Best of Worcester Rating: 5 Stars
Editor’s Pick
Worcester Magazine
Spring 2001

Best Place to Get Hitched: Beechwood Hotel

The owners have done a remarkable job of making this lodging, meeting and dining facility, located next to the Biotech Park, one of the best around. They’ve playfully but tastefully decorated the place with colorful antique circus and carnival artifacts and images. They’ve even refurbished the carved woodwork and stained-glass widows from the old chapel at the Worcester City Hospital, which they bought at auction when the hospital was closed, installed them at one end of the massive two-section main function room. That way, you can get married in a church-like setting and then step right into your reception.

Dining Out Rating: 4 Stars
By Jane Dickinson
Worcester Magazine
(no date)

On the Elegant Side

Too many times the complaint has been voiced that Worcester is in dire need of a quality, upscale restaurant that offers not only superior food but superb service and atmosphere as well. To all those who have raised the objection, a few simple words of advice: Run, do not walk, immediately to the Beechwood Hotel . . . you will not be disappointed.

Table for Two Rating: 4 Stars
By Paul Bernard
Worcester Business Journal
June 18, 2001

Where Food Becomes a Work of Art

The Harlequin Restaurant at the Beechwood Hotel . . . exudes New York City flair - without New York City prices. The food, service and presentation are extraordinary . . . the restaurant is truly a gem. It very well may be the best restaurant in Worcester, based on food, quality of service and ambiance. It shouldn’t be reserved for special occasions but clearly if you’re looking for a special evening out, the Harlequin is the place to go.

Dining Rating: 5 Stars
By Emily Thorn
Worcester Magazine
(no date)

No Jesting: Harlequin is First-Rate

It’s been a while since five stars have paraded across the top of the column, so long in fact that I had to go back to 1994 to find the last restaurant to lasso the whole megillah. But here goes - five stars to the Harlequin at the Beechwood Hotel. And well deserved . . . The philosophy that the chef is now espousing is “dining with a dash of audacity”. Personally, I always felt the food at the Beechwood had a special spark, but its good to see it put into words.

Appetizers: Our choices were steamed Maine mussels with saffron leek sauce and grilled shrimp. The jumbo shrimp were lightly marinated and grilled and served with three different sauces, all of which were delicious. The mussels were perhaps the best I’ve ever had: tiny, tender, served in a pool of wonderful saffron sauce, the saffron imbuing the sauce with its distinctive flavor and a pretty, pale-yellow hue.

Entrees: Before deciding on medallions of veal and rack of lamb, we lingered over loin of spring lamb in pastry wrapped with proscuitto and spinach in a puff pastry with mint demiglace, tenderloin of Black Angus beef served with asparagus and blue cheese polenta in port sauce and grilled yellow fin tuna steak with steamed Maine mussels in curry sauce. Do you see the dilemma? Everything sounds wonderful . . . Both entrees were out of this world. The veal was fork-tender and bathed in a rich creamy sauce, flavored with a soupcon of Frangelico . . .the whole dish was perfection . . . The rack of lamb was cooked medium-rare, still quite pink in the center, which left it velvety and succulent. Bathed in a rosemary au jus that was subtle but just enough to coax out plenty of flavor, it was unparalleled. The rack was sliced into riblets, beautifully arranged, and served with garlic mashed potatoes and a ratatouille of grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and zucchini.

Dining Out Rating: 4 Stars
By Bill Cory
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
July 9, 2000

The Harlequin Takes a Spot at the Very Top

It’s been Worcester’s showplace hotel since it opened, and some of the $3 million recently spent on the Beechwood Hotel is apparent in the quiet luxury of the public spaces. The Harlequin has moved to a different room, lushly decorated and softly but not dimly lit . . . One feeling we recall fondly from our last visit is the perfect spacing of the seating area. There’s a generous distance between tables . . . the appearance is that of a smaller restaurant and the privacy afforded is a luxury which is becoming too rare . . . The restaurant was very good before and it’s excellent now - worthy of its setting.

Dining Rating: 5 Stars
By Emily Thorn
Worcester Magazine
July 29, 1998

Harlequin Does It Again: Five Stars

Whenever five stars parade across the top of this column, there’s a little touch of trepidation when we return to review the restaurant again. Will a new chef, still finding his or her way, have taken over? Can the service be as impeccable as last time? No such problems at Beechwood’s Harlequin, we soon discovered. All is well.

Table for Two Rating: 4 Stars
By Paul Bernard
Worcester Business Journal
April 27, 1998

Well Worth It - Harlequin Restaurant at Beechwood Hotel

The Harlequin Restaurant, tucked away in the lower level of the Beechwood Hotel on Plantation Street, is one of Worcester’s premier restaurants . . . The muted color scheme is elegant in its simplicity. The tables are topped with fine white linen tablecloths and napkins, and each table is set with a blue globe-topped candlestick. Adorning the walls are pictures of clowns and the circus, and two large restored
carousel horses.

I ordered Harlequin’s signature butternut squash and crab bisque while my dining companion ordered the French onion soup. Both soups were exquisite. The bisque was flavorful, with just the right touch of sherry, and filled with crabmeat. The French onion soup was equally delicious. Served in the traditional French style, the soup was a wonderful combination of onions cooked in a beef stock, then topped
with a crust of bread and five different cheeses before being placed under a
broiler.

Dining Out Rating: 4 Stars
By Michael Anderman
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
April 16, 1989

New City Restaurant Fill the Sophistication Niche

Every year at this time, a good friend calls with the same question: “Our anniversary is coming up; where can we go that’s special - a little intimate and elegant with good wines and good food?” My response this year? The Beechwood. Inside, the Beechwood is soothingly urban, with beiges, mirrors, white linens and black-stemmed glassware on the table and a hint of art-deco in the lighting. Good jazz and good classical music drifts through the rooms; it’s soft enough for conversation yet loud enough for lulls . . . A city already equipped with very good ethnic and pub-style restaurants, Worcester finally has a place to fill the slicker sophisticated international niche.

Table for Two Rating: 4 Stars
By Paul Bernard
Worcester Business Journal
December 3, 2001

The Best of the Best - 2001

It’s that time of the year again, to give you a capsule review of our best ppicks for 2001 . . . This year, only two restaurants received our top rating of four stars - one of them is the Harlequin Restaurant. The Harlequin Restaurant at the Beechwood Hotel is the classiest restaurant in the city.