Centro Restaurant

Feb 9th, 2014

Our department was looking for a place for a holiday dinner party and as a foody, that's my job. After some searching around on Yelp in downtown Lowell area, I picked Centro. A colleague and I actually came by to checkout the place before we made the announcement. It's a trendy place with some nice cozy touch. The open kitchen concept is something I really like as well. Chef owner Patti gave us a run down on some of the history of the restaurant and what they offer and we were good to go with Centro. Another thing I like about Centro is the menu is not long, but covers most the basics. Because as a restaurant, you shouldn't offer tons of menu items which you can't keep up with the quality, but do offer a nice list of specialties you are good at. For the dinner party we had 11 people and we picked 1/2 of the items in the menu. Starters and lighter fares: Antipasto (large) - wow, huge portion of meat and cheese, great for a group of people Cheeseburger spring rolls - this is truly East meets the West, you got to try it. Tuscan style sautéed calamari - nice flavor Buffalo chicken quesadilla - this taste better than what you get in a Mexican restaurant! Jerk wings - nice combination of spices, and wings are crispy on the outside and super tender inside BBQ pork nachos - for $12, this can be dinner for 2 on it's own. Oh, nice pork too. Entrees: Most people went with Braciole or Espresso crusted bistro filet or Mac 'n' cheese with spicy steak tips. I decided to go with the Pistachio crusted wild Atlantic salmon after ate those starters. The salmon was grilled perfectly, nice crust outside, tender and moist inside, with lots of flavors. The creamy lemon, Parmesan and tarragon risotto is a nice complement to the salmon as well. The colleague sat next to me had the Espresso crusted bistro filet and he said that's some nice steak (this guy do eat find good place to eat steaks when he goes to all kinds of trade shows) Overall, it's a very nice experience. Food a tasty and portions/price ration is great as well. I'm planning on taking my wife here for dinner next time.
Aug 29th, 2013

Terrible food, portions and service. I got food poisoning and was up all night after eating here. BEWARE!
Dec 9th, 2011

Best Place in town that we have found. I found out that it is the locals place to eat, which for me, gives it a plus. If the local neighbors enjoy the food it should be good. Well it was better then good. We had the soup of the day which was a South Western Chicken. It tasted like a Chicken Chile but not as heavy. (It is too bad it was only the soup of the day because we went back to have more the next day and it was gone).For dinner I had the Spicy Steak Tips and Mac & Cheese. The tips came out perfectly cooked to medium rare as I asked and the Mac & Cheese leaves my mom's version lacking. Five Cheeses and a nice Panko crust on top, I think I gained 5 pounds. My partner had the Angus Burger and Fries, which also came out perfectly cooked to medium rare, as was requested. They were even gracious enough to swap the bulky role for a wrap, at request. Dessert was their signature Chocolate Decadence Cake which is covered in a Chocolate Ganache, due to our calorie watching we shared it and it was a good thing.. very rich and definitely decadent!! The service was very friendly and attentive. The drinks were delicious. The Martinis come with side cars so less spillage. The prices were very reasonable for the amount of food and the quality. I was most impressed with the level of cleanliness of the place. No dust anywhere to be found. Lamps and vents were spotless. Kitchen visible to the eye and the stainless steel shines. It was nice not to see the typical themed junk strewn about but local artist hanging on the walls available for purchase. I highly recommend this place and suggest reservations be put in on weekends. We had to wait a little bit for a seat but we enjoyed a nice martini while we waited in the lounge. We are adding to our weekly dining experience.
Mar 5th, 2013