The Top Restaurants in Boston Right Now — Resy | Right This Way
Updated: May 1, 2026
There’s no question we hear more often: Where should I go eat? And while we at Resy know it’s an honor to be the friend who everyone asks for restaurant advice, we also know it’s a complicated task. That’s where the Resy Hit List comes in.
Consider it your essential resource for dining in Boston: a monthly-updated guide to the restaurants that you won’t want to miss — tonight or any night.
Four Things In Boston Not to Miss This Month
Mother, May I: You never call — so why don’t you take her out for a proper Mother’s Day brunch? Particularly when the options include a City Winery brunch with a mimosa bar (mom’s is free); brunch at Clink within the Liberty Hotel; a La Padrona three-course prix-fixe (there will be caviar and truffle supplements); SRV for a three-course with Venetian flavors; Contessa for a prix-fixe promising lobster rigatoni and Nutella fudge cake; Zuzu’s Petals for a special brunch menu with Maine blueberry pancakes and crossiantwiches; and Matria for everything from a chilled raw bar to waffle stations.
Taste Test: Oenophiles have reason to celebrate this month with two wine dinners: A visit to Baleia finds Portuguese winemaker Vadio for a four-course wine dinner including suckling pig on Tuesday, May 19; tickets here; And a visit to Talulla brings Napa winemaker Taplin for a four-course dinner on Tuesday, May 26; tickets here. Non-wine related, but also of note, is a Sunday sake session from the Koji Club on Sunday, May 10 that sees sake from Japanese brewer Sake Suki paired to chocolates from local chocolatier LA Burdick; tickets here.
Celebrating Cinco: Still no plans for May 5? Then please allow us to guide you to the likes of Mestizo Modern Mexican for authentic Oaxacan fare including pollo con mole and spiced carnitas, Taco Azul for housemade blue corn tortillas topped with the likes of beef birria and shrimp al pastor; Naco Taco for street-food inspired chicharron tacos and fried chicken tortas, and La Hacienda for Mexican classics like enchiladas and chile relleno in addition to their famous Salvadorian pupusas. Needless to say, these are also great choices the other 364 days of the year.
The New New: It’s time for another edition of New on Resy, which this month features reborn North End favorite Little Sage, which is once again dispensing housemade pastas like ricotta gnocchi with Maine lobster and oven-baked al forno treats including Long Island duck breast with delicata squash; South Boston newcomer Kahaani, which blends Indian and Mediterranean flavors into dishes like lamb vindaloo osso bucco; and raw-seafood-centric Cambridge import Umami Crudo for all your caviar-topped uni tartare and lobster tempura roll needs. And that’s not even all — check out the full list here.
New to the Hit List (May 2026)
Clery’s, Loyall Counting Room, Retroroom, Willie’s.
1. Sarma
- Winter Hill
- Mediterranean
- $$$
2. Juliet
- Union Square, Somerville
- French
- $$
3. The Smoot Standard
- Central Square
- American
- $
4. 89 Charles
- Boston
- American
- $
5. Clery's
- South End/Back Bay
- American
- $
6. Tonino
- Jamaica Plain
- Italian
- $$
7. Tall Order
- Somerville
- New American
- $
8. Fallow Kin
- Cambridge
- Farm to Table
- $$$
9. Cafe Sushi
- Cambridge
- Sushi
- $
10. Qiao Lin Hotpot Boston
- Boston
- Chinese
- $$
11. Cactus Club Cafe Back Bay
- Back Bay
- Contemporary American
- $$
12. Oleana
- Cambridge
- Mediterranean
- $$$
13. Little Sage
- North End
- Italian
- $
14. Loyall Counting Room
- Downtown
- Cocktail Bar
- $$
15. Lanner Noodles – Seaport
- Boston
- Chinese
- $
16. Kahaani
- South Boston
- Indian
- $
17. Umami Crudo
- Boston
- Japanese
- $
18. Willie's
- Beacon Hill
- Pizza
- $
19. Retroroom
- Boston
- New American
- $
20. Perch
- South End
- Seasonal
- $
20 venues
1.Sarma Winter Hill map
Photo courtesy of Sarma
There’s something to be said — nay, a lot to be said — about the sort of restaurant in an otherwise sleepy neighborhood that still books up weeks in advance, more than 10 years after opening. Sarma is that. Yes, the bevy of awards has helped, but that would shortchange the constant creativity of chef Cassie Piuma, whose Turkish meyhane concept still resonates. Piuma has maintained her Somerville spot as a laboratory for Mediterranean flavors, pumping out playful mezze like lentil nachos, brussels sprouts bravas, and harissa barbecue duck, while still keeping diners on their toes for whenever the Turkish fried chicken — which can only be ordered direct from the tray — comes out of the kitchen.
Photo courtesy of Sarma
2.Juliet Union Square, Somerville map
It’s no exaggeration to suggest that Juliet may be one of the Boston area’s most interesting places to eat. The independently owned and operated restaurant is at once a breakfast-and-lunch café serving housemade pastries and burgers, and a dinner destination focused on Niçoise cuisine (spaghetti pomodoro, pollock meunière, etc). In addition to that regular menu, it also hosts “rotating menu productions” that change throughout the year, giving diners the chance to experience prix-fixes themed around Quebecois cuisine, Persian New Year, the New England coast, and more.
3.The Smoot Standard Central Square map
There’s truly no wrong way to use the Smoot Standard, a new Cambridge thirdspace that functions as an all-day café and restaurant by day and turns over for dinner service and cocktails by night. So, depending on the timing of your visit, you may find yourself at the counter for a pulled pork breakfast burrito and a cortado in the a.m., a fried green tomato sandwich around noon, or a chicken Milanese and a rum-based espresso martini after the sun goes down.
4.89 Charles Boston map
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.
5.Clery’s South End/Back Bay map
Photo courtesy of Clery’s
A neighborhood bar that spans two ‘hoods — the South End and Back Bay, respectively — Clery’s caters to both with a homey, tile-filled interior, an extensive wood bar meant for mingling and regional comfort fare that keeps them coming back for more. Namely, North Shore-style steak tips, beer-battered fish and chips, and South Shore-style bar pizza.
Photo courtesy of Clery’s
6.Tonino Jamaica Plain map
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.
7.Tall Order Somerville map
Joe Cammarata and Daren Swisher — the longtime industry vets behind Daiquiris and Daisies in High Street Place — have a standalone bar of their own in the form of Tall Order. Located just outside of Inman Square in what was once the Thirsty Scholar, the drink menu is bound to please cocktail nerds (take its eponymous drink, a blend of rums with Madeira, pineapple skins, and clarified coconut milk), while also catering to the low-ABV crowd and teetotalers alike. The edible offerings, meanwhile, represent pub food at its best with pork sausage rolls, karaage fried chicken sandwiches, and Denver steak frites.
8.Fallow Kin Cambridge map
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.
9.Cafe Sushi Cambridge map
The nondescriptly named Café Sushi, ensconced in a strip mall between Central and Harvard Squares, is a textbook case of don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover. Because hidden in plain sight remains one of the city’s best sushi programs, now four decades old, served in a simple but artfully appointed dining room with spare wood furniture and hanging paper lanterns. You’ll be well-served with a spicy scallop hand roll over sushi selections including Japanese mackerel with poblano miso and 12-spice pineapple, or a creative house roll like the ceviche with shrimp, salmon, avocado, and pickled jicama.
10.Qiao Lin Hotpot Boston Boston map
Photo courtesy of Qiao Lin Hotpot Boston
A Chicago import, Qiao Lin understands that nothing beats the winter blues quite like spicy hot pot. The spicy Chongqing-style broth is made 32 aromatic spices and six different kinds of chile peppers, and proves the perfect canvas for cooking everything from strips of Japanese A5 wagyu beef to New Zealand lamb shoulder.
Photo courtesy of Qiao Lin Hotpot Boston
11.Cactus Club Cafe Back Bay Back Bay map
There aren’t many places where you can sit down for dinner and expect hamachi sashimi, rigatoni Bolognese, or a 14-ounce rib eye in peppercorn brandy sauce to follow. But the newly opened Back Bay location of this Canadian chain is one of them. Add all of the above to a sprawling, high-ceiling dining room with a wrap-around bar, slightly trippy flowing wood décor, and modern art, and we’ll admit that the Canadians are on to something.
12.Oleana Cambridge map
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.
13.Little Sage North End map
Before its closure in 2009, Sage was a North End mainstay beloved for its housemade pastas. Now it’s back in a slightly smaller, 50-seat dining room as Little Sage, under the auspices of original chef Tony Susi. What hasn’t changed is the emphasis on scratch-made pasta like ricotta gnocchi with Maine lobster and brick oven-baked entrees including head-on Argentinian shrimp in an artichoke puttanesca.
14.Loyall Counting Room Downtown map
Deep within Matria at the InterContinental Boston — we can’t tell you exactly where — is the unmarked door that leads to Loyall, a speakeasy inspired by the tavern backrooms where patriots plotted the American Revolution. As such, there’s a colonial theme to the drinks and drinking vessels (expect metal tankards and chalices), from which you might drink a Cyder For the Present Use made with applejack, aged rum, and apple blossom water, or the Incident On King Street utilizing Madeira, two kinds of rums, lemon, and raspberry.
15.Lanner Noodles – Seaport Boston map
Lanner Noodles, originally of Cambridge, has touched down in the Seaport with a second location serving … noodles. But that word barely does justice to the variety of piping-hot bowls flying out of the kitchen, often made with hand-pulled noodles and served in aromatic broths made from braised beef, lamb shank, and more. And contrary to the name, non-noodle offerings are available too, including barbecue lamb skewers seasoned with a house spice mix and a spicy chicken and potato stew.
16.Kahaani South Boston map
The old Worden Hall space on West Broadway has been transformed into Kahaani, a new gastropub with bold Indian flavors and flower-festooned walls. Specializing in Hyderabadi cooking, which incorporates Turkish and Arabic flavors, signature dishes here include slow-cooked chicken biryani and Haleem meat stew.
17.Umami Crudo Boston map
Cambridge’s Umami Omakase has touched down in Boston proper with a sister restaurant, Umami Crudo. While the former — as the name would imply — is omakase only, Umami Crudo delivers an a la carte experience utilizing the same top-shelf seafood, resulting in dishes like oyster sashimi with a grapefruit granita, toro caviar rolls, and lobster somen.
18.Willie’s Beacon Hill map
Jamie Bissonnette’s latest ventures (see Somaek, Temple Records, etc.) have a funny way of expanding into adjacent spaces. Now the same has happened with Zurito, whose next-door neighbor — formerly a pizzeria — is now Willie’s, an intimately sized new restaurant serving chewy, thin-crust pizzas and housemade pastas with influences from Spain or Asia. For instance: the P.C.T. pie, essentially a large-scale pan con tomate, and spaghetti carbonara made with yuzu kosho and Parmesan dashima.
19.Retroroom Boston map
“That ‘70s vinyl lounge,” could be an alternate title for Retroroom, a groovy new hideaway on Boylston that features DJs on the weekends but invites patrons to pull records from its extensive house collection anytime. All while enjoying of-the-decade treats like onion ring towers, cheese fondue and “super-size” large-format cocktails including the Back Bay Killa made with pineapple-infused vodka, orange juice, and dark rum, served in a kidding-you-not disco ball.
20.Perch South End map
Photo courtesy of Perch
Even by South End standards, Perch is cozy: the space features just eight seats around an open cooktop and kitchen where diners have a front-row seat to the preparation of their meal. On Fridays and Saturdays that takes the form of a monthly changing five-course dinner made from seasonal ingredients, while Wednesdays are witness to Perch’s “3-2-1 @102,” which provides three small plates and a glass of wine for just $40 (tickets for both weekly event series can be booked exclusively on Resy).
Photo courtesy of Perch
Craving something else?
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Baleia
4.8 · Portuguese · $$
South End
Talulla
4.8 · American · $$$
Cambridge
Mestizo Modern Mexican
3.5 · Modern Mexican · $
Cambridge
Taco Azul
4.1 · Mexican · $$
Beacon Hill
Naco Taco
4.5 · Mexican · $
Central Square
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