Row 34 in Boston's Fort Point neighborhood is the brainchild of Jeremy Sewall and Shore Gregory. This restaurant opened in 2013 in a former Boston Wharf Company textile warehouse, and is now the swanky location for top notch seafood in the Seaport District. The restaurant has an outdoor patio and sufficient indoor seating, as well as a private event space, and was already completely full during the lunchtime rush. Interior decorations were clearly of high quality. For the purpose of the review, it is important to mention that these lobster rolls were ordered to-go, and if necessary, a re-evaluation will be performed in the future.
Row 34's to-go lobster roll comes in an above-average box, stamped with the kind of sandwich inside. The lobster roll and fries are tucked ever-so-gently on a Row 34-branded tissue paper which served the dual purpose of impressing the diner and also absorbing the excess oil from the fries, preventing any structural damage to the box. In addition to the fries, a small cup of slaw was included, though given how meager the serving size was, did not need to be included.
Row 34 serves both a cold and warm lobster roll, and both certainly pass the eye-test. The lobster looks fresh and is piled abundantly upon the roll, which was delicately toasted on the outsides to a pleasing golden-brown crisp. Unfortunately, the roll also suffered from its pants splitting at the seams, and lobster unceremoniously fell down onto the Row 34-branded tissue paper. Let the reader be reminded that these lobster rolls were consumed about 20 minutes after they were prepared. Still, it seems that finding buns that are not only attractive but also structurally sound is difficult.
Despite this complaint, both cold and warm lobster rolls tasted as a lobster roll ought, and come with Project Lobsterland's endorsement. Be careful with the falling lobster!
Return visit: The first visit to Row 34 was regrettably only to-go. Although your humble reviewers felt impressed by what they had eaten, it's the in-house experience that really sets the stage for whether a dining establishment has what it takes to be the champion of Project Lobsterland. Our visit in-house was fine. We were neither wowed nor disappointed, a situation that, in a field of many mighty entrants, may condemn an establishment to the "has beens" of history.
The lobster roll was tasty again and, unlike the to-go version, did not fall apart under the heavy burden of hot butter. Instead of fries, we were served a healthy heaping of browned potato chips. These chips were crispy, and in some instances over crisped. Your humble reviewers certainly prefer a perfect fry with their roll, and so were a bit disappointed with this in-house change.
But at the end of the day, the question for us is: "would we come back?" The simple answer is "yes," and the slightly-less-simple-because-it-has-a-few-more-words answer is, "yes, but not as our first choice."