The 1640 Hart House

love the pub atmosphere with leather seats and warm ambiance. the service is wonderful and the food quite good. their pot roast very tender and especially welcome on a cold winter evening

Been there many years in a row for our company Xmas party great food and service. Went there last night for a pre-​valentines dinner. Not So much the same. Worst service I have ever seen. I’ve had better service from a Applebee’s. I don’t even know where to begin. Between leaving 6 menus on the table (for 2 of us) then Serving us food. (I wanted to drop them on the floor if she wasn’t going to take them But that’s not proper edict.) Then talking an order from one of us then walking away. Filling one water when both were empty. Reaching over our plates instead of moving to the side. Then taking her time to see if we needed anything else. (I wanted to go get a glass of wine at the bar I was so frustrated) Love the food and atmosphere. But I think once a year when they have real servers will be it for me going back here.

I’ve only eaten here once but a memorable dinner, no doubt. Very busy but worth the wait. An excellent local spot if you’re looking for a bit more than a quick, cheap meal. Enjoy.

What could have been a nice meal was not.
The management better get the staff inline or there will be more bad reviews.
We should have read the bad ones posted here prior to going!
My brother and sister gave the details.

Husband and I love this spot for date night! Food is excellent, and atmosphere is great. We love to sit by the fire in the colder months and enjoy a few drinks. Wait staff is very friendly. Only «downfall» is there is usually a wait (a testament to how good the place is)!

My husband and I recently had dinner here for my birthday. Walking in to a full house we instantly loved the cozy feel and atmosphere. We did not have reservations so we had an hour wait. We had a drink at the bar while we waited bartender was friendly and attentive. We both had wedge salad with real bacon slices. We could have shared on it was very large and very delicious! I had pasta bolognese and my husband had a mixed meat dish (steak tips sausage and ribs). We both loved our meals. So as to why three stars: our waiter Jeff– not friendly did not put in any effort, seemed annoyed did not check on us at all. We noticed he talked to another table but seemed to know them. We will definitely be back BUT will ask not to have Jeff wait on us!

I normally love this place, but we didn’t have a great experience last night. Our reservation was for 8 and we were not seated until 8:45. Then the service was really so. No one was apologetic (despite me being 9 months pregnant and very uncomfortable standing and waiting for so long!). Again I normally love it, but the hostess and waiter last night were not very accommodating or apologetic for the bad service.

I’m kinda split on this place. The atmosphere is a straight up 5. Love the historic quality of the building. It is in great shape. Love the chairs and the lighting. The salads were fresh with great bleu cheese dressing. Drinks were great.
Then dinner happened. My boyfriend’s sister’s steak was overcooked so she had to wait to eat until we were done. The dude was not enthusiastic about his fish and chips. My Hart House chicken was good but a little rich. Kinda made me sick the next day.
If they had comped my boyfriend’s sister a drink or a dessert to make nice, I’d have given the review 4 stars instead of 3, but I suppose the little touches regarding service are what makes the difference in a dining experience.

Hostess was a witch. Not the best first impression. The building itself was phenomenal and the ambiance classically just right.
The chef’s father must be an onion farmer. Because there was way too much onion in everything. Enough onion to last ten lifetimes. The quahog was tasty but 95% onion and very little of any thing else. The chowder was the runniest thing this side of the Mississippi. The potato chunks were too huge and the clam must still be in the ocean.
The main course was better. The pumpkin ravioli was tasty. The root vegetables were basically just carrots and large onion pieces. My wife had Sole which was pretty decent.
Overall a middle of the road experience. Cool out on the onions though. There’s other ways to make food tasty.

The food and atmosphere is great. and the chairs, oh my god, the chairs are so comfortable on the tavern side. It’s intimate and comfortable.
My favorite dishes to order from here are the shepherd’s pie and the steak tips. I had the beef roast once, but it came out dry. They have specials every now and then which you should always order because they always turn out great. The only downside to this is that if you have a late dinner (past 8:30ish let’s say), they tend to run out of a lot of things.

Food decent… service no so much.

Excellent food in a true colonial building. The keepers room was unlike any place I had eaten in before.
, but many have since it opened in 1640. Great service and great stories of guests in the past who may have never left. The setting will give you goosebumps and the soup all warm you.

If you’re lucky enough to get Nicole as you’re server you are in for a perfect night. Went there with my family tonight and she anticipated all the needs of two young kids, plus us adults. Great food and wine recommendations, food cooked perfectly and very tasty. Wonderful night — can’t wait to come back… without the kids next time.

A great atmosphere. It is a busy spot of Valentine’s Day. Our steaks weren’t made to our liking… it could have been the busy holiday.

May be the most enjoyable New England country Inn dinner. Delicious meal, our group enjoyed English cut roast beef, mussels in wine sauce, rack oh lamb, roast pork.
Very good cocktails, wide choice of wines and beer. Fabulous dine, quiet cozy, fireplaces dining on a snowy night. It doesn’t get better than this my friends!

Been there twice– once for dinner and once for lunch. Dinner was exceptional lunch only ok for me (dry meatloaf) but great onion soup for friend. Wonderful ambience. Great wait staff. Huge glasses of wine. Highly recommend.

I absolutely love the Hart House The atmosphere, the Calamari and the drinks are awesome! The Hart house is just an amazing place to dine on a cold winter night. The name rings true: the restaurant is literally set in a 1640 house! The downstairs dining room is my absolute favorite, it houses a huge hearth and fireplace that is usually lit with a nice fire. The small room holds about five or six tables and is an ideal location for an elegant night out.
The only thing keeping me from giving the Hart house a full five stars are two things: the food is not salted (at all) and my Wife’s birthday. A few months ago, I made reservations for a very specific seat for the two of us in the downstairs dining room. I made the reservations a week in advance and called to confirm the day before. When we arrived, we here told we had to wait about ten minutes, which was fine, but it ended up being more than twenty minutes. We were finally taken to our seat and a young girl who arrived just after us was seated at our reserved table. I didn’t say anything because I figured we would still enjoy our meal and conversation, even though we didn’t get the table we wanted. About five minutes after we sat down, the girl who was given our seat had three other young female guests arrive. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem but the four girls were SO loud! We literally couldn’t hear each other talk across the table. Every other party in the room was also clearly annoyed by this. This still doesn’t stop my love for the Hart House, so please don’t let this stop you from going there!

My wife and I love this place! We’ve been twice and both times sat in the tavern. The service has always been great and the food is fantastic. Both times I got the French Onion Soup and it was delicious (very picky about French Onion Soup), also they gave so much I was barely hungry for my dinner. My wife has tried a couple appetizers and was very pleased.
Pros: The ambiance is quite nice with high back chairs. The food and portions are great! I like that they have an extensive pub menu (relatively cheap) and a more expensive higher end menu. You can absolutely get out of here cheap (or spend a lot lol).
Cons: The only downside is how busy they are and the noise associated with all those people (in the pub side at least).
We have added this to our top restaurants in the local area for date night away from the baby.

I score a restaurant based on how they intend to position themselves in the market. 1640 is a Tavern styled restaurant with good value foods. Really fairly priced and very tasty food. We like the bar and pub area around the bar. However would love to be in the dining rooms if we were to dine with other couples. Just charming.
However I would have given a 5^th star but they lose one for service. This is meant to be constructive and not mean. And this is a consistent issue not a one off night. Fix this and it can be easily fixed the 1640 would be a 5 star location.
My one complaint. Bar tenders are consistently slow to recognize the customer, to welcome the patron, and hard to get their attention (unless you know their name) or you’re two pretty girls at the end of the bar. They need to smile and make the bar fun. Say things like «will you be dining with us tonight?» I often feel like we’re an inconvenience and we’re the customer. So train that staff and it’s a 5 star location. The staff are actually very nice and not mean, they seem to just need retraining and realize I’m going to tip them consistently for their service.

WOW Yes, this is as good as it gets in the North Shore for tasty eating.
I sat in the tavern area. Be warned — the bread basket alone is incredibly delicious with a raisin bread and a roll that seems to be apple/​cinnamon scented. I attempted to not fill up on bread, not sure I won that fight.
I got the baked scallops; they were amazing and the mashed potatoes were fantastic.
4 out of 5 stars for the Shrimp and Scallop sautee that my dad got — it was good but the heavy cream on it was too much for me. I preferred the baked scallops.
Can’t wait to go again when I’m in the area and learn more about this cool place.
Only down side — my water glass was constantly empty and I had to really work to get it refilled.