1st Time Visiting - Group Trip

We are a group of late 20-early 30 something girls planning a weekend trip to Boston at the beginning of October. We%26#39;ll be doing the tourist thing during the day but...

...any good places (sports bars, lounges) to go at night that aren%26#39;t real ';cheesy';? And any recommendations for dinner -- we%26#39;d like to go to the North End one night for Italian -- anyone have recommendations?? And good seafood and/or sushi recommendations would be great too.

Any help you can provide is appreciated! Thanks!

1st Time Visiting - Group Trip

There are a bunch of bars along Newbury Street in the Back Bay - from Blue Cat Cafe (on Mass Ave) at one end to 29 Newbury at the other end (near Arlington St). It%26#39;s probably worth heading there one night since there are so many places to choose from. The crowd varies depending on the specific bar.

As for restaurants, I%26#39;m more familiar with the South End neighborhood (sorry I can%26#39;t be of help on the North End). The South End is pretty densely packed with a variety of restaurants, e.g. there%26#39;s a cool oyster place I recently discovered called B%26amp;G if that%26#39;s appealing...

1st Time Visiting - Group Trip

The ';original'; Pizzeria Regina in the North End is a sure thing. It%26#39;s not ';only pizza'; - you%26#39;ll swear off Uno%26#39;s after you%26#39;ve been there! Caffe Pompei on Hanover St is also nice.

My favorite Italian restaurant isn%26#39;t in that part of town at all. It%26#39;s ';Firenze'; in Brookline.

Champions in the Copley Marriott is a sports bar on the classy side. My vote in that category, however, goes to Sports Depot in Allston. 64 (!) TV%26#39;s going, showing all kinds of different sporting events at once; friendly crowd at the bar with a good mix of people; app specials, daily specials, etc. The Allston neighborhood is one of the hot spots for collegiates and 20-somethings.

There are two great, free newsprint mags filled with listings for bars and clubs: Improper Bostonian, and Stuff @ Night. You can pick up copies in boxes on the street all over town.

Have a blast!

Thanks for your recommendations, we are really looking forward to the trip!

But wait, there%26#39;s more!

Legal Seafoods, Turner Fisheries, and McCormick %26amp; Schmick are popular in-town places for seafood. The Dolphin restaurant in Cambridge is also quite decent and is a good bit less expensive than the other three. The No Name, along the Boston waterfront, keeps people coming back but IMHO it%26#39;s gone downhill since they did away with serving Coke in the old-school green glass bottles and moved to a ';nicer'; building. Skipjack%26#39;s, in the Back Bay and in Brookline, has a good-sized following. The Village Catch, also in Brookline, is awesome for having fresh menu items. But be forewarned, it%26#39;s cash-only.

Gyuhama, opposite the Prudential Center along Boylston St, may be the most favored restaurant in the city for sushi. If that%26#39;s true, then the Ginza restaurants in Chinatown in Brookline aren%26#39;t far behind. What I like best by far for Japanese food, though, is the restaurant and the line of casual holes-in-the-wall at the Porter Exchange building (a remodeled old Sears store) right next to the Porter Square ';T'; stop on the Red Line in Cambridge.

';...the Ginza restaurants in Chinatown AND Brookline'; - my bad.

As for Japanese, I agree that Gyuhama is very good (we order take out from them at least once a week), however its decor is a little run-down. If you%26#39;re up for a more upscale Japanese (and don%26#39;t mind a drive to nearby Brookline), try Fugakya - it%26#39;s a little pricier, but the food/service/decor make up for it.

Takeshima is also in Brookline (around the corner from Fugakyu) and is a nice cozy little place. Roka, in Cambridge, is yet another good restaurant. And I%26#39;m a fan of the Kaya%26#39;s. By and large you can%26#39;t go wrong with Japanese dining in and around Boston, but the exception to that rule is the chain called New Asia. The food is more concentrated on what passes for Chinese in the States and is just plain lousy.

Not that there aren%26#39;t more than enough places to explore and eat at within the Boston city limits and close by, but if your quest for sushi takes you farther afield there%26#39;s a place (so new that I haven%26#39;t memorized the name) in the southern suburb of Canton which wants to be known as The Place To Go For Sushi. And the western %26#39;burbs of Lexington (Dabin), Watertown (New Ginza), Arlington (Toraya), and Waltham (Asian Grill and Yasu) boast good alternatives too, just to name a few towns.

Both for sushi and for lots of other food choices, and just for the visual spectacle, take a ride up Route 1 through Saugus. A sushi-loving friend of mine who lives in that vicinity hits ';Sake'; (the name of the business, not the drink lol) several times a week.

WOW -- thank you again for all the recommendations! I hope we get out to see the town some instead of eating and drinking our way through Boston for four days...actually that%26#39;s not a bad idea.

Many thanks again.

love the person but