The Resy Hit List: Where In Boston You’ll Want to Eat Right Now

Goodbye Mary Chung — and hello Darling. Taking up residence in what had been the aforementioned restaurant’s space for four decades, the cocktail lounge pays tribute to its predecessor with a menu of Chinese-inspired cocktails and dim sum. Helmed by longtime local bartender Brian Callahan, the bar delivers with original creations like the Hope I Packed a Parachute, a clarified milk punch prepared with ceremonial-grade matcha, crème de cacao, and taro foam. Meanwhile, chef Mark O’Leary — formerly of Shōjō and O Ya — delivers dim sum from traditional to playful (the “Filet o Fish Bao” places salt cod inside a homemade bao bun with American cheese, pickled mustard, and tartare sauce). We’d like to think that Ms. Chung would approve.

Mai is a new, French-inspired Japanese izakaya in the Seaport… got that? What that means in more practical terms is a high-ceilinged space decorated with strings of neon lights and Labubu, where you might be treated to soy-brushed Hokkaido uni toast, wagyu fat fries, and cod brandade on the same evening. Hand rolls are also a big factor here: the menu features over a dozen, from salmon gravlax to duck foie gras to 72-hour marinated miso butter cod. In between, you might help yourself to a Tokyo 75 made by adding yuzu sake and plum brandy to bubbles or opt for the Matchatini that comes with cheese foam and the option to add a Lactaid pill for one dollar.

Walk-ins only. Find more info here.

Beacon Hill, as central as Boston gets, has long lacked a serious cocktail bar of its own. That’s changed with the welcome arrival of 89 Charles, a sultry subterranean lounge with an Art Deco touch serving drinks like the Soda Jerk with smoked pineapple, Green Chartreuse, and silver dust, or an as-advertised Filthy Martini with marinated olive brine and MSG saline. Thankfully, a menu of snacky smaller plates ranging from foie gras bratwurst to a spicy ‘nduja flatbread are on hand to help soak it all up.

JP gem Tonino has a scant 28 seats — which makes the neighborhood-style Italian restaurant feel all that more homey. The menu is as tight as the dining room, focused on pizzas by the slice or whole, plus small plates like warm cabbage Caesar or countneck clams with guanciale, and climaxing with a selection of housemade pastas ranging from bucatini in anchovy chile butter to cavatelli with Italian sausage and broccoli rabe.

A couple of chefs who cut their teeth at O Ya have gone counter service with Allston’s delightful new Holdfast Specialty Seafood Co. The menu is as simple as it gets, split between rolls like hot or cold brown buttered lobster; fried whole belly clams with a pickle remoulade or kettle chip-dredged crunchy shrimp with green herb butter; and a handful of raw offerings including oysters, yellowtail crudo, and caviar. Hope you like seafood (and if not, there is a falafel roll). 

 Walk-ins only. Find more info here. 

Fallow Kin had big culinary boots to fill as the successor to the Central Square space that once hosted Craigie on Main. It helps that the new restaurant is helmed by an all-star roster of local talent, including Talulla owners Conor Dennehy and Danielle Ayer and veteran chef Marcos Sanchez. The focus here is squarely on the local and seasonal, which manifests in a menu that puts veggies front and center, like twice-cooked sunchokes with broccoli pickles and smoky cabbage in a seaweed broth with crispy chicken skin, but doesn’t forgo meat, seafood, and pastas.  

Occupying one of the South End’s more charming — yet quiet — corners, Shawmut Inn trades on its comely environs with a well-positioned patio, but more importantly, delivers when it comes to local seafood and housemade pastas. The small, thoughtful menu promises the likes of torched tuna crudo or black garlic-glazed tempura shrimp to start, and pastas like porcini angel hair with yuzu white miso butter or sweet pepper mafaldine in a lobster fra diavolo sauce. Entrees — if you should make it that far — take the form of brick chicken with mustard cream sauce or an eponymous burger with truffle barbecue sauce and shaved shallots.

First opened in 2014, Parla has been the North End’s go-to speakeasy for over a decade, a mission it’s served via a cocktail list that’s heavy on pre-Prohibition classics and housemade shrubs and a food menu that satisfies with chicken Parmesan and Maine lobster ravioli. But it may be best known for what’s not on the menu: a “Dungeon Master” program, a collection of 20 original drinks that can only be experienced by rolling a 20-sided die, with each number granting access to a particular libation.

Oleana is now 25 years old — and still a competitive spot for a reservation. You can chalk that up to chef Ana Sortun’s well-spiced menu of Middle Eastern mezze, which manifests in now-classic dishes like spinach falafel with beet tzatziki and pickles, fried mussels with hot peppers and Turkish almond tartar sauce, and the “Sultan’s Delight” composed of tamarind beef in a smoky eggplant puree. And while not strictly Middle Eastern in inspiration, there’s no missing the renowned baked Alaska with coconut ice cream and passion fruit caramel.

Newtonville may be a long way from Naples, but chef Mario LaPosta is helping to bridge that gap with his eponymous restaurant specializing in naturally leavened, wood-fired pies and high-end takes on Southern Italian street food. Imagine: delicately fried calamari and housemade ricotta accompanied by hot honey, followed by pizza crowned with fresh figs and lardo or grilled ramps, ‘nduja, and mozzarella. Add in an enviable selection of wines sourced from the Boot’s lower half, and you’ve got yourself a stamp-free passport to Italy.

The farm-to-table Union Square standby’s whole M.O. is making the most of seasonal ingredients from local farmers and producers. As you might have heard, it’s summer, and that means a fresh menu with the likes of spicy king oyster mushroom salad, Wellfleet clams in green crab curry with housemade focaccia, and a bavette steak with a brown butter parsnip puree and kale salsa verde.  

There’s a delightfully choose-your-own adventure aspect to Zuma’s Boston outpost ensconced in the Four Seasons at One Dalton Street, where multiple avenues for pursuing dinner present no bad options. To wit: you might dabble in the sushi bar with a torched salmon belly roll with fresh truffles or the chef’s omakase; alternatively, you could go the wagyu route with a 10–ounce Australian skirt steak served with shiso chimichurri; or angle for one of its signature dishes like a barley miso-marinated baby chicken roasted on cedar wood or the miso-marinated black cod served in a hoba leaf. Like we said, no bad options.

Amid a time of TikTok trends and “viral” dishes, little Asta in the Back Bay has quietly continued to do the same thing since first opening its doors in 2013: serve daily changing, eight–course tasting menus that make the most of local ingredients and can be ordered vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, or “omnivore.” Whatever your direction (and depending on your own restrictions), there’s always the option to plump for extras like caviar with French macarons and white cream fraiche, or foie gras ganache with cocoa nib granola. Pro tip: On the first Saturday of each month, from noon to 2 p.m., they serve fried chicken on a biscuit. Can’t forget about that.

Thistle & Leek transports the London gastropub experience to the streets of Newton, a feat it’s pulled off with a menu of seasonally specific small plates like rye rigatoni with brown butter and pumpkin, broiled oysters in green chile butter, or lamb meatballs on a garlic flatbread. The potable side of the menu, meanwhile, is represented by a wine list that’s unapologetically Old World.

La Padrona can now bask in its status as one of Michelin’s Boston recs, but its value to the local scene was evident since its 2024 opening. The swanky, bi-level spot within the Raffles Hotel has allowed Jody Adams to fully play in the sandbox of regional Italian cooking, represented by dishes as diverse as lobster and uni risotto, charred eggplant Milanese, and a scene-stealing 40-ounce bistecca alla Fiorentina served with bone marrow and grilled focaccia. Rounding out the experience is a cocktail menu with dedicated sections to Negroni and martini variants, plus a wine list sourced liberally from Italy, France, and California.

All’antico Vinaio, a beloved Florentine sandwich shop famous for its fresh schiacciata bread (think focaccia, but thinner) stuffed with Tuscan salami, spicy eggplant, and pecorino cream, has decided to hang its single in Back Bay. Random? Yes. A welcome development for local Italian sandwich connoisseurs? Also yes.  

Walk-ins only. Find more info here.