Girls’ Lunch at the American Girl Bistro in Boston

Last year we started a tradition of mother-daughter “high tea”  to celebrate March 8 – International Women’s Day.  The holiday originated in America in the early 20th century to honor women’s fight for equality, but today it is widely celebrated in many Eastern European countries as an expression of love  and appreciation towards the special women in your life.  Spending time with my daughter and our girlfriends sounded like a great way to celebrate the Women’s Day.

So we headed to American Girl Bistro in Natick, MA (a suburb 20 miles West of Boston) for a special girls only lunch.

American Girl Bistro offers “Afternoon Tea and Craft” during weekdays only, so these working moms and their elementary school girls had to “settle” for a weekend lunch.  It was a pretty special lunch!

The bistro and our table were decorated in girly pink and flowers (but we did notice several  boys and men accompanying their girls at other tables).

 

 

 

Lunch menu offers 2-course meals of starter and entry ($16.50 for adult, $7.50 for child), in addition to a dessert menu and  a colorful selection of “fluffy” drinks. For those who are only “slightly” hungry, there is a “small bites” menu.

 

There are cute little table games at each table to play with while you wait for your food:

 

 

For main course, the moms chose “Herb-Seared Salmon with Capers, Tomatoes & Citrus Beurre Blanc” served with oven-roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus.  You may not expect it from a bistro located inside a doll store, but the food at American Girl Bistro is delicious by all standards (and priced right)!

Girls shared macaroni and cheese “bites” from the snack menu and chicken-mozzarella-pesto  sandwiches from the “main” menu.  Apparently, they were saving the appetite for “Decorate Your Own Cupcake”.

“Loaner” American Girl dolls are available for those who want to dine with them, but many girls do bring their own very “special” dolls.  My daughter Vi brought Lea, her new American Girl doll of the year (“Girls of the Year” dolls are available for one year only; $120 for a doll with a book).

American Girl dolls come with their unique cultural story and Lea is a modern day travel aficionado and photographer with a love for animals (Vi really needs to get more comfortable around animals).  Lea’s adventures in her trip to Brazil are “documented” in a book by Lisa Yee which Vi is currently reading.

Lea also comes with a Wild at Art, a year-long fund-raising campaign launched by the company in support of World Wildlife Fund (WWF).  Customers are  invited to contribute at the stores and on line while the company makes contributions for each purchase of the plush animals in Lea’s collection.

There is no denying that American Girl Bistro is located inside the American Girl Store and many diners also add “in store” experiences (and purchases!) to their Bistro meal.  The purchases and experiences are on a pricier side, but this was our very special celebration and we had “agreed” ahead on what we were planning to spend on.

Vi’s choice was to give Lea a proper hair-do ($10-$25).  As she waited in a doll hair salon, Vi learned a thing or two about taking care of her own hair.

 

It was not easy to leave all the girly goodies behind, but Vi made her tentative selections for another “special” visit, probably on her birthday. This was our second visit to the American Girl Bistro in Boston  (read about our Birthday Experience here), but our girlfriends’ first visit.  We all concluded that Boston (suburban) store experience is much cozier than a more crowded Manhattan location.

For upcoming Boston in-store activities (including  April school vacation week) click here.

We thank American Girl for hosting our lunch and for offering Lea doll for our review and play.  All opinions are our own.  

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