Sel de la Terre

Oh, this is tragic. Finally closed a couple of years ago in its last location.
I had been to the Aquarium/​Waterfront location and also the Boylston location. It was definitely the more Mediterranean French/​Americanized French cuisine.
We had gone for both the Boston Restaurant Week as well as with a groupon. Had good experiences both times. I think I had the hanger steak frites one time and moules (muscles) frites the second time. Ratatouille was good.
Rest in peace. Although there are a lot of a great French restaurants in Boston still!

A wonderful experience spanning years of my life!
When I was younger, while visiting Boston, I discovered the waterfront Sel De La Terre across from the aquarium. Usually all I could afford was a cappuccino and maybe dessert, but they were always so accommodating and sweet. Despite my being a weird-​looking kid in a winter jacket and a baseball cap, they always served me with the utmost respect. And the food was so tasty! Despite only having gone there a few times, it made a big impression.
Now I live in Boston and recently found out that SDLT will make vegan meals upon request. And, as a birthday splurge, request I did! I made an Open Table reservation for two with the specification that one diner was vegan. They confirmed both via email and over the phone, which I very much appreciate. So even before we got to the restaurant, I was impressed by the service!
In-​restaurant, once we were past the slightly awkward entry process, the service was honestly overwhelming in its quality. Our waiter was friendly and accommodating, offering olive oil for my bread (in the prettiest dish with the tastiest olives as a garnish), stating a little «pardon my reach» every time he had to lean in front of me… He was just a good waiter on a slow enough night that he could pull out all the stops. It was a very pleasant interaction. There was also a guy bringing around a basket of bread that one got to choose from. Totally novel for me! And another man, possibly the manager, came over to make sure that our food and service was up to par. They were all very gracious.
Now, the food itself? You’ll have to forgive my inarticulateness, but oh my goodness. Just, it was awesome. It all tasted perfect. Even just the bread and oil was heavenly. The salad… I actually wanted to eat it. Every last bite of it. And I’m terrible at eating salad. But the onions and radishes were cut just so, and the dressing tasted delicious without overwhelming the rest.
For my main course, the chef made me a risotto dish, cooked in beet juice with broccoli and wild mushrooms. I don’t remember the last time I ate anything so divine. The vegetables especially had this perfect amount of salt that just made all the flavors pop. The risotto itself was filling and tasty and so subtle in its flavor.
By the end of this all, we were stuffed beyond capacity and had run up a sizable bill! There was no room in our stomachs or our wallets for the dessert the waiter tried to tempt us with.
Needless to say, I will earn some more money and return someday!

After hearing good things about SDLT and drooling over the menu, I jumped at a Gilt City deal for dinner there. I left with very mixed feelings about the place. Full disclosure: the night my boyfriend and I came for dinner, it was both miserably cold and pouring down raining, which had not put either of us in particularly charitable moods. It was wintry-​mixing outside, which as everyone knows, is the worst sort of precipitation. Anyway, take that as you will.
The atmosphere:
— Awkward entry: When you first walk in, there’s a tiny vestibule separated from the restaurant by a heavy curtain. I don’t know if that curtain is always there, or if they just had it up because the weather was so yucky. Either way, it set a really strange mood and I was not a fan of it. Anyway, we were greeted once there and sent through the curtain. After the curtain, there’s a bar and a staircase leading up the restaurant proper. There were two guys waiting to greet us again there. We were sent upstairs, where we were welcomed yet again and seated by the hostess. I felt like a human hot potato.
— Service: The service was always pleasant, but we were helped by so many different people. There were the four people we were greeted by, our actual server, the girl who brought our drinks, the guy who came around with bread, and the guy who brought out our entrées. Is it me, or is that a little excessive? As I said, everyone was lovely to us, but it just felt like a bit much.
The food:
— SDLT Burger: After looking at the regular dinner menu and not feeling in the mood for anything I saw there, I asked for the bar menu and settled on the SDLT burger. Amazing decision. Even just the bun was beautiful to behold, buttery and inviting. It was cooked perfectly, topped with pancetta and a mindblowingly-​good aioli. It was so flavorful and complex! I just sat there for a minute, trying to figure it out. I got nothing. Anyway, the burger was perfection. You need to order it.
— Rosemary pommes frites: They came with my burger, but I’m pretty sure you can order them as an additional side all the time. Duuuuuuude. Salty and savory and so, so tasty. Totally hit the spot.
— Duck breast and leg confit: My boyfriend ordered this, and I think he was pretty pleased with it. I tasted a bit of the duck, which was prepared beautifully — moist and well-​seasoned. It was served over a tarragon and orange-​blossom risotto. It had the perfect consistency, but it tasted quite medicinal to me. I’m not a big fan of tarragon though, so take that with a grain of salt. If you like those kinds of flavors, that dish might be more your speed.
I’m giving Sel de la Terre three stars. It’s really the strange vibe that’s holding me back from a more enthusiastic review. I’ll definitely be back for that outstanding burger and those rosemary pommes frites (I can smell them now…), so hopefully I’ll have a less weird experience next time.

So I recently was brought here for my half birthday (yes its a thing… at least I am told by my friend. but I am wondering if she just wants me to remember her half birthday. haha)
I have been to the Neighboring restaurant (L’espalier) with great results, so I had similar great expectations!
The ambience was nice downstairs. I love the bikes, and having them draped in lights made it much nicer. Really, holiday directions make décor so much better when done the right way!
We were escorted to our table upstairs. Being midweek at 7, it was not overly crowded, and we got a nice four person table in the center of the restaurant for the two of us.
While looking over the wine menu for a meritage, the server offered help. I told him what I was looking for (keep in mind, I am by no means an expert — just know what I like). He excused himself, and went and got the sommelier to help us choose a good wine. And it worked, it was delicious, and just what we wanted!
It is this level of service that gets me to go back to places. do bonus right to start!
We got the ‘frites’ to start (french fries, but tasty in oil and garlic and greatly seasons). she got lobster, I got steak, and both were GREAT!
super tender, perfectly cooked, warm, tasty and juicy. wow, so great. making my mouth water just thinking about it!
overall it was a great experience. Yes, a step down from next door, but that is to be expected as it is a more casual environment, and also lower priced. I know my friend LOVES the place and seems to go once a month at least… and I cant blame her. It was delicious, and the service was tremendous!

So I’m kind of at a loss for words regarding the experience I had here Sunday night. If this review was for the service alone, it would be 2 stars. But I love SDLT so much that i can’t bring myself to click 2 stars. I mean everyone has an off night right?
Mostly I don’t like feeling stupid. And when I rave about a restaurant for ages and then take friend there and the experience is significantly sub par, I feel stupid. SDLT made me feel stupid. No good.
The service was crap pretty much from the minute we walked upstairs. While the hostess who greeted us downstairs was lovely (though she didn’t ask to take our coats – weird), the one upstairs seemed to be less than thrilled with her job. We checked in and she was about to seat us when she asked if we would prefer to have a window table – absolutely! There was only one empty one and it hadn’t been cleared off yet, so we made our way back to wait. I guess we weren’t standing in the appropriate place because she had asked us to move more out of the way, and was kind of rude about. About 5 mins passed by, so i figured i would be efficient and go use the restroom. I asked her to point me in the direction, which she did, but then rudely added «well you guys wanted a window table so it will take a little extra time.“i was kind of shocked at this outburst because it wasn’t like i was being rude or rolling my eyes at the wait… i just wanted to pee and fix my hair… Also, now that i’m thinking about it, i’m pretty sure this young lady was wearing leggings. Leggins are not pants. And leggings are certainly not appropriate attire for a hostess at a restaurant of this caliber. I would have imagined they had a dress code…
Anyway, we were finally seated and had a lovely view of boylston st. yeay! The restaurant was quite empty at 7p on Sunday, so i was pretty surprised by how long it took to get water, or bread for that matter. Our server greeted us and took our drink orders. These took forever. At some point after we got drinks, we finally got bread. I was so excited for the bread!!! I love the bread here! but it wasn’t warm… i would even go so far as to say that the french baguette had been sitting there for hours. the ciabatta, while also cold, was still really good though.
We waited for what seemed like an excessive amount of time to get our appetizer (smoked salmon – great quality, salad was very good too, best part though was the toast that came with it – smothered in butter yet somehow still crispy – awesome!) But then had to wait a ridiculous amount of time for the entrée. My friend was, for the most part, very pleased with her chicken dish (though she did comment that it was a tad too dry), but my pork was pretty pathetic. I don’t think it could have been less flavorful if they tried. The medley of veggies/​apple was kind of meh as well, and mostly i just tried to shovel it on top of the pork to give it some softness, but the sausage that came on the side was just abrasive. I have no idea how this was supposed to complement the dish. the best part of the meal was the blueberry compote that came with my friend’s chicken.
Back to the service – once we got our main course, our server disappeared. At some point during the meal, i had dropped my knife and was scoping the dining room to find anyone who looked like they worked there but no. eventually i just got up and went to find someone to get a new knife. We had also finished our drinks, but by the time our server checked in on us, we were also pretty much done with our meal. so that was that.
The bill came out to be like 100 $, which i would have thought to be cheap, assuming that the service was of the impeccable caliber that i know SLDT is capable of. Sadly, this was not the case that night, and luckily i had purchased a GILT deal for this particular outing, so it wasn’t as huge of a blow. Overall, an incredibly disappointing experience. I’m hoping that this was just an isolated incident as i love the place too much to never come back again.

as always, the food was delicious. however, this review is specifically for the service that we experienced, which was outstanding!
the service was courteous to begin with, and our waiter rich was extremely friendly, nice, and made great recommendations.
my fiancé and i were seated in a booth near the crowded bar. as patrons began encroaching on the table, the manager actually came over and asked if we would like to be moved to another table. we didn’t feel the need to move, but we really appreciated when our waiter then politely asked the bar patrons to move back from the table.
i wish every restaurant could have such attentive, accommodating, and friendly waitstaff! a big thanks to rich for a great night!

As someone who has been coming to Sel de la Terre’s Back Bay and Natick locations for eight years, I was extremely disappointed by the rude, inattentive, and lackluster service tonight. Sel de la Terre has been my favorite restaurant for a long time, and now I feel I can no longer gush to friends or out-​of-​town visitors about its dedication to being a place for friends and family to enjoy good food committed to quality and creativity. I enjoy the sous chef smack downs and other events, and have reliably and confidently gifted dinners to friends at Sel de la Terre without my attendance. Tonight’s service was so disappointing that it is causing me to reconsider my love of the place and in fact, I’m not sure I ever want to go again.
Every staff person we interacted with was hesitant to receive us (we were dressed about as well as everyone else there & it was our umpteenth time as it is, so we are familiar with the ambiance) and seemed reluctant to interact. We waited downstairs to be allowed upstairs even though two other members of our party were already seated and the restaurant was by no means full. There was confusion throughout and the person upstairs asked someone else on a Saturday night how to operate the seating map. Our server was brusque (many of the staff were new) and the person who brought us our dishes set them down and then, after we’d already picked up utensils and had taken some fries, took them back and said they were for another table and set them down without asking or checking whether we’d touched them yet – very uncomfortable and possibly unsanitary.
The server apologized but it came off more as a script, and when we asked for separate cheques he assured us we could just write the amount for each card, which we’ve done in the past. The woman in a black/​white wrap dress who sorted them for him completely disregarded the calculated amounts and split them, then took the cards back to be reswiped without any word – no acknowledgment, no apology, nothing.
This plus the taking away of certain plates even though not everyone was done with their course, made the experience very rude. I certainly will no longer recommend it to my business associates if I cannot guarantee acceptable service. We felt completely disregarded and although the food was not very different, the service quality completely ruined what I had thought would be a longstanding neighborhood gem and favorite. The degree of the discomfort makes this not simply a fluke or bad night, but instead was enough to discredit eight years’ worth of loyalty and culinary joy with bitter disappointment.

(This review copied to some extent from Kiki B.‘s, as we went together and she wrote it with the benefit of a fresh memory. I like to procrastinate.)
My family and I had never been to Sel de la Terre, but we opted for it out of desperation the evening after my sister graduated from college, when the wait everywhere in the Back Bay was over an hour. All the sidewalk tables were full, everywhere! Sel de la Terre didn’t look too amazing from the outside, but we were STARVING, so we went in to check the menu and to make a decision.
We were greeted enthusiastically and seated immediately. The restaurant was nearly empty, but the environment was peaceful and refined, with immaculate linen on the table and a fun view from our window table.
There were four of us; we each ordered something different. Each meal was incredibly great! Fresh, delicious, beautifully presented. I had the gnocchi, and it was the lightest and meltiest example I’d ever had of the dish. We all tasted one another’s and would order all of it, if we could return over and over, and try the other artful menu offerings.
Partway through our meal, the manager came over to check in on us and to make sure that we were enjoying ourselves. We praised the meal enthusiastically and he seemed charmed and gratified. Excellent service!
Desserts were all meltingly good. I’d go here again over so many places. What a unexpectedly wonderful experience.

I’ve come here three times. The chances of me going back have diminished.
I’ve never been impressed by the bread that I’ve heard so much about. Never anything special, and never warm. Come on, if Bertucci’s can serve warm bread…
Came with a friend once where I got a veggie sandwich and she got the burger. Mine was really very good — crispy and flavorful. Hers caused food poisoning later that day.
Recently I was in the area and remembered the veggie sandwich, so I stopped in to sit at the bar. This time, even though it was under the sandwich section, it was a wrap, so I asked if they could make it a sandwich, and they obliged. However, the focaccia was too much, and I was expecting it toasted like last time (and like in the pictures, I might add). There was 4 – 5 times as much bread as veg, and the veg was skimpy. It was really more a bread sandwich with some portobello accent. Half the chips were soft. Needless to say, disappointing.
Aforementioned trip with friend — we accidentally went on Mother’s Day, and everyone else was dressed up. We were dressed casually (jeans and t-​shirt, not flip flops and skanky tops), and we TOTALLY got that up-​and-​down look from the girls who asked if we had a reservation.
In summary, pricey but not worth it for either the food or the experience.

* Sel indeed! *
The name says it all. Salt. Plenty of it. In fact, way too much of it.
It really was unfortunate that they took their name so seriously and added SOOO much salt to their food.
I ordered the smoked duck, which should have been called the salted duck. It was served on top of fava beans and farro. The concept of the dish was a good one, and the duck had a nice smoke on it, but it had been bathing in salt to the point where it was almost inedible. Really a shame. Photo:

Hit Sel De La Terre on the right days, and you can score cheap appetizers and oysters, otherwise — while pricey its not outrageous. Some of the food is distinctly worth it. I particularly
My first trip there lead to a great, but expensive mezcal old-​fashioned. It was well balanced, strong and creative. It was a tad pricey at 12 bucks — but probably worth it.
Another highlight was the cheese board. 4 out of 5 of the cheeses were amazing (the herb infused on was so-​so.) Surprisingly, my favorite part was the honey. I believe it was truffled.
Sel De La terre is a great place for a small bite and drink, but I haven’t decided yet if its a worthwhile stop as a splurge.

After many additional visits to Sel de la Terre, I have to concede the fourth star.
This is based primarily on the delicious food and the quality of the special events. I maintain that service is still the weakest element at Sel de la Terre, and varies greatly depending on the day and the server.
My two favorite ways to eat at Sel de la Terre are:
1. Go to the bar. Order the burger and a beer or cocktail. We did recently notice that they’ve tweaked their burger recipe, and added both cheese and bacon. Normally, adding cheese and bacon to a slab of perfectly cooked hamburger is brilliant, but in this case, it’s overkill. The burger already has a delicious tangy sauce and pancetta. I’ll be asking them to hold the cheese and bacon next time I get this.
2. Go to one of the special Tuesday beer dinners. For $ 44, you get four courses, each paired with a beer. The staff will walk around to your table and explain the beer and how it relates to the food being served. The value here is tremendous, with each course being generously portioned. The formula seems to be salad course, two meat and vegetable courses, and a cheese course to finish (vegetarian options available). Most of the beers are split between two people, so you end up having two full beers by the end of dinner. And the food at these dinners is usually both good and interesting (port wine risotto with chicken livers, anyone?).
So there you have it. Sel de la Terre remains prominent in my restaurant rotation, and probably deserves a place in yours, too.

I’m having a really difficult time trying to choose between a 3 or a 4. I keep clicking 3 then 4 then 3, and so on. It’s so aggravating! Why couldn’t you just be a solid 3 OR a solid 4 instead of this 3.5 business you’ve got going on, SDLT?
So after 10 minutes have passed in pure agony, I’ve chosen a 3. A 3 based on poor planning, one bland dish, one superb dish, and pricing.
Planning
We had a reservation. We arrived ten minutes early. We were seated 25 late. Apologies abounding, we were then given the one lonely table near the upstairs bar, situated under the icy burst of the AC. We place was packed, but we asked to move and were told it would be another 30 minutes. I highly doubt the rest of the people waiting downstairs had to wait 30 minutes for a table. Being sort of removed from the rest of the dining area also made us feel neglected with lack of refills and checking in by our server. Poor planning, SDLT. While we’re usually treated extremely well here, this was by far our worst experience based on atmosphere, ambiance, etc.
Food
The Bland — The Scottish Salmon was cooked perfectly: smooth and buttery. However, the dish overall lacked flavor.
The Superb — The gnocchi was far and away the highlight of the night. The gnocchi was perfect, the mushrooms were intensely flavorful, the onions had the best mix of seasoning and bread crumbs, the spinach was wilted to perfection, and the light pesto sauce brought it all together. A 5 star dish. The one drawback is that you’d only be able to eat half because the high amount of seasoning/​salt will overpower you. Good thing there’s bread!
As for pricing, it’s not insane. It’s not great either. I wouldn’t call SDLT a deal at all, and leftovers are most likely not going to happen unless you fill up on bread or get an app. In those terms it’s actually a bit pricey for the amount you get. But at least they’re on LevelUp, so that’s $ 10 you don’t have to worry about.

Service at bar downstairs is slowww. I waited like 6 min to order, despite only a few people at the bar. You get a good outside feel though b/​c they keep the doors open, which is nice.
Menu prices are reasonable for the portions. Bread basket is good. Hanger steak on bar menu is a little chewy but great flavor. Fries are awesome.

Oddly enough, I’d avoided eating here because I couldn’t take the restaurant logo/​sign seriously — had a chain look to it… think Chotchkie’s (and the reviews didn’t help). Dropped in for a quick bite at the bar and there was definitely a decent after-​work crowd.
I was unimpressed with the burrata and the hanger steak (fries were money). Baked aged goat cheese salad, arugula, pine nuts, red onion; balsamic vinaigrette — awesome.
I may pop in again since I do need better options on those rare occasions when I’m in the Copley and it’s Armageddon weather outside.

SDLT has been one of my favorite restaurants for years, though this past weekend was my first time at their Boylston location. I was visiting town for a wedding, and I was very impressed with SDLT as a wedding venue! The servers were ever present and attentive, the menu incredibly classy, and the space was comfortable and romantic. Maybe it was just the hosts’ generosity, but the appetizers, drinks, cheese, and desserts were plentiful. (Though the appetizers were not vegetarian, the restaurant added an on-​the-​spot vegetarian option, gnocchi, to the dinner menu, and it was certainly among the best, softest, most delicate gnocchi I have had.) Dinner was luxurious and satisfying and ran late.
(I still don’t really drink much, but I had their Parisian Orchid cocktail, a blend of poir vodka, St. Germain’s, and a grapefruit liqueur– it was delicate, refreshing, and delicious.)

4.5 stars. I finally got to try out Sel de la Terre and I left very satisfied. First off, I love the décor of the place. The bar area downstairs and the nice open space for the upper restaurant area. The whole staff was also great. They have a lot of cocktails and wines to choose from and our waitress helped us decide what to order. I also LOVE that they brought out an assortment of bread and crackers. Quite delicious!
Now to the actual food… I started with the arugula salad with goat cheese, pine nuts, and onions. It was really good. I was delightfully surprised by the HUGE hunk of goat cheese they lay atop the bed of greens and the crostini that comes with it is useful for finishing off the plate. For my entrée, I got the salmon. It was also splendid. The salmon itself was cooked perfectly and left relatively alone, allowing the natural flavor of the fish to shine. The bed of quinoa and cranberries beneath it was awesome! I could have eaten an entire plate of just that. The only problem I had with the dish was the artichoke hearts that were on the side. I normally love artichoke hearts so I was really excited, but they ended up being pretty flavorless.
We were too full for dessert so I can’t comment on that, but the menu looked really good.
Make sure to try this place out. They will not disappoint!

The third stop on our «Boston Burger Tour» was SDLT, winner of Boston Magazine’s 2010 Best Upscale Burger.
Overall, there was consensus in our group that the SDLT burger was solid, but wasn’t as good as Radius and didn’t come close to the Craigie on Main burger. It’s a great burger, definitely one of the best in Boston, but it definitely has its small flaws that make it our #3 burger.
The SDLT burger has very good beef, sharp Vermont cheddar, spicy aioli, and is topped with pancetta. Overall, the beef is good but not outstanding. The pancetta adds a nice savory touch, and the aioli is a great level of spice. The big detractor was actually the bun, which was huge and too chewy. It’s not often that the bun really takes away from a burger, but it overwhelms the meat to the point where you can’t even taste the pancetta and aioli in some bites. I’m picking at small details here, because it’s a good burger, but you have to pick out the small flaws in pursuit of burger perfection.
The fries were really good and simple… just a touch of fresh rosemary and sea salt. They were thinner (think about the shape of McDonald’s fries), but held their own to complement a strong burger.
The service was excellent, and the manager kept checking to see that we were taken care of. Overall, a great burger and a worthy stop on a Boston Burger tour!

I am a fan of the Sel de la Terre at the Boston waterfront location near the Aquarium. I have enjoyed many great meals there and even have a favorite wait-​person there: Aldo.
It was a Groupon that brought us to our first visit to the Back Bay location.
All I will say is that the food was fine as I have generally always found it to be at the other Sel, but the the ambiance left much to be desired. It was noisy, hectic and waitservice not particularly attentive. It was way too much of a «scene» for me on a Saturday night.
I thought it was beyond weird that they have a totally separate menu that you actually have to ask for that lists the vegetarian options. There is a comment on the «regular» menu indicating the non-​meat menu. Just ask your server!
Apparently not eating meat is a novel concept for this Sel and those who prefer not to order a meat dishes are second class citizens here. Strange.
Will continue to go to Sel but only at the waterfront location.

Proprietor/​Chef: Frank McClelland/​Geoff Gardner
having just gotten off a bus, in jeans and a hoodie, my friend decided to take me here on a lovely Saturday afternoon for brunch… i was dressed extremely down, but excuse my french… didn’t give a fuuuuuuck. had i known, i would’ve rolled through in a skirt… or something.
southern french staples can be found here… with some modern dishes to be found. I have always known about this place by the waterfront and it has always been on my list of eats… unfortunately for me… i moved out of Boston before i got the chance to try. To my delight, its new & convenient location in Back Bay was a surprise for me. A friend had recommended it, so finally, I get to cross this restaurant off my list.
I decided on the Prix-fixe…2 courses for $ 14. I started off with a raw fish of some sort, dressed in citrus vinaigrette, followed by a pita pizza topped with brie cheese & balsamic vinaigrette. Both absolutely savory and ultimately satisfying. For starters, you’ll have to try the eggplant and goat cheese purée dip with walnuts. We asked for more bread, and it’s seriously so good, I had to hold back on the carbs and slab more of the dip… the amount was a little bit overwhelming, probably best suited for groups larger than 2. even in our greed, we were not able to finish it. heaven called out … from this dip above. seriously good stuff. (minus the bread which was less than spectacular).
one other thing to note… the brunch menu didn’t look so ‘brunch’ at all… soups, salads, quiches, sandwiches… moot point, but sounds like lunch to me. maybe one egg dish of the entire menu… but luckily it was exceptional. if you love brunch as i do. this place is probably not your go-​to. i love all food as long as it’s good, so i can forgo this little tidbit.