Grendel’s Den & Charlie’s Kitchen – Harvard Sq. on the Cheap

Some colleagues of mine invited me out to Harvard Square last night for a couple drinks and some cheap apps. I had heard that Grendel’s was the place to be for happy hour specials and was anxious to try it out for myself.

I arrived a little after 6pm and met up with a group of 8-10 people. The bar is in a basement so it definitely has the “den” feel to it, but it wasn’t overly crowded or loud which was a plus (then again, it was also a Wednesday night – how crowded would it be?). One weird little quirk – there are no “men’s” or “women’s” bathrooms – just a sign on the door that says “Either Or”…awkward?

Moving on - their beer list had a few gems (check it out: www.grendelsden.com) and when the bill came we were pleasantly surprised that just about everything rang in at $5 – easy to split!

Their happy hour special runs from 5:00-7:30pm and the entire menu is half off. We sprung for Nachos Supreme (originally $8), Chips & Salsa ($3.50), and some Gorgonzola Zucchini Bruschetta ($6.50, I think?)…so our happy hour total came to $9….not too shabby. The portions were all good sized and we had plenty of food to pick at. The salsa was surprisingly hot (not that I minded), but something to look out for. Nachos were interesting – all the flavors were there, but rather than giving us bowls with various dips, they were piled with cheese, sour cream, vegetarian chili, guac, and salsa. Im not sure “liquidy” is the right way to describe it, but the ratio of hard to soft toppings was a little off. The bruschetta was probably the most interesting app – we discovered that these were nothing more than wheat bread with some cheese and zucchini shavings that had been thrown in the toaster. The initial complaint was that we could easily make these ourselves, but we quickly realized that for $3.25, it wasn’t so bad. If cheap is what you want, yes, this is the place to be for happy hour app specials.



Onward to Charlie’s Kitchen for one more drink…this won’t appeal to everyone but I was pleasantly surprised to see Bud Light Lime on tap (love me some watery beer – don’t judge). Again, not too crowded or loud, though I can’t speak to the crowd situation at the tail end of the week. I hear there’s a pretty slammin’ jukebox that I’ll have to check out next time.

I also like to hit up Charlie’s during the day – while I’m on a “cheap” kick, this place has a pretty tasty burger and fries for as little as $5 (I hear they are famous for their Double Cheeseburger – will report back on this next time). Yum, I love greasy food!

Overall a successful night out of cheap eats and drinks!

You stay classy Boston...
Little B