Jamie B.
Yelp
I finally checked out Avenue Kitchen + Bar, and am very pleased to report that it was an awesome experience.
We were looking for a place to go for our anniversary that was casual but that had a great selection of cocktails and food - and Avenue Kitchen met all the necessary criteria. This is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it spot not too far from Ball Square, but it's pretty easy to get to and there was ample metered parking when we were there (early on a Saturday night).
We made a reservation just to be safe, but the place wasn't too busy (5 PM on a Saturday night) - when I've walked by later on other nights though, they do have a decent crowd, so reservations probably are a good idea.
I got a cocktail whose name I forget (and it doesn't seem to be on their online menu) but it was fruity and had aperol and was WONDERFUL and beautiful.
For an appetizer, we split the maple chili duck wings, and I would definitely get these again! The order came with 6, and had a terrific sauce (a little sticky / messy, but that's the price of deliciousness!). Way better than chicken wings - I'm already craving more.
For our main course, we debated between going with steak or chicken or one of the other entrees... but at the end of the day, we just couldn't resist getting the pizza (it's what their known for, after all). We got a large pizza, half 'The Reg' and half with pepperoni added, and it was so so good! Deep dish pizza can be hit or miss for me, but this one was definitely a hit. And this stuff fills you up - even splitting a large between the two of us, we had half the pizza left over!
The pizza paired perfectly with the Maine Dinner DIPA, one of my favorite New England beers.
When we did the math, this actually came out to a relatively good value dinner, considering that we had a good amount of leftovers. The atmosphere was nice, but not overly stuffy or fancy, which was exactly what we were going for. This could become a regular spot for us - really glad we came!