Back Bay lunch spot?

[Boston_Otter]

Any suggestions for a casual-but-nice lunch spot near the Pru?

[C. Hamster]

Brasserie Jo has excellent and reasonably priced lunch specials.

[mcb70]

I went to Vlora last week during lunch for the first time. They have $8 lunch specials, or you can order off the menu. I had the grilled octopus as mentioned many times on the board, and loved it. All the food was fresh and yummy.

[gini]

I recently had lunch on the patio of Scoozi on Newbury Street and was quite pleasantly surprised. For me: a very tasty tuna puttanesca panino: tuna fish, capers, tomatoes, parsley, and garlic in a crunchy pressed baguette. For her: the margarita calzone. Both were simple, but flavorful and the patio is quite a nice place to sit.

Also enjoy Parish.

[troygirl89]

try chili duck for thai food on boylston street next to the new Apple store...

[finlero]

I'm a fan of Parish Cafe.

Boston_Otter, considering your quest for tasty sandwiches, you of all hounds should check this place out; each of their sandwiche recipes has been created by a local celebrity chef, kind of a neat idea. Plus the patio is fun in the nice weather.

[heypielady]

I mostly like the Parish Cafe but order wisely. When I've had more basic sandwich (think things with melted cheese that are hard to mess up) its been great. But I have had poor experiences too. One was something with crab and mango. The other sandwiches I've had there have been good even to split with a friend but this one was tiny. Also the "mango" was completely underripe and green and really inedible. I wondered why they even bothered putting it on the sandwich.

[Boston_Otter]

Wow, the place sounds great. I'll definitely check it out, though most likely not for the reasons I'd posted about; I'm looking for somewhere within a block or two of the Marriott downtown for some out of town guests. There's spots like Legal Seafood nearby, but thought I'd post for some alternatives.

[BBHound]

Piattini on Newbury, between Exeter and Fairfield.

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Piattini
226 Newbury St, Boston, MA 02116

[nasilemak]

Island Hopper on Mass. Ave.

[troygirl89]

island hopper sucks. their service is soooo slowwwwwwwww. we sat there for like 15 mins and got no service. we went back again to give them another try same thing happened