Strega

My husband and I were only in town for a few hours (drove down from visiting Salem) but knew we wanted Italian. I really wanted to experience the Parmesan cheese wheel pasta so we opted for here, as it was a spicy vodka sauce offered in the table side wheel. We made reservations for 6:45 on a Thursday evening and were seated right away. We sat near the back, which was probably one of the quieter spots in the restaurant. It was a very cool vibe; TV's playing old movies, beautiful chandeliers and just a fun spot - two walls boasted photos of what I assume was the owner with all kinds of celebrities! We ordered drinks and the meatball as an appetizer and it came out so fast & was served with a small side of ricotta which I really enjoyed! My drink, a berry limoncello, was very tasty & was not lacking any alcohol! The complimentary bread with their olive oil & balsamic glaze was SO good!! For our entrees, we both opted for the "That's Amore". Our server performed the wheel presentation, which honestly is all that I can say it was - for presentation. It was a little underwhelming (no torches etc) but the pasta was very good and the cheese itself was delicious! I was a little bummed there was no protein option with the dish - but it was beautiful saucy, not too spicy, creamy & the pasta itself was al dente (my husband said it was almost too "gummy", but I enjoyed the texture). We didn't opt for dessert or drinks after, but overall it was a great experience.

Behind the tasteless food, obnoxious atmosphere, and mediocre customer service of Strega, there might be a person who once had a dream of getting into the restaurant business. If this is the case, I feel bad for that person. If Strega is operated by some restaurant company conglomerate--as it appears to be, I laugh at the money you wasted on an inept marketing team.This was one horrible dinner for the books! STREGA IS A TOURIST TRAP. It has all the trappings of bad Hollywood Italian culture: a dozen tv screens with Mob movies on continuous repeat, obnoxiously loud live singing (thankfully only two songs), ridiculously overpriced food that tasted bad, and a foul-mouthed waiter.We had the eggplant appetizer, bolognese, and sea bass. Everything was really gross! The fish lacked flavor; the 4 gnocchi were just hard, dense globs of potato and flour; the bolognese tasted EXACTLY like Chef Boyardee (in fact the first remake my wife said upon tasting it!); and the oil and vinegar to dip the cold bread was not even tasty. On top of the poor-tasting food, you're paying an absurd amount for each dish. The tables are foolishly small, you're crammed next to a neighboring table, the music is obnoxiously loud. It's gaudy, obnoxious, tasteless, loud, expensive, and just a waste of space, money, and a meal!They Panza across the street for larger portions, infinitely better tasting food, fairer prices, and a more elegant atmosphere. Strega is HORRIBLE! I would give it zero stars but am forced to leave one.

I recently dined at Strega on Hanover Street and had a disappointing experience. The meatball was obviously microwaved, lacking any fresh, homemade taste. The pasta in the cheese wheel was bland and cold, leaving much to be desired.The worst part of the meal was the chicken parmigiana. It was the worst chicken parmigiana I've ever had--worse than a frozen dinner, worse than an airplane meal. The coating slid off the chicken in sheets, which was baffling and unappetizing. I expected so much more from a restaurant with such a reputation. And the sodas where flat.

My friend ordered a delicious pasta dish that came with two scallops and two big shrimp. I ordered octopus that was really tender, so tender it kinda weirded me out because usually it's pretty chewy.

Came here for a birthday dinner and got the vodka pasta that is prepared in the cheese wheel! Such a cool experience to finally try and see and it made everything taste so fresh! Strega has a lot of good dishes but some can be smaller or bigger than others. The vodka pasta in my opinion was just the right size but my friends that tried the gnocchi were surprised that it was mostly sauce with like five pieces and noted it was more similar to shakshuka. The place is pretty small but we were placed in a cute nook area by the wine bottles! My little lore for this place is that I found out the next day that Ed Sheeran had sat in the same spot the night before! Kind of fun that random celebrities come here for dinner when they're in town too!

Party of 4 ! First of all I would gave this place at least a 4 - 5 but ! The food was AWESOME the atmosphere was a little loud , the music was about a 10 maybe 8 would be better that's just me whatever not a deal breaker. But the reason you got a 3 star was because of your server Lucinda A. We received our bill, the wife says the bill is $170 OK! As I wait for the bill with cash tip in hand which was a good 20% , the check comes now it's $200 with auto gratuity! If Lucinda said hey there is auto grad. on your check we would have been ok with it but she never said one word. Did Lucinda A. assume we were not going to tip her and if I didn't know the bill was $ 170 I would have left her the 20% tip also which then she would be getting double tipped . Your restaurant would have gotten at least a 4.5 stars cause everything was good until your low end waitress pulled a stunt like that, not cool

Stopped here for brunch while visiting the North end. A little pricey for brunch, but as you expect in Boston. The food was okay, not crazy good. The service was great though and you never had to wait at all. The inside is cute and has a different vibe but with lots of loud music playing, so it was hard to talk. Overall not my favorite. Some of the lunch food coming out did look good.

Life is Short. F...it up. Family, Flavor, FriendsHaven't wanted to check out this place for a long time at high expectations. Sitting down for dinner at this place was very loud and very crowded. I forget how small the restaurants are in the north end. Who is at the whip ricotta the calamari. The Bolognese, the Alfredo, pasta and much anticipated wheel of cheese pasta. All all the food was just mediocre. Unfortunately I had such high hopes. The pasta in the wheel of cheese was also very disappointment as they just did it with hot water instead of the liquor. It's supposed to be a show at a dinner that they bring over to your table but because the restaurant was so small we had to go to the other side of the restaurant just to watch him Scrape the cheese with spoons and hot water. I know the north end is known for spray, food and great flavors. I guess this time was an off night..

I will never return here. The waitress secretly added to her tip! I just disputed with Amex! The service alone makes this place not worth it.Came here on a Wednesday night and was able to sit right in the window for 2. This place is smaller than I expected (i.e. the door to the men's room actually hits the toilet when you open it)Service was HORRIBLE.. we were not offered anything to drink by the waitress, we actually had to flag her down to tell her we wanted to order food after waiting for 15 minutes. The food was pretty decent as we had the fettuccini strega and the pollo parmigiana. The guy who carried the food out gave us water, utensils, and bread when he noticed we had nothing.The RED FLAG here is that our bill was $71 and the service was not worth a 20% tip. So I only tipped $10.. I checked my Amex statement and the waitress bumped it up to 20%. I don't recommend this place unless you like terrible service, with mid food, and potentially money stolen from you. Please keep your customer copy when leaving this place.

Food was good enough for north end. Service was AWFUL. Waited 20+ minutes for our waiter to even acknowledge us and the horrid service continued thru the night. Not friendly, didn't read us the specials like we overheard with another server, we had to ask for the complimentary bread, took forever to ring us up. Hostess was lovely and the bus boys were very attentive which was the only redeeming part of the service. Will not be returning.