Most restaurants in the world are easily identified by their clientele, menu, or the aesthetic nature of the building. With Durgin-Park, Boston's most famous restaurant, it's hard to tell exactly what you're getting unless you actually go there. The restaurant is a true contradiction, seating some of the world's most successful businessmen, but serving “everyday” items at prices that rival fast food restaurants. It's clear to see why people come from far and wide to enjoy a dish at Durgin-Park, and it's impossible to miss the quaint elegance of this age-old establishment.

Durgin-Park Café is located in downtown Boston and offers casual dining to anyone who really wishes to enjoy good, old fashioned grub. They mainly deal in seafood and prime rib, but other dishes are available. The cooks dishing up the delights aren't the pretentious, take-it-my-way chefs that you'll find in other restaurants; instead, the short-order style cooking is more like an all-night diner. The service staff, better known as just plain “waitresses,” is famous at Durgin-Park. Lucky guests, or unlucky, as it were, may run into a moody waitress who's quick to tell you where to put your dinner plate. The food served consistently earns high marks.

The café's size is rather large for an establishment so humble in nature. The restaurant was first opened in 1742 in an old warehouse. Of course, no one expected that nearly 300 years later Wall Street well-to-dos and celebrities would be stopping in to eat with “common folk,” but the 250-seat communal café is more than enough to accommodate the hearty and hungry crowds. Although you don't need a reservation to dine in this award-winning restaurant, you can still make them, and if you'd like, you can plan a party as large or as small as you'd like.

The backtalk is dished out in proportions almost as large as the food. Guests don't seem to mind this one bit. In fact, many people show up just to get a taste of that “What's Happening” style of surly waitress. It's something that restaurants, especially American restaurants, have long gotten over. Durgin-Park is more appropriately labeled an interactive museum than a café. All in all, over 2,000 people show up a day from all over to enjoy the service and the satisfying cuisine.

The cooking methods employed here are truly “Americana,” involving open-fire grilling over charcoal, broiling, deep frying, stewing in a traditional one-pot style, and more. Nothing you'll find in this restaurant is pretentious, and those dainty plates with small portions are obviously outlawed at Durgin-Park. At this café, the hunk of cornbread you'll receive as an appetizer is much larger than entire courses you'll order at other highly rated restaurants.

As mentioned, the prices are more than fair. There's an entire children's menu for under $10, main courses only run $7 to $11, dinner's high end is only $25, and even a specialty meal will only cost you $40 at the most. They even go further in an attempt to confuse you by validating parking.