Yesterday I met two girlfriends at the Natick Collection for shopping, gossip, and of course, a delicious meal. When the Natick mall expanded to become the chic Natick "collection" it welcomed a host of new, fine dining restaurants including Sel de la Terre, P.F. Changs, the Nordstrom Cafe (a personal favorite) and the Met Bar and Grill.
I had been to the Metropolitan Club in Newton, but had not yet experienced the Met Bar and Grill at the Natick or Dedham locations. Armed with serious post-shopping appetites, we decided to give it a whirl.
The hostess sat us in a high top, round booth that had a Japanese pagoda photograph on the wall behind us. Other high top booths had images of Paris, New York City, and other international locales lining the walls behind their tables. It was very beautiful.
Our table had a lazy Susan in the middle, allowing us to spin around our food and share easily. The table was a lacquered red, which was charming and fun.
The menu was enormous with everything from soup to salad, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, steak, fish and a make your own burger menu!
We decided to start with the spinach and artichoke dip flatbread pizza. Honestly, we picked it because we love spinach and artichoke dip and the idea of that coming on a pizza seemed too good to be true. The pizza was sublime. Perfectly crispy crust, a delicious mixture of melted spinach and cheese, topped with four lightly crisped artichokes. We highly recommend this appetizer!
For lunch two of us ordered the Caprese sandwich which comes with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, arugula, breaded eggplant and pesto on ciabatta bread. It is served with french fries and a pickle. I order the Caprese frequently at restaurants but was attracted to this one because it included eggplant (unusual). The side of french fries tasted like McDonald's (truly the highest compliment you can pay a french fry) and the pickle could have come from any top tier Jewish deli.
We also tried the veggie burger, which seemed to be homemade and was thus a bit messy to eat. The veggie burger also came with french fries and a pickle.
Although we were already stuffed after rounds one and two, we decided to check out the dessert menu. We wound up ordering the pecan toffee pie and the mocha milkshakes, spiked with espresso vodka. The pie was yummy, but could have been served at a higher temperature. I like my pie hot. The milkshakes were incredibly delicious and left you walking out with a delightful buzz.
While the Metropolitan Club is rather pricey, the Met Bar and Grill serves up the same caliber of food, in an equally beautiful atmosphere, with a more reasonable price tag. As there were many more items on the menu we wanted to try, we will absolutely be going back!
Visit the Met Bar and Grill in Newton, Natick or Dedham.
