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With friends visiting from Connecticut last weekend, She and I tried for reservations at Fore Street and Street & Co. Apparently those are a tough table, even in the off-season. We’ll keep that in mind. After striking out there, the four of us decided to simply head to Old Port and walk around until something struck our fancy. Starting from the Union Street end of Wharf, we browsed the menus at 51 Wharf and Cake. Both were nearly empty at 6:30 on a Saturday–not a great sign. 51 Wharf did have an interesting looking menu, though, so we kept that in mind. We stuck our head around the corner at Street & Co. to see if the wait was bearable. They told us we wouldn’t eat before 9:00 PM, so we kept walking.

We checked menus at Vignola, Bull Feeney’s, and J’s Oyster House before deciding we’d head back to 51 Wharf. They had said we’d be seated immediately (another not so great sign), and our appetites got the best of us. We were seated quickly, and ordered a bottle of wine while we looked over the menu and commented on how great a space they had for a restaurant. The “downstairs” area where we sat looked like it had been somewhat recently converted from the dance floor of a bar, as the kitchen was curtained off and the speakers seemed to still be mounted in the corner. The “upstairs” portion, which we walked through on the way to our table, had the bar, and little mini TVs at just about every stool. Very cool.

We each ordered a soup or salad (I had their spicy Mediterranean chicken soup, which was actually quite good), and a cheese plate for starters. Oddly, the waitress did not bring us plates with our bread, so we waited until the cheese plate so we’d have somewhere to put the bread while not munching. The cheese sampler was very nice, though the watermelon wedges seemed out of place for October. As I said, my soup was very good, and the other soups and salad got good reviews as well.

Unfortunately, our entrees did not receive such high marks. My stuffed chicken was supposed to be served stuffed with crab meat and wrapped in prosciutto. Instead, I got a somewhat dry breast of chicken with crab wrapped in bacon. It was not bad, but it didn’t match the menu description either. The vegetable of the day was a chunk of acorn squash, baked, with a little butter and perhaps a hint of brown sugar. The baked stuffed scrod ordered by our friend was more of a baked piece of fish with seafood stuffing on top. Another dish was missing the sauce, and someone who asked for double vegetable and no starch got a baked potato anyway.

None of the food was bad, but it was nothing to rave about either (with the possible exception of my very tasty soup). They simply did not live up to their descriptions (or their price–our total check was $150 + tip, and we only had one bottle of wine). We may try them again, but given the choice between 51 Wharf and most any other restaurant we’ve tried in Old Port, I’d stay away from 51 Wharf. On the whole it was simply a disappointment.

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