Oak Room (Boston, MA)

We went for Sunday brunch at the Oak Room, which is located in The Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, right in Copley Square. This is one of those places that you might go to for a special occasion, but unless you're made of money, you will never go there again.

The Oak Room decor is like old money - like the name of the restaurant, there is oak wood everywhere...on the floors, the walls, etc. There are stuffed deer heads, and many many mirrors. The chairs and booth seats are covered in that half-velvet, half-cloth fabric that reminds you of the furniture in your grandparents' house, and the silverware is 97% silver (just check on the back of them for the "97"). Needless to say...make sure you are appropriately dressed (suit and tie not necessary....but don't go in there wearing shorts and flip-flops).

The Oak Room has the typical brunch menu for an up-scale restaurant - starters of soups, oysters, or fruit; salad choices; steak/burger choices; egg/omelet choices; and pancake/waffle/french toast choices. You can buy any of their dishes a la carte, or you can partake (which we did) in their brunch "special" - for $39 per person, you get your choice of any starter, any entree, and either Boston Cream Pie or seasonal berries for dessert. It also comes with coffee, tea, and/or juice.

So, ra ordered the lobster bisque, the corn flake-crusted french toast, and the Boston Cream Pie. Bo ordered the oysters, a filet mignon, and the seasonal berries.

Comments on the meal

• We both ordered orange juice. It was fresh-squeezed and tasted great.
• The lobster bisque was ok. Nothing spectacular. There were some larger chunks of lobster in it, although some of the lobster pieces resembled pieces of fake crab meat. It's going to be difficult for any restaurant to beat the lobster bisque at Surf anyway.
• The chef does not know how to count. This time, it worked in our favor. The half-dozen oysters ended up being 8 oysters on the plate. Interestingly, for such a high-end restaurant, the waiter did not tell us where the oysters came from. We presume there was only one type of oyster on the plate (they all looked similar), but we really have no idea. They tasted fine, but it would have been nice to know if they were local oysters or not.
• The french toast left a little to be desired. Ra ordered the meal with berries in honey on top....and that's what arrived on the plate....but something was missing. Ah! Maple syrup! They did not bring maple syrup to the table, and the waiter only came back to check up on us when we were 75% through the meal (a little late to ask for some syrup). Something about french toast does not taste right without some maple flavoring....and honey just doesn't cut it.
• The filet mignon was ordered medium-rare....it came out more like medium, which was disappointing. The outside of the steak was cooked medium-well, with only the inside appearing like medium. Surprisingly, the steak still tasted good. The steak came with fingerling potatoes, which were undercooked and hard. The side of vegetables (asparagus) tasted fine, but was not spectacular.
• By the end of the meal, ra was a little sugared out, and almost ordered the seasonal berries (same as bo), but made a game-time decision to go for the Boston Cream Pie. It's a good thing she did, because it was phenomenal. The three-layer cake (with cream between the layers) has a light covering of melted dark chocolate, and an exorbitant amount of shaved white chocolate on top. It was beautifully presented and tasted great...we would highly recommend it.
• The seasonal berries (strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries) tasted fine, but the presentation could have been improved. It was literally just mounds of berries on a plate....it's a good "bang for your buck" dish (there were TONS of berries), but we would have preferred fewer berries, with a little bit more decoration - perhaps a chocolate swirl, or some whipped cream to liven things up?

Service at Oak Room was impeccable - besides not being able to find the waiter when we wanted maple syrup. There was a good amount of time between courses, and we never felt like we were being rushed out of our seats. The waiters appeared to know the menu very well - they highly recommended the Boston Cream Pie, which caused ra to switch at the last minute.

Be aware that if you have to use the restroom at Oak Room, that they're not directly attached to the restaurant, and you will need to walk a good distance through the hotel hallways and lobby in order to find it. The bathrooms were clean (as they should be at a high-end hotel), and had nice heavy-cloth hand towels with which you can dry your hands.

One last thing to note is that The Fairmont at Copley Plaza Hotel has a hotel dog - a black lab - that hangs around in the hotel lobby if he's not out on a walk with one of the hotel guests. The dog is harmless, and does not approach hotel guests, so you should not be afraid of him attacking you or your small children (provided that your children are not chasing after him or hitting him, etc.). However, if you or your loved ones are highly allergic to dogs....you may want to steer clear of this restaurant.

Overall Rating (Oak Room): 6 out of 10
Positive:  Service is not rushed. Boston Cream Pie is excellent.
Negative: Overpriced, particularly if the food is not cooked properly. Presentation could be improved. We will probably not go back.