Brass Union

First review I’ve written in a while. While it’s really the only viable nightlife option in Union Square, I wouldn’t ever come too far to go out here. Me and some friends were having fun drumming on the bar stools and were quickly told to stop in an aggressive manner by the bar staff, even when the crowd was obviously loving what we were doing. The bartenders were actually booed by the customers when they told us to stop.
I complained to my friends about this after it happened, only to be interrupted by an eavesdropping bartender. She said that «the drumming doesn’t facilitate the kind of image the bar wants to portray» in a very tongue in cheek tone. So I get from this that it’s a self conscious and pretentious establishment.
Bottom line, there are tons of better nightlife options in the cambridge somerville area. I’d recommend seeking them out before coming to Brass for a good time.

Huge fan of their service and food!
Came here on a random Tuesday when my standby, Ebi Sushi, was randomly closed. It was frigid, I was starving, so we went to Brass Union which was pretty much right across the street.
We ordered:
Beef tartare
Roasted cauliflower
pork sandwich (it had arugula and a spicy sauce on ciabatta bread — I had a bite and it was delicious!)
Lobster Papperdelle
Sticky bread
Service was fantastic (our server was Jason and he continually checked in on us and was super nice and friendly), and the food was great!
Beef tartare was on point — perfectly oozy egg yolk on top, with crusty toast to accompany the seasoned beef — lip smackingly good!
Roasted cauliflower was better than I had expected with a buttery sauce I kept trying to mop up with cauliflower bits.
I’m such a big fan!

Service? NOT. Granted, we walked in (a group of 8) without a reservation on New Year’s Day. The hostess informed us that she could sit a group of 6, but not 8. We said only 4 really wanted to eat, but she wouldn’t sit 4 as she told us «she had a game plan» for her tables. We went to the back area and sat at a large table which was fine for our group. We then went to the bar to order Bloody Mary’s but were told that we could only get two because they didn’t have enough stuff (on New Year’s Day — not prepared for Bloody Mary’s at a bar)? In the bartenders defense, she did bring us over 2 complimentary little glasses of Bloody Mary. By the time we had our drinks, everyone was hungry so we all ordered something. The food came out at all different times, but the last meal never came out (well it did come 30 minutes after everyone finished). We asked several times where it was and no one knew or worse, cared! In fact they were annoyed that we kept asking where it was and blamed it on our friend that he had ordered after everyone else. Really? On the upside, the music was great and we played a fun game of Jenga!

I’ve never eaten here before, but I’ve been to the bar on a weekend and trivia night. They have great service and fair prices for drinks. My friends who did order food were all happy and we’ll almost definitely be back.

Hip cocktails and lengthy beer list– the variety of games including two large shuffle boards makes this place a fun joint for a Saturday night. The DJ is also really good!

Best burger in Boston: Kirkland T&T’s? Alden & Harlow’s? Russell House’s? Rosebud’s? Grass Fed’s?
Nah.
The best-​kept secret is Brass Union’s cheeseburger. Juicy, grass-​fed beef, local cheddar, onion marmalade, aioli, grilled brioche bun, crispy french fries. Don’t bring friends who make sex noises when they eat here. Or anywhere, really.
The drinks, however novel, deliver in every way. Get the Esqueleto (coffee/​chili/​passion fruit/​citrus) and the Sonny & Gramps (spicy/​mole/​bourbon/​cocoa puffs for nostalgic fragrant magic effect.)
Other dishes are less impressive. Both the Choripan and Conch Fritters are more novel than substance, but fine as late-​night drinking snacks go. Not that any of this matters, though… you’re getting the cheeseburger (see above.)

Coole Atmosphäre vorallem im hinteren Teil des Restaurants (Bar). Guter Auswahl an Biere und Cocktails…

Totally not impressed. Came here on a Friday and this is the upshot:
–drinks are weak. Airplane style Dole grapefruit juice for a «cocktail bar» is pretty lame.
–what the hell was the «plantain chip» dish — 6 dollars for essentially the Trader Joe’s Plantain Chips and some sweet n’ sour sauce from the Chinese place across the street.
–Service was eh.
–People totally abused the 30 min. time cap on the games.
–literally no diversity: Every soul in this place was white, hipster, and from Somerville.
Def. won’t be back, not worth the trek from the South End. We have way better food, cocktail bars, and diversity in the «city»

Good drinks. Good DJ. Bartenders were rude. They laughed at a question I asked– «do you guys still book live music?» I had previously played live at Precinct, the previous venue before new ownership took over for Brass Union, hence the question. For some reason this question was amusing. I don’t like being laughed at by bartenders for asking innocent questions. Good riddance.

SONNY & GRAMPS: Really interesting cocktail featuring coco puffs and spice! First the esquelletto, now this. BU killin’ it.

The drinks here are amazing — really well made and different from the normal signature cocktails at most restaurants. The ambiance is also pretty cool and the staff were nice.
That being said, we went there for dinner and the food was not only lackluster, it was expensive. We asked for a burger cooked medium, got a very well-​done dry burger. The fries were way too overcooked. Another person in our party got the lobster pasta which was expensive and the plate was TINY. I had to make sure we weren’t at a tapas restaurant because of the portion size. Lastly, the gazpacho was not good at all — it tasted like someone had pureed some whole foods salsa and put veggies on top.

We dined with a group of 6 at the event called «Brass Pair: Glendalough Distillery» — a pairing of great food with some finely crafted Irish Whiskey and Gin.
Amazing.
The main course for dinner was braised lamb shank — it was simply the most perfectly cooked lamb I’ve ever eaten — the entire group loved it! Tip of the cap to Chef Jonathan Kopacz! Moist, melt in your mouth lamb, and paired with Glendalough 13 year old single malt whiskey — a fine drink too — The distillery describes the whiskey’s taste as having «an intense vanilla fudge luxurious sweetness» with «touches of fruit — lemon citrus, peach and dried apricot» — those flavors matched the lamb very nicely! I’m always impressed how great chefs can combine flavors in new ways.
We were also introduced to several cocktails made with whiskey and gin from Glendalough, and my absolute favorite was a gin cocktail made by beverage director Paulo Pereira — who may be one of the most innovative bartenders I have had the pleasure of meeting! He worked Chef Kopacz to combine grilled grapefruit, with gin and submerged a flavor exploding orb into the gin cocktail — the edible orb explodes with flavor in your mouth with the gin & grapefruit — it was a sensuous orgasm in the mouth — seriously. Who thinks up this stuff? Paolo does, and it’s no surprise he’s listed on Zagat’s list of 8 Boston Bartenders You Need to Know from 2014 —

We will be back. Our only dismay is that the Brass Union isn’t closer to our home.

Cool space, but disappointing food. The fries super burnt, the burger over-​done, the gazpacho watery and the timing all wrong.

Came here for brunch on the 4^th of July. Probably a bad call, even though it was not busy. After she took my order, I didn’t see my waitress for 30 minutes. Since I was still waiting for my food, pancakes and eggs, I had to the hostess what the status was. I explained I have a disability and can’t sit for much longer. She said she would have the manager check on it. I went for a walk around the farmers market and in 10 minutes the food was out. This was great, because I was about to just leave. My order was missing an egg wrong, but since the waitress was MIA still I told the hostess so she could change the bill but not to bother fixing it. The food itself was just okay.
When I finally saw my waitress again she didn’t apologize for the wait but she told me my food was comped. I was happy to hear that but I doubt I’m going to return. I will say that the hostess went above and beyond after I complained, so that was nice.
I’m guessing this was an understaffing problem because if was a holiday but I feel like I should have been warned ahead of ordering.

I loved the Precinct. When boo and I moved to the area, it quickly became ‘our’ spot. We knew the servers, knew the menu, all that jazz. So when it was announced that Precinct would close for renovation and emergence from a cocoon into a shiny new butterfly of a gastropub, I was hesitant but excited to see how they could improve on the space.
Short answer: not very much. Good cocktails, adequate beer menu, overpriced meal items ($ 10 for two pieces of mushroom toast? Absurd). The service went from an ‘everybody knows your name’ feel to a ‘what do you want/​are you done yet?’ vibe. Even on quiet nights, it’s hard to get a server’s attention. Recently we were there during a downpour, and although only one other party came in during our two-​hour stay, we were scolded for putting our jackets on a stool at another table. Cool dudes, cool.
The bartenders are bright spots – they’re lovely folks, though clearly overworked. It’s not on their shoulders to carry the whole place.
I don’t know who the target audience for this bar is… as a hip neighborhood twentysomething I assumed it would be me, but it seems I’m wrong.

i’ve only been to this restaurant once, and it was only to go to geeks who drink trivia (yay, zach!). they seem like they’re a pretty hoppin’ place for trivia — there were easily a dozen teams there, and for a tuesday night, that’s wonderful. but if you know that there are going to be that many people there for this sole purpose, you need to step up your service game. the waitress that served us took FOREVER to get our first drinks out, even when we were there a whole hour early to eat. she then took a long time getting our food orders in. and then took a long time asking if we wanted a second drink. and then took an even longer time getting our checks. seriously? step up your service game.
the only redemption was that they had down east cider on draft, and that their mushroom fettuccine was bangin’. those noodles, man. if it wasn’t for that service, i would totally come back.

Came here for brunch one time and loved my friend’s Bloody Mary. Very nice smokiness and lots of flavor! Arguably one of the best Bloody Marys in Greater Boston.

I have mixed feeling on Brass Union. On the one hand there is shuffle board, the promise of funk and other board games.
On the other hand there is general lack luster service (no change given, watched the bar tender put the change directly in the tip jar and ignore me because it was crowded), over priced drinks and food. Also I want more funk.
The food I have tried is good, the location and games are nice, but again, the service has left me somewhat skeptical.
I’ll give it another shot, as it fills a needed hole in the Union Square area (hang out bar with games). But I just feel like Brass Union has so much more potential!

I cannot come up with a reason to give this place anything less than five stars. The prices are really reasonable for Cambridge/​Somerville. The food was fantastic. The drinks were creative AND delicious. And the service was spot-​on.
For food: my friend went with grilled cheese and tomato soup. You’re shooting fish in a barrel there, Brass Union, because that shit is ALWAYS delicious– and you didn’t disappoint ;) I had the celery root soup and mushroom toasts. Loved the soup. The toasts were piled sky-​high with mushrooms. I don’t think I could have bought that many for less than the appetizer cost. and there were some nice varieties in there, not just pizza ‘shrooms!
My friend had the fig and bourbon drink, which was tasty, but maybe not my scene. I had the esqueleto. It was either going to be awesome or super gross, and I’m happy to report it was awesome! It didn’t taste overworked either– all the ingredients played subtly off of each other.
I’m stoked to go back. Give it a try!

Y’know, I think this is the first time I’m writing a review where the headline is «the drinks are better than the food». Nevertheless, they are. We sampled about half the cocktail menu between us, and everything was well executed and interesting. The «B’s Knees», a basil-​accented riff on that classic, was probably the biggest hit. Double points for the pricing; theirs is a few dollars lower than most in the area, and that adds up. Looked like a solid beer selection too.
We also went through most of the small plates, the theme of which was always «needs something». Steak tartare needed more herb or spice. Chicken thighs didn’t taste like the alleged jerk. Cod cakes cried out for garlic and perhaps basil or cilantro.
Mushroom toast was as good as everyone says. Plantain chips were a plain old bar snack, but a good one. So get those two, drink up, and think about other options if you want a serious dinner.

I will start by saying that I used to go to Precinct a lot. It was great bar food, good prices, and a fun spot to congregate. I was SO excited to try the food at Brass Union. My mouth literally watered when I read the menu, and compared to other area restaurants, the price was right.
Environment:
Brass Union had a great environment, quieter front room and a back room full of games! There was a private party going on and it seemed like the perfect place to host a party!
Bar:
The cocktails were delicious! Our bartender hooked it up with some great drinks and amazing service. They crush their own ice which is a very sophisticated way to mix cocktails. I had a Zarzamora and my friend had a delicious Hemingway daiquiri (weird that it was served on the rocks tho…) They also have an excellent selection of draft beers!!!
Food:
The food was pretty bad. We were so psyched to order the steak tartare (with a raw egg yoke!!!) and it was pretty tasty. Unfortunately though, it was ALL downhill from there. I don’t want to do too much complaining, but the cheese platter was an unforgivable platter of old cheese and one and a half strawberries (you cannot charge people $ 14 for that crap); and the pozole soup was a tiny teacup serving size and tasted like they just dumped a bunch of valentina sauce in a broth.
Please polish up the food and this place will be five stars!!!