The Common Ground

90’s night on Friday is a fun idea. But it gets a little out of control fast. It’s crowded, but at least the bartenders do a great job of keeping up. It gets so full there’s not a lot of room left to dance. Good selection of beers and good for a non weekend night.

Four Stars for 90s night on Fridays. You’d better get there before 9pm if you want to get in without cover or wait an hour in line. The dance area can get a bit cramped, but I’ve been here so many times that I’m used to it. It’s a great place to go if you want to get a few drinks and blow off steam while dancing around some hipsters or gainfully employed young adults to some SWEET 90s tunes. It’s way better than going to the White Horse or other places in the area.
If you want a drink, make sure to get to the bar earlier on as the area in front of the bar gets completely packed and you may have to wait at least a few minutes.

Have previously only been here on Friday and Saturday nights for some drinking and dancing. When it comes to 90s music, DJ Phat Mike knows what to play.
Decided to try it out for brunch. There was a constant stream of customers, a mixed crowd of college students and families, but it was never crowded. Our experience was fine. Our waitress was pleasant, but we wouldn’t see her for spans at a time, and when asking for extras like jam and hot sauce it took a long time or we didn’t get what we asked for at all. There was an expansive brunch buffet. We went with the eggs and chocolate chip pancakes. Both were good, but not prepared as requested. We would have returned it, but no one checked in with us, and after a while you just get too hungry and food gets cold. The prices were reasonable.
Will still be coming back here for the infamous 90s night, but will probably pass on brunch.

90’s night on Fridays is a blast. DJ played great throwbacks and was open to requests which is something that isn’t always easy to find. Drinks were moderately priced.

I went here last night for 90s night. There is a cover fee that starts at ten (five dollars a person) so when we got there a little after 930 they had us stand outside and wait til ten. Inside the bar service was good and drinks were appropriately priced. Nothing too spectacular. The music was good. The crowd was weird. There were older and younger people but I can’t say you’d find someone good looking there. Overall it was okay and only as good as the company you bring.

Came here for trivia. It’s a pub in the Boston area, so don’t expect TOO MUCH, but given that, they have a better-​than-​average beer list, pretty good pitcher specials, and the food isn’t bad. Turkey burger is pretty good, caesar salad is mediocre, truffle fries are pretty good. I’d give 3.5 stars if possible, but don’t feel it really is as bad as 3, so 4 stars it is, but don’t expect anything spectacular.

DJ Phat Mike is the best DJ ever, Friday & Saturday nights the best place to be in Allston

I wish there was something below one star. This was the worst service I’ve EVER had in my entire life. After being seated we sat without being waited on for almost 30 minutes. I had to go over to the host and ask him to send a waiter/​waitress over. I got the Sunday Buffet and sat staring at it for ANOTHER half hour waiting for SILVERWARE.
My friend ordered a burger, requested cheese and didn’t get it. Not that big of a deal, but such a buzzkill. We ordered drinks right when the waitress came and our food came out BEFORE our drinks. The waitress told us «the bar is kind of backed up right now.» Meanwhile this is a small establishment and we can physically SEE that there are only four people sitting at the bar. ???
We told her right off the bat that we would need to split that check at the end and, duh, she didn’t split that checks. I highly recommend you do not come to this restaurant.

If you’re looking for a grungy bar masquerading as wannabe upscale — you found it! From pretentious douchebag bartenders who can’t be bothered to classy white trash this bar has allston captured. At least it captures all the negative stereo types — dirty (the taps — $ 12 beers that come from lines that haven’t been cleaned in years), ignores (the staff — more concerned with their own drama and affairs to notice anyone else or care) and trash (dirty, dirty allston epitomized in the form of a nasty red head bartender — please shower, thank your for being too consumed in your lack of customers to serve me last time, if you did I would’ve contracted hepatitis).
After too many trips here, I finally felt compelled to review them, mostly because I’m horrified and disgusted everytime I leave. Can’t speak to the food as I’ve never had the patience to stick around long enough to order.
Oh the one star is for the 57 being nearby so I can have a quick get away and not get caught in this shithole.

The 90s night used to be perfect at this place. Good music, vibrant crowd and great buzz. The second star is only to commemorate those great times. These days you wait 40 minutes in line to get into a bar that is half empty, but so many people inside seem wasted. This is not nearly as much fun as it used to be; it is hardly fun at all. In fact, I’ll leave after i finish writing this review and drinking my (reasonably priced) beer.

it took me a reunion tour to finally rate this bar, which i had been to many times during college. it definitely offers the typical BU bar experience, but i might not recommend it once you are past college age.

We were here at 9:10 for dinner and it’s now 9:51 and they are still keeping us in line. Meanwhile the restaurant is empty. They are clearly waiting for 10pm to charge us a cover. This may be the trashiest place in Boston… Not worth the wait. And the people going for 90s night… They play the same playlist every Friday. Lame. The people at the door are rude and if they’re so hard bent and need a $ 5 cover for people that are going to actually sit and order food… Then they don’t know how to run a bar/​restaurant. Cheap ass mofos that just let friends cut the line

Stop by for brunch after a late night out. Was drawn in when I saw their chalk sign outside saying «all-​you-​can-​eat brunch». Why not give it a shot?
Cool place! I can see it being a hit at night for drinks and dancing. We were sat immediately. Probably less than 15 people in the place. Clean, bright, and nice air flow!
Service was meh. Kinda slow. All-​you-​can-​eat platter consisted of toast (no butter on it?), scrambled eggs (liquid egg mix), home fries (not bad), and turkey bacon (could’ve been cooked longer). I also ordered a side basket of tater tots. They were the highlight, but weighed in at $ 7 bucks a basket. Brunch platter was $ 6.99. Coffee was basic, but took a little long to refill.
Ambiance: ⁴⁄₅
Breakfast platter: ²⁄₅
Service: ²⁄₅
Tots: ⁵⁄₅

Pretty upset at the fact the fucking door guy doesn’t know how to read a New Hampshire ID I went here with friends tonight and he tried to take my totally real ID. I’m going to be 26 in December. And look exactly like my photo and would have no reason to have a fake. The manager went inside and got a «fake» NH id and almost didn’t believe me either. They were going to keep my real ID and make me walk home to get my fucking passport to prove that I was of age! It’s illegal to take an ID fake or not. But I will seriously think about eating there in the future because of the incident I was humiliated at he door by a ginger man who couldn’t tell that my Id was real!?! Like wtf?

Props to Common Ground for being the only restaurant in Allston open for lunch/​dinner during the blizzard of 2015!
We decided on take out since my friends and I were working from home during the Snowpocalypse. We put in our order for 5 people, which included the following:
Chicken Parm
Grilled Cheese /​Tomato Soup
Grilled Steak Tips
Fried Chicken BLT
Char-​grilled Hamburger
We ran to the restaurant, took our to-​go bags, and left within 10 minutes.
Did we check our food items? No.
Did they mess up our order? Yes.
CONS:
Instead of grilled steak tips, which we stressed to cook medium rare, we got a chicken sandwich. I’m not sure how you can cook a chicken medium rare…
The fries that came with each sandwich tasted broiled, instead of fried. It was weird.
PROS:
The highlight of our lunch was the grilled cheese with tomato soup. It was honestly the best tomato soup I’ve had. It was chunky, creamy, savory, and piping hot — PERFECT during the snow storm. The grilled cheese stayed crispy even though we took it to-​go, and had the perfect amount of American and cheddar cheese and oozed into your mouth with every bite.
However, grilled cheese as the best entrée is definitely a let-​down. It’s pretty basic. Best way to be a basic betch during a state of emergency.

My boyfriend lives and breathes by this place and I can’t really blame him. It’s good. It’s really really good.
First, they have fantastic food. I’ve never been one to eat a turkey burger, but Common Ground has made me a believer. The meat is tender and well flavored, and smothered in a delicious house made cranberry mayo. It’s fantastic. I forgo the fries for the side salad which never disappoints.
I have trouble straying from the turkey burger, but when I do I’ve always been happy– I’ve done a few of their specials (always go for the specials!) and the fish and chips. The portions are always big and delicious.
At night, the place is a really fantastic haunt for the upper 20 somethings– my favorite being 90’s night on a Friday. The music is great, they’re always packed and it’s always a good time.
Their beer selection can’t be beat though I’m always sad when one of my favorites moves out of rotation. Never fear, it’s replaced by something else I like, or it comes back again soon.

BAR
Common ground is a small bar off brighton ave in allston. Overall a good beer selection with tons of craft beers and some domestic. The crowed tends to be a more professional one compared to Whitehorse and TITS.
On Fridays and Saturdays the line gets SUPER long and doesn’t move at all.
My advice, go Thursday for karaōke and stay away for the rest of the weekend.

5 years since my last visit and the margaritas were still excellent. The buffalo mac & cheese was pretty great as well for a good price. I’ve definitely had basically the same dish at other «nice pubs» for $ 2 – 5 more. Our waiter was positive but not overly engaging even though there were like 10 other people in the place total. And let’s be real here, we are drunk happy easy people. So for a waiter to not be positive around us would just be insulting =o)
The music was all indie pop and 90’s alt rock. Pretty sure it is the same playlist from when I was last living in Alston which is actually AWESOME.
The place was so relatively empty though for a Saturday night. We were a big group so we brought our own energy but that emptiness could be a turn-​off otherwise. It’s strange since you know places in the area like Sunset are hopping. But I guess part of the charm of TCG is its slightly off the main scene location and feel.
This place was one of my original «blacklisted» venues because every time I went in, the fries were different. This time I was having too much fun with friends to remember to try them.
The Common Ground, I officially lift your blacklisted status. May you live long and prosper.

Brunch review:
Definitely not ever coming back for brunch. J and I went for brunch after seeing their brunch sign and brunch buffet a bunch of times while walking down Harvard ave. We went in and we were glad to see there was outdoor seating in the back and were led back there by staff. So far so good. After a while though it didn’t seem like anyone was going to talk to us. And we could see and hear the staff talk confusedly amongst themselves as to whose territory our table was. I guess at least they cared. So it seemed like they sorted it out so we stool around but still no one came. Again they talked amongst themselves and finally someone came. I don’t know what happened the first time.
Then we finally got to order food. The boy got the brunch buffet and I got a sausage and broccoli omelet. Our confused guy took our orders but didn’t ask if we wanted coffee and left too early for us to even ask. Some other confused staff came to our table and asked if we were helped. So we ordered a coffee but got 2.
Then the omelet finally came but twas not an omelet! It was basically a plain egg omelet with the sausage and cheese and broccoli placed in the middle like if the egg part was a tortilla and the fillings were placed on the plain egg omelet and folded like a taco. The fillings were also way too big and not chopped small enough so it was in no way easy to eat like an omelet so it was basically a side of sausage and broccoli with half unmelted cheese.
Our eventual waitstaff was apologetic but in a weird way like he lingered at our table after saying sorry which just was uncomfortable. What he really could of done was take the extra coffee off our bill or give us an overall discount for the crap service.
Basically, for the same price I could of went somewhere else way better with better quality food, better food options, and better service.

We came with a group on a Monday night for Stump Trivia and it was also my first visit to this place. I always expect the worst when it comes to Allston so I was pleasantly surprised.
The interior was well lit and though it’s not incredibly spacious, we had no problem seating the 6 of us. Our waiter was friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable about the menu and brews. Beer selection was great. A friend got the buffalo mac n cheese and it was SUPER spicy so beware. I got the steak tip entrée, which was tasty and super filling. Fries were huge and had a nice crisp to them and the broccoli was a welcomed addition to balance out of the heaviness of the meal.
Stump trivia itself was super fun there. It’s nicer that it’s a smaller venue — nice for the runner, less competition, easier to hear the facilitator, Jeremy (who btw was super nice, made rounds to the tables, thanking us for playing).

I found myself in this ‘hood on a quiet Saturday afternoon. I have been wanting to try this place for a while so I was glad when my friend and I popped in here and we got seated right away. It was pretty dead and only a few tables with people at them. Our waiter was ok but he did not seem very humored to be working. I asked for advice on getting a hard cider and he recommended the Smith and Forge and it was a good call.
I got the grilled cheese and cream of tomato soup. The grilled cheese was pretty good and the cheese combinations worked well. The «crème» of tomato soup was devoid of crème. While it was definitely tomato soup, it was not good. I used it to dip my grilled cheese into and that worked well but otherwise, I just did not enjoy it.
The one bright spot was that we decided to share the tator tots. They were perfect — crisp on the inside and potato goodness on the inside — and it was large enough to share.
Our waiter was hard to find most of the time and never asked us how we liked our entrees. My friend got a more breakfast entrée and asked for coffee — she never got it. At one point, we had to ask another waitress to find him (maybe he was on a break?). The service was excruciatingly slow.
Since I heard such good things about this place, I will give it another chance but not anytime soon.