As long as we were at the South Bay Shopping Center yesterday, Barbara and I decided to reserve a table at the “new” 110 Grill through Open Table. (New to Dorchester, and new to us, that is. The restaurant is part of an existing chain.) This entire part of South Bay is a huge, newly constructed complex, with restaurants, a movie theater, hotels, apartments, condos, streets, a free parking garage, plazas — looking just like Assembly Row in Somerville. I don’t know whether it was consciously modeled on Assembly Row, or if that’s just what’s currently trendy.

Anyway, we had a good meal. Food, service, and ambiance were all fine. Walking the one block from the parking garage to the restaurant, we couldn’t help noticing that the sidewalk was oddly flooded. Oh wait! That was a decorative fountain! A nice touch, actually. (See photo.) Barbara had steak tips, cooked medium rare as ordered, along with mashed potatoes and green beans — amazingly not overcooked! (See photo.) I ordered an excellent ribeye steak, grilled rare as ordered, with far too many onion strings and nicely roasted Brussels sprouts — again amazingly not overcooked. (See photo.) At the last moment I decided to order French onion soup (forgetting that I was going to have onion strings!) as my starter. It was properly prepared and very hot, but both sets of onions were a little too sweet for my taste (Vidalias, maybe?); that may just be my problem. Service was attentive without being overbearing.

Of course there was much too much to eat, so we both took home about half of our food. I had room for a double espresso. Music was a tad loud, but not so loud as to interfere with conversation.

Categories: Dorchester/Boston, Food & Restaurants