28 Degree’s

I’m in town but from Baltimore. This spot is exactly what I was looking for: drinks, music that I can enjoy an not be put to sleep to and a chill spot!

Beautifully stylish bar-​restaurant that has suffered from uneven food over its life. This review is from 2010, before consulting chef William Kovell left to open Catalyst in Cambridge. (By the way, it’s Degrees, not Degree’s.)
It’s never a good idea for a restaurant to rest on its laurels. How many places open to great acclaim, draw crowds for a while, and then fade to irrelevance because they got cocky and stopped trying hard to please? 28 Degrees started off gangbusters five years ago, immediately attracting a loyal following with its then-​novel small-​plates concept, big cocktails, pounding house-​music soundtrack, and dead-​gorgeous Mark Bombara interior design. It achieved a rare balancing act, drawing equally from South End boys craving a chic local hangout and heteros who dug the lively, nightclubby vibe. And while first-​time visitors always buzzed about the beautiful bathrooms, nobody talked much about the food.
It’s not high-​rolling 2006 anymore: customers are flintier with their entertainment dollars. The Beehive and Noche next door offer nearby alternatives for a drink and a nosh in a beautiful room. So 28 Degrees wisely decided to add a little superstar firepower to its lineup, hiring William Kovel as consulting chef. Kovel, who won four-​star raves for his work at the helm of Aujourd’hui, has brought his refined, Asian-​influenced New American sensibility to 28’s casual roster of small bites, shareable plates, and gourmet brick-​oven pizzas. His crab salad martini ($ 13) provides an appropriately dramatic opening note — you could mistake it for a whimsical, whipped-​cream-​topped dessert if not for its garnish of gaufrette potatoes. Its Thai-​leaning accents of mango and red onion make it a perfectly refreshing savory starter. And an entrée of spring pea ravioli ($ 15) is the kind of carefully handmade dish that Kovel might have plated at the Four Seasons, a marvel of fresh-​pasta texture, bright spring flavors, and the subtle earthy contrasts of oyster mushrooms and roasted tomato.
Perhaps most emblematic of how Kovel has adapted his serious aesthetic to the easygoing, plate-​passing style here is his sprightly appetizer of pork shumai ($ 12). It’s light and delicious, an eye-​catching, multi-​culti hybrid artfully bedecked with curly ribbons of scallion. It recalls Japanese shumai with its open-​faced design and gingery pork filling, and it also evokes Indonesian siomai with its pool of kecap manis (the grandfather of ketchup: a tomato-​free, sweetened soy-​sauce dip) and subtly fiery sweet chili sauce. 28 Degrees has always been about looking good and having fun — it just needed to get back to the gym, and Kovel has definitely managed to add some culinary muscle tone to the menu.

I can only speak the the happy hour $ 1 oyster and bar menu.
You really can’t go wrong with this deal and a nice glass of white wine on a hot summer day. It really hits the spot. And the place has pretty good music in the background.
The bartenders were nice enough. Not overly attentive nor less than needed.
Would definitely come back for HH oysters.

Met a friend here for drinks and dinner for my birthday on a Friday night.
Sat at the bar at 5:30ish, ordered a custom made drink and the barkeep didn’t blink an eye. All the drinks were delish. We had a dozen Wellfleet Oysters which were very fresh.
We had reservations for 7:30 in the dining room. We had the room to ourselves completely. We shared 3 small plates and a larger plate.
Could have done with out the Grilled Bread with bean purée and olive tapenade. The bread to purée and tapenade ratio was way lopsided. The gnocchi we shared was really the best gnocchi either one of us Italian girls had had and one of us knows how to make it from a passed down recipe. They were light, airy buttery puffs in a deliciously lemon-​butter sauce… heavenly.
The dining room was beautiful and very romantic — but I would agree with other reviewers — the music is too loud — had to talk loud to make sure we heard each other.

Great happy hour!
Dollar oysters and decently priced cocktails. One time we were there right at 5:00 and the ordered about 3 dozen oysters and the barman said staff went as fast as they could and they gave extra as they were going so fast (took a decent amount of time and was actually missing 2!) anyways we had a laugh as we were really easy going. Service is hit or miss during happy hour. Good quality oysters and decent drinks. Still like to come here every now and then for drinks and oysters. Hope to try them for dinner sometime soon!

Five stars for the most innovative cocktails, hypnotizing décor, and good group space rentals.
Three stars for the most frustrating bar service.
DRINKS
We loved all of the cocktails that we tried including: Elderflower Aviator, Orange Blood Martini, Lime Drop, and Rosemary Smash. I am till dreaming of the Rosemary Smash — so tart yet sweet and refreshing with real lemon juice. Mmmm.
DECOR
Videos of fire/​flames in a fireplace are playing on screens halfway up on the walls. It gives you a strange sensation of warmth yet contemporary hipster cool. After all, who lights a fireplace that is above your head? Check out the bathrooms too — weird but cool separation walls of glass make you wonder if you just walked onto a Vegas show set. Dim lighting makes the ambiance just cozy/​romantic enough. There are plenty of tables although this place gets super crowded on weekend nights.
SERVICE
The bar gets so busy that it’s nearly impossible to catch the bartender’s attention and order drinks. Even after we finally ordered a round, they forgot two out of the five. They were nice enough to apologize. But then it took 35 minutes at the end to get the check. Time to get a tablet POS. :P
GROUP PARTIES
Friends have reserved space here for big groups and enjoyed the experience, since the restaurant has corners/​pockets that can accommodate a private group.

Cucumber Sage Potion! so delicious.
28 degrees is apparently the perfect temperature to serve a martini, at least that’s what the server told me.

Stopped in on Sunday for after dinner drinks. Walking in you can tell this is a trendy place with a loungey feel to it. Their drink menu included a good amount of specialty cocktails — I tried the Love me Pumpkin and Frozen Bellini. The Frozen Bellini must be a popular choice because they have a machine just for it. Both were solid choices.

So this place is sexy, loungey, and I would definitely return for cocktails.
The food on the other hand was wack. I used a voucher for a 4 course meal for 2 people with drink pairings. This deal cost about $ 100 so I was really surprised how low the quality was. Now every course was medicocre. They served things like fries, pork tacos, peach sorbet, gazpacho, jicama slaw, etc. Really cheap stuff. And nothing was amazing. Our server asked how the food was because I didnt eat the gazpacho that came in a shot gass. She asked how everything was and I replied I didnt like it. She got offended. I’m old school in the sense that if you ask me, Im going to tell you. SO understand when you ask a question like «is everything ok?’ please be prepared that there is 50% chance Im going to say no. After that, she was awkward for the rest of the night.
The true star of the night was the martinis. Out of 4 courses, 2 had wine pairings, 1 had chilled (well) vodka shots, and 1 course was paired with a sage martini and a spicy martini. Damn the martinis were good!
I think high end restaurants should not offer deals if they are skimping on quality. Im not sure if they do have good food on their regular menu because the food I had was not. If you havent been here, try their regular menu, avoid the deals online!!!

Before Saturday night, the last time I was here was 5 years ago. I don’t know why I didn’t go more, but I am going to make a point to do that from now on. I had a Gilt City voucher for a four course dinner with drinks for 2 people. I ended up being about 15 minutes late for my reservation, but I called to tell them and there was no problem. When I arrived with my friend, we waited about 15 minutes or so while we had drinks at the bar.
Once we were seated, our server was very attentive and brought out everything pretty quickly. Every single dish we had was delicious! The «tasting» part of the meal, which I thought would just be small versions of whatever, were full glasses. We each had a delicious lightly carbonated white wine with our first course that I’m pretty sure I will be picking up at the store very soon.
I was very pleased with the value and especially enjoy when a restaurant/​bar makes a good impression with a coupon deal. I don’t think I need to comment on the coolness/​swanky factor of the lounge because everyone else already has lots to say about that! I will say that I will definitely be back.

—-lounge only — –
Came here for a pre-​wedding celebration for a friends wedding. The lounge area is a nice setting that’s pretty but not stuffy.
Ordered the prosciutto and Carmelized onion pizza off the late night menu and it was so good. Slightly sweet (which I like).

The Happy Hour here is great!
5−8pm is really generous of them. Dollar oysters until 7pm… why would I ever need to pay any more for them? The beef sliders at $ 5 (get them RARE) are seriously now my favorite burgers in Boston. Please don’t ever take the beef sliders off the HH Bar Bites menu!
Can’t comment on the cocktails because I opted for a beer, but I will be sure to try the bellini next time!

28 degrees is pretty chill place, but not sure how we’ll get to Kevin Bacon within 28?
Martinis here and Martinis there — skakin’ and stirred!
I prefer mines skakin — ooh Mr. «Bo» — «od». Also, Jonathan and awesome bartender made mines with Whiskey & Strawberry — yummy! Definitely perfect for they hot evening when I attend, and I wasn’t talking about me. The temperature was literally pretty warm haha! We also enjoyed some garlic fries along they way and man for some reason it worked with the drinks cause I chowed down! — Enjoy!

My boyfriend and I came here looking to have a drink or two on a Friday ay 6PM, We sat at the bar. The bartender Jonathan was very friendly, suggested a couple things to try out and very quick. Also, the atmosphere is great!
Drinks:
I had a Frozen Bellini for starters and it met my expectations but I did not love it, then again, I am not big into frozen drinks.
Then, I had a Passion Fruit Inferno from their Spiced category. LOVED it! It had just the right amount of heat!
My Boyfriend had a Blueberry Basil Martini and the Blueberry Cardamom Martini. He enjoyed both!
Food:
$ 1 Oysters between 5 – 8 at the bar (except Saturdays) The were super fresh and the sauces were great, the only downside was they ran out by 7. (We had 20)
Crispy Calamari: This dish was really good, the Lemon Aioli sauce went well with the plate and the peppers. It was a big plate for a «Small plate» but I found it a bit pricy at $ 15.
Bartender: Jonathan– Very friendly, suggested drinks.
Will definitely come again for the Oysters and to try out new drinks!

The frozen bellini and the blueberry basil martini. That’s all I have to say. Just GO
Fantastic drink menu. Honestly one of the best I’ve seen in Boston. Great food, great atmosphere, great people. Perfect place to grab a drink at the bar, or get a table and lounge while sipping martinis.

Go here for drinks – why didn’t I read the Unilocal reviews? The food is overpriced and underwhelming, as is the service. However, if you sit outside and do some sipping, the South End people watching scene is quite awesome.
HOWEVER, the bathroom is fabulous. If you could eat the bathroom, this would be five stars.

Normally this type of place isn’t my cup of tea. It is trendy, NYC style bar.
After Unilocaling some places we decided to try the cocktails here.
For a Saturday night it was pretty dead. Well it was 7PM and we were sitting at the bar but I could tell it was going to get busy later. Cucumber martini was great. A little sweet, but a strong drink at that. Kiwi crush was BOMB! I loved the sweet and sour of the drink and really enjoyed the flavors. YUM!

My friends and I were doing a girls night out, and we ended up at 28 Degrees (for drinks only) after doing dinner in the South End. We didn’t know much about the bar before we came, but I’m glad we went!
They have a unique cocktail list, which I love. The cocktails were on the pricey side ($ 10.50 and up) but hey– it’s the South End. I really liked their lavender martini, but one of my friends said it was a bit sweet. I liked all the drinks I tried from my friends– I specifically remember the blueberry basil martini and the pomegranate cosmo being good.
We got there around 11:30 and there was a DJ playing music. As it got later, more and more people started dancing. At one point, a girl even got up on a table to dance (but was quickly told to get down). The DJ was really good, and when my friend requested a song, he spent awhile looking for it and then played it for us. (+1000 points, I hate obnoxious DJs who don’t take requests). They also showed music videos projected on the wall. The crowd was pretty eclectic, and was a mix of gay guys, older people, and young people celebrating (i.e. birthdays, girls night out, etc.). The mix was pretty heavy towards the gay crowd, but that just made dancing even more fun!
I’d definitely come back here if I wanted to get cocktails and dance to good music at a bar that wasn’t super crowded.

My boyfriend and I went to 28 degrees, in the South End, to celebrate Valentine’s Day. They have two types of seating: tables and chairs along the perimeter as well as separate lounges with couches and low tables. We were seated in one of the lounge areas — I’m not sure how they choose who sits where but we were very happy to be sat there. It was more romantic and intimate and it also made us feel young and hip — which I like to think we are.
Now, on to the food. We ordered a salad to start and then a side of truffled parmesan fries that comes with two dipping sauces — they were really good. For an entrée, I then ordered the salmon, it was cooked perfectly. The way the restaurant is organized they assume you are going to share everything so the entrees come out separately. However, my boyfriend ordered surf and turf (lobster and filet) which I don’t eat so that was a downside but did give me time to digest and prepare for dessert. Another negative, was that the tables are really small and since we ordered a decent amount of food we had to constantly re-​organize our plates and glasses.
For dessert we ordered their beignets which were filled with jam. If you don’t know what a beignet is, Im going to let you know. It is a french pastry — it a dough thats fried and usually topped with powdered sugar and can be filled with a jam. Its kind of like a munchkin but the shape can vary.
Sorry about the tangent, back to the restaurant. I know this may sound odd, but the bathrooms were really nice and modern — hard to explain but if you go to 28 degrees make sure to stop in the lu.
The atmosphere, service and food were amazing. I rate it 4.5 stars out of 5 stars

My friend, Dorise G., won a party for 25 friends at 28 Degrees and I was one of the lucky people to be chosen.
Let’s just say that, after Splash, this is the best lounge I’ve been to in Boston.
The cocktail list is absolutely to die for and the cocktails themselves are gorgeous, tasty and get this, AFFORDABLE! I didn’t see anything over $ 12. How is that possible for so much cocktailiness? I don’t know but it is. If you like fruity and sweet, get these:
Pomegranate Cosmo (my arm candy for the night)
Elderflower Aviator — sweet and sour
Passion Fruit Inferno — chili-infused…wha? Delicious!
Blueberry Basil — they make it work and it doesn’t taste like cough syrup!
Grapefruit Martini — tangy and not as bitter as you’d think
The food was also surprisingly delicious and well-​made. Both types of fries were fantastic, thought the Truffle-​Parmesan one gets the obvious pick for me. The Cappicola, Pepperoni, Fontina, Tomato, Scallion Pizza was delicious – and I HATE scallions. The Wild Mushroom Risotto was amazing, probably because of the combo of mushrooms and truffle oil (two of my favorite foods) and even the Lobster Rangoon was crispy and creamy.
The waitress who tended our party the whole night was incredibly patient and friendly, never once screwing up an order and always speaking with a genuine smile. She was awesome. The other staff I talked to, to check my jacket and find out where the bathroom was, were also incredibly nice.
Speaking of bathrooms, can we say modern chic gorgeousness? Between the mirrored stall doors (to the bathroom, not to the stalls) and the cool water swirly thing on the ceiling, they were beautiful. Add in the dark, twisting hallways with cabana curtains, ceiling-​high wine shelves and orchids in glass cylinders, and you have a gorgeous place to spend an evening.