visit thought the food and service were both great. didn't love the chef table but understood that is what we could get. would definitely go back
We love thistle and leek. The steak tartare and mushroom risotto are some of our favorites. We were a bit nervous when we brought out 10 month old since it’s a bit of a nicer restaurant and we couldn’t get a table outside. He does great at restaurants but still don’t want to feel like we’re bothering people. We shouldn’t have worried. The staff made our baby feel so welcome and were so friendly and kind. We can’t wait to go back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wonderful food and cocktails. Definitely order a lot and share it all.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This place is great. Six stars.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
A true neighborhood gem. Inventive, meticulously, executed, yet playful menu, outstanding cocktails, and wine selection. Deeply intelligent and thoughtful service.
Chickpea sandwich for lunch was exceptional.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent food - interesting and executed well. Octopus is tricky to cook and they did the best I’ve had. Great atmosphere and service too.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Thistle and Leek is my favorite restaurant! Everything about it is perfect! Brendan the maitre'd, Katie the bartender, and the hostess are so friendly and easy to talk to. Thistle and Leek is my favorite restaurant of all time! The location, the atmosphere, the staff, the food, the refreshment choices, and the ambience are amazing! Everyone is so nice. Every dish is delicious. The wine and beer choices are vast. The service is amazing. The location is perfect. And the price is reasonable. And I can't make these dishes at home as well as this restaurant. I love dining at Thistle and Leek!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Incredibly expensive for tiny serving sizes. I was expecting each dish to be twice as big based on the cost. The food flavor was just ok, drinks were good (but also small). I found this place from reddit and I think it's very overhyped. We ended up leaving dinner early and eating the rest of our meal from somewhere else
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
This is Newton center’s hidden gem! Delicious food and wonderful atmosphere. we sat outside on a beautiful night. The octopus was divine! loved the tomato salad, risotto, rosti. They closed at 9 but let us stay much past, without feeling rushed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
the food here is great! i highly recommend the bluefin tuna if you like acidity, the risotto, and the zucchini a la plancha. since it’s small plates, prepare to order 4+ per person. the ricotta cheesecake was fluffy and perfect! however, the service could use some improvement. during a busy weekend night at the dinner rush there was only one server attending to the whole patio area. additionally, the dishes took a bit to come out. we waited 20 minutes for the shawarma chicken to arrive and when it finally did there was a long hair in it and we had to send it back. the hostess apologized and asked me if we would like a new one, which i appreciated. the food was good but for a price point like this i would expect moderately better service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
Restaurantji Recommends
Food is a mixed bag. Some dishes are excellent; the beet salad, lamb meatballs, and risotto. The broiled oysters, though, were a complete fail—the large oysters were not really broiled so much as warmed under a broiler so they were just warm, large, raw oysters. Focaccia was ok. Pavlova was another fail; the meringue was bland, hard rather than crisp, and the bit of rhubarb on top had none of the bright flavor you might expect. Service was excellent and they have a nice selection of wines available by the glass.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Love the ever changing menu and simple concept. No frills, just quality.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I wasn't expecting to be blown away when my friend suggested Thistle & Leek. Good restaurants are a plenty in this area, but multi-layered flavor experiences are rare anywhere. This place combines friendly, 'everyone knows your name' service with a menu you would expect from a Beard nominee in some hip downtown neighborhood. What to try? Everything. Pretend you are a food critic and visit several times over the course of 2-3 months to check off each item...but start with the mushroom ragout....that alone is worth the visit.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Top notch experience. Great service and some nice wine glass options.
Parking: Street parking to 6 p.m. opposite and outside restaurant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Mushroom Ragout
first visit thought the food and service were both great. didn't love the chef table but understood that is what we could get. would definitely go back
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
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