Chestnut Hill Lunch

[drcmk]

I am meeting a friend for lunch in Chestnut Hill on Monday. What restaurant would you recommend for two lunching ladies? Ideally we'd like to be in walking distance to the Borders store. I think any kind of food is fine, as long as the establishment would tolerate us sitting and chatting for an hour or so.

Thank you.
drcmk

[hungry100]

Both are good suggestions. Tavern on the Hill is also nice.

[spicemistress]

Tavern on the Hill is very nice and very close to Boarders (right across the street). Chowspouse and I had a lovely dinner there Saturday night. I had the crabcake sandwich and there were large chunks of sweet crab meat all throughout the cake! CS had a lovely chicken breast with cous cous and sauteed green beans. Our server was so nice and friendly and so was the bartender.

[Karen K]

I recommend Cake, a place where I've met a friend for lunch; we both enjoyed it very much.

[Den]

As a lunching ladies spot I second Cake. It's in the old greenhouse for Robertson's Florist.

I've only had lunch there but I hear they do a great dinner as well.

[Bob Loblaw]

Cake isn't open on Mondays, or at least it didn't used to be.
I do like tavern on the hill (or is it Hill Tavern?) quite a bit - more for the bar-food, sandwichy stuff than their entrees. Shundeez is good, but the one time i was there for lunch it was quite empty.
really, monday's the worst day... cake is closed, and the farmer's market doesn't open until thurs.

[Hungryin theBurbs]

Given all that, I'd choose McNally's. I've always loved their soups for lunch, and they are right across the street from Borders.

[drcmk]

Is McNally's an eat-in restaurant? The website only has a take-out menu. Would it be a nice place for two women to eat and also visit for an hour or so?

[Hungryin theBurbs]

It's a bar. They have several tables. It is very relaxed there, and I've had many long lunches, though on occasion, there are people waiting around for a table, which can be uncomfortable.

[Chefpaulo]

Sorry, gang. I ate at Cake today and can't give a thumbs up, except for the dessert..

First of all, the acoustics were really poor - I guess to be expected in a greenhouse. I had the smoked salmon BLT - an intriguiing concept except that the salmon was tough, dried out and had 'refrigerator' taste as if it had laid in there unwrapped for a few days. My friend had the turkey wrap and left half of it.

On the positive side, the coconut cream tart was excellent. So, I'll give a high five for the baked goods but they have some back-of-house problems to work out for the savory items.

CP

[potroastcat]

McNally's has amazing sandwiches. They make a fresh baked ham, a turkey and chicken daily and use those in the sandwiches. Yum. My fave is the grilled ham and cheese. Just make sure you get the one with the fresh baked ham and ask for spicy mustard too. Yum. Oh man I may need to go there tonight. Drool.