Best Speakeasies in Bedford

Had a reservation at 75 Chestnut, who massively dropped the ball. Got on Open Table inside 75 Chestnut, booked a reservation across the street at 1928. Upon arrival, was greeted with a great smile and sat immediately. Server, Meghan I believe, was incredible, attentive, friendly, courteous. Food was phenomenal, definitely will be swapping out 75 for 1928!

Visiting Cambridge for Parents’ Weekend at MIT, my wife, son, and I had the BEST time at the Mad Monarch Halloween pop-up at Alice & Monarch! From start to finish, this was an incredible experience. Our server, Luis, was amazing! The themed drinks absolutely hit the mark, the food was outstanding, and the desserts were truly top-tier. Every detail made the experience special! If you’re visiting Boston, I highly recommend checking out Alice & Monarch. We’ll definitely be back, and we can’t wait!

So this seems like a really good concept that perhaps hasn’t quite decided what it wants to be bIs this a laid back lounge or a loud club? The positives: great music, the food is limited but very good, ambience is swanky and interesting inside, the speakeasy concept…asking for a password, secret entrance, all that’s fun. The drinks are also very good by the way. What wasn’t quite as good was the volume at which music was played tonight. There was a band with the lead singer from Colombia, who had a very nice voice and a lot of energy, but you couldn’t actually hear her vs the sound system. I have a Decibel Meter on my iPhone and I measured that they were consistently playing for about the first hour we were there at 92 to 95 dB which is incredibly loud and hard on your ears. That is earplug level to the point where you it’s hard to talk to the person next to you and virtually impossible to the person across from you. It does not help that The floor is stone and there’s a lot of bright reflected surfaces so it just became a bit harsh at those volume levels. Maybe add some carpets and some sound absorptive wall treatments if it’s a music venue? The band tonight was great by the way and they took a request or two and were super fun and interactive with the tables. After their second set, I mentioned it to her and they toned it down volumes in the high 70s to low 80 decibels and suddenly you could hear yourself talking in there. If it was a lounge and kind of chill and laid-back, could hear glasses clinking, then would be more with the speakeasy theme we felt. Overall, it’s nice to have a music venue at Alewife with good food. We’d come back for sure to have good music played a bit less loudly than it was tonight in this small and intimate venue. One important note: prior reviews have mentioned a $20 cover charge per person. This was not charged to us tonight. The final bill came to $87.50 a person which was not unreasonable for what we eat and drank.