Empty but Maybe Promising
The Ruby Room
Onyx Hotel (across from TD Banknorth Garden)
Boston, MA
I decided that it was about time to check out the Ruby Room at the Onyx Hotel. Yes, that’s the same hotel that has the Britney Spears suite – a room decorated to look like her bedroom in her Kentwood, LA home. Guests receive a copy of Britney’s movie bomb, Crossroads, as well as a care basket filled with all of Brit’s fave snack foods. I am sure that means a few pounds of jerky and a huge bag of Cheetos… But back to the topic a hand.

The Ruby Room looks spacious, luxurious and ever chic on the Hotel’s website, but in reality its far less impressive. While the décor is nice, and the walls hung with a great Art display from the SMFA, the space ultimately is small and seems like an afterthought. In lieu of having a formal lobby, guests walk directly into the Onyx Hotel and can go right to a small front desk or walk into the Ruby Room. Comfortable booths and tables fill the bar, and its lush reds, rubies and jet-black furnishings are inviting and very classy which helps to make of for the dearth of decent places near the “Fleet Center.”

Our drinks and food were typically overpriced and were exactly what you would expect from this type of bar. Bar 10 is the exception to Hotel Bars, and seems to be the only one where the food is as good as the drinks. My grapetini was decent, but lacked the potency I desire when I spend over $12 a cocktail. I ate one of my favorite comfort foods, macaroni and cheese, and I enjoyed every last bite, but I wondered if perhaps I was eating Kraft with Velveeta…

DJ’s were spinning old school hip-hop, R&B and top 40, but my table was the only one seated in the Bar. Our waitress doubled as bartender, and I am left wondering if the place ever gets crowded. With a fun crowd, some more lounge styled music and a few drinks in me, I think I could really enjoy the Ruby Room. For now, don’t go unless you bring a large group of friends. Until they make the music match the bar, I don’t think it will ever take off as a the chic martini hotspot it tries to be.