Kourtney B.
Yelp
Saturday night during college football season? Bad idea to come to Hunter's for dinner. I wanted to go to South Boston to meander around, eat at Fat Baby, and go bowling. My mother wanted southern food, so we headed to Hunter's instead. Since we had a filling lunch we ordered a few smaller plates: Hushpuppies, BBQ Ribs, and Lambo's Gumbo.
The hushpuppies are big, too big really, and they're served on a bed of whipped butter. Half a cup of butter would have been too much butter for these things, but I think they served them on more than that. The pumpkin spice flavor in the butter was interesting, but I would have preferred a small plate with 6-8 smaller hushpuppies with a little spicy remoulade or something more snacky. But overall they tasted fine and despite their large size they were cooked through.
The ribs were good, tender enough and all that, but they were missing something I couldn't quite put my finger on that makes good ribs so delicious. You know the ones I mean- can't stop eating them, you go a little caveman on them and lick your fingers after for just a little more of those delicious ribs. The ribs at Hunter's? No.
The menu labled the gumbo as the signature dish and Google informed me that this was a Beat Bobby Flay winning dish. Shrimp, crab, andouille sausage, and Charleston rice sounded good and I was curious. Was it good? Sure, best dish of the three we ordered. The seafood was tender, the gumbo was flavorful, the rice was nice. But it was also spicy which the menu doesn't say, but I suppose you should just assume. Hours later I remembered why eating spicy gumbo on vacation isn't always the right move for me. I should have learned this after my trip to New Orleans, but I am a sucker for all carbs. I was happy with my choice, for a bit anyway. But I will say if you are like me- order the gumbo but have a pepto chaser.
This trip was in late September and the menu on their website looks different now, so perhaps with that change things have improved. But a restaurant is more than just its food, so I'll also add the atmosphere was awful. The decor provides a certain ambiance that makes it seem like a nice place for dinner, but it's just not. Too loud for conversation, too many college age kids in here drinking and not eating, and they have zero sense of personal space. Sitting at our table for two near the bar we were jostled by frat boys the entire meal. They'd apologize and then do it again. Our server disappeared after dropping off the food and didn't come back the rest of the time until it was time for the check. Which we asked for and then waited, and waited, and continued to wait for. Was the place busy? Kind of, though those of us at tables were the minority. Ruining your guests dining experience by overfilling the bar area is a bad idea. Maybe there's a better time of the week to go for a nice dinner, but it sure wasn't the night I went.