The Resy Guide to Boston’s Most Notable Outdoor Patios

Dillion’s, a 19th-century police station-turned-gastropub, today provides some of the best people-watching Back Bay has to offer, thanks to its expansive Boylston Street patio. Though you might end being watched yourself, thanks to the heaping platters of Nashville hot chicken wings or buttermilk-battered fried pickles delivered to your table.

Barra strives to give diners the feeling of eating and drinking at a contemporary bar in Mexico City. While its intimate backyard patio is nestled between a few Somerville triple-deckers, you still may feel transported to the Mexican capital by virtue of its grasshopper-garnished mezcal margaritas, tuna tostadas, and slow-cooked cochinita pibil.

Does a rooftop count as a patio? Six West may argue so, and the glitzy South Boston restaurant and cocktail lounge perched above the Cambria hotel may have a point, especially once you enjoy the red curry-rubbed ribeye and drams like Tear the Roof Off (tequila, blood orange, lime, cacao nib) under the open sky.

You really can’t be open on Newbury Street without a patio, and the buzziest restaurant to open up along the shopping stretch in some time is no exception to the rule. Faccia a Faccia’s outdoor dining turns its corner of Back Bay into a Mediterranean paradise with ample flora and trellised vines, not to mention such coastal Italian delights as gulf shrimp paccheri in saffron sauce or grilled octopus with black rice and guanciale.

Among the differences between Nantucket import Nautilus and its Grey Lady original is size. The Seaport version is considerably bigger indoors and has more space on its 50-seat patio. One of those seats could be yours for a laid-back evening that starts with chilled octopus salad and Japanese fried chicken, and ends somewhere around blue crab fried rice and Thai sausage lettuce wraps.

Toro’s backyard patio may be the South End’s best-kept secret. And despite its appearance on this list, we’d like to keep it that way, as the seasonal existence of the firepit-having, strung light-festooned outdoor dining space significantly expands the Spanish restaurant’s efforts to connect diners to Maine uni tostadas with crispy potatoes and quail egg or spiced hanger steak with charred scallion vinaigrette and tamarind steak sauce.

Because beer gardens shouldn’t be limited to Oktoberfest, we humbly submit the example of Union Square’s Bronwyn. The longtime German restaurant and beer hall operates a small-but-mighty outdoor dining pavilion, ideal for sampling many pints of Weinstephaner and a plate of potato and cheese pierogies with dill crème fraiche or vinegar-braised sauerbraten with red cabbage and bacon.

The Downtown bar, housed in a 19th century grain mill, rewards revelers with historic details including roughly hewn stone walls and mighty wooden ceiling beams. However, its brick patio overlooking the Rose Kennedy Greenway is nothing to sneeze at either, and that’s before taking the availability of chicken pesto flatbreads and maple-glazed pork chops into account.

Sure, it’s right there in the name, but it’s worth repeating: the yacht-y Eastie seafood restaurant has a front-row seat to the Boston skyline, and the views are never better than on its expansive patio. Enjoy the sights across the harbor, but don’t forget to take in the equally awe-inspiring vista of a grand shellfish tower stacked with a dozen oysters, shrimp cocktail, clam ceviche, calamari salad and a one-and-a-half-pound lobster.

Located at the other end of the harbor is Woods Hill Pier 4, whose patio presides over views of the Financial District, Charlestown, and East Boston. Take it all in after your server takes an order for red wine-glazed crispy lamb ribs, followed by housemade taglioni with razor clams and scallops a la plancha with curried golden raisin chutney.