Privus in Allston?
Anyone been there yet? What is the sushi like and how are the drinks? I didn't even know the Kell's closed!
SerendipitouslyNG
Feb 25, 2008 05:47AM
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I believe that Privus opened last week. I was at the Common Ground (around the corner) about two weeks ago, and don't think it was open at the time. Yelpers seem to really love it, but other than that I haven't read a thing about it.
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It's called Prive, and it's next door to The Kells, which has not closed.
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According to Daliy Candy, "The chefs from Ginza are doing the sushi"....Which could be a positive, or a negative, depending on your POV...;)
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I got the same Daily Candy which called it Privus!
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You are right, and I stand corrected. I took a look as I passed on the bus this morning. It's odd - in their pre-opening publicity it was definitely called Prive. I don't know why they decided to go with naming the place in Latin rather than French, especially since the primary meaning of the Latin word seems to be more "deprived of" than "private."
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IMO, mentioning Ginza is a turn off because I really dislike their sushi/sashimi
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What they said. It's owned by the same folks as the Kells, by the way.
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I am curious to find out how this place is? How are the prices?? Is the Kells really closing?? I thought they just changed to a bar and grill from Asian food..
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No, the Kells has not closed and as far as I know is not closing. This is a new, second, separate restaurant right next door, owned by the same people.
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The DH and I went last night and liked it a lot. Look, it's not about the food. Oishi is in no danger from this sushi/sashimi even though it's all fresh and carefully composed. It's just very Ginza, which is to say there's nothing wrong with it, but it's not the very top of the line, either.
We had a martini glass full of uni sashimi and an appetizer of tempura, both very very good. Followed it up with a seaweed salad and some sashimi of toro (3 pieces), a salmon roll, a crazy maki some eel and yellowtail. The eel skin could have been crisper, but that's all we had to complain about.
Cocktail menu is spectacular, with several types of saki (which we sampled), a full bar and plenty of beer on tap plus yummy cocktails. And WHAT A ROOM! It's absolutely beautiful in a modern, space age-y sort of way. We ate at the good looking bar, but there's plenty of seating at tables, too. In the summer you won't be able to get in here thanks to front windows that open to the street like the White Horse. They even had tasteful music you could bear to listen to, unlike, say, Bukowski's. All that plus the Japanese/Chinese/Korean guys making the sushi were downright eloquent about their art, and unbelievably friendly and welcoming.
We were glad to see this place open up. As my husband remarked as we left, "Allston is gradually catching up to the South End." I believe him.
The food cost less than most other places. We spent $100 including plenty of drinks, so we would return here often for beer and snacks, saving our major sushi budget for Gari or Oishi.
Parking is on the street, so get here early if possible.
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The room does look nice from the pictures I saw. Hopefully their food will be able to eventually catch up to the atmosphere.
On a separate note, as much as I love the South End for its great restaurants, Allston is an equally important--and completely different--spot for dining out, as it has such a great variety of inexpensive, casual eating places featuring nearly every cuisine imaginable. I'm not sure Allston needs to catch up to the South End, as they generally cater to two different demographics: The South End mainly for upscale dining in attractive settings (with a few exceptions, of course), and Allston mainly for cheap eats for college students, locals looking for good takeout, and folks who don't have much money to spend but wish to choose from a variety of cuisines (again, with a few exceptions). I love both neighborhoods for dining out, but partly because they are indeed so different; I hope they continue to mostly stay this way.
Ok, I'm done ranting. I just worry that places like The Reef Cafe, Shanghai Gate, and Carlos Cucina will be eventually be replaced by restaurants that are more focused on food presentation and $60 bottles of wine.
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Speaking as someone solidly in your third category ("folks who don't have much money to spend but wish to choose from a variety of cuisines") I emphatically agree.
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I predict that the stereotypical South End/Back Bay restaurant will never gain a strong foothold in Allston, partially because the restaurants you describe are largely patronized by people from the immediate neighborhood, and those people don't live in Allston, and it wouldn't occur to them to venture "all the way out to Allston" for dinner. (I actually kind of dread the day I know is coming, when the more-money-than-sense people discover what a sweet deal we've got going in Allston and come in to ruin it for everybody.)
Also, this is one point at which the neighborhood NIMBY idiots will serve a useful purpose: it is close to impossible for a new restaurant to get a liquor license in Allston, because there's a local group that fights every proposal tooth and nail because they apparently fear that every restaurant that sells booze is mere steps away from becoming the White Horse. And since the stereotypical clientele for the stereotypical SE/BB restaurant dovetails neatly with the people who wouldn't dream of going out to Angela's Cafe because what's the point of eating if you can't get drunk at the same time, that's still less of an incentive for those restaurants to open here.
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Just curious, then: How did Privus get their liquor license? Because they're part of The Kells?
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Probably more like because the owners had the bucks to expedite the licensing process. Perhaps they owned another place with a dormant license that they were able to transfer, or indeed, perhaps they were able to piggyback onto the existing liquor license for The Kells. I don't know. But you can't pick up a copy of the A-B Tab without reading of this group fighting one restaurant or another getting a liquor license.
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Speaking of the White Horse--Folks looking for fine dining who use Google and don't know anything about the White Horse in Allston are in for a rude awakening if they go there without doing further research. Why? Google "White Horse, Allston" and you'll find out. :-D
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Looks much nicer than White Horse I've been to in Allston
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I had a chance to dine at Privus last night and was thoroughly impressed. I ordered sushi and sashimi , including otoro and kinmedai, and found that it was fresh and thickly cut. I also ordered a spicy white tuna maki and the rainbow roll. I always order a rainbow roll the first time a visit a sushi place to get a feel for the price/quality/size. The rainbow maki was great and only 9 dollars! I don’t know about you but I’ve had some inedible rainbows for the same price around Boston. One of my dining companions order the kinuta app. (8$) , which consisted of tuna/salmon/yellowtail, avocado and was wrapped with radish rather than rice and seaweed. The roll was delicious and the radish added a refreshing bit. We also order the “Privus Maki” (12$) from the special maki list. We were all surprised when the dish came out because of its size. Inside was unagi and avo, outside was torched salmon and salmon roe…soo good! For an entrée my other dining companion ordered the hae dup bop (15$), which came with a large assortment of fresh fish (salmon, tuna, octopus, white fish and crab sticks) from the sushi bar. We also sampled the tofu salad (7$), which again was very large and very tasty. Without drinks the total including tip was 90 dollars for the three of us!! I’m pretty new to Boston, but Privus is a must eat in Allston.
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I finally made it to Privus tonight. Overall.... pretty disappointing. Their menu is incredible and I have to say that their maki combinations were on the more unique side, I mean the use of mozzarella and pepper jack cheese in Japanese food?
I had the Kinuta with tuna which was really good. The thick tuna was perfect texture and taste and a beautiful pink.It was the right balance with the daikon (I wish there were more maki made with daikon as the wrapper, it gives such a fresh light feeling!). I would have preferred more avocado, it seemed pretty stingy on that end. I also had Bob's maki, which.... while good, fell a little short. It was too mushy and needed a firmer crunch than stale tempura flake. I do admit that the portion was bigger than normal, although for $12 a roll, it had better be pretty amazing.
What really made this place not worth it was the ridiculous wait we had. The place was far from buzzing when we got there, luckily before any friday night crowd and it still took almost an hour to recieve our food, which wasn't even cooked!! The waitress was non-existent while staff was obviously waiting around doing nothing. The sushi bar seemed to be so busy but nothing was coming out of it! The atmosphere seems a bit much for the allston location, where most of us are used to places like white horse and sunset. Cool decor, but they are trying too hard to be pretentious in a local neighborhood and the service just doesn't match the attitude. Drinks were good, but downtown Boston expensive without the strength a $10 drink requires. Next time I'll skip the crazy $60 for two tab and just do my normal take-out from super fusion. In this case it really is the simpler the better!!
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