Margeaux Supper Parlor

It might be easy to miss this little gem of a place in Porter Square but you'll thank yourself by walking in and be treated to great food and excellent service. While this place might be known for its dinner fare, it's brunch offering deserves more attention. I was a fan of the Shrimp and Grits. The avocado toast and muffins were just as great. The quiche was so good and I wished the serving was a little bigger. The staff was attentive and made sure everything was to your liking. PS: Owner is a Teach For America alum like me.

Great cocktails and ambience, perfect date or fancy dinner spot in Porter Square! Most of the dishes were very good though portions are pretty small. Loved the beef Wellington and the swordfish, the smoked pork chop I wasn’t a fan of and the mac and cheese it came with was super salty. The andouille sausage gumbo was good but for $14 it was a tiny portion. The desserts were okay, strawberry rhubarb pie being my favorite. Our server was great, he was kind and attentive. The kitchen got backed up a bit so there was a long stretch where we didn’t get our food. I would come back to try more of the menu and definitely recommend people check it out!

We went for the lunar new year dinner special. The whole place was packed and the restaurant understaffed for the event. We ran late so called ahead, they gave away our table and then made us wait when we arrived to be seated. Eventually we agreed to sit at the bar just so we could eat. The service was abysmal. Being understaffed and in the weeds sucks, but genuinely I’ve never had service quite this bad before. Our glasses of water were refilled a single time. We had to wait 40 minutes between courses. The appetizers were essentially reheated Costco grade dumplings, everything else was inedible. The duck arrived lukewarm and greasy. The man next to me at the bar dumped his water all over my final course making my seat sodden. The staff didn’t seem to care very much and happily charged me full price even though we didn’t get to finish the meal. $300 with drinks and tip for about $85 of take out grade Chinese food. An absolute rip off.

Very interesting menu. Lot of options… don’t take the focaccia …. $5 dollars for 3 small squares (this should be embraced to even propose on the menu… make it for free). Portions are not big at all but the main courses (3 options dishes) are very interesting, well done, tasty, and delicious. Service needs some improvement…. Need to be faster and on time between food and drinks. Atmosphere is good nothing fancy but quite to enjoy your dinner. Bottom line: I will go again and try new entries.

Nice space but we had dinner at the bar on Valentine’s Day weekend and the food/service was below average for the outrageously expensive prices. It was fairly quiet and there were only 5-6 people at the bar including us and our bartender barely paid any attention to us. After 45 mins, we asked for an update on our food and once it arrived, it was obvious the dishes were sitting under the heat lamp for a long time because the food was so dry. None of the dishes were really appetizing. Unseasoned beef Wellington, literally two tiny pieces of lobster in the lobster gnocchi that costs $27, one sole cardboard dry fried chicken drumstick for $15. It was a total ripoff. Would not recommend and will not be back.

Friends and I decided to try the Chinese New Year Special Prix Fixe at Margeaux, with Chef Doris Huang. With advanced reservation, my party of 5 received seating immediately. The menu, at $98 / person, included the following Starters: - Scallion Pancakes - Shumai and/or Peking Ravioli (aka potstickers, can mix and match) Entree (Duck 3 ways): - Peking Duck - Fried noodles w/duck - Duck bone soup Dessert: Sweetheart cake First, the starters. The shumai had way too much powder in the filling, making it feel dry and pasty. It tasted like something you'd find at a mediocre dim sum place in Quincy - the kind where only pensioners go because it's cheap and reliable. The scallion pancake was a jaw workout. It was way too thick and tough - not flaky, just chewy and hard. It was crispy, but not the desirable pan-fried crispy, but a deep-fried crispy that only exacerbated the toughness. The service also was a mess. A server spilled a cocktail (an accident, understandable). In his attempt to correct his mistake, he spilled more, decided to get the cocktail remade, but left without cleaning the spill. I had to flag down another server to clean the table. Exacerbating the service was the arrival of the first duck entree. Or, rather, the lack of it for 45 minutes. Only after flagging down a server did the entree promptly appear. The peking duck did not have crispy skin - its defining charactertistic. It was indistinguishable from your average roast duck at the Chinese BBQ store, like Hong Kong Eatery in Chinatown. The scallion arrived artistically arranged as flowers. However, they were also as thick as 1/8" steel dowels at Home Depot. They need to be julienned you don't just taste an entire damned sprig of scallion. The other two entrees took another 75 minutes to arrive. Again, only after flagging down a server did they promptly appear. The soup was lukewarm. It was clearly sitting around, ready to serve. The noodles tasted like fried noodles with duck - nothing more special than the sort I could find at the neighborhood Thai restaurant. The portion sizes, which resembled small entrees, only added insult to injury. The sweetheart cake dessert was comparable to what I could have purchased at one of the myriad of bakeries in Chinatown for a few dollars. Overall, this has been quite far the most egregious waste of money I have encountered in recent memory. What did I expect from a French place attempting to host a Chinese dinner?

Margeaux supper parlor has a great vibe and excellent service! I like the menu concept, but unfortunately not all 3 of my dishes were great. However, the vibe and drinks were great and I plan to return for brunch!

Beautiful decor, revamped version of the previous restaurant Collette. Very thoughtful tasting menu consisting of predesigned food flights featuring tasty cuts of meat, fish and poultry, each paired with thoughtful wine selection. Definitely worth checking out! Great date spot, attentive service and tasting dishes all around.