A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

I’ve been dying to try this place out. Located on a side street in Quincy center, The Fat Cat is a cute neighborhood bar. We went on a Saturday afternoon around 1, parking can be tough-1 hour street parking isn’t really enough time for you to enjoy your meal. We aren’t sure what to expect when we arrive, although a friend of mine gave it good reviews. The bar is packed with people watching the BC football game. A sign at the host stand says that due to the small nature of the business, they will not seat complete parties. There are 2 tables of 6 open that could easily be broken down, but the hostess tells us that it will be a 15 minute wait-with the bar packed, it’s hard to find a place to wait without feeling awkward.

We are sat in the back towards the kitchen area. There’s a mix of people here, families with young children, young college students, middle aged folks and a few over the hill-ers. The ceiling is exposed beams, the black cat mural on the wall that houses the kitchen gives the place some personality. The menu looks to be the standard upscale bar menu. They have a variety of mac and cheese options, wings, soups and salads and a bunch of good looking sandwiches. Looking around, the plates are big-as are the servings-think Cheesecake Factory.

We start off with drinks, there’s something on the side of my glass and a crack on the inside. The Shuttle salad // $7 is Mesculin greens, goat cheese, dried cranberries, candied pecans, tomato balsamic vinaigrette. Not bad. The salad is HUGE. The pecans are a little on the spicy side-not what I expected when I read candied-but overall a nice salad. The greens were fresh-the goat cheese was good and the cranberries added that sweetness that the pecans missed.

I ordered the mac and cheese with lobster. It has manchego, blue, and cheddar over cavatappi with marinated tomatoes and panko. ($18). There were 4 big claws of meat, while impressive to see the full claws, I would have liked the lobster to be cut up a bit more. There was a nice crust from shredded cheese on top of the mac and cheese but I wish there was more of a breadcrumb feel to it, seeing as I couldn’t really locate the panko.

My dining companion ordered the pulled pork sandwich ($7) shredded pork shoulder with bbq sauce, fried onions on a toasted garlic hoagie. Not bad. The shredded meat was tasty and moist, however is was drenched in sauce. I love good sweet bbq sauce, but this was just a little too sweet.

I would say over all this place is good, not bad options at a bar. If you’re looking for gourmet, this isn’t your spot, they seem to focus more on quantity than quality.

The Fat Cat 24 Chestnut Street Quincy MA

http://www.fatcatrestaurant.com