10 Best Restaurants In Boston

Over the past few years, Boston's dining scene has begun to flourish into an exciting and dynamic community. Gone are the days when this city would try to emulate the food capitals of New York and San Francisco; instead, the wealth of produce from local farms, as well as the plentiful seafood in the New England area, has taken center stage at many of our favorite restaurants. 

With a crew of fresh faces shaking things up on the scene and opening their own locavore-centric concepts, Boston is truly making a mark across the world, buoyed by classic restaurants that have already left an indelible mark on the city and are still going strong.

When it comes to dining, there's no other city that's quite like Boston. "It's such a compact city that it's easy to walk from section to section, so if you want to make a spur-of-the-moment choice about where to dine, you can simply wander around by foot until you find a place that looks interesting," Hidden Boston's Marc Hurwitz told us. The sheer variety of cuisines also sets it apart: "You can find Central American in East Boston, Vietnamese in Dorchester, Italian in the North End, Chinese in Chinatown, Portuguese in East Cambridge, and nearly every kind of food in Allston," he added.  

In order to assemble our ranking of the 10 best restaurants in Boston, we consulted our own We first consulted our rankings of the 101 Best Restaurants in America, the 50 Best Casual Restaurants in America, America's Best Steakhouses, and The 101 Best Burgers in America. We also supplemented our list with pre-existing rankings in both print and online from some of Boston's's leading authorities, including The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Boston Phoenix, and Boston Magazine, and also considered level of renown, whether they're highly-reviewed, ambiance, menu creativity, and the overall experience.

Combine a menu of seasonally-driven dishes made with locally sourced ingredients with chef Barry Maiden's classical French culinary training, add in his love of Southern comfort foods, and you have Hungry Mother. Husband and wife team Alon Munzer and Rachel Miller Munzer run the wine and liquor programs and front of the house, respectively, and they do it very well.

A recently retooled menu hasn't diminished chef Tim Maslow from carrying on his father Paul's classic American casual mainstay, in business since 1986. The romaine with oxtail is still there, along with lighthearted fare like "Wings, Moxie, chives, wetnaps" and Cubano fries topped with ham, pulled pork, pickles, and Swiss. Don't miss the weekly themed menus, either.