Eater Boston: The 38 Best Restaurants Around Boston

The definitive guide to where to eat in and around the city right now

by Celina Colby, Erika Adams, and Tanya Edwards

Welcome to Boston’s Eater 38, our definitive answer to any question that begins with: “Can you recommend a restaurant?”

Whether new to Boston or a lifelong resident, an eater will find much to explore here: The city is lucky to have an incredible seafood-filled dining scene, for one thing, but there’s so much more, including world-class bowls of udon, fantastic banh mi, Basque country favorites, and some terrific tagliatelle. As such, this elite group of 38 must-try restaurants is meant to cover the city of Boston and a little bit beyond, while spanning multiple cuisines, prices, and neighborhoods, collectively satisfying every restaurant need. If you’re looking for the hottest new restaurants around town, check out Eater Boston’s heatmap, which is updated every two months with the latest and greatest Boston-area restaurant openings.

For the quarterly updates of this map, Eater Boston has added newly eligible restaurants that have been open for at least six months, or older ones that have stepped up their game.

This winter, we add six new additions to the map: Boston’s first Michelin-star restaurant, Three 1 One in the South End; Lehrahus, the region’s only Jewish tavern in Cambridge; Central Square’s sustainability driven restaurant Fallow Kin; the creative neighborhood joint Brassica Kitchen in Jamaica Plain; Palestinian breakfast and lunch hub Brookline Lunch in Central Square; and Himalayan Bistro, a popular Nepali and Indian restaurant in West Roxbury. For now, we’ve removed WuSong Road, Little Sage, Saigon Babylon, Woods Hill Pier 4, Bar Volpe, and Blossom Bar.

We’ve also refreshed the map to include even more relevant information for diners, including general pricing ranges for each restaurant and insider tips on how to snag reservations, must-order dishes, and more.

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