Eater.com: The 38 Best Restaurants Around Boston

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

by Erika Adams, Celina Colby, 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 at the beginning of every month 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 games.

This winter, we add six new additions to the map: South Boston’s Bar Volpe, tapas bar Zurito, locally sourced Woods Hill Pier 4, North End newcomer Little Sage, Jahunger serving Uyghur cuisine, and elevated Irish bar McGonagles.

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.

Bar Vlaha

Open for: Dinner and weekend brunch

Price range: $$$

Xenia Hospitality has slowly built a Greek empire here in Boston (see Krasi, Hecate, and Kaia), but Bar Vlaha is the most hyper-specific of their cultural concepts. Focused on the cuisine of the nomadic Vlach people native to central and northern Greece, the restaurant serves hearty stews and proteins cooked with traditional charcoal and open-fire techniques. Pair the meal with a bottle from the Greek wine list or sample a cocktail infused with culinary flavors like fig and ginger, bell pepper, or Greek coffee.

Insider tip: The village-style sourdough bread, baked in-house and served with a creamy sheep’s milk butter, comes as an appetizer -- but you can (and should) use it to soak up savory sauces throughout the meal.