Flank

Over priced… pretentious…not one of our 4 steaks was cooked as requested… I asked for rare… warm red center… when the waiter asked the obligatory «was the steak cooked as requested», I responded truthfully“no” and showed him it was almost medium. Next thing I know the hostess is standing over me explaining that they define «rare» differently than other steakhouses. Capitol Grill, Strega, Smith & Wollensky, Davio’s, Lucciano’s, etc etc must all be wrong. Very disappointing.

Really a 2.5 to be honest.
So, I’m torn about this place. I love the idea of a nice restaurant for fine dining OUT of downtown Boston, so this seemed like a great idea.
1) Food — on the mark. I believe yes, it is expensive, but we knew that going in and I was willing to sacrifice a few $ to find something better than YET ANOTHER Very-​Much-​Average Joe’s
2) Décor & ambience — Pretty. Modern. Stark. Sort of like dining in a great hall on Game of Thrones. Hey, sometimes I like to be royalty.
3) Service — this is where they need to work on things — greeted by the hostess on a Saturday night, and we sat ourselves at the bar. SATURDAY NIGHT! No bartender to be seen for 10 minutes. Just before I got up to leave for good, she appeared. 12 more minutes later I got a drink ($ 14 cocktail in a mini glass — boo) and they still somehow could not figure out how to get my date his beer… from a bottle… ?
Ok, so while I like the idea of this place, and would be more than happy to change my review in the future, this is not something we are necessarily going to tell our friends about.
Go for: Lunch during the week? Dinner on a weekend is dead
Avoid: Cocktails (overpriced) and really anything that seems too expensive, as it will force you to leave a bad review.
Try: Steak frites were perfect (stress how you like your temperature!), and the risotto was also quite good.

The food tasted good but you could tell it had been under a heat lamp. Our server forgot my moms margarita then brought it and had to be sent back because it tasted like olive juice. Took an hour for our food to come out. Took 20 mins to pay our check to be able to leave. Just all in all not the experience i wanted for the price we paid to eat there with it being our first time.

This is a painful review to write, for three reasons: (1) I dislike writing such direct, negative reviews (2) While I do respect the time and money invested in this establishment, I believe they should be out of business and (3) I have to relive the experience of eating here.
That’s quite an opener and believe me, I am truly sorry for writing it; for myself, for the establishment, and for all the people who read this review. But the fact is that Flank is not a steakhouse; it merely pretends to be one. It looks like one, yes, and is priced as one, but it is not one. And it is not one for the very simple reason that their main product — their steak — is strictly, uniformly, and to my mind unquestionably average.
Problems: many. One of our filets was ordered medium and came medium rare. This is not acceptable in a steakhouse; Not Your Average Joe’s, yes. Steakhouse, no. The ‘prime rib’ is served in several pieces 3/​8″ thick; I have never seen it served this way, and i did not find it acceptable. They serve chopped celery as a vegetable and a stuffed tomato with the steak. These flavors do not go with steak; it seems painfully apparent that they are just filling the space on the plate with the cheapest thing, any thing. The stuffed mushrooms are not inspired in any way. There were off-​flavors in all the steaks and all the salads. The service is officious, the waiter hovered and stared as us while we ate.
The potato purée is acceptable; you might just want to sit at the bar and order that.
Flank falls in line with other ‘steakhouses’ that use a familiar business model: make the space beautiful (with hints of men, money, beef and cigars), serve average food at high prices, charge a lot for booze. My hope is that Bostonians are smarter than this and that Flank does not survive.

Our experience here – both the food and service –felt like we were in dining heaven! My husband and I would recommend Flank without hesitation.
The Pot Roast was better than my mother used to make. and my husband LOVED his filet mignon.

When I think of Flank steak I think of an affordable piece of meat that anyone can buy and enjoy. The name of this establishment should be changed to Filet or Wagyu solely based off of the prices.
When we came here on a Sunday night for dinner at the bar, I was a little taken back by the prices when we first opened the menu. Flank released their menu online but it wasn’t until recently when they also posted the prices.
Let me back up a little; the space is very beautiful and well decorated. The bar/​cocktail area is very large with plenty of bar seats and tables. We sat at the bar and our bartender was excellent. Service is great, décor is great BUT the pricing is just way too high for Waltham and what you get.
We ordered a bottle of wine and the cheapest bottle on the list was about $ 65, but again better than a $ 15 glass of wine right?
We both ordered the French onion soup ($ 10 each — again probably the most expensive soup I’ve purchased). The soup was excellent; very beefy and rich with fat, onions and cheese. This was the only thing I think was worth the price as the lovely bartender was telling us about the process of making this soup and the amount of time it takes to make the beef broth.
We then ordered off of the bar food menu: Cobb Salad and Shaved Beefsteak Sandwich. The two items were OK but didn’t really leave us longing for more. I should have ordered a full steak but again the pricing and smallest amount (8oz) stopped me from ordering it. One bottle of wine, 2 French onion soups, 1 cobb salad and 1 steak sandwich = $ 150 with tip… yikes.
I think Flank is great for a pre or post dinner drink, but in terms of food I just think it is overpriced. We talked about going again for a full sit down steak dinner but I keep going back and forth saying well why not go to another steak house we love instead.
What I would suggest is:
How about a portion of steak under 8oz? Perhaps a petit fillet at 5oz?
How about a ladies night or pre-​fix menu special for one day a week?
A lower price point or a house wine that is less than $ 65 a bottle?
Service and ambiance is top notch at Flank, but the prices are what keep me from coming back.

Five stars! It was my first time at this restaurant. I was here with three other friends for dinner to catch up. I assumed this place would similar to most fine dining steak restaurants– but I was wrong! Steaks were cooked to perfection, the sides (which we all shared) were great portions, and service was great. Water constantly refilled, waitress checking in regularly, food brought out by more than one person and all at the same time.
Definitely recommend!

We ordered the 50 ounce bone in steak medium rare. The steak came out barely warm — not a medium warm center but luke warm everywhere. Almost as if when they re-​plated it they put it on a cold platter or let it sit way too long before they brought it out. I have eaten a lot of stakes and this is the first time I have ever had it come out like this. I ordered the same steak at The Cut in Las Vegas for a similar price point and it was 10 times better than this steak.
The server brought the manager Mike out to discuss the steak with us. He offered to warm the steak up. You can’t heat up a medium rare steak or it will not be medium rare anymore. When we told the manager this he was condescending and I hope he was just having a bad night as most steak house managers have a professional decorum that he was lacking. He did offer to cook us another steak or make the whole meal over but by that point we decided that the attitude the manager projected was so poor we would go somewhere else to eat. We gave the steak back to them. I would not recommend this restaurant — spend your money elsewhere as both the food and service is lacking. I did leave a decent tip for the wait staff as they were helpful and did the best they could.

Like others I was VERY excited to try this new steakhouse so close to home. After reading some reviews I was a little worried but my foodie friend and I decided to give it a try last night. Most aspects of the meal were great, some not so much.
We started off with cocktails at their beautiful bar. I’ve never seen a bar so spacious. The glassware was gorgeous — looked like Waterford crystal. I tried the Ponce’s Pear which was pretty, tasty, but the pear was lost behind the St.Germain. The Pear Martini at Fiorella’s in Newton is much better. The Ponce’s is also about $ 5 more than the Pear.
We made reservations but were seated at our leisure around 8pm. It was fairly busy and loud in the dining room when we first arrived. Our server was awkward to say the least. The service in general was just odd and unorganized. We seemed to have two people taking care of us and they did not communicate. It was just weird.
We started with Duxbury oysters and a nice bottle of wine — lovely. I had the Ribeye with truffle butter that was a perfectly cooked medium. A little too fatty but so delicious. For sides we split the wilted spinach and potato gratin — both good but not great.
Finished things off with a sweet dessert. The Irish Whiskey Cake was decadent (although it should be for $ 14). The dessert probably would have tasted better if our server didn’t try to take it away half way through. «May I take that out of your way» after two bites each? Absolutely not! We also heard an employee say «Oh yea poor _​_​_​_​he’s the only one with a table» loud enough so we could hear. I know we were the last ones in the restaurant but it wasn’t much after 10pm and to spend hundreds of dollars and then basically be kicked out is unacceptable.
Like others have said, some of the food is quite good but it’s outrageously expensive for what you get and it’s not even in Boston! Luckily I had good company and wine so I still enjoyed myself but I’ll need to take out a small loan if I’d like to return.

The fiancé and I came to Flank for dinner to celebrate our engagement, on a recommendation from a couple of friends who had given us a gift card.
Let’s get to the punch — I’m very glad we had the gift card available to cover part of our meal. I’m not sure the food quality and service are up to the level I would expect for a steakhouse of this caliber, for me to pay these prices. And despite how convenient it is for us to get to this restaurant, I’m not sure we would be back in the near future until Flank has worked out its kinks from being open so recently.
Food: –1 star
Service: –1.5 stars (if I could give this, I would)
As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by the hostess kindly, and were promptly checked in. What was awkward, though, was the general manager, who was also standing at the hostess stand. He looked us up and down like he thought we weren’t meant to be there. It was brief, but the encounter was enough to stick out in my mind.
We were seated at a table right by the kitchen. You’d think this wasn’t such a bad thing, since it means easy access to the food. Well, my fiancé ended up staring at fluorescent lighting coming through the frosted kitchen windows all night instead of enjoying the ambiance of the restaurant. Mind you, the restaurant wasn’t even nearly full, and yet we were seated in a less desirable spot of the dining room. We didn’t end up asking to be moved out of sheer laziness, but we were surprised we were even seated here in the first place.
Then came service. Water was promptly filled consistently throughout the evening, so no complaints there. However, our waiter came off as trying too hard, taking another 5 minutes to explain to us how to read the menu when we had already perused it and decided on our meals since we were seated for 10 minutes before being served!
We finally placed our order and drinks came fairly quickly (a glass of prosecco for me and a hot toddy for the man): beef bone marrow and she-​crab soup to start, 50 oz long bone tomahawk (medium rare) with black truffle butter for our entrée, potato purée and spring vegetables as sides, and coconut crème whoopie pie for dessert.
Out of all the plates, the bone marrow was the best, by far. The she-​crab soup tasted a bit sour to the fiancé (although I couldn’t taste it), so that was up to me to finish. Next came the steak — I was surprised we didn’t get to see the whole bone with the chunk of meat on it before we were served. It was a nice touch to have it precut to make for easier feeding, though. The steak could have been seasoned more heavily; I’m glad we ordered an a la carte sauce to go with. The potato and veggies were decent and went well with the steak.
We were treated to a celebratory cake as part of our dessert — I found this to be a nice touch. Although we couldn’t finish the cake (it was far too much buttercream), we did finish the whoopie pies. Not a bad ending to an OK meal.
A few observations:
* Each time our plates were served, the bus boys set things down nonchalantly, as if our food didn’t matter.
* We wanted to order a second round of drinks and our waiter seemed to have missed that cue. It took a few minutes to flag him down (despite how quiet the restaurant was), but we were able to get our order in.
* The bread was seemingly endless — we had bread for the table, bread with the soup, bread with the marrow, bread with the steak … if you are looking to carb load, this would be the place to do it.
Final bill (including tax and tip)? Almost $ 300 for the two of us.
Overall, the service was mediocre, not what I’d expect for a «new American take on the beefsteak», and frankly, the experience wasn’t worth the price. Again, there’s some kinks to work out before we’d be willing to return.

I brought a client to Flank in March to discuss a new business opportunity.
The service was outstanding and fast, they knew and recommended the apps and the steaks were cooked as we ordered (Filet Mignon), the oysters were fresh, the shrimp side was great and with a very pleasant atmosphere!
I’ll definitely come back there!
Great experience!!!

I went there for lunch yesterday with my son. After reading a lot of the previous reviews, I was skeptical. We ended up having a terrific meal and experienced great service. As with any new restaurant, it will take time to work out the kinks.
Food — the wait time was reasonable and the food was cooked perfectly.
Service — Our waiter was pleasant and very (but not too) attentive.
Price — I’m not sure why folks go to a place like this and complain about the price. I wouldn’t go to Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris, or The Capital Grill and complain about a $ 40 steak or a $ 100 bottle of wine. I would absolutely list Flank as one of their peers.
Décor — I thought it was a refreshing change from some of the stuffier, traditional steakhouses.
I would definitely come back!

I was excited for Flank to open, but very disappointed after my first visit. The prices are completely outrageous. I had a $ 50 T-​Bone that was NOT a $ 50 T-​Bone. The London Broil side was downright tough. My friend was served a hockey puck of a Filet (very overdone), which was sent back. They did not offer any compensation for overcooking her steak and delaying us. Otherwise, the service was fine.
The chipped beef appetizer was very good — the highlight of the meal. The celery slaw that was served with the steak was very nice and refreshing. The stuffed mushrooms were good, not great; bacony and bready. The soda was 8oz and served warm with a glass of ice, allowing me to deal with the fizzy, luke-​cold, watered-​down beverage — not what I expect from a $ 200 dinner.
Never trust a steak house that doesn’t have creamed spinach on the menu.

Very disappointing. Was excited that a new steak place had opened in the area but the food was very ordinary tasting despite the very high price.
Steak was not well flavored (ribeye) and the pay extra hollandaise was pasty and plain. The a la carte spinach was bitter and has just plain steamed spinach… no seasoning at all.
The manager was giving his wait staff a really hard time right in front of me. Not sure why but should not have happened in front of the guests.
All in all the dinner for two, including one appetizer and one dessert was nearly $ 200 with tip. I’m thinking for that the meal should be really, really good. Very disappointing.

There are going to be folks that discount this as I am a first time Unilocal reviewer, but I can assure you that I am an experienced diner with good taste and have been out to many of the best restaurants that Boston has to offer.
Flank however will not be a return trip for me.
Upon walking up this new restaurant is beautiful. Soaring ceilings, gorgeous wood work, great lighting and a really neat steam punk style bar that recalls the library out of the Harry Potter movies. Behind the hostess stand is a floor to ceiling glass enclosed wine cellar that is impressive as well.
Leather booths in the back room are nice and roomy (especially for two), but the slightly graffitiesque paintings in the dining room add a grotesque/​macabe element to the dining room. Dead eyes seem to be staring at you from the walls.
Open the menu and the prices are a bit stiff for signature items including the top billed steaks. This definitely hits the «4» $$$$ mark as you are in Del Frisco’s territory here,
Open the wine list, and I am now moderately peeved. Mid-​Priced US Cabernet’s that I would buy at retail for $ 50 – 60 are marked to $ 175 — $ 200. Want to drink something worthy of your $ 115 Tomahawk Chop? Now you are looking north of $ 350 for «great» wines. But again this is Del Frisco’s territory.
Where I really got upset with the wine program was in the offerings of second labels of Bordeaux producers that were in the $ 150 — $ 300 range. These are $ 35 – 50 wines at retail MAX. Egregious market ups, and the grand cru is generally referenced to try and trick a novice drinker … bad practice.
Back to the menu … we chose a two seafood starters, two salads, one steak entrée and one fish entrée.
The food was great. Salads crisp, fresh and well dressed. The Crab Cocktail was light showcasing two types of crab, which was great (and a nice portion for $ 15). The steak was a perfectly cooked Flank Steak with frites. The whole fish was nice, but not really inventive. Straight forward steakhouse fare, but there was not a lot of flare here. Slow services added to it, but was not a deal killer.
If we had gone full out and done the beefsteak dinner, maybe my experience would be better. Perhaps we missed some better menu items?
With Bancroft & Capital Grille in Burlington being standby steakhouses in the burbs that offer better value, more reliable food and better wine programs I really don’t see a reason to even give Flank a chance unless you live right nearby. Clearly geared to the Newton, Wellesley, Weston crowd.

Flank just opened 6 weeks ago, and I waited until now to give them time to work the kinks out. I should have waited longer.
The atmosphere is a weak attempt at the 1920’s. The spray painted figures on one wall are more like a kiddie park, than a 5 star restaurant.
If you have the opportunity to sit along the walls, pass. The club chairs are so low, that it makes dining very difficult. Even for a 6ft person.
The service could not have been much worse. It was over 10 minutes before anyone even acknowledged that we were at the table. The waitress was rushed and rude. She had no idea on the appropriate way to serve drinks or food. She bumped into us and made a disaster of the meal.
Everyone at our table ordered the same cut of meat at the same temperature. The steaks were delivered from medium rare to well done. I have no idea how the kitchen could not cook all the steaks correctly, especially when they are the same cut and temperature.
I’ve contacted Restaurant Impossible, and asked them to visit Flank. This place has a lot of room for improvement!
Update 5÷18÷2016
Stopped into Flank today for lunch. We ordered a burger and waited 40 minutes before it delivered to our table. The food was cold. The place was dead with only 6 tables with guests. I’m done with this place. Save your money and eat anywhere else!

Ok so drove by this place on 95 a bunch of times and decided to give it a try with my boyfriend for a post Valentine’s dinner. I’ve worked in the restaurant business for 15+ yrs so I understand the in’s and out’s so it always amazes me when restaurants are not up to par.
Had a reservation for 5pm. The restaurant opens at 5pm. So why do I see people standing around doing nothing yet have to wait 9mins before being seated? The moment we arrived we should have been seated. We did not request a booth but why would you seat us at table in the middle of dining room with a clear line of sight to the kitchen? The host did offer to take our coats though.
Our server was very nice and friendly. Explained the menu well and took our order promptly. We did not receive bread at our table until 5:22. It smelled good but was too chewy, but the herbed butter that accompanied it was tasty.
Ok now about the food. I ordered the crab bisque that arrived at 5:39 and was very good, maybe a little to rich for my tastes but one of the better ones I’ve had. I ordered the pork chops and my boyfriend got the filet. We also got a side of the mac an cheese. Pork chops were delicious but slightly fatty, I would have expected a bit leaner of a piece. The filet was also very delicious. Mac n cheese we could do without, it didn’t really taste like it should, it needed more cheese and less butter or oil or whatever that was It also lacked salt in a big way. We didn’t intend on getting on dessert so can’t comment.
One thing that was good and bad was the busboy constantly filling up our water glasses. I mean CONSTANTLY. If we took more than 2 sips of water he was there refilling it up. They really need to cool it with that service it actually felt a bit creepy.
Overall, the food was pretty tasty but we wont be going out of our way to go again. If we happen to be in the area sure we might stop there to eat but that would be it.
As usual never take my word and give it a try yourself.
For me it’s a dining experience so it’s not always JUST the food that convinces me to return.

Of the orders they got right, the flavors were good. However, you had to wait a while to even get your mix-​up. So factor in time to switch orders the right way around a table and at least 1 – 2 dishes getting sent back.
We had a group of about 12, and I thought it was a good sign that we initially had three hovering waiters to help out with the table. Apparently, the more people involved, the less organized they are. Over the evening there were at least 6 servers coming through and not passing orders along.
The first round of cocktails took a bit more time than anticipated, but by the time they arrived, all of them should have come out. The first half of the table could have (slowly) finished their beverages before the second half even received theirs. Based on an informal group poll, half the cocktails were in fact great, the other half missed the mark. I recommend staying with the classics if you choose to go to Flank.
All but one person ordered beef, as it is a steak restaurant. And the great thing about steak restaurants is being able to order it exactly like you want it. I think 4 people got (roughly) what they ordered. There were at least four plate switcheroos though and the rest were just wrong. It was either the wrong cut, the wrong level of cooking, or the wrong butter/​sauce topping. In the effort to try to suck it up as much as possible, we gave up with the toppings and just tried to get the rare vs medium well people within edible range for their preferences.
One of the plates that had to be re-​cooked to medium (ordered medium NY filet, received medium rare NY strip) was rushed back too early and returned rare. It even took 20 mins past everyone else’s plate to be re-​delivered, so they clearly aren’t managing their time well in the kitchen.
It was very disappointing to see so many wrong orders happen over the course of the entire dinner. Which took forever. We started at a non-​busy time of 5:15 (15 minutes early for our reservation) and weren’t out of there until 8:40. Some items such as the sides weren’t even delivered at all!
They did end up taking those sides off of the bill and sending out a handful of free desserts, but ultimately this was a total disaster. I get that its hard to handle a big group, especially so early on in your restaurant, but the apologies were as scarce as the beef fat fries that never graced the table.
I will not be returning and will recommend against more company dinners there.

My sister has tried calling twice to speak to a manager about our night and each time they refused to let her speak to anyone — let alone take her info and offer to call her back.
Clearly they don’t care about your experience — just your money.

Had made a reservation online for 2 earlier in the week. I needed to change it to party of 3. I tried to change it online but nothing else was available, decided to call and they were more than accommodating!
Arrived and was seated quickly. The service was a bit slow to come and even get drink orders took about 10 minutes. The décor is a little strange, old portraits with graffiti on them. Two graffiti guys painted out the kitchen windows look like Terrence and Phillip.
We were given water right away. That water boy, he basically filled our cups up after every sip, at least he was attentive, if not overly-​attentive!
The three of us ordered filets. 1 Medium-​well and 2 Well done. The cook on all of them differed, and 1 medium well and 1 well done were overly charred on the outside. Inside was cooked perfectly for me, but the char, could not get past the burnt taste, was too much!
The potato purée was great! The broccoli was a bit burnt too, and topped with some cheese that was a surprise. The mac and cheese side was pinwheel pasta with little to no taste and barely one cheese never mind the 5 it said it has.
Getting the bill, found that they charge $ 4 for sauces for the steaks (no price indicated on the menu that I can remember), and I ordered a couple whiskey and sodas, and was charged for the whiskey and then $ 1 for each soda, that I thought was a bit ‘nickel and dimey’.
The manager on duty waited until we had paid our bill to come see how everything was, which I thought was convenient.
Would go back. but like some of the staff had mentioned to us, «come back in a couple months when everything has worked itself out». That was coming from the staff, so they even notice it. I figured that would be the case, but for an ‘upscale’ steak house, thought there should be no kinks to begin with.
We paid about $ 130 a person, which included drinks, filet and one side each.