Rudi’s Resto Café & Bar

We needed a quick bite and stopped in for a sandwich. I had the pastrami and fries. They waitress was friendly and funny, surprised it was my first time trying pastrami. It can be a bit slow during the off hours, but I tend to expect that nearly everywhere. Overall it was a solid lunch for a little hotel adjacent bar and grill.

I checked out the Sunday T Dance that happens twice a month here recently. Like Jon V said, it’s a little surreal and doesn’t feel like a place to drink and dance. However, I’m the first one to bitch that there’s not much for a gay to do in this city anymore!
The music is a mix of everything form the 70’s-present time… wouldn’t mind a little less disco and a little more modern sounds, but that’s just me. The bartenders were great and the drinks tasty. I heard a couple of guys complain about the location (I can walk there in 20 min), to which I would simply reply «do you have a better one in mind?». Exactly.
Yes, the crowd is older… I’m getting up there myself. But as any bar/​club/​event would have it, tell people you know of all ages to come check it out!
In closing, I will definitely be back and I encourage everyone, gay or not to come and help this baby grow. After years of ‘oh remember when (blank blank) was fun to do on a Sunday until it closed?” We have somewhere new to go and we should embrace it.

** Update ** The owners from Rudi’s emailed me and were so kind and real, that I have to say, this place has a lot of potential. Everything with heart behind it does.
I’ll be back for the food, and the Tea Dance. I also have to say the Tea Dance guys are super nice. In a world of snarky, privledged egomatic homos, I like people who are just nice and down to earth. ** End update.**
OK, I want to like this place. There is something sincere about about it. I went for their Sunday Tea Dance, «Back 2 Basics.» I want to call it back to Asics because everyone there had white sneakers on!
The space is strange. It feels like it’s a re-​purposed Chuck-​E-​Cheeze. Very sponge cleanable. The Back 2 Basics guys were friendly. The disco music was fine. The drinks had good pours to them. Bar staff: funny and friendly. So what’s wrong with it? I’m not totally sure. The crowd was on the older side, which isn’t something I could complain about in good taste. I guess I think about Tea Dance at the Boatslip as the mommy. Then there is the Beer Blast at the Eagle in SF. That’s the daddy. Then there’s the rugged older brother of Tea Dances (without any dancing): Fritz on a Sunday afternoon.
This Tea Dance is a stepchild, I’m afraid. One with slightly underdeveloped social skills and a goopy nose. But I bet it will grow into something different and interesting, and we need that.

Was staying at the Hampton Inn connected to Rudi’s. There were bad storms in the area and I didn’t feel like searching out a place to eat. The place isn’t bad. I had the Tuscany burger which had sweet peppers and pest aioloi. Not bad. Better than a TGI Friday’s but nothing special. If it was for food only, I may have given it 3 stars. However, service was bizarre. Ever been in a restaurant and felt like there was some major staff drama going on? This is what happened at Rudi’s. My first waiter seemed like he had no clue. when I finished my first beer, another waiter asked if I would like another. He took my glass. Then the first one came up and said «I’m getting you another beer». OKAYYYY? I just thought «No you’re not. The other guy is because you were hanging out at the bar.» 10 minutes later, the first guy came with my beer. And then some chick came in and started complaining about her schedule to the bartender, right in front of customers.
Rudi’s is convenient if you’re staying at the hotel and want something basic. But the service is gonna be off.

We reserved the lounge for a private party — delicious food, great prices, and an incredibly friendly staff!

In all fairness I only tried the Mediterranean Salad with chicken ($ 11.95). I tried this dish because a previous reviewer recommended it. I don’t mind paying 11.95 for a good salad, but what I ate at Rudi’s was average at best. There was nothing too offensive in the dish. Some bland orzo with tomatoes, canned artichokes, lettuce, occasional piñón nut and a piece of cheese, but the «lemon vinaigrette» tasted like pure vegetable oil. The only reason I know it wasn’t pure oil is that there were some flecks of green things in the bottom (maybe dried parsley?). Also, I added chicken to the salad for an additional $ 2 and thought that the serving of chicken was really stingy. If I had known that it was going to be such a small serving I would have saved my money. I just ate dinner and I feel like I’m ready to eat dinner.
Service was as bad as it gets. The staff disappears in the kitchen for long periods of time. It was difficult finding someone so that I could get my check and pay. I would never eat here again.
Service gets 1 star. Food gets a dismal 2.

My friend throws an event for Monday Night Football, so I’ve only gone for that event. There is a huge crowd which takes up both rooms. The service is good. You can get pitchers of beer for about $ 18 and 35cent wings!!! (teriyaki, hot wings, bbq, or original). They really fill you up. I ordered 15, but only ate about 7 of them. You can get validated parking which brings the cost to park for about 3 – 4 hours from $ 24 to $ 5. I enjoyed this place and I’ll be back for more Monday Night Football!

I usually don’t rate places on wait staff if the food is amazing, but here the foot is OK at best. But, the wait staff was completely terrible. The reason i say this is because there is a little window that allows the kitchen to be seen, and we could see our waiter there eating, while we waited for-​ev-​er.
However, its not a bad little spot for a burger and a beer. The food is probably 3 stars, but the service was not good, therefore i give 2 stars. However, i wouldn’t go out of my way to bring an out of town guest here.

Comparing this place to the mid-​level chains (Applebees, Chilis, etc).
A little out of the way, but am glad came here. Have had the sandwiches for lunch (theyre ok), but my favorite here would be the pesto chicken pizza and Bog salad. Thin-​crust, well-​flavored pizzas. Waitress recommended the Bog salad, and it was a great combination of pistachios, fruit, and a cranberry vinaigrette. Very tasty. But the best part is that it’s the same price for lunch as typical South End places, and I’d rather come to this new, clean place than grab a $ 6 chicken wrap at Andre’s. Decent service, usually no wait, friendly staff. Great BMC alternative. Sit outside on the patio for nice weather.
Food (⁷⁄₁₀)
Décor (³⁄₅)
Service (³⁄₅)

Ah crap. Rudi’s goes down a peg. Two reasons why:
1. Bar service
I made an effort to learn Pam’s name simply because she was not a good bartender. She clearly had a lot of friends coming to hang out and get drinks from her, which is great, but unfortunately, she blatantly paid attention to her friends at the bar, and gave short shrift to everyone else.
Several times in a NOT CROWDED friday night, our glasses sat unfilled and unexamined on the bar while Pam chatted away with her friends. We weren’t super pissed, but it was noted.
2. The kitchen.
After our empty glasses had been sitting on the bar for 10 minutes, a half hour after we’d ordered our seared ahi tuna appetizer, we figured the bartender was either a) incompetent, or b) wanted us to know we weren’t welcome. When she showed up with our appetizer (which was clearly not made to order) and our entrees in the same hand we were like «wait, what?»
She literally was like «well, they do this, in the kitchen, and the fzz fazza bzzz» (runs away). We looked at each other and cracked up. WHAT? No excuse for the app arriving WITH the entrée, PLUS a «you’re a stupid dick and I don’t care about your business» distraction statement! Yeah!
Bottom line: We wanted to love you, Rudi’s. Retrain «Pam» and we’ll talk. Also, get your kitchen to turn out your apps quicker.

I love this place. The food is terrific, the atmosphere and music are nice. Wait staff are pleasant and attentive and management are terrific. It has recently become my regular lunch place — at least 2 – 3 times per week. My favorite is the Tuscan Panini with chicken. I enjoy the variety of pastas I get instead of fries. Davinci and Orzo are my favorites. I’ve tried many of their specials at lunch and loved them all. George is a welcoming and charming host as are my favorite wait staff Allysa and especially Ehren. Kaitlyn rounds out my favorites whether she’s offering me samples of new pasta creations, hosting or delivering my lunch. Since I live out in the burbs I haven’t had a chance to sample their dinner menu; but, I’m sure it’s just as good. Looking forward to the new jazz/​piano lounge they’re opening. soon.

read up about rudi’s in the cheapeats section of
and stopped for lunch on a recent run to home depot in south bay. the draw was hot weather salads. go for the mediterrenean orzo (rice shaped wheat pasta) with chicken or the bogg salad with shrimp. cool summer eats if you’re in the vicinity or work at BUSM. i hear the burgers are pretty good too.

Tried Rudi’s first time. Seems to have potential. Started with Cod cakes, OK a little small, but salad almost made up for it. Tried specials from menu, mine the Cajun chicken /​w pasta and sun dried tomatoes was also OK but no «WOW» factor. Grilled chicken over spaghetti w/​Cajun spicing. My wife ordered salman, also a special, didn’t seem overly excited. Ordered desert, but somehow it never made it’s way to us. Overall service is friendly but a little slow and forgetful. Seems like a great place to meet for drinks, but I question it as a «go to» place to go for dinner!

I’m not the type of person to go to a bar or restaurant by myself but this is the only place I will go to alone for a drink and something to eat. I love Rudi’s… I was working right across the street when it opened, but even now that I no longer work in Boston whenever I’m in the South End I stop in. I usually go in for a quick bite but then I end up staying and hanging at the bar for quite some time. I always find the staff and bartenders to be very pleasant. I am addicted to their mini-​burgers as well as their other burgers. I find their mixed drinks to be fabulous and the bartender makes a great French Martini… (atleast i think thats the name of it).
Clean place to eat, good food, very friendly staff, free 2 hour parking in the nearby garage, flat screen tv to watch the game… what more can you ask for? :)

I pictured this place being my very own TGIfridays, where my coworkers and I could unwind over appetizer samplers and bottles of bud light. Then I went here for lunch and the food was just not good. I had a veggie panini and I could not finish it (this never happens with me) My coworker had buffalo wings and cream of tomato soup, and she complained about both. I tried the buffalo wings and they were fine.
Perhaps, it is a good place to unwind over drinks. Maybe I was too adventurous in what I ordered, and the rest of the menu is great. I don’t know-​I can’t convince anyone to go back for me.
There was also a noticeable lack of junk hanging from the walls, thus not fulfilling my fantasy of the quintessential cheap after work/​lunch joint.
Looks like I have to hike all the way to Applebees in South Bay.
Plus,

My boyfriend & I live in walking distance from Rudi’s bar and we always drive by and see crowds of people outside the door: We walked in and not a person in sight, we walked down a hallway and stumble upon a not busy bar with the red sox game on: we sat at the bar and order a drink and asked about the lack in crowd: usually only busy for events and party nights thursday, friday & saturday: I love blended drinks and learned they have no blender not like any bar in boston does: so I settled for a watered passion drink while the bf ordered Guiness: this is where the problem began, I got my drink and the waiter started to pour the guiness and then stopped walked away and proceeded to text non stop on his phone, talk to the waitress non stop, we are looking at the half poured beer under the spout and just waited, he is still texting and we finally said excuse me and just pointed at the beer to where he was like «ohh my bad, sorry about that as he topped off the beer» so we then ordered the chicken fingers and fries to no surprise were mediocre and pretty much a waste of money and calories” my bf while eating wanted another drink and yet again the waiter was at the side of the bar texting & helping with news paper crosswords and ignoring the very few people he did have at the bar: so we finally get his attention and get the drink and check to where my «speciality drink» cost 11 dollars, my boyfriend thought this was funny due to the fact his beer and other drink cost the same as my crap drink:
We are going to give the verve lounge a chance but Rudi’s you lost us due to bad food and really bad service when there was no excuse for it: