I went to Artichokes for a get together with four or my girlfriends expecting to have an amazing girls night. We had heard great things about this restaurant and expected to have a lovely evening together. We all ordered the house pinot noir which was really tasty. One of my friends ordered the pinot grigio by accident as she meant to order the pinot noir. Our waitress didn't mind making the switch. We all ordered our meals and were excited about our choices. Our dinner did not arrive until an hour later and the waitress did tell us that she checked on it which was nice of her. When dinner arrived we asked if the manager might buy us our next round of wine as there were multiple parties that sat after us recieving food before us. We obviously didn't mind paying for it but just thought it would be nice as I've never been to a restaurant in my life where the food took one hour. The waitress said she would ask. Then we did not see the waitress again until after we were ready to wrap our meals. She did not check on us once, nor did the manager come by to apologize. When the waitress did come back we asked for our check. We were upset because we did not get checked on once and we wanted another round of wine with dinner. We didn't really care if we had to pay for it but at that time we had almost nothing to drink. The waitress also never offered waters. When she came back with our check there was a martini that we didn't order on our bill and no wines were taken off. (again we didn't mind paying but thought the manager would have been nice enough to comp at least one or two glasses) We told the waitress we wanted to talk to the manger who did not come over for another 20 minutes. When she came over she told us that food usually takes at least an hour there and there's nothing she could do about it. When we asked about possibly comping a wine, she said "well I did when your friend ordered the wrong wine in the beginning of dinner" That comment just put us over the edge and we were very angry and definitely thought that the manager just does not care at all about their paying customers. We ended up paying with the host because the waitress did not come back and we were ready to go. We were sincerely disappointed with how we got treated and will never go back. I sincerely hope this does not happen to anyone else that dines there. read more

Awful Experience at Artichokes, wish I could give negative stars. My wife and friends decided to give this restaurant a try since it is down the street from us and it always seemed to attract a lot of people every time we drove by. I'll begin by giving a brief description of our dining experience. First off the place doesn't take reservations, which is fine. However, when we entered around 7:30 on a Saturday night there was no place to sit and wait to be seated so you feel like you are in a subway car standing next to others who are also waiting to be seated. The wait wasn't too long considering it was a weekend night, though we had two small children and they did not offer high chairs or booster seats. This made it uncomfortable since the kids want to move around everywhere. So, obviously not kid friendly. Service was a little slow, but not the worst I have experienced. My wife and I were not that hungry so we decided to split an entree since the waitress said the meal would be plenty big for the both of us. She was right, we were full at the end. The food was decent, but thought it was overpriced considering it's in a somewhat rural town. I could have eaten cheaper in the North End if I wanted to. Here's where things went really bad though. We split the bill with our friends, only authorizing $50 to go on our card. Two days later my wife notices she got charged for everyone's meal (the grand total) in her bank statement. Obviously we call the restaurant to see what happened, and speak to the manager. She tells my wife she was waiting for her to call because for some reason the computer could not split the amounts on each separate card. She also says she had no way of getting in touch with us. OK, fine I guess. Good thing my wife noticed this, as some people probably wouldn't always check. However, we are perturbed because we only authorized $50 to be charged to our card. The manager told her since we couldn't split it between our friend's card and ours, that the only thing they could do was charge the full amount to one of the cards, ours! In other words, they committed credit card fraud. My wife had two phone conversations with the manager that resulted in her telling my wife to call our friends to collect the difference. When I heard this I was beyond peeved. I got on the phone with her and told her what they did was completely wrong and fraudulent, and that we would be humiliated to have to ask our friends for money after all of this. The restaurant's mistake becomes our burden? I don't think so. She has the audacity to ask me you basically want 6 people to eat for $50? Great people skills there! She kept telling us it was a very simple problem, just call your friends to collect the money. Then she goes on to tell my wife they work very hard for their money! Oh, like we don't! There were many condescending statements blurted out to us. It is a long story, but at the end of the conversation she reluctantly said to come in on Monday and I'll give you a check for difference. Her husband heard saying in the background not to come in, basically a threat against me. Nice! Well, we never went there, and definitely will never step foot in that place ever again. We filed a dispute with the bank and will end up getting our money that was fraudulently charged to our account back. read more

I want to find the owner of Artichoke's and shake him/her HARD to try and bring him/her to his senses. In spite of often very good food (sometimes outstanding food), I would not recommend that anyone visit. The waits, both for a table, and then once you are seated, are unbearable. First, they should stop lying to patrons and tell them they will be seated in 15 minutes when it's 45. If the hostess really is not that good at estimating wait times, it's time to replace her. Then once seated, it should not take 2 hours to get through dinner (that's happened to me twice!). Their excuse is the same every time: Everything here is made from scratch, and it takes more time. You can say that about a lot of places, but they seem to get patrons through a lot quicker with no loss of quality to the food. The bread Artichoke's serves is an embarrassment and they should fire the vendor they purchase it from and go get better bread. The food is inconsistent, sometimes outstanding, sometimes forgettable., but you never know which you will get. Even when the food is great, however, it can not overcome the long waits, indifferent service, and awful bread. So even though I like the food at Artichoke's more often than not, I'm not going to return again anytime soon, because the negatives far outweigh the positives. read more

Went to see what all the fuss was about, went on a sat. night. We walked in to a party of 6 in front of us who had called ahead of time to reserve a table. yet they waited 2 hours since the host kept giving away tables in front of them. They finally gave up and walked out, saying they didn't want to give them their money. I don't blame them, after dinner my boyfriend and myself didn't want to either. Our waitress was ok, our busser was much nicer and there more for us. I am a waitress and have been for years, i usually give every waiter a chance, but she wasn't that great. I had to ask for water twice(wouldnt mind it is she seemed busy but there aren't that many tables and we rarely saw her on the floor). Our food wasn't much to get excited about either, i got the mussels and my boyfriend got a chicken dish that was way too salty. She also didn't check in to see how our food was. The busser was more concerned that he didn't eat much chicken. Food was over priced and even he said the place didn't run smoothly. Would not go back, total waste of money, only good point. Big pour on the wine. read more

The most AWFUL SERVICE and PEOPLE SKILLS ever! My husband is allergic to wine, and we specifically asked for the waitress to tell us if wine was in ANY OF OUR FOOD. The appetizer was brought out and wine was in the dressing!! We were surprised about the oversight but luckily we tried the salad before he had a chance to. We re-ordered the salad sans-dressing and it took 45 MINUTES TO GET TO OUR TABLE! For just a new salad without dressing? Along with our salad came our DINNERS, so we naturally refused the salad, as it took too long and we were more-than-ready to eat our meals. Our waitress stormed off and said to us, "Are you joking me? You're not going to eat the salad after that?" and never came back to our table. Is this restaurant SERIOUS?? Then random other servers came to check on us... and when we asked where our original server was, they claimed she was "busy"! They did not comp our bill for her mistake, and sadly we are never going back there because of it. Sorry Artichokes! You need to know how to run a business and treat customers the right way. read more

Had dinner there on Fri. nite. got a nice seat at the bar , only to have fair service. When I asked the bartender about the cheese that was in the eggplant he said " I have no idea" we then asked him about the Sinatra nite that they have on tues. (the board advertising it said "ask your server") so we did and his reply was "I don't work on Tuesday's have no idea. I guess it's good" what kind of an answer is that!!!! When we ordered dinner I ordered a medium rare steak that came out over cooked, never was a able to get the bartenders attention for over 20 min. Finally asked for the manager who I believe was the owner, she tried to tell me that it was cooked medium rare which it wasn't and not sure what ever happened to the customer is always right. She asked the cook and he said that is the way they cook it. She then asked me if I would like to take it home. I said if I didn't like the way it was cooked now, why would I want to take it home. her reply was YOU MIGHT HAVE A DOG AT HOME HOW DO I KNOW. REALLY!!!!!! The bartender then got rude because he was made at us for complaining. Well we would not have complained if he wasn't to busy to come over and ask how everything was... Have been there before and never liked it and would never go there again. Shame on the owner.....Yes I also would go to SABATINO'S before every going there again.. Three strikes and your out. There are too many restaurants out there to go back and take there abuse!!!! read more

We arrived at Artichokes to use a gift certificate for dinner. The food was nothing special. Very limited , what they call, Italian Menu, so we ordered the seafood, because it is hard to mess that up, the fish was very tasteless. The seating is cramped and very close to each other. If you need to go to the restroom it is in the basement. Review your check if you eat here!!! They are famous for sneaking in additional charges. If something is an extra charge they will not tell you until you see it and question it on your bill. We checked our bill and noticed on two haddock dishes that were exactly the same, the prices were $4.00 different on one. We questioned this and the waitress said the computer rang it up this way. It was because the pasta that came with one of the haddock's was ordered with olive oil instead of sauce. In addition, if you purchase soda water it cost $4.00 and is not bottomless (like other places). If you want a little more cheese on your dish, you will never see the waitress again till your dinner gets cold. In other words, DO NOT WASTE YOUR YOUR TIME!!!! It's one of those places that will never be a classy place! read more

(I would have preferred to have given this no stars, but 1 was the lowest I could go here). I am extremely disappointed with the experience I had at Artichoke's this evening, and I will absolutely never go back because of it. Not only was the wait staff pretentious and extremely rude, the food was tasteless (mediocre at best). We waited two hours for a table, and another 1.5 hours for the food to come out. In between that time, the waitresses scowled when we asked (nicely) for 1 more minute to decide on our entrees (mind you, this was only 5 minutes into seating us) and were perturbed if we asked (again, nicely) for our waters to be refilled or for another round of drinks to be served. Aside from the horrible service and bland food, the quarters were extremely tight and uncomfortable. Every member of the wait staff was phony and rude, making us feel not only as if we were inconveniencing them, but also that it was a privilege for them to be serving us. To top off a great night, the bill was ridiculously overpriced. For some reason, this place thinks it's high class, but in reality, it's the total opposite. Learn how to treat people with respect (and maybe cook a decent meal in a reasonable timeframe) and then talk to me about being classy. Never again. Ever. read more

Right from the beginning we had terrible service. Never received bread and we had to ask hostess (wearing flip flops might I add) when told us that she just had to finish cleaning off a table first then she would bring it to us. In fact, she had someone else bring it to us. Let me add that we had two eight year old children with us. When the oh-so-forgetful waitress finally came around I asked if we could please put in our entire order. Her reply was "we usually don't do that, we put in your appetizer first, then after a few we can put in your order". Well ok then!!!! It turned out to be quite some time before she even came back to take our order. She was very busy doing who knows what. Meanwhile we had no water and had to wait forever for someone to bring us some. When it came time to FINALLY order we asked if we could order the kids each a side of pasta (since they don't have any options for kids). The kids were served a huge side of pasta, way more than any adult could ever eat. I ordered the Eggplant with pasta in a marinara sauce, which was definitely not a marinara sauce. It was not even the same color, it was definitely more like a Marsala sauce. Very disappointed! Things just kept getting worse. Then we get the check and we find out they charged us $10.00 each for the kids pasta. Are you kidding me!!! I was so frustrated with the whole night that I decided to contact the manager. To be honest, the manager was out right rude! Perfect way to run a restaurant. I explained my dining experience with her and she was arguing with me, telling me her husband makes the sauce and that I am wrong, it was a marinara sauce. Then she proceeds to tell me that it is a fine dining restaurant and they have white table cloths and they can't just charge $1.00 for a side of pasta (her words exactly) Then she called me sweat heart to which I told her "please do not call me sweat heart" and you will never guess how it all ended.....SHE HUNG UP ON ME!!! Way to go!!! Great customer service!!! I will NEVER go back there and I will make sure everyone else knows too!!! read more

The food was good but the service was THE WORST I've ever experienced. Bottom line: the waitstaff was horrible and unprofessional.....when our lobster ravioli appetizer arrived, the waiter started plating the food for us (I have no idea why people feel the need to do this....I can serve myself!). He was careless and as he began to serve my boyfriend his raviolis, he proceeded to knock an ENTIRE glass of RED WINE all over my boyfriend. The waiter apologized and brought over another glass of wine and gave us a free dessert to go that we didn't even order. He cleaned my boyfriend's shirt with club soda and gave my boyfriend a chef's jacket to wear at the table. Not only was my boyfriend soaking wet and embarrassed as we ate our meals, the waiter didn't even comp our meal or take care of the bottle of wine or anything. Zilch! His name was John and he supposedly has been a waiter for twenty years and this "had never happened before" but he did not act appropriately. All he did was give us a dessert we didn't even want. And to make matters worse, the manager didn't even come over to the table to apologize. A terrible experience and I would deter anyone from going there. read more

The worst dining experience we've had in 20 years. The hostess told us 4 parties were ahead of us at 6:00. at 6:30 my husband checked and she said 2 parties were ahead of us. At 7:00 I checked and she said 2 parties were ahead of us so I decided to stand in front of the hostess station to see what was really going on. There were 3 cleared tables at this point because I peeked in the dining room. People who were obviously regulars or friends got seated....as we waited. I approached the hostess once again and she said we were next. As I watched 2 parties get seated in front of us, I spoke up again. She finally seated us in a semiprivate room. We ordered immediately because my daughter was starving at this point. It took, no kidding, an hour until our meal arrived. You know, you go to Reno's and it is a 3 hr wait and they tell you it is a 3 hr wait. I respect that. This place, I have no respect for. And the food wasn't as good as the 99 restaurant in my home town. Nothing special. Plain old boring chicken parm, etc. At least at Renos in East Boston, you get the truth about your wait and the food is something to wait for. I would never go back to Artichokes. read more

got special haddock and shrimp ; the fish vg. but shrimp overdone and way over priced $30 / were never told price. also little neck clams and pasta vg. live entertainment exc. but much to loud for such a small area. read more

first time with my bf on a recent Sat. night. got seated within minutes, small dining area, but nicely decorated. we were seated at a tiny table for two. would have agreed to wait longer for a bigger table, felt cramped, it was right next to the wall. nice friendly waitresses. food took a long time, altho it was fresh and very good. there were about 5 other tables waiting a long time too. the antipasto was ok, nothing special. sangria was ok. salmon w/spinach and roasted potatoes was very good. good size portions on the salmon and potatoes. bf got spicy seafood di mare (spelling?). he liked it a lot and he's a very picky Italian food eater. most of our food was very good, pretty reasonable, portions are good size, service was good. the only negatives was that its somewhat a small dining room and the food took a very long time. I'm sure we'll be back. read more

I have been a patron of Artichokes in Malden since it opened, and have never been dissapointed by the food or the service. There has always been a wait -- on weekends, a long line outside the door -- and that is an annoyance to me at any restaurant. When I know that's the case, I dont go with a ravenous appetite because I know I will have to wait and dont want to chew on a tableleg. The owner was a woman who was always very professional and kept on top of her customers and their needs. I spotted the new Artichokes in Wakefield and stopped in on July 3rd to see if I could get a table. The wait was too long and there were no reservations being taken. I loved the decor and the idea that it was in the old Wakefield Y, with the brick structure. I am wondering if this is owned by the same family as the one in Malden. Does anyone know? I am sorry and surprised to hear so many negative things about the service -- especially the attitude of the staff. They should be over accomodating to make up for the obvious confusion that is a part of opening a new restaurant. This is why I am questioning if the owners are the same family as in the Malden location. They were outstanding. read more

this place needs a class in customer service at the hostess stand and the bar area..don't know how the food was because we left, we we're so bummed out. got ignored by the bartender, who was moving at a snail's pace, telling us one minute then making pom martinis for someone else (that took ten extra minutes) .then ignoring us again while she talked to her loud mouth friends siting at the bar....they acted busy and were not ...experience sucked from the minute we walked in the door til when we left 20 minutes later. if you want to go to place thats is bothered by your presence go there. read more

Recently at the recomendation of my friends i visited Artichokes restaurant in wakefield. I arrived with 3 other guests and we were greeted immediately by a lovely hostess. We did have a little bit of a wait (30 mins) but nothing out of the ordinary for a good restaurant. To begin with a very nice young girl came over to our table and served us water and bread with dipping oil which was a nice start to our dinner. We followed that with an order of mussels and artichoke margarita which were delicious appetizers! It was a busy night but the waiter kept accommodating us with our every need. Next we ordered our entrees (fusilli maria, chicken marsala, lobster ravioli, and lobster and veal special, all w/ a side of your choice of homemade pasta). Since the dinners took a while because the chefs prepare the meals from scratch, we were offered more bread from the wonderful young lady. Moments later she brought the bread and was polite enough to start a conversation with us. The food arrived with an option of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Everyone was impressed with their meal and it was such a great portion that we had to take our food home. Take into account I went into the North End for dinner a few weeks back and our meals were the same price but smaller portions. After dinner we were graciously greeted by the owner of the restaurant, Maria which was very open and warm. I would highly recommend Artichokes to anyone who enjoys a fine dining experience. read more

horrible horrible.........the chicken parm was a disaster, more like chicken parm soup, sauce was not made in house, tasted and looked like it came from a can. the female owner was rude once we complained. we will never be back. I just read some of the reviews on here, I would say 99% of them were written by the owner, staff and friends......the real reviews only give 1 star but you can hear the difference in the complimentary reviews..... read more

it was three and a half hours of my life i will never get back, the wait was 2 plus hours and the only reason we waited was we kept getting "it will be soon or in 15 minutes etc" I was with my wife and 2 very dear friends and it was the most expensive take out i have ever had ' the food was terrible ,so we just said wrap it up, staff was medioca at best, if someone recomends this place they must not like you. read more

I was hoping to like this restaurant, as the first impression was good upon entering as far as the atmosphere, but my boyfriend and I quickly realized that the decor was the best thing about it. After being greeted by a pleasant (but plastic type) hostess, we were directed to the bar, which was full, so we were then told we could wait downstairs. We went down into a crowded cramped uncomfortable hallway leading into another lounge with a terrible Frank Sinatra wannabe. We went back upstairs and tried to hover near the upstairs bar only to overhear conversations by what appeared to be regulars who were the typical bar fly "I'm the coolest" type crowd. As if we were not turned off enough, we were finally seated after a very long wait, only to wait and wait and wait. No one came to even take our drink order. We were starving as we both had not even had lunch, but the waitresses all seemed to be stressed out and definitely not happy people. We finally decided to leave and went elsewhere. This place is more of a hangout than a properly run restaurant. read more

Wish I could give it no stars. Waited TWO HOURS to sit for dinner after being told the wait would be 45 mins-1 hour. After the two hours, we were 'graciously' offered a seat in the loud and 'romantic' bar. The staff was mediocre at best. Due to our long wait time we were told we would receive a free dessert (how nice), only to be disappointed to find the dessert was chosen for us, 2 lousy cannolis- YIPPPPEE. We found out from another table, not our waitress, that there was no more bread left and we would not be getting any-perfect!!! We ordered the 'famous' artichoke appetizer because they were out of the bruschetta we wanted. Spoiler alert: don't get the soggy artichoke app, even though it is the only thing artichoke on the ARTICHOKES menu. We waited forever for our bland food, not worth the wait in any way or the hefty price. The manage never came over to apologize for the atrocity. Moral of our disaster of an experience: if you are thinking of going here, don't; we will never ever be returning and are rapidly spreading the word to anyone we know who wants to eat good food; but hey if you have FOUR HOURS of your life to waste then by all means...otherwise, SAVE YOURSELF AND EAT SOMEPLACE ELSE, we wish we did. read more