Highland Kitchen

Highland Kitchen is the type of place I would recommend to a friend for pretty much any occasion.  The atmosphere makes it great for a date, for a celebration, or just with a group of friends for a good meal.  However I would suggest you go during a weekday.  Monday through Thursday you get seated quickly, if there is any wait at all, and you get plenty of attention from the staff.  On the weekends the staff is still good, but since they don’t take reservations on Fridays or Saturdays you could be waiting up to an hour since it’s a small restaurant.

Every night Highland Kitchen is open from 5:00PM to 11:00PM, serving upscale southern comfort food with a unique twist.  (Think veal in the meatloaf and goat in the curry stew.)  Since they are only open until 11:00PM I would say this is a great place to start the night, but maybe not end it.  Fortunately since it’s in Somerville you have plenty of options if you want another bar for post-dinner drinks!

Food

Check if the fried chicken is a special when you go.  I think it would be a mistake to go to a place like Highland Kitchen and not at least try it.  I mean, nothing is more southern comfort than fried chicken and they definitely do it right!  It is a massive portion, served with mashed potatoes and gravy, a biscuit, and collard greens.  The greens were ok, but the biscuit and potatoes were the perfect sides and the fat kid in me rejoiced at them.

I definitely recommend the blacked catfish po’ boy sandwich to any seafood fans visiting this establishment.  It’s a good size, without being huge, comes with a side of either a salad or fries (my friend went with a salad, but that’s the dealers choice), and is absolutely delicious.  The fish is cooked to perfection, the remoulade is creamy, and the french bread is thick with a crunch.  Even better for those of you on a budget like myself, it’s only $9.95.

The apple pie a la mode was the perfect way to end the meal.  Nothing is more American than a piece of hot, crispy apple pie with cold, smooth vanilla ice cream.  There are more creative desserts on the menu, but this one is delicious in its simplicity.

Complaints

I try to eat vegetarian twice a week, and when you review restaurants that can sometimes be challenging.  I’m always pleased when restaurants have other, more creative, vegetarian-friendly options on the menu aside from soups or salads.  Unfortunately I wasn’t impressed with Highland Kitchens choices.  They only had one choice on the sandwiches menu (a black bean veggie burger) and one choice on the main courses menu (grilled vegetable kabobs).  So if you are a non-animal eater I would say to stay away.

My other problem with Highland Kitchen is that they have a small menu in general.  I typically enjoy eclectic dishes, and am a pretty adventurous eater.  So since I am open to trying new foods, small menus don’t bother me too much.  However if I was dining with a picky eater I wouldn’t bring them to Highland Kitchen.  With small menus, you can run into trouble if most of your dishes are unique, which theirs are.  I can think of a few friends that wouldn’t have easily found something they wanted to try on the menu.

Rating:

With incredibly reasonably priced meals, a very friendly and knowledgeable staff, and a fun environment I was a fan of Highland Kitchen.  While I don’t think it’s necessarily for everyone, if you like southern foods then I definitely think you should check it out!  It’s a nice change of pace in a city full of chains.  So if you want an affordable meal, but with a better environment and better ingredients, then add Highland Kitchen to your list of places to try.

3 out of 4 forks