Ten Tables

Yes, I have a huge complaint about this restaurant!
Everything is so good and delicious as well as an über friendly staff.
Every cocktail we had was right on point, and the wine was on the dot as well!
Appetizers: duck dumplings melt in your mouth, it is like you died and went to heaven. The mussels were a healthy helping and filled the table. The pea salad was light, crisp, and refreshing.
Dinner: the lamb pasta dish was beyond words and the hanger steak was so flavorful and yummy. Really great portions, the perfect size, not leaving you hungry but healthy portions so you might have a little leftover.
Dessert: was okay, I personally wasn’t crazy about the flavored, very unique. I got the chocolate cake and it was ehhhh, different, but another member in our party enjoyed it. Teaches own I guess.
Really great deals as well as $ 1 oysters late Sunday afternoon/​early evening as well as a featured pasta wine pairing on Thursday for $ 15.
We live down the street and are excited to come back. Everything is reasonably priced as well which makes it that much more enjoyable. Definitely a favorite!

I’m writing this review with a heavy heart, you see, my trip to Ten Tables was much anticipated. I’ve been trying to get here for well over two years.
Before I go any further at all, I must say that the service was absolutely impeccable. The service is the ONLY reason for the three stars. The entire staff was funny and on point.
We started out with the mussels and the duck fat dumplings. The mussels were really good– white wine broth, standard fare. The duck fat dumplings were rich and delicious, in a cream sauce with micro greens and mushrooms. Strong first showing.
Alas, the entrees arrived. I had the mahi mahi, which was described on the menu as «in a tomato broth with squid and scallops.» I was anticipating a broth, similar to what is served with mussels, but instead what I got was Chef Boyardee. Having been raised Italian, it was an affront to tomato sauce. I’m what my grandmother used to call an… ahem. «good eater» and my entire plate was pretty much left untouched.
My husband got the hanger steak– the best option from our table. It was cooked perfectly; however, crusted in sea salt. After brushing off some of the salt, it was really good. The sides had a lot of be desired. I’m all for exploratory cuisine, but mixing beets and kidney beans together just presents as grotesque. The flavor and crunch of the beets is lost and the beans were just a soggy mess.
Our friends had the gnocchi and the roasted chicken. Neither were truly offensive, but also nothing remarkable. The gnocchi was more like a side dish lacking a protein option. The chicken was very juicy, but not super flavorful.
Overall, it is very unlikely that we will return, which is unfortunate because there are so few farm to table restaurants in the area, and the staff really were amazing.

My boyfriend and I went here for our anniversary and got the vegetarian tasting menu. Each dish was interesting and delicious, but not so complex that we had no clue what we were eating. We didn’t do the wine tasting menu, but I did have the wine recommended to go with the main course, and it was perfect. We also had some great cocktails. The service was fantastic as well!

I had high hopes for Ten Tables in JP, as I had eaten at their Cambridge location (since closed) last year and had a great meal.
The ambiance at the JP location was nice, it was busy and full, but not packed. Service was friendly and knowledgeable.
The food was alright. It was their pre-Valentine’s prix fixe menu. I had an apple and potato soup, lamb shank, and chocolate pot de crème. My date had the scallop ceviche, mahi, and red wine honey cake.
Appetizers: The ceviche was good, and I enjoyed the addition of pickled squash blossoms and the textural element of the pumpkin seed crackers. The apple and potato soup had nice flavor (loved the addition of corn relish) and was a good first course, but didn’t blow me away.
Entrees: My lamb shank was the best dish of the night. It fell off the bone and made for a nice hearty bite when eaten with the beans, greens, and crispy bits of offal. It was a dish you’d want to eat in front of a fireplace after being outside on a cold day. My date’s dinner was much less pleasing. The mahi was poached in a tomato broth with turnip and potato, and it didn’t offer much in terms of flavor. That’s not to say it tasted bad, because it didn’t. It just wasn’t very interesting. In my opinion, it would have benefited from a more robust tomato broth and more salt.
Dessert: The red wine honey cake was good, if not a little bland, but the pot de crème was the best dessert. The chocolate wasn’t too sweet and paired well with the dessert port. The ice cream, honey, and sunflower seeds might have been the best thing on the plate, though.
All in all, a good meal, but not an outstanding meal. I had high hopes for the original Ten Tables based on my experience at the Cambridge location and the general hype, but I also kind of shot myself in the foot with a Valentine’s Day prix fixe. I’ll go back on a regular night to have the tasting menu, and I anticipate a better meal.

Great service, excellent wine pairings, and good ambiance. We’ll definitely be back!!!

I don’t think I’ve ever been to JP except to eat… Haha.
Anyways, here’s another great place in this neighborhood. Cute small restaurant right on the main stretch here with excellent and reasonably priced food. I also like the fact that they’re serving lesser known wines. My Slovenian white was great.
Ok now for the food. We started off with the roasted cauliflower and the charcuterie. I think this is probably the only place I’m knocking down 1 star for. The charcuterie was good but consisted mostly of pâté and liver mousse and only 1 cured meat. My companion doesn’t like the softer stuff so couldn’t eat most of the plate. We wish we had known ahead of time. The cauliflower was also tasty but I would have liked it to be a little bit crisper on top, but that’s being pretty picky.
For entrees, we got the pork belly and hangar steak. Pork belly had excellent flavors. Yes I’ll admit that I still prefer true Asian styled pork belly more, but for an American restaurant cooking Asian flavors, this was well executed. The hangar steak was awesome. It’s done with a dry rub and the meat wasn’t exactly juicy, but it was incredibly tender. Yummy!
Don’t know how often the menu gets changed but will definitely be back to try more when it does!

I came in based on the high marks it received. I must say, im disappointed. Nothing wow-​ed me. Flavors didnt excite my palette. Decent. However, I must applaud the staff for being attentive and providing us with great service.

My meal, the steak followed by a meat and cheese board, paired with three wonderful glasses of wine, left me feeling like I just had sex.

The dinner was below average and sadly, this restaurant has gone down hill (from several experiences both pre and post expansion). The ambiance is nice, candle-​lit and cozy but that’s where it ended. The food was disappointing. Our table of five chose the tasting menu which along with a bland soup but decent dessert were a radicchio salad with chunks of lard and sugar (couldn’t have been planned since the sugar was similar to rock candy, and who wants sugar pieces in their salad?) along with far too rare hanger steak (not the best cut of meat to begin with so if rare, it’s not enjoyable). We dine out often and were looking forward to this meal, but the preparation was just off. The back-​waiter/​runner was slightly pretentious and at this price point ($ 49 tasting menu), there are so many better options in Boston or JP.

Inedible. I don’t know what happened. I had such high hopes for ten tables. I ventured from my home in the food Mecca that is the south end to try this place that people love so much. Our table of five ordered the tasting menu. First, there was some porridge with shrimp I didn’t understand. Then, a pork belly dish that was that had large chucks of crunchy sugar and pork fat, followed by hangar steak that was rare beyond belief. In fairness, the server asked me if there was a problem with my meal when she came to collect the plates, but I was with a some new friends and didn’t want to wreck the mood of the evening.
The desert was just fine.
I’m not one to write reviews (positive or negative) but this warrants one.
Maybe it was an off night, but by far the worst dining experience I have had in years. I dine out frequently, so that is saying something.

I am shocked to hear that the owner of Ten Tables gave her hard working staff NO notice that Ten Tables Cambridge was closing immediately. They worked hard over the holidays, including New Year’s Eve and then she told them on Jan 2^nd they were canceling reservations and closing immediately. She timed it to rake in the profits when the restaurant was busy and didn’t tell them she was closing because she was afraid they’d leave her before Jan 1^st. I heard she had employees with small children to support, who had worked for her for six years but they were given no notice. I can’t imagine my employer saying that through no fault of mine yesterday was my last day. Keep in mind unemployment for waitstaff is minuscule because minimum wage for waitstaff is $ 2.63/hr. She’ll never get another penny from me at Grass Fed or Ten Tables JP!!!

Wow. Who cares about the food. What an apathetic bunch of people. A restaurant that unemploys an entire staff without any notice deserves to fail.? (Just closed cambridge location and intentionally blindsided staff) Owners and management deserve to find themselves unemployed and unviable (as did their employees). As an ethical individual I will never visit any establishment related to these people and urge you to do the same. Shame on 10 tables.

This place was good but not great. My dinner date and I ordered the vegetarian tasting menu, and while we felt that the overall experience was a positive one, we didn’t feel that the food was particularly different or exciting.
The first course was a bit of a surprise as we were served a plate of raw, grated parsnip with an aioli garnish. While I can understand that this dish may have been lauded by a real vegetable purist, I didn’t think it was particularly good (or edible). The second dish was a butternut squash with plum jelly and soft cheese — which was well seasoned and very appropriate for a cold fall day. The third dish was a mushroom risotto. The flavor blended well, but there wasn’t much pizzaz to the plate overall. Lastly, the dessert was a chocolate mouse that tasted delicious but wasn’t plated in the most appealing way.
I walked away full and satisfied, but I’m not sure I would return here and expect to be blown away next time.

As a parent with a young kid, dinners out are rare and special. I want to ensure that I have a great meal and a great experience. For this, Ten Tables is one of my go-​to places. The food is always excellent, and the intimate environment and attentive service make it feel special.
Make your reservations early!

Somehow this place gives me a kind of DIY vibe as though they’re just barely holding everything together by ingenuity. Still, they’re doing some cool stuff here. I’ve found the food to be consistently interesting although not necessarily consistently delicious.
A good example is a pork dish on the tasting menu. It was pork loin served cold with a cream and chili sauce. The sauce tasted a lot like spicy cheetos. I’m still not sure whether or not I liked the dish, but it was definitely something different. Likewise, we had a pasta special there with a cream and broccoli rabe sauce. The sauce had a pungent, wasabi-​like flavor that didn’t go well with the cream. We also had several plates that we really liked. In particular there was a fish course in the tasting menu that was cooked absolutely perfectly.
I would recommend checking it out if you’re looking to try something a little different, but it can be hit-​or-​miss.

Had a good experience here. Very cozy ambiance in the gentrifying neighborhood of Jamaica Plain outside of the Boston city center. It was a nice touch to begin the meal with a complimentary amuse bouche – a butternut squash soup shooter. We opted for the tasting menu (everyone has to select that option if one person decides to go with it). Two ordered the ‘omnivore’ option; two ordered the vegetarian. Overall, the omnivore option was tastier. Apple and cheese starter, chicken, steak, zucchini bread with ice cream. The vegetarian menu was just okay – trout and crostini, squash and various relishes, a mushroom risotto, and flourless chocolate cake. The cake made it worth that choice, and the risotto was a highlight. The squash course was sort of dry, lacked flavor, and the sour relish didn’t seem to make sense with it all. That said, all in all, it was a very nice experience and we would try this restaurant again happily.

First time at the restaurant – Went for the «Beerburger,» and it was delicious. Presentation was great – came with spicy whole grain mustard, homemade ketchup, sautéed onions and some pickled cabbage slaw?. Considering all of the aforementioned taste bud enhancers, the juicy burger didn’t need any additional accoutrement. It was great as is: meat, cheese, lettuce and some slightly pickled cucumbers for crunch and on a smaller than average, buttery bun. They use DUCK FAT instead of butter to cook the burger. Enough said.
A sincere neighborhood vibe accompanied by fantastic service – the atmosphere was super chill. Go!

I had a wonderful meal here about a year ago for my birthday, and never got around to reviewing. My food was amazing, but it was a special that is for sure no longer on the menu, But since then, I moved to JP and have gotten to swing by for their special bar deals a few times (monday beer plus a burger and thursday pasta of the day and wine). The burger/​beer night it still a little pricey, but they make it feel special with lots of house made additions (caramelized onions, pickled cabbage, house made condiments). And it just feels so cozy and neighborhood-​y that it is worth it. Recently I’ve been feeling like most foodie places all feel super sanitized — minimalistic ikea type furniture, stainless steel and white everywhere. And thats ok, but there is something so nice about a comfortable restaurant like Ten Tables. Especially when it is a few blocks from home!

Food was good. Service was solid. So why 3 stars?
Chef tasting for 2 plus drinks gets you close to $ 150. For that price I don’t expect good. I can get good down the street for a third of the price. We expected great and unfortunately that is not what we ate.
We will be back to try their bar menu on one of their weeknights but will skip the dining room until perhaps another season comes by and their ingredients turnover.

Serving inventive libations. Their alcohol license requires that they somehow create their own liquors, and reading their menu alone is a culinary experience. Their drink menu is inventive and refreshing and there were many to choose. Drinks were spendy, and this place gets packed in a Saturday night. Good Centre street location with street parking. Tax is charged on their drinks due to their license (not customary for other area bars that mostly all hold a different license class).
Would have loved to eat here, but just stopped by for a cocktail in the later evening.

Had the 4-​course Chef’s tasting menu. The third course/​main entrée was decent, but the rest were quite poor. They had no flavor and it seems the restaurant was lacking in quality ingredients at the time, as they did not taste fresh and used the pre-​meal bread (which was mediocre) in two of the courses! The second course with clams in broth was too salty, which overshadowed all other flavors.
This definitively gave a bad image to Chef’s tasting menu. Instead of showcasing the best the Chef had to offer using fresh seasonal ingredients, it gave the impression that it was what the Chef was able to haphazardly salvage using poor and leftover ingredients.

Another reviewer said it best, «A gem of Jamaica Plain, I highly recommend a visit.» I could not agree any more. You will find an attentive staff that knows their wines and knows their foods. We had a lovely amuse-​bouche to start, and perfectly done entrees. I wish I could have sampled more of the menu. The fish was cooked perfectly and had an excellent balance of flavors. I hope to go back next time I’m in the area if only to try the tasting menus.

I ordered the pan seared blue fish and it was seared to perfection. My boyfriend ordered a linguine dish with radish (to my surprise). He did enjoy his plate but definitely enjoyed mine more and begged to trade. Nope!
Our server was really attentive and even brought us some cucumber soup to sample. I hate cucumbers, but it was actually delicious! We also ordered the house rose. I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t terrible.
We were seated next to the AC wall unit and it kept dripping on me :(so I guess you should avoid wall tables.

I’ve come here before for the entire dining experience and remembered leaving confused about the ratings. A year later, I decided to give it a second try but only for their desserts and a round of drinks and unfortunately, I left not very impressed yet again.
We ordered their version of the tiramisu and please be warned, it looks and tastes nothing like one. The bartender noted that they like to do things differently there. I’d agree that it’s a great concept but it still needs to taste like a dessert, right? Instead, we ate two hard ladyfingers with bland cream cheese.
We also ordered their olive oil cake with hazelnut ice cream which wasn’t as bad as the tiramisu but that doesn’t mean I’d ever order it again. A good try to make a cake differently but I think here, maybe sticking more with traditional preparation for their desserts would be a step in the right direction.

Besides the fact that this place is very pricey, I really enjoyed my time at Ten Tables. We didn’t make reservations so we had to sit at the bar which wasn’t a problem at all. The bartender was extremely polite and nice.
I ordered the burger which was pretty good. It wasn’t like «out of this world» good or anything, but I was happy with the food. I asked for medium rare but it looked more like rare so I would recommend to ask them to cook the meat a level higher than you would normally want it. My fiancé ordered the mac&cheese and it was really good.
It’s a very intimate place and I think it would be a great place for romantic dinner night.

Ten Tables
Parking:
You’re going to have to try to find a spot up along Center Street allow for some time to circle around the block a few times. You may have to walk a little bit
Décor /​ambience:
Small, low lit, cozy, tables close together. Nice view of the kitchen which is a very tight operation in a small space. It’s like the cooking right in the dining room with you. I found this to be really cool. As soon as we sat down the chef sent out a couple of shot glasses of a cauliflower purée soup with a drizzle of smoked Paprika oil on top. I thought it was a nice way to welcome us in.
Greeting:
Somebody was right there to greet us as we walked in. We were a few minutes early for a reservation but she got us out right away. Very nice feeling walking into this place. You certainly don’t feel like a number when you enter here
Menu mix:
Creative with a nice selection, it’s not a huge menu but it offers a lot and a wide range of flavors.
Does the water taste of bleach?
Probably the best tasting tapwater I’ve ever had. I swear this was filtered water but no hints of bleach whatsoever. It kills me when I go to will find restaurant and I go to drink the water and it taste like Clorox.
Drink pour:
I was quite happy with the wine pours. I had a fantastic bourbon drink there as well called a 3.2.1. And it was simply wonderful. This was a well-​crafted cocktail. They have a great menu of well thought out concoctions. The drink menu is an adventure all it it’s own.
Food quality:
There is strong culinary talents and passion in this kitchen. There’s a big emphasis on local ingredients and I found the food to be particularly fresh tasting. The presentations were wonderful.
Service:
I think this is a team service sort of environment because we were constantly being attended to by various folks. All of which were extremely friendly, had strong knowledge in the menu and gave us great recommendations when we requested them.
Value:
You looking at about 200 bucks with tip and that includes two maybe three craft cocktails two glasses of wine to appetizers to entrées and splitting a dessert. I think for the quality of the food the ambience and the service that this was a fair price
Bathrooms:
I didn’t use the bathroom but from what I’m told my wife said it’s rather a squeeze to get into but proportionate to the size of this restaurant.
Would I return?
I would absolutely return in fact I plan on bringing one of my shifts with me to sit at the chefs bar which overlooks the small kitchen operation. I love seeing that action and it just would make my meal that much more enjoyable to see all of the orchestration. Any restaurant that offers a table like this where they can see the kitchen up close is always very attractive to me
Comments /​tips:
They offer a chef and bar tasting menu and it’s basically the chef and bartenders whim. The gentleman that were sitting to the right of us opted to do this and it looked like they were having a great time. Each course was paired off with a different beverage wine beer or cocktail. It sounded like a fun culinary ride and I might do that next time. These are the types of craftsman that you can feel comfortable with what they sent to the table. If you’re picky fussy eater then you’re not going to want to do this. If you’re a culinary adventure or then this may be the meal program for you.