#boston-restaurants

#boston-restaurants

The year 2025 was full of highs and lows for Greater Boston restaurants. More restaurants were able to get liquor licenses (yay!), tariffs and rising costs were real plights for small businesses (boo!), and the Michelin Guide came to Boston (time will tell on that one). Then the usual happened: Restaurants opened and closed. Heading into another new year after a handful of years of chaos, I imagine many in the industry are holding their breath.

The restaurant's first-ever brunch service will include a Big Mac mantou (a steamed bun with cheesy beef, onions, kimchi, and Russian dressing), a McRib bao (a bao bun made with pork rib and Chinese barbecue sauce), a Filet o Fish bao (fried fish on a bao with American cheese), and more whimsical fast food creations. There will also be drag performances and cocktails.

The city's restaurant scene has never looked better from the dining room, but behind kitchen doors, the industry is struggling with thin margins, labor shortages, and a culture of burnout. To survive, today's top chefs are reinventing everything-and their solutions might just save it all.

Chef Monica Glass is Boston's gluten-free pastry magician. She and chef Ken Oringer opened Verveine, a completely gluten-free cafe and bakery, in 2024, and she's been churning out baguettes, cinnamon buns, and hand pies ever since. The cafe is a haven for celiacs, but it's become a crowd favorite among diners of all diets thanks to creative flavor profiles and regular specials.

Named after the 34th row of oysters in Duxbury Bay, Row 34 is obsessed with serving the highest quality, local ingredients - including the freshest seafood possible - to its customers. Co-owner and chef, Jeremy Sewall, grew up on the coast of Maine and opened Row 34 in 2013. His cousin supplies the lobsters for the restaurant's five locations, and Sewall has cultivated relationships with fishing communities up and down the coast. The team's commitment to finding the best seafood does not go unnoticed.

Another new entry in Boston's modern "speakeasy" scene, this intimate, Art Deco-inspired Beacon Hill spot reimagines classic cocktails-the "umami-forward" Filthy Martini, for instance, with vodka or gin, marinated olive brine, and MSG saline. Plus: hard-to-find vintage Champagnes and wines, and drink-friendly small plates like caviar with schmaltz latkes, a shaved fennel Caesar, and hamachi crudo with spicy citrus broth. 89 Charles St., Beacon Hill, Boston, 617-326-2600, 89charles.com.

There's an autumn chill in the air but Boston's newest kitchens are just heating up. This month, a diverse crop of restaurants are encouraging diners to use their hands as utensils, from Back Bay's newest taco joint to Allston's 72-hour dough pizzas and signature handrolls in Chestnut Hill. The South End and downtown also welcomed new eateries, but we'll reserve a fork and knife for them. Read on to discover five new restaurants we can't wait to try in September.

"We know that having an outdoor space in Boston is a challenge with the weather, for sure," Shaw said. "But we’re optimistic that Bostonians want more outdoor time."