Harlequin's at Beechwood Hotel Restaurant Review
Harlequin's is often quoted in promos as the top rated restaurant in Worcester, Massachusetts. Since there are a number of REALLY high quality restaurants in Worcester, this always made me curious. Harlequin's is in the Beechwood Hotel, and is on the small side, so it took a while before I could go on a Sunday when I knew I could take my time to see how things were.The restaurant is, as mentioned, rather small - a long, narrow room with a carousel horse at the entrance. There are maybe 20 or so tables. Decor is gentle rose and mauve. The bread was fresh and came in long strips, rolls and raisin style. The menu was a few pages - one page of specials, one of salads, and then 2 of items. There were also 4 pages of wines, with some really nice bottles on the list. The lists of by the glass was medium sized with one or two of most main wine types featured. I was amused to see a typo in there - a Beuna Vista wine apparently.
I asked for a Firestone merlot, as I'd recently been to that winery out in the Sideways wine region. I ordered the salmon carpaccio and the veal with asparagus. My sis got the special - salmon with peanut sauce and rice.
I really like carpaccio, and I also like sushi and sashimi. The salmon was sort of midway between the two - too thick in my mind to be carpaccio, but too thin to be sushi or sashimi. I suppose to me this made it a bit chewy, sort of a strange in-between thickness. It was served with tiny pickles and caper berries. I'd never had caper berries before and we had to actually ask what they were. I love capers, which are the small bud of the caper plant, tiny and green. Caper berries are what happen if you let that bud grow to "full size". They're green, oblong, and about the size of a walnut. They have tons of tiny, crunchy seeds inside them. I didn't find them "bad" - but not nearly as tasty to me as capers. It was fun to see something new on a plate though!
In any case, the thickish salmon, served with slices of cheese, slices of pickle, and crunchy caper berries, just didn't seem like a well melded dish. All the flavors seemed to vie with each other in an odd sort of way. It was an interesting idea but not one that I felt worked well.
I asked after my wine and it finally arrived. The appetizer plate was removed and then we waited a while for the main dish. My veal was 2 ribs plus a number of thick asparagus stalks. There was a brown sauce and white sauce in small square porcelain dishes, all on the main dish which was porcelain, white, and a long, thin rectangle. While this looked pretty for presentation, it made the food nearly impossible to eat. It was hard to cut a piece of asparagus (especially with it being so thick) on the tiny areas of the plate not taken up by the food. The same was true for the ribs. The ribs were tasty. The asparagus - one of my favorite veggies normally - was OK but with it being so big, it was mostly stalky. It was like eating celery.
My sis got the salmon with rice. She said it was rather tasty, well cooked and flavorful.
On to dessert. My sis got the passionfruit creme brulee and I got the warm chocolate cake. I asked for a port and they came back with the names of the 2 they offered; I went with the Dow. Soon the desserts were brought. Sis said the creme brulee was quite tasty - that not only was the passionfruit cubes on top nice, but the brulee itself had an infused passionfruit flavor along with lime so it ended up being sweet-sour. I was sort of expecting a "lava cake". What the cake actually was was a soft pudding-like inside in a chocolate pie-tart shell. It was tasty, but more like a warm mush. That might have been me not understanding what the description said. The cookie "stuck into" the tart was really tasty - it was a triangle of very thin flaky cookie.
Water refilling was touch and go - sometimes they were prompt, but at other times I sat with an empty glass for a while before they came to fill it up again.
Our dinner came to about $80 which is comprable to other high end restaurants in the area.
In summary, it certainly was nice enough. The food was good and the surroundings were nice. However, it wasn't "romantically intimate", it didn't have "gorgeous woodwork", it didn't offer "breathtaking spices", it didn't have "amazing service". I can get each of those things at other high end restaurants in Worcester. When I think of the other high end restaurants, something always stands out as truly special and draws me to go there. I love Ti Nova's gorgeous architecture (and delicous food). I love the 111 Chophouse's amazing service (and delicious food). The Castle has a truly regal, special feel to it (and delicious food). I don't get any of those feelings here, so I personally would be hard pressed to choose to go here vs somewhere else if I was looking to spend that range of money in the future and deciding where to go.
Menu: Elegant options, reasonable selection
Wine List: Good selection
Dress: Nice - skirts, dresses, collared shirts, nice jeans are OK
Staff: Friendly, not always prompt
Restaurant Review Listings
Boston Restaurant Reviews
Connecticut Restaurant Reviews
Framingham - Natick Restaurant Reviews
Sturbridge Restaurant Reviews
Shrewsbury Street Restaurant Reviews
Waltham Restaurant Reviews
Worcester Restaurant Reviews
Outside Dining near Worcester
Top 10 Restaurants near Worcester
Romantic Restaurants near Worcester
Sangria Recipes
Wine Basics
Reviews from Nantucket, Florida Keys and Las Vegas
Lisa Shea Homepage