Last modified: Sunday, October 5, 2008 6:55 PM EDT KIRBY: Seen at the CBS Scene I was prepared to hate the CBS Scene. Who wasn't, after watching the infomercial, I mean, broadcast of the New England Patriots' opening game at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, which also happened to be the day AFTER the grand opening of the mega-restaurant at Patriot Place. (Coincidence? I think not.) I mean, the folks at CBS took the phrase "shameless self-promotion" to a whole new level, devoting more time to their contribution to fattening the Kraft family's wallet than to the season-ending knee injury to Tom "The Franchise" Brady. I don't know which I hated more: the tough ex-jocks who normally duel over their gridiron selections telling us how wonderful their culinary selections were at the red carpet rollout for the Scene (What are they supposed to say? "Gee, boss, thanks for the free meal and booze, but the calamari was tough and my beer was warm. I'm never going back there again."); or the post-halftime shot of announcers Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf with their free meal sent over from - where else? - CBS Scene. Dan had ribs, I believe, and Greg had the salmon, but we were assured - news flash! - that it was all quite yummy. It did reinforce the notion that TV folks may consider themselves journalists, but they're willing to throw their integrity away for a free meal. So, where did I find myself last weekend? CBS Scene, of course. Here are three impressions: 1. It's very busy. There is no doubt that the Scene is now THE place to be seen around here, especially by young professionals. We didn't bother giving our names at the door, not after hearing that there would be a two-hour wait for a table. We did manage to hang around a third-floor bar and scoop up a couple of seats when other patrons left. By that time, we were so hungry that we didn't mind eating on less space than an elementary school desk. 2. It's flashy. There are lots and lots of TVs and video screens and music and TV show highlights. This is not a place for a calm, relaxing meal, but, I imagine, it must be a lot of fun to watch a game there. If you've ever been to one of the ESPN restaurants, you'll find some similarities, like the bare stainless steel decor and the plethora of TV screens. Each dining booth, in fact, contains a 19-inch Sony LCD TV in which patrons can choose from 20 channels. At the top floor is a 36-foot wrap-around high-definition panoramic screen which is reserved to show the biggest local and national sporting events of the day. The best screen, though, showed the faces of CBS stars of the past and present morphing from one to another. We particularly liked the moment when Lou Ferrigno morphed from The Hulk into Herman Munster. Very cool. 3. It's not cheap. The CBS Scene press release describes the food as "upscale casual." Whoa, you know that's not going to be cheap. We found that the $14 salad was very good but, well - $14 for lettuce and chicken? Still, the drinks were fairly reasonably priced, the staff was working hard to keep up with the elbow-to-elbow crowd and you're paying for a lot more than food. Like the sight of The Hulk turning into Herman Munster. So I didn't hate CBS Scene. In fact, we'll probably go back some time - after the hype subsides and people aren't quite as excited about being seen at the Scene. One other thing: I paid for our meal. Take that, you TV journalists. MIKE KIRBY is editor of The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0344 or at mkirby@thesunchronicle.com.