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Conference jump4::eats

Title:Welcome To EATS
Notice:Welcome to EATS. Please see the directory in topic 21....
Moderator:JUMP4::JOYSMAISONS
Created:Wed Feb 19 1986
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:2034
Total number of notes:16594

416.0. "Durgin Park - Faneuil Hall, Boston" by BIGMAC::SKORKO (Steve Skorko, 223-8580, PKO3-1/B11) Thu Dec 11 1986 16:36

T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
416.1who's abusing whom ?REGINA::OSMANand silos to fill before I feep, and silos to fill before I feepFri Dec 12 1986 13:5215
416.2The only thing that's changed is the customers.SWSNOD::RPGDOCDennis the MenaceFri Dec 12 1986 19:0222
416.3NAC::MCCRORYMon Dec 15 1986 20:3730
416.4It would be different if I _was_ ObeseWITNES::MACONEIt's the story of a man named BradyFri Nov 18 1988 11:109
416.5Just my opinionACTVAX::SCHWINDTKDF;LAKSDJFri Nov 18 1988 12:408
416.6it's New England hospitality :-)BUFFER::PCORMIERNo good deed goes unpunishedFri Nov 18 1988 13:376
416.7All the atmosphere of an oil refineryHOONOO::PESENTIJPMon Nov 21 1988 11:2718
416.8WITNES::MACONEIt's the story of a man named BradyWed Nov 23 1988 11:2413
416.9What's in a nameNEST::CESARIOVinyl DinosaurFri Oct 02 1992 18:5921
416.10MILPND::J_TOMAOMon Oct 05 1992 15:5736
416.11Ancient historyPHONES::KOTOKAlan Kotok, DTN 226-7681Mon Oct 05 1992 18:4218
416.12PEEVAX::QUODLINGOLIVER is the Solution!Tue Oct 06 1992 00:5818
416.13TOPDOC::AHERNDennis the MenaceWed Oct 07 1992 00:0611
416.14I want dessert!DSSDEV::PENDAKWed Oct 07 1992 14:3311
416.15SSGV01::CHALMERSMore power!Mon Oct 12 1992 16:0620
416.16SOFBAS::SULLIVANMon Oct 12 1992 17:4721
416.17Update?NETCAD::MORRISONBob M. LKG2-A/R5 226-7570Mon Mar 10 1997 20:097
  Any more recent reports on Durgin Park?
  The last time I was there, which was 18 years ago, there was no dining room
on first floor. What is the first floor dining room like now? Is it more like
the old Durgin Park?
  It sounds like the second floor is totally unlike the old Durgin Park.
  How are the serving sizes now? The idea of going away hungry from a Durgin
Park meal would have been unthinkable before 1980.
416.18NETCAD::MORRISONBob M. LKG2-A/R5 226-7570Mon Mar 10 1997 20:133
  Two more questions: Do they take reservations? (Also unthinkable in the old
days)  Is there a long line waiting to be seated at Saturday lunch and dinner 
time?
416.19Basically the same old placeSMURF::RODGERSNothing is written.Thu Mar 13 1997 14:5012
I was there not too long ago (maybe about 6 months ago) and I don't recall
seeing a first-floor dinig room.  We were seated upstairs, which looked to me
like it hadn't changed since the 70s (which was when I had been there last).

Portions are stilll good, but not as big as they were in the seventies.  The
menu is still the same, including the Indian Pudding (which was as good as
always, if you like that sort of thing).

Same seating arrangements.

Waitresses were a bit less surly but still frazzled, as the lines to get in
wound around the lower-level lobby and out the door.
416.20DP has(had) 3 levels, each very differentAOSG::CHALMERSThu Mar 13 1997 15:4117
    Haven't been there in approx 1 year, but the setup I recall at Durgin's
    was:
    
    	1st floor: raw bar
    	2nd floor: traditional DP
    	3rd floor: more upscale, with etched glass, tablecloth and candles
    
    We were hosting some out-of-town guests and they tried to put us on the 
    3rd floor. We went up, took one look around, and said "no thanks". We
    wanted them to experience the true DP...crowded tables, surley waitstaff, 
    noise and commotion, not to mention good food and a good time. So we
    waited 20 minutes to be seated in the 'regular' area. Over the course
    of the evening, we watched as they attempted to seat others upstairs. 
    Easily 75% of them did as we had done...went up, looked around, came
    back down and waited for a table to open up on the 2nd floor.
    
    
416.21SMURF::BINDERErrabit quicquid errare potest.Fri Mar 14 1997 15:209
    I'm not sure I comprehend why people want to be treated rudely.  We
    almost ate there once, years ago, but fortunately declined to eat in a
    place where the air was so thick with a miasma of tobacco smoke and its
    accompanying putrid odor that I came near to coughing my lungs out
    before we could turn around and depart.
    
    Is it still as disgusting as that, or have they decided that being
    surly is enough and there's no need to poison the clientele at the same
    time?
416.22SMURF::LARRYFri Mar 14 1997 16:076
    I have not been there for ages either but do not remember it being a
    bad experience.  I think we went during off hours.  Was not smokey
    (smelling smoke drives me crazy too).  We were not treated rudely.  I think
    the latter is exaggerated a bit.  ... and the food was ok too. 
    my experience anyway,
    Larry
416.23NETCAD::MORRISONBob M. LKG2-A/R5 226-7570Fri Mar 14 1997 16:5810
  Thanks for explaining the new setup. As far as I know, there was no third
floor in the old days. (The floor was there, but not part of DP.) And thanks
for the tip about insisting on 2nd floor.
  Re surly waitresses: It's not just surliness per se, but a certain style
of surliness which is hard to describe. And about the smoke: I feel that this
is part of the experience too, as long as it doesn't reach suffocating levels.
In the old days, they blew in plenty of fresh air on all but the coldest days, 
so it wasn't a big problem.
  If low levels of smoke bother you, then the 2nd floor of DP is not a good 
place to go. 
416.243rd floor since at least the early 80sDUNKLE::MCDERMOTTChris McDermott - Software Janitorial ServicesThu Apr 03 1997 19:3717
I bussed tables there in college.  At that time the third floor dining room
was there, but it was largley unknown to the general public.  You needed
reservations which most people never new to ask for.  Most often the diners
were state government officials or other Beacon Hill type muckity-mucks.  

Even then the 3rd floor was much more genteel.  They would only let the
younger, attractive, polite waitresses work that room.  The battle-hags were
relegated to the lower levels.

FYI:

Basemen	-	Pub.
1st floor -	Raw Bar
2nd floor - 	dinning room (common tables, not always totaly pleasent,
			but never boring)
3rd floor -	dinning room (private tables, cloth table coverings, 
			pleasent but boring)