“Curated cocktails” and dinner cuisine served with a dress code, VIP booth, valet, and live music. That’s the vibe at Acapella by X, which opened “softly” last week in Fields Corner after a year-long renovation of the space that formerly housed the beloved Blarney Stone pub and restaurant.
The makeover brings a hint of luxury to Dorchester Avenue, with a contemporary international menu devised by head chef Freddy Ureña, whose daughter Emma is the floor manager. Ureña’s partners include general manager Yancarlo Fernandez and front of the house manager Anthony Cruz.
“This is something that you usually can only get in the Seaport area,” said the younger Ureña. “We have a lot of sports bars. They have good drinks, and they have good food, but if you want to dress up and go out for the night, I think this is the spot.”
The team asks that visitors “dress to impress” and refrain from wearing work boots, flip-flops, tank tops, hats, or beach attire in the restaurant space.
“We try to aim for matching the vibe of the restaurant,” said Ureña, who at just 19 is overseeing day-to-day operations. “We want people to have an excuse to go out after a long day of work, or maybe they get a nanny for the night and have an excuse to dress up.”
She added, “We want to offer something different. We want to have a place where people know they can come here for a date night, they can come here for a family night, and grab a nice sit-down dinner, have good drinks, have good food, have good service in their area, and not have to go far for it.”
The concept is to provide a high-end experience from start to finish. When the valet service becomes available in a few weeks, customers can drop their cars off outside and enter an oasis with warmly lit lanterns hanging above a granite bar lined with green tiles and burnt orange chairs. Here, 22 customers can comfortably sit and enjoy what Ureña describes as a twist on the classic cocktails.
“We have really good spicy margaritas. Our Fresa Pincante is one of our main sellers,” she said about the drink made with Mezcal, ancho chile, strawberry, basil, and lime for a sweet strawberry taste with a gentle, spicy kick.
“Also, our Lychee Dragon Sangria is a good seller. People are in love with Lychee Martinis right now; this is a great twist on that. It’s Lychee, yuzu, wine, lemon, dragon fruit, and sake. People are raving about it.”
Other options include an “EXpresso martini,” made with a smooth nutty sweetness and a Black Mule, the restaurant’s take on a Moscow Mule.
Beyond the bar, Emma’s father leads the kitchen. From appetizers to tapas, and entrees to desserts, he and his team have “a little bit of everything,” she says. Though Emma might be biased, she said that “people can expect amazing food. I love the food. We’ll have an international cuisine. We want to expand to all kinds of cultures; we don’t want to limit ourselves to just one.”
As of now, the restaurant is offering a limited menu with options like Waygu Sliders, Ponzu Butter Scallops, and Peruvian Cornish Hen.
Ureña’s favorite appetizer are the chicken wings, which are marinated in her father’s signature sauce, while her tapa of choice is the chicken tacos, and her go-to entree is Chilean sea bass. All of which can be enjoyed while listening to music, that aims for a soft bohemian vibe and topped off with delicious Dubai Chocolate Tres Leches cake.
For more on the “hint of luxury” scene, people looking for an extra special experience can reserve the VIP booth in the back corner of the dining room, where, Ureña told The Reporter, the “table is huge. Up to parties of 14 can fit in there. “Eventually,” she said, “we will offer a black menu, which is just more of our elevated things on our menu, and the chef will curate other things specifically for that table.”
In addition, she noted, “People will also be able to order something that’s called tablas. They’re just large portions of food for big parties. So, for example, if we have ten people there and five people want a Chilean sea bass, we can put it in a big tray and just serve it at the table instead of individually.”
In addition to the VIP booth, once the restaurant is fully open, guests can rent a private room behind the bar.
“Right now, in our first phase of soft opening, it’s not open for booking. But eventually, we’re hoping, in January 2026, this will be open for booking events, large parties, birthdays, and baby showers. We have an in-house decorator, so if there are decorations needed, we’re able to provide that. And maybe special cute menus, depending on the event. So, we have a lot of cool things coming for this.”
Just beyond the private room is the entrance to the outdoor patio, which will be opened up next summer.
Ureña hopes the space will provide the community with “something that maybe they’ve been wanting for a long time” or maybe “something that they didn’t know that they wanted.”
“We’re trying to create a family vibe. We want people to come in here and feel like they are immediately at home and get something that they’re not able to get in this community,” she said. “Usually, you have to go all the way to Seaport, sometimes even Rhode Island, just to get live music, good drinks, good food, and just an ambiance. We want to bring that here to a community that’s lacking.”
Acapella by X has an operating capacity of 240 people and will be open for dinner at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and at 10 a.m. for brunch on Sunday. The bar will be open until 12 a.m. on weekdays, 1 a.m. on weekends, and 6 p.m. on Sundays. For more information and to make reservations, visit acapellabyx.com visit or call 617-286-4620.
