Coterie, Four Seasons, Boston, MA USA

Enjoyed during dinner at Coterie in the newly redesigned Four Seasons Boston.

Dinner out in Boston – we had been to so many new restaurants lately, it makes it challenging to choose another. Coupled with the fact it’s a busy weekend in the city and we wanted something walking distance from Downtown Crossing, there just weren’t many options to choose from.

And that’s how we ended up at Coterie at The Four Seasons on Boston Common. The hotel itself has undergone a massive renovation and revitalization, closing the famous Bristol Lounge and opting to open a smaller, wildly designed, upscale restaurant only open to guests and residents.

Both my mother and father, separately, questioned our desire to dine there, blatantly stating the food is subpar at best. Nevertheless, we soldiered on, and eagerly awaited our meal that came with preconceived notions of negativity coupled with a fantastic menu that would beckon any hungry diner looking for a refined and expensive menu.

Tonight’s dinner would be shared, and Ali, Josh, Rachel, and I agreed on food items for the table, some to be split between four, others by two. Every item would have multiple people critiquing it, and we caught up on life as we chatted about current events and recent travels, sipping on unique cocktails and taking in the trippy interior design.

The food was indeed subpar at best. Insanely dry dover sole, chewy lobster in a mess of a mediocre pot pie – how they take such great ingredients and ruin them is a secret recipe only Coterie could provide. Seriously, it was disgraceful, and that chef should lose their job for putting this on our places.

And then came my club sandwich.

Thinly layered sliced turkey breast, simple smokey lines of thick-cut bacon, shingled ripe avocado, and a slender sliver of tomato, all held together by lightly toasted sourdough. A pleasant execution of a no-frills club sandwich at a restaurant that over-cooks and under-elevates every dish, I was happy with my half of the club sandwich, and Rachel was content with hers. The meal was ever-so-slightly enhanced by a thin schmear of espelette aioli, a nice touch.

In fact, as we dined on every dish, we all agreed the club sandwich was the best food item on the table. The kitchen procured ingredients that didn’t detract from the decent deliciousness I was expecting, and more importantly, the chef didn’t ruin them.

We enjoyed the club sandwich, perhaps more than we should have, solely due to its main-dish half-eaten competition still sitting on the table.

I do have to say that we ended up having a wonderful meal. Sometimes the company is more important than anything else, and our dinner at Coterie was proof of that.

Location