Smash House Rage Room & Splatter Zone

For about 15 years, Mary Ann Basset gave Westwood a place to slow down. Harmony Tea Room was fine china, unhurried afternoons, and showers where nobody rushed you out of your reservation. Her new business is the exact opposite in every visible way. At Smash House, you suit up, pick up a bat, and break the china.

 

The idea grabbed her on her first visit to a rage room, back when she still ran the restaurant. She and her friends went in to have fun, not to vent, and she walked out feeling like the weight of the world had come off her shoulders. She told her kids she would regret it forever if she never built one herself. Nine years of wanting it and one spirited trip to the Westwood planning board later, Smash House opened at 701 Broadway.

 

There are two experiences under one roof. The rage room is exactly what it sounds like, with packages from a quick ten-minute session to a full private party, and you can even bring your own box of breakables. The Splatter Zone is a glow-in-the-dark paint room that runs for ages 4 and up, because adults, as Mary Ann puts it, do not get playtime.

 

Ask her what changed between the tea room and this, and she will tell you: nothing. Both were built so people could leave the world at the door, connect with each other, and walk out lighter than they came in. She is just going at it a completely different way now.

 

One tip from the owner: wear closed shoes. She has lent out her own sneakers more than once.