So, for a week, my boyfriend came to visit me in good ol' Boston. Unfortunately, it is really tough to make him happy; this trip definitely did not satisfy him in any way. (I just really wanted to use a semi-colon in a sentence so I did.) Anyway, I took him with me and your other favorite writer, 4T4F, to a highly recommended place called Finale. This is our trip there are what we ordered and how we enjoyed it and other crazy things along the way.
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(SNAP! I just noticed a new button on my top section that allows me to post videos! Go Blogger in Draft!)
So, first of all, almost everything that could go wrong went wrong. Almost. 4T4F and I really have been wanting to go to Finale because everyone kept recommending it to us, but we've been so busy between school, midterms, homework, scheduling for next semester, deciding upon changing majors, and life going through major chaos that we've just not had the time to do anything. And on top of all of that my boyfriend was over, and he is pretty picky. He came along for the ride, but he doesn't like dessert and so he didn't have any and therefore went without dinner that night, for which I'm really sorry, but he made up for it the next day in the dining hall where he ate practically my entire dining hall out of food (nearly).
But I digress (how's that for an S.A.T. word, and I'm not trying to copy 4F4T, though she did get me to start using that word, and yet I digress again).
We went to Finale and as I was saying, nearly everything went wrong. First of all, as I walked across the Harvard Bridge towards where I was meeting my favorite dessert buddy, I realized that I forgot my camera in my dorm, so I had to turn around and go back and get it. At least I realized it as we got onto the bridge and not on the other side, that would have been unfortunate. Then Ms. 4F4T decided to leave as soon as I got to our meeting spot, so other than me being late, she has to be even more late, as is her usual pattern. Then we finally got to Finale.
We were immediately seated and brought glasses of water, [yummy water, might I add (and yes, I do taste a difference between different waters, I'm picky about my water)]. Then our waiter came over to ask us what we wanted. I have never met a waiter like him. He is one of a kind. First off the bat, he asked us if we were just eating dessert, which is pretty normal for a place like Finale, but then he decided that it would be a good idea to tell us what he thinks is good on the menu, and what he would not recommend, which yes, it is a kind gesture, but let me be the one to decide if something is good or not, because I am, as you can see from this blog, the expert [sort of the amateur expert (how's that for an oxymoron)].
Well 4F4T and I really wanted to try everything at once without having to buy everything on the menu, so fortunately they had a sampler plate which we ordered, and you can also order as an extra a molten chocolate (which is basically a chocolate lava cake). (I am also using a lot of parenthesis in this post.) Also, that platter was highly recommended by our server, because it is the most popular dish. Well we did.
First of all, he specifically asked us if we wanted to change the coffee ice cream that went with one of the samples instead for vanilla, which we did, but when they brought our dessert, they accidentally gave us coffee, so our server kindly brought us a bowl of vanilla to make up for it. So let's start off with the desserts:
Next up was the giant platter of dessert samplers. I will go one by one through the desserts, but I only have pictures of the entire plate of samplers, (mostly because the ice cream and sorbet were melting and I didn't have time to take pictures of all of those things individually, before they melted into a sad puddle).
I will use the last picture as a reference to what each dessert is, so you know what it should look like, especially because I don't know the names of some of the desserts.
Well, we started off with the hot fudge sundae like thing which you can see in the first picture (as melting) and in the upper left corner in the bottom picture. The ice cream seemed once again full of too much vanilla flavor. It also tasted too creamy/buttery, and was described as buttercream. The brownie was kind of a disaster. It was way too chewy and didn't agree well with the ice cream. A poor combination. Overall, a 3.5/10 (sad to say), points were lost due to a poor combination and because of the problems found with each individual part a mentioned previously.
Next we went for the crème brûlée which can be found immediately to the right of the hot fudge brownie sundae thing in the bottom picture. The strawberry was quite sweet, and not genetically engineered (if you don't understand this see post in which this is mentioned, click here). The blackberry was pretty generic, but rather tasty. The crème brûlée was a little too creamy as if a ton of heavy cream was used or something like that. Also, I was kind of upset that it wasn't in a custard pot as it should be, since it is crème brûlée and it has issues standing up on it's own, and if they make it in larger pots, then have small ones for this sort of platter if you are going to have this sort of platter. The crème brûlée earned a 6/10. Points were lost for the excess cream and the lack of a custard pot.
Let's move on to the whoopie pies which can be found immediately to the right of the crème brûlée, or in the upper right corner in the bottom picture. The cream was too buttery and tasted a lot like the buttercream from the cupcakes at Sweet, but just a little less intense. The chocolate cookie part was like a nice brownie, and was pleasant to eat. There was a tart raspberry sauce which accompanied them. It didn't complement them very well but the sauce was yummy and tart and really good by itself in my opinion. This received an 8/10, points were lost because there was nothing really too special about them.
Onward! To the mock Boston cream pie. Which can be found directly below the hot fudge brownie in the bottom picture. This Boston cream consisted of two parts: the top part which was good, but it was too thick; and the bottom, which wasn't too sweet, but the taste was not prominent at all. All in all, it deserved a 6/10, there was nothing special about it, and it didn't move me in any way.
The next delicious dessert that was tasted was cheesecake. Since neither Chris, my boyfriend, nor 4F4T like cheesecake, I got to enjoy it all by myself since it is one of my favorite desserts. It can be found smack in the middle of the plate in the bottom picture. The blueberry compost on the side of the cheesecake was delectably delicious. Also, it did not taste like blueberries, contrary to what anyone else will tell you, but it tasted like bilberries, which entertained me! (If you don't know what bilberries are, here's a good website to read about them --> HERE!) The cheesecake it self was too creamy, but felt very light, and not heavy like some cheesecakes can be. It earned an 8/10, I believe I already made it clear as to why.
Next up was the apple pie, which is seen in the bottom left corner in the bottom picture. The apple pie sat in a coffee tasting sauce which was too strong and too prominent in flavor. The pie itself was delicious, but could do without the coffee sauce. All in all, it gets a 7/10 (no thanks to the coffee sauce).
Then we noticed that there was a sugar basket sitting in a pool of oddly colored juice. It took us a moment to realize that inside the basket was sorbet which was melting like the wicked witch of the west, and should have potentially been eaten first but all was not lost, literally, there was still plenty of sorbet to go around. The pre-melt-y sorbet basket can be seen to the right of where the apple pie is located. First of all the basket consisted of two flavors of sorbet, one was a passion fruit and the other I don't remember what it was. The passion fruit sorbet was tart, but not too ridiculously tart. It was delicious and had a perfect flavor. The other sorbet was also kind of tart, as just as perfect flavored. There was a tasty raspberry sauce that accompanied it which was an excellent complement. The sorbets got a 10/10 from me.
Next on the list was a sugar cookie thing (we didn't know what to actually call it). Found directly below the whoopie pies on the right in the bottom picture. It was basically cinnamon sugar cookies slapped together with a buttercream. The buttercream wasn't too tasty, and the sugar cookie tasted kind of bland. This one gets a 4/10, unfortunately, it just didn't stand out to me, and seemed to just fall in with all the other desserts and wasn't special or special tasting.
Finally we dived into the Majari mousse, found in the bottom right corner of the bottom picture. There were there mini sprinkle things on top of it which were kind of bad tasting, they tasted like unpopped mini popcorn kernels. The sauce in which the mousse sat tasted like a citrusy green tea. The actual dessert was basically a chocolate mousse with ganache on top and a soft, odd tasting shell around it. It gets only a 6/10.
My visit to Finale was slightly disappointing but I did have high expectations because I heard so many good things about it. But then again, maybe I should just blame myself because my high expectations were mostly brought about because the people that kept saying to go to Finale always would recommend just the molten chocolate and didn't say anything else about any of the other desserts. Well, now you know what my opinions are on the desserts at Finale. If you do go, definitely get the molten chocolate, it is really, really, really good but get it with vanilla ice cream, it complements the cake much better. Or if you want just something cold, get the passion fruit sorbet. Those are my top recommendations but, as you read, there were other potentially good items on the menu.
Enjoy your visit if you go.
Keep eating sweetly! :)
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