NEAR Restaurant

The restaurant is not what we expected when we walked in. It's touted as fine dining, but it's stark when you walk in and much smaller. The menu is incredibly small - six or so appetizers/salads, four or five pastas, and four entrees. The server suggested that we order five or six to share amongst the three of us, which raised our eyebrows as the plates certainly weren't priced to be shared. The two pastas we ordered - fettucini bolognese and a gnocchi - were $13 apiece but tiny. We ordered the whipped ricotta arugula salad, and it was divine. It was served in a long narrow dish, which made it hard to dish out, but it was wonderful. We agreed we could have eaten that dish all night long. The two entrees ($22 for the chicken and $24 for the pork) were mediocre. We ended up wishing that we'd only ordered more of the pastas. There is a very small but well chosen beer list, along with wines - primarily Italian varietals. You can BYOB, but the corkage fee is $15, which we all agreed was excessive. The chef/owner came to our table a few time to check to see how things were going, which was nice. He was very laid back in his conversations with us. My friend who could see into the kitchen felt he was a little too laid back, however. She could see him sneaking bites of his dinner while cooking other people's dinner. All in all, the food was good, though the pork was overly salty in all our opinions, but we probably won't be returning anytime soon. There are places with far better ambiance and lower prices too nearby.