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Chicken Wachusett from The Boynton on Highland Street

Chicken Wachusett from The Boynton on Highland Street in Worcester, MA

Chicken Wachusett from The Boynton on Highland Street in Worcester, MAThe Boynton Restaurant is very large, with a lot of tables, making the place a little on the noisy side. The atmosphere is basic American with a lot of exposed brick, a lot of booths and generally comfortable.

Food: (Liked)

We started with an appetizer of the Tuna Sashimi: Cajun Seared Sushi Grade Tuna, thinly sliced and placed over a bed of Asian Coleslaw with Pickled Ginger, Wasabi and Lite Soy Sauce. This was lightly seared, giving it just the thinnest of crusts and was absolutely delicious. This was as good as any sashimi I’ve had anywhere else. It came with a little hot sauce on the plate which was a great counterpoint to the tuna and ginger making an overall wonderful flavor. This was a good size for one, but way too small to share.

For dinner I had the Chicken Wachusett: A trio pan seared Chicken Breast is sautéed with Roasted Peppers, Red Onions, Spinach and Tomatoes in Wachusett Country Ale Pan Gravy then placed over Whipped Mashed Potatoes. This was a very big portion size, more than enough to have leftovers, for a pretty reasonable price making this a very good value. The chicken was tender, juicy and cooked perfectly. The peppers and onions were also cooked perfectly, having just enough texture to add a little light crunch and the gravy was very flavorful but not so strong it overpowered the other flavors. The flavors and textures all played together very nicely making an overall fantastic dish. In my opinion, the weakest part of this dish was the mashed potatoes, they were pretty basic and plain and not very flavorful. Overall this was an excellent dish!

Service: (Liked)

Being in a large party (15 of us) I always expect the service to be a little slower than normal. While that was the case here as well, our server did an excellent job keeping things moving at a reasonable pace while keeping a great friendly attitude.

Overall: (Liked)

As an overall experience, I’d have to say the Boynton was an excellent find. A very varied menu with a ton of options, all good, with good service and at a reasonable cost.

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Pad Thai at Thai Time

Pad Thai at Thai Time on Highland Street in Worcester, MA

Pad Thai at Thai Time on Highland Street in Worcester, MA

The day before the foodies and I met at Thai Time on Highland Street I made Pad Thai at home out of a boxed kit. Therefore, I considered myself an expert on Pad Thai and selected it with no hesitation. The options for added protein included chicken, shrimp or…both! I went for both, although I’m pretty sure there were only two shrimps, which was disappointing. The Pad Thai was stir-fried with rice noodles, egg, scallions, bean sprouts, and ground peanuts. This plate was piled high and so delicious looking that it’s photograph wound up as a featured image in the article highlighting the Worcester Foodies on MassLive. After focusing very hard to not drop the plate as it was handed to me across the table, I dove in. I actually completely missed an entire conversation at the table while I reflected on scallions. I love scallions. There were many fresh scallions in my Pad Thai. There was also a good amount of sweet, flavorful sauce covering the thin rice noodles. The dish was not spicy at all, and looking back, I do regret not testing out a few of the six hot sauces that were brought to my companions. I definitely would not have ordered the Fiery Pad Thai, but a tiny saltiness and kick would have made the dish even better. I completely cleaned my plate down to the bean sprouts, and then I even finished off those. I would absolutely return to Thai Time to try more dishes, as my choice was well balanced, well cooked, and full of fresh ingredients.