Restaurant Critic Roundup: The Rarebit In Charleston Evokes Rat Pack Style

As always, the ratings range from stars to bells to beans, but every review offers specialized insight into the food, atmosphere, and service of eateries in each city's dining scene and the critics eating at them.

This week in Boston, 75 on Liberty Wharf surprises with its tiny size and picturesque views. "You open the front door and realize just how small it is: less than a dozen tables seating about 60, with the same number outside on the wooden deck," says critic Devra First. The "small, cozy restaurant with big, dramatic views is not what we've come to expect on this rapidly developing stretch of waterfront dominated by multi-floor dining palaces."

In New York, critics dish out two-star ratings at Brooklyn's Krescendo, a not-so-humble pizzeria, and Manhattan's Hakkasan, "a haute-Asian restaurant with showy, overpriced dishes."

Charleston's The Rarebit, a new King Street restaurant, "self-consciously evokes the style of an earlier era," says critic Robert Moss. "There's no particular theme to the place beyond a general early-1960s vibe, but the paintings evoke aspects of the languid Rat Pack style."

From the East Coast to the West Coast, from North to South, the weekly restaurant critic roundup is here for all of your dining out needs.
 

Restaurant Critic Roundup: 1/24/2013

Critic	Publication	Restaurant	Rating
Devra First	Boston Globe	75 on Liberty Wharf	1.5 stars
Michael Kaminer	New York Daily News	Hakkasan	2 stars
Pete Wells	New York Times	Krescendo	2 stars
Michael Bauer	San Francisco Chronicle	Claudine	3 bells
Brad A. Johnson	Orange County Register	Broadway	3 stars
Tom Sietsema	Washington Post	La Malinche
William Porter	Denver Post	TAG Burger Bar	1.5 stars
Robert Moss	Charleston City Paper	The Rarebit

 

Tyler Sullivan is The Daily Meal's assistant editor. Follow her on Twitter at @atylersullivan.