Scholars American Bistro & Cocktail Club

This place is pretty cool IMO, but it's an example of many of the issues I'm noticing with night life in Boston.The best things about this place are the atmosphere (solid B+), the food (the salmon was good and arrived hot), and the drinks I had were decent and not watered down.What annoyed me the most was that apparently they don't open up the pool tables for use until after 8pm, or so I was told be the lady at the front desk. Uhhh... what? It doesn't say that anywhere on the website, and in no other city have I been to a venue where pool tables were closed off to customers for no apparent reason.On a related note, I love Boston, but a big problem with the night life is that games are truly undervalued. Most venues either don't have games or their games are MIA, as was somewhat the case as Scholars. I don't get it. I heard that the local government has appointed people to improve the night life; if you are one of them, please to look to the Arts District in LA and encourage Boston venues to try and replicate what has worked there.The other huge drawback to Scholars is the service at the bar. They are capable bartenders, as my drinks were good, but they were extremely slow! I've been to some insanely packed bars elsewhere that were slinging drinks 5 times as fast as here. But I sat at this bar for probably over 10 minutes like a schmuck without getting approached for a drink order. The place wasn't even packed or anything.Overall, I'd say go here if you want to be somewhere better than an average dive bar, have time to kill, and aren't interested in playing pool. On the other hand, if you have plans afterwards, I'd advise going to another place where you'll actually get served quickly.

I had an ok experience at scholars. Me and some friends stopped in at 10:30 and the place was completely empty. It had a cool vibe tho! I cant speak much to the food, but the service was good and the seats were super comfy. The restaurant was pretty cool and had a very moody atmosphere. Id come back here to try the food, but I wouldn't recommend as a late night bar experience, the restaurant being empty was a bit weird

Love the space! I've hosted here and it's always a success. Lovely drink selection and the bartenders are absolutely divine! The chips were obviously homemade and the corn ribs had such a well done Cajun flavor. I had never had corn ribs before and I think I'm addicted now. I've also gotten the calamari before and while not bad it wasn't my favorite quite like these two apps.

Had the Scholars Burger and it was definitely better than a typical burger you find. I liked the sauce and it was super filing with the double smashed beef patties. Would get again if was hungry like I was post a run.

Would come here again just for the Bloody marg. The flavors were perfect and it wasn't as weak as cocktails in restaurants always seem to be these days. So delicious.

Went for drinks on a Friday afternoon. The mezcal drink was good, not great. Slightly too much grapefruit and not enough mezcal taste. Service was great and a nice, classy atmosphere.

The food here is really just ok and I wouldn't necessarily recommend coming here for the food. I came here with my boyfriend and his family while they were in town visiting. It's located in a very convenient area to downtown. They have a relatively small dinner time menu. I had gotten the Caesar salad wrap with fries. Both of which were just ok. The night life here is extremely different and I like the nightlife more which is why maybe I don't like eating here as much. There is a $10 cover at night which if you can make it in before cover it's worth it. Cover used to start at 10pm but now it seems like it starts whenever the bouncers want it to. The dance floor is fun and they usually have pretty good music at night.

After walking all over Boston and getting wet in the rain I really just wanted to sit down somewhere quiet and warm. This was on the way back to the hotel so my friend and I popped in. It was warm. It was quiet. Very fun decorations. Quick service and started with a cocktail, the rose sangria. It was delicious! My friend got soup. I opted for the veggie burger. Possibly one of the best veggie burgers I've ever had. Everything was well balanced. Talk about a stroke of luck to find this gem!

Best kept pizza secret in Boston apparently. It was listed as Pi Alley Pizza, but I have confirmed the two are one and the same.

I went for drinks on a Saturday night. I have no experience with their food service. I've seen scholars packed and empty throughout the last couple years on nights out. One thing that's always a consistent guarantee is that the security inside are AWFUL to be around!!!!!!!!! Like it ruins the entire experience how pushy and authoritative they are. Some of the security also are weirdly aggressive physically and I'm not the first reviewer to say that. Not cool and not the vibe you want for a bar at all. Scholars used to be my favorite bar, but now if you're under the age of 35 and want to go somewhere security only intervenes when absolutely necessary, go to any of the other spots in the area.