I recently had my first and last experience at Dante, the restaurant inside the Royal Sonesta hotel. I went with a group of 6 Dante for dinner and unfortunately found more wrong with the restaurant than right.

First the quality of the meals was highly inconsistent. Two people in my group ordered the Fillet and thought it was quite good. The four other dishes were mediocre at best, which is unacceptable for a higher end establishment where entrees run $25 - $35. The food quality was quite disappointing given the restaurant's generally good reputation.

The service was also poor. Of specific concern were wait staff that seemed to disappear. When I asked the waitress for a recommendation I got the proverbial "everything is great". Worse still, the restaurant was incapable of managing to coordinate the delivery of appetizers and entrees.

I did like Dante' atmosphere and I suspect the outside deck overlooking the Charles River is quite nice in the summer. Also the wine selection was decent.

Fortunately for Dante the folks enjoyed their Fillets enough to save the restaurant from a 1 (Worst) rating. If you are looking for a nice restaurant in the Kendall Square or Cambridge Side areas, try the Helmond or Bambara. Both are far superior choices to Dante.