East Coast Grill & Raw Bar

The first thing you notice when you walk into East Coast Grill at 1271 Cambridge St. (in Cambridge) is the atmosphere.  It’s young, vibrant, loud and fun.  There are crazy decorations all over the place and it instantly puts you in a good mood.  But as great as the atmosphere is, once you look at the menu you know people come for the food.  The wait staff is friendly and they know their stuff, so feel free to ask away.  This is a restaurant meant for hearty eaters, so if you’re on a diet or are a vegetarian I suggest you stay away because there are very few options for you.  Otherwise, enjoy!

Food

If you don’t listen to anything else I have to say in this review, then at least listen to this.  Order the Prince Edward Island Mussels from the appetizer section.  Do it.  I’m serious.  Order them.  Have them as an appetizer; eat them as your entrée.  Hell, order them as your dessert!  It doesn’t matter, just get them.  Trust me on this.  They are absolutely amazing.  They are steamed in a sauce of coconut milk, chilies and lime, and they will blow you away.  Make sure you order bread to go along with them, because you’re going to want something to dip into the sauce once the mussels are gone.

If you’re looking for a drink to enjoy with your meal, I suggest you check out the margaritas.  While there are plenty of wines that would accompany anything you order quite well, East Coast Grill is known for their margaritas, and with good reason.  Whether you go for a Martin’s, a House, the Real Deal, or a Raspberry (my favorite) margarita, it doesn’t matter, you’ll be glad you did.

Lastly check out the specials.  Every day they offer something new and creative you won’t find on the regular menu.  The dish pictured below is the “Portuguese Style Seafood Stew.”  It’s a combination of some of the best things already offered on the menu like the shrimp, scallops, crab, fried fish, and more mussels in yet another amazing sauce.  Order a piece of corn bread or sweet mashed potatoes on the side to pair some BBQ influence with a seafood dish.

 Complaints

When you first sit down you are greeted with a bowl of the E.C.G. Pickle Mix.  At first I was thrilled because I love pickles (if you read my post about the New England Soup Factory you would know this).  However I was really disappointed.  I assumed since it was called a “mix” there would be a mix of flavors, but they were all sweet.  It was just a mix of vegetables that were pickled; cucumbers, carrots, peppers.  Hopefully in the future they’ll add kosher dill or something else for variety!

I unfortunately wasn’t in love with my entrée either.  In all fairness it may have been because it came after the PEI Mussels and it paled in comparison.  I had the fried cod (it was a special) and it just wasn’t anything exceptional.  It was much too plain of a dish and needed a ton of lemon to give it flavor.  Additionally the fried swordfish in the Seafood Stew was way too buttery and also didn’t have great flavor.  In the future I would definitely go for one of the BBQ options as an entrée instead.

Rating

3 out of 4 forks.

If you want a fun, lively meal with friends then this is a great option.  The menu isn’t very deep, but most of what they do offer is delicious.  East Coast Grill is meant for seafood and BBQ lovers, if you don’t fall into either of those categories you may have a hard time finding something to order.  But a trip to Cambridge is worth it for the mussels alone and you can’t go wrong with one of their many excellent margaritas.  And who doesn’t love a margarita?