Manhattan, Noir at the Charles Hotel, Cambridge (or how did I miss the news story where they announced that the US Treasury was dispensing with coins)

Noir, in the Charles Hotel at 1 Bennett Street, Cambridge, 617-661-8010, http://www.noir-bar.com/, was recommended by a few people on chowhound.com.  I prefer to sit at the bar unless I'm having a complete dinner but there were not two seats together so we got a table.  They have a nice cocktail menu and I noticed they had Old Overholt Rye in another drink so got the above manhattan with that.  I asked for it stirred which is probably wasn't based on the foam that I hate.  Cocktails cost on average $12 but they offer almost their entire food menu in the bar for between $1 and $5 from 5 pm - 9 pm. And they give you this delicious nut bowl for free, unsolicited.  

It's got almonds, peanuts, and some lovely spicy chinese crackers.  We ordered this lovely flatbread with grilled chicken flatbread for $5. 

I had my doubts about the broccoli and was right.  It was burnt and should be forever left off this otherwise delicious appetizer.  Easy enough to pick the off though.  We also got the greek wrap that came with a bowl of chips.  

Not a big olive fan but that's what you get with greek stuff, right?  I was pleasantly surprised that they were marinated olives instead of those black ones that come in cans.  The sandwich was only $4.

My minor gripe with this place was the noise level.  We were practically shouting to hear each other.   My more than minor complaint was the lack of change.  Our bill was $27.45 (a bargain to be sure so rest assured, I'm not complaining about that).  But the third waitress who provided service to our table (yeah, third) and the one who brought the change simply didn't bring the 55 cents (and she didn't give the "extra" dollar to us as she claimed).  I did mention it but prefaced that we had a wonderful time and didn't expect her to run and get us our 55 cents.  No, my complaint is that she acted so shocked that we expected correct change.  I swear she said, we don't do that.  You read that correctly, we don't do that.  

That said, with that one bit of weirdness, Noir was a very good experience and hopefully next time the weather will be nicer and we can sit on the patio.   

And the perfect end to the almost perfect evening was that the singer/guitarist on the platform at Harvard Square was singing "Brown-Eyed Girl" (just for me, of course) and the Ashmont train came first.