Francesca's Espresso Bar - Boston, MA

Francesca's Espresso Bar - 7.9


It was by accident that I discovered Francesca’s Espresso Bar in the South End, but am I glad that I did! Killing time on Tremont Street while waiting for a friend, I saw this little café, which looked cute but not too fancy or swanky like a lot of the other places around the area, and they offered ice cream, so how could I not go in? The atmosphere is laid back and the small café looks like it could be a great place to get a sandwich/cup of joe/ice cream etc, read the paper and relax. Located at 564 Tremont Street in the South End, Francesca’s had a mean hot fudge sundae and is a place I plan on visiting again!

Location: The cafe in general is pretty small. You walk in, and there is a counter where you can order and to the right of the counter, there it is. It even has a sign on it to let you know.
Grade: 8 out of 10

Accessibility: Accessibility is pretty easy here – I basically just walked in to the joint and in to the bathroom and no one really seemed to notice or care. The only issue is that it is near where the people who work there go in and out with food, so it is a little clustered.
Grade: 8 out of 10

Number of Stalls:There aren’t any stalls – it is a one toilet unisex bathroom. Obviously, if it is already occupied, you are as they say, shit out of luck. However, if you need privacy, then this is your place to go, because you’ll be all alone!
Grade: 5 out of 10

Stall Quality: This restroom was pretty big. You could probably have a small dance party in there. There was handles near the toilet so if you are elderly, incapacitated or even just needed to hold on for dear life, you could.
Grade: 8 out of 10






Toiler Paper: Standard industrial 2-ply, safely guarded in a big plastic dispenser. Had one of those giant rolls in it, was only half way done. Didn’t really see any back up in there, but you can see inside the dispenser so you should know if you are running low.
Grade: 7 out of 10


Cleanliness: Overall pretty clean – a nice garbage can for disposing of paper towels and other junk. No real mess anywhere.
Grade: 9 out of 10

Scent: No gross scents – could almost smell coffee etc from out in the café. Overall, pretty pleasant.
Grade: 8 out of 10

Flush: Standard small business style toilet, no industrial power flushing but no doubt that if it was brown you could flush it down.
Grade: 8 out of 10

Aesthetics: This was my favorite part of the whole experience! By far, the most interesting art work/decoration of any bathroom I have seen. Sitting across from the toilet is little table and glued to it is a sculpture of broken coffee mugs etc the waitstaff has broken, with the names of who broke each piece on it with a sharpie. It was so neat! In addition, there are little guest checks with sharpie stick figure drawings of people. So artsy, so much fun stuff to look at!
Grade: 9 out of 10

Extra Credit: Plunger, just in case you need to make an ice cream sundae of your own. +1

The Bottom Line: Walking around the South End on a warm summer/spring night can be a delightful experience, and whether you’ve just had dinner somewhere else or are just looking for a good place for lunch/coffee/ice cream, then you should wander in here like I did. They even have a rack with a selection of local publications if you need some reading material, with your coffee or in the john!

Contributed by: 2 Ply Pi

Walden Pond - Concord, MA

Walden Pond - 7.0

Walden Pond is one of Boston's least talked about attractions. Made famous by Henry David Thoreau's transcendental experiment in the 1840's (c'mon, you remember 11th grade English class, don't you?), Walden Pond is a state park with a kettlehole and miles of walking trails. Walden Pond is one of two kettle pond's in Boston, bonus points to the first person to name the other, leave the answer in the comments section or email the Shit Critic. Anyway, Walden Pond was also one of the more popular summer destinations for Boston residents at the turn of the century. Walden Pond is located at 915 Walden Street in Concord, MA, about a 15 or so minute drive from Boston proper.

Location: After parking your car, there is a restroom located by the park headquarters and gift shop. It's pretty easy to find, one of the only buildings you will see from the parking lot.
Grade: 8 out of 10

Accessibility: Aside from paying $5 to park there if you're driving, you could easily walk right into the area where the restrooms are. All in all, this is pretty easy.
Grade: 9 out of 10

Number of Stalls: There was only one stall here, along with some urinal action. We (yes, the royal "we"!) would always like to see at least two stalls.
Grade: 4 out of 10

Stall Quality: Have you ever been to a beach and used their toilet? This stall had a similar type of set up and feel to that. Nothing fancy, a place to do some business. Anyway, the toilet is a bit odd in that there is no water and just a tube. It all feeds into a recycling system of sorts, check out the diagram below for more info.
Grade: 7 out of 10




Toiler Paper: The toilet paper here was well cased, as opposed to sitting on the top shelf like it is at a lot of bathrooms like this. TP was decent, but decent considering that a place like Walden Pond might be prone to not having toilet paper at all because it might make for some waste/pollution.
Grade: 6 out of 10


Cleanliness: For a place with a surprisingly minimal staff, the restroom was kept pretty clean. Perhaps this is due to the nature of the folks who visit Walden Pond (Pun!). Either way, bathroom is in decent shape.
Grade: 7 out of 10


Scent: Once I was aware of the recycling system and lack of water in the toilet, I was shocked that there wasn't a stench. Have you ever pooped in Europe? They often have a bit of a shelf in the toilet where the poop lands. It's not that great of an idea from a scent standpoint. The folks here have managed to do a great job without using water.
Grade: 8 out of 10

Flush: Well, there wasn't one. But, you certainly shouldn't be embarrassed either. Kind of new ground for Poopin' Around Town. I guess we'll go with a decent default with bonus points added for their concern for their environment.
Grade: 8 out of 10



Aesthetics: This is a very plain, yet informative restroom. While walking in you'll certainly have some reading material regarding the way the bathroom works. otherwise, very blah and bland, which as a matter of preference, is not too good for me. I like my bathrooms to be a little bit busy in that sense.
Grade: 6 out of 10


The Bottom Line: Walden Pond is certainly worth a visit, and if you need to relieve yourself, I'd suggest you do so on your way in. Otherwise, I'm not too aware of any other 'official' bathrooms. The bathroom itself is interesting and easily accessible. On a nicer summer afternoon, there might be a bit of a wait. Otherwise, you're in the clear.

Museum Of Fine Arts - Boston, MA (Ladies Room!)

Museum of Fine Arts - 7.2

Boston has a great deal of museums and other educational institutions that are not only fun, but help expand the old noggin. The Museum of Fine Arts, or MFA as it is known, is one of the city’s gems and is a fine place to spend your afternoon. Located at 465 Huntington Ave in Boston, it is accessible by taking the Green Line E train to the MFA stop and is open 7 days a week, although on some days they close at 5pm. They house a massive collection of art and relics from all sorts of periods and locations and have rotating special exhibits and galleries.


Location: If you enter the Museum from the West Entrance on the side of the building (which I believe until renovations to the building are complete this serves as the main entrance), the WC is directly to your left, through the coat/bag check area. The men’s and women’s room are pretty close together, so make sure you end up in the right one!
Grade: 9 out of 10

Accessibility: The ladies room at the MFA scores high here because you can actually access the bathroom without purchasing a ticket and entering the museum! That’s right, by using the West Entrance on the side of the building, the coatroom/restroom area is actually before the ticket kiosk, and therefore, if you were just in the neighborhood and needed to go, you could walk right in. The only downside is that you have to walk through the coat check area, so if there are a lot of people checking coats and bags/paying for parking etc, you’ll have to cut through the masses. If you actually enter the museum, there are plenty of smaller bathrooms hidden in less trafficky areas, but if you’re just coming off the street, this is your only bet.
Grade: 9 out of 10

Number of Stalls: The women’s room has 3 regular stalls and one handicapped, resulting in 4 total. A fair amount, depending on the time of day. When I initially entered the lavatory, I had to wait behind three other women, which, if you are in a dire situation, won’t suffice. But, when I came out, the entire restroom was empty. I guess that whole philosophy that women always go to the can in groves follows suit and that my arrival time was unfortunate. If you need privacy, perhaps not your best bet, place is pretty hopping. However, if you like the business because the hustle and bustle might drown out any embarrassing noises, then you’re pretty safe here.
Grade: 7 out of 10

Stall Quality: Stalls here are pretty typical standard faire, generic in size, color and design. The door worked fine on the unit I was in, so no problems trying to hold the door shut while juggling what to do with my purse, which is always the worst. No one wants to show the entire ladies room a sneak peak of the goods when you try to switch hands holding the door shut trying to get the toilet paper out, so luckily today I was safe from that embarrassment.
Grade: 7 out of 10



Toiler Paper: The toilet paper itself was your typical, industrial rough minimal 2-ply. Not the nice stuff you’d stock at home, but not a small little square of crappy 1-ply. The bonus here comes with the fact that the supply was well stocked, 4 full rolls in this crazy contraption of a dispenser. Not only was it full, but it was functional and none of the TP was dangling on the floor where it could get all gross. Heavily protected and at capacity, just in case you need a little extra.
Grade: 8 out of 10

Cleanliness: There are a lot of pluses and minuses here. The stall area was pretty clean for such a high traffic bathroom, didn’t really see any bits of toilet paper littered all over the floor to worry about getting stuck on the shoe (don’t want to be that girl!). However, I did happen to notice that the stall’s receptacle for the disposal feminine products wasn’t a little metal box attached to the stall wall but a larger garbage can slightly behind/to the right of the toilet. Decent location, but the lid of the garbage can was pretty gross looking, with some sort of film and nastiness all over it. If I had to throw something away there, I’d have to use the toilet paper as a barrier between me and the lid. The sink area could use a good once over as well – the garbages were pretty full with paper towels and the sinks had a lot of excess water. A good amount of paper towel overflow onto the floor as well. Neither of the paper towel dispensers worked, so I was forced to dry off from a roll that was just hanging out on the counter, which makes you second guess whether or not it was even worth washing your hands in the first place.
Grade: 6 out of 10


Scent: From the coat check you got a whiff of all those chemicals they use in bathrooms to prevent them smelling bad that just results in them smelling weird and semi-gross. Once inside, the scent of fresheners wasn’t that obnoxious and I didn’t really notice any odor inside the stall.
Grade: 6 out of 10

Flush: An automatic jobber here, which I’m generally a fan of in such high traffic areas, because who knows how many people have touched that flusher before you got there. Toilet flushed at appropriate times, which means when I got up and started to walk away, and not when I moved slightly to the side to get toilet paper, as some bathrooms do. Not much worse than when the automatic flusher goes off before you are off the pot resulting in a misting of toilet water. It's also worth noting that when a toilet flushes from the men's room, it shakes the toilet, so get ready for a little ride!
Grade: 8 out of 10


Aesthetics: You’d think being the Museum of Fine Arts they’d put up some prints or pictures or something. I mean, even the bathrooms on the mass pike have a little table with flowers on it. The walls and stalls were a boring tan/beige combination, not even any cool tile colors or interesting stall color. Florescent lighting just added to its overall blahness, not a place I’d go and hang that’s for sure.
Grade: 5 out of 10


The Bottom Line: Not only does the MFA provide a fine, cultural, educational experience here in Beantown, but you can also sneak in and use their bathroom if you ever feel the need, no questions asked! Perhaps they’ll open a photography exhibit there one day, featuring all the fine photos on this blog!

contributed by: 2-Ply Pi

Al's French Frys - South Burlington, VT

Al's French Frys - 6.7

So, you've made it further up I-89 and have driven it up into the Burlington area, sounds like a nice little Saturday, eh? If you're looking for a unique stopping point for unloading and re-fueling so to speak, you might want to hit up Al's French Frys. With uncommonly inexpensive food and a menu consisting 20 or so simple and reasonably tasty options, it's worth your while to give this 60+ year old legend a whirl. Easily accessed from I-89, Al's is located at 1251 Williston Road in South Burlington, VT.


Location: Once you've walked through the doors, walk straight past the cash register and open kitchen area. After the cash registers, turn to your left and the restrooms are right there. They also hung a small sign from the ceiling indicating the restroom's location.
Grade: 8 out of 10

Accessibility: Al's is a pretty busy place, especially during the summer. It's be pretty easy to walk right in and use the bathroom without anyone noticing.
Grade: 9 out of 10

Number of Stalls: There is one stall and one urinal at Al's. It is a pretty high traffic issue, so it is a bit of a concern.
Grade: 5 out of 10

Stall Quality: This stall was equipped for a gymnast with not one but two "oh shit" bars. I had seen them in cars, but this was an interesting twist. Other than this, the stall was run of the mill.
Grade: 6 out of 10



Toiler Paper: The toilet paper was plentiful and well guarded. I remember it being two-ply and nothing spectacular, though the Shit Critic has a shitty memory sometimes and might be making that up.
Grade: 6 out of 10

Cleanliness: This is a pretty small bathroom and it would be pretty easy for someone to make a mess in. The bathroom was pretty clean overall, though it didn't feel particularly clean. Confusing, but accurate.
Grade: 7 out of 10

Scent: Not incredibly pleasant, but not offensive either. Meh.
Grade: 5 out of 10

Flush: Now this is weird. When you flushed the toilet a bubble type noise occurs. You know the sound an office water cooler makes. That caveat aside, the flush was pretty good. Not "next level shit", but also not going to let you down.
Grade: 7 out of 10

Aesthetics: Though Al's came into existence in the 1940's, it has a 50's style diner feel. The bathroom carries that on with the checker board floor. The bathroom isn't too pretty, but it fit's Al's general theme.
Grade: 6 out of 10

Extra Credit:
Plunger: +1

The Bottom Line: Al's is a cool place. Stop by, take a load off. East some cheap food and don't forget to grab an Ice Cream on the way out (go for the chocolate, not the black raspberry. The black raspberry is basically purple vanilla ice cream!). The bathroom might be busy, but otherwise shouldn't let you down.