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On a recent night out in the city, I slipped into the seafood-centric restaurant Row 34, located in a former textile warehouse in the Seaport section of Boston. I was greeted by a backlit raw bar and ushered to a table, where I selected some of the most delicious seafood I’ve eaten in recent memory (deep-pocketed Aunt Dotty oysters; redfish ceviche in bracing leche de tigre and topped with tobiko; tuna crudo the color of late-summer watermelon). Row 34 has been just one of many restaurants that has helped to redefine Boston’s strong — and often underreported — restaurant scene.
What are the best restaurants in Boston that are available on DoorDash right now? Favorites, we’ve got a few. Read on for the top places to eat in Boston.
Lanner Noodles & Bar
This addition to the Cambridge scene has captured hearts and minds, and it isn’t hard to see why. It’s all about the hand-pulled noodles here, made in the northwestern Chinese style. Co-owned by Sean Xiao and Marissa Chen, the restaurant serves dishes like tomato and egg noodles, Lanzhou beef noodle soup, and sweet and sour short ribs. As for the noodles themselves, Chef Owen Zhang pulls them by hand into thin and chewy strands, and the intense labor is evident in every single bite.
Krasi
Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood welcomed Krasi, an upscale Greek wine bar and restaurant, right before the start of the pandemic, and it’s a rare success story in light of the timing. Top-tier food is matched by an estimable wine program, but you don’t have to tipple to enjoy the restaurant’s house-made breads (lalangia, a fried dough made with thyme and honey, is a favorite), traditional charcuterie platters, or gorgeous entrées (try the paidakia, or pork ribs served with a pea revithada and carob barbecue sauce).
La Royal
Come for the ceviche, stay for the lomo saltado at this mostly Peruvian spot in Cambridge’s Observatory Hill neighborhood. Leaning into the bright, clean flavors of traditional ceviche, the restaurant offers blue cod and mixed seafood (squid, cod, and shrimp). Seafood features heavily on the menu at large, but don’t skip the iconic, Chinese-inspired lomo saltado; it’s stir-fried sirloin, along with tomato, onion, and soy sauce.
Fiya Chicken
In 2020, Allston welcomed Fiya Chicken, a Korean-style affair that double fries its birds. Wings, tenders, sandwiches — Fiya has it all. The tooth-shatteringly crisp chicken comes with a choice of sauces: soy-garlic or spicy Korean (diners can also opt for Fiya dry seasoning, a take on Nashville-style chicken). They also offer a Korean corn dog, fried in pancake batter and filled with your choice of mozzarella or a hot dog. There are other pleasant extras, like the homemade lemonade, which is squeezed fresh daily and canned in-house.
Rubato
You can fly to Hong Kong to eat at a café that serves curry fish balls and Hong Kong French toast, or you can head to Quincy and eat at Rubato. This top recommended Boston restaurant has plenty to choose from, like an entire category dedicated to ji cheung fun, or rice rolls; fluffy bao, filled with brisket or veggies, among other options; and, yes, those overflowing French toasts, stuffed with Nutella, peanut butter, and more.
Anoush’ella
This South End spot serves up Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Food with a bright, warm vibe. Flatbreads are imminently popular — and deservedly so. The cheese m’anoush, sort of a Middle Eastern version of a pizza, comes topped with cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, mint, sujuk, and sesame and nigella seeds. Don’t skip the salads, especially the Armenian chopped salad with diced tomato, cucumber, red onion, parsley, lemon, and olive oil.
Myers + Chang
Joanne Chang and Christopher Myers brought Asian fusion to the South End in the form of Myers + Chang in 2007, and the restaurant remains top-tier destination dining. Among the restaurant’s storied dishes: crispy pork dumplings, spicy Taiwanese dan dan noodles, Mama Chang’s pork and chive dumplings, and the Louisiana-style tea-smoked spareribs.
DW French
The Fenway welcomed Douglass Williams’s newest restaurant in late 2023, and this French brasserie has acquired swift accolades in the Boston dining scene. Whether it’s the hand-cut fries served with Dijonaise, the New York strip bathed in Cognac sauce, or the river trout almondine, this newcomer offers some of the city’s most divine dining.
Uni
The Back Bay’s Eliot Hotel is home to Uni, a zeitgeisty Japanese spot with a modern aesthetic and a serious bar program. Nigiri and sashimi are thoughtful and well-prepared here. The hamachi, for instance, comes with a swipe of bright horseradish and a sweet grape, while fatty toro is amplified by saline aged soy and caviar. Makimono rolls are far from ordinary (the eel and avocado roll features decadent foie gras), and even the fried rice — leveled-up with fresh crab, pineapple, and nuoc cham sauce — is a standout.
Celeste
This pint-sized Peruvian restaurant, in Somerville’s Union Square, is one of Boston’s two top dining spots from the powerhouse team JuanMa Calderon and Maria Rondeau (the other is La Royal). Like its larger, Cambridge-based sibling, Celeste is a must-visit destination for those craving superlative ceviches and lomo saltado, though diners would also do well to order the carapulcra, or Incan stew made with Peruvian potatoes, chicken, pork, peanuts, and Port.
Grill 23 & Bar
Last year, Grill 23, Boston’s beloved steakhouse, celebrated its 40-year anniversary. The shimmer has still not worn off. A throwback to an earlier era — white tablecloths, formal waiters, high ceilings — make this restaurant a special affair, and the place to go for those in need of an expertly executed steak and curated wine list. From its dry-aged prime New York strip to its hot lobster tail to its Hudson Valley foie (add it to any dish!), Grill 23 is old-school Boston fancy — in the best possible way.
Yunnan Kitchen
In 2022, Yunnan Kitchen arrived in the South End, an addendum to the already popular restaurant Brighton Yunnan. The restaurant was an instant hit; head chef Yisha Siu was nominated for a James Beard award the following year. The Dali Fried Pea Jelly — a crisp outer cake with a jelly-like interior — is a signature dish, and the stir-fried beef with mint leaves, fragrant and punchy, shows off the kitchen’s superior talents.
Shojo
A cult classic since it opened in 2012, Shojo, a hybrid restaurant in Chinatown, embraces Korean, Chinese, and American sensibilities. The duck-fat fries are practically legendary, as is the Shojonator, a burger that arrives topped with bacon, fried shallots, Sriracha aioli, and so-called “kimcheese.” Other favorites include the C-Town Chicken and Waffles (topped with five-spice butter and syrup); roasted bone marrow with a house ponzu sauce; and kimchi fried rice, topped with a fried egg. If you’re unsure where to eat first in Boston, order from Shojo.
Taiwan Café
Boston’s Taiwanese culinary scene reaches its pinnacle at Taiwan Café, the miniscule Chinatown spot that opened way back in 1989. It may be hard to find (it involves a side street and a small flight of stairs), but this Boston establishment serves up some of the best pan-fried dumplings in the city, as well as countless other essentials. In the Sichuan category, regulars swear by the white fish in chili oil, which appears on practically every table during the busiest hours of the day.
Talulla
A pretty, delicate restaurant, Talulla, in Cambridge, has delivered dreamy little meals to neighborhood guests since 2018 (and, in 2024, it received a James Beard award nomination for its efforts). Composed plates are about balance and thoughtfulness: a lamb loin with lentils, turnip, spiced yogurt, and olives; cavatelli verdi with duck confit, walnuts, and peas; and a farm chicken with maitake mushrooms, liver mousse, and ramps are only the beginning.
Bar Vlaha
A new addition to the Brookline scene — it opened in 2023 — Bar Vlaha is one of a handful of restaurants bringing exemplary Greek food to the greater Boston area. Share plates abound at this regional hotspot, where dishes of note include the manitaria (fried oyster mushrooms), alevropita (crispy, thin feta pie), and the horiatiko psomi (house-baked sourdough bread).
Sweet Cheeks Q
Maybe you don’t come to Boston for ’cue, but Sweet Cheeks Q, in the Fenway, might make visitors to Beantown revisit that notion. Chef Tiffani Faison’s Southern-style barbecue joint offers the classics, including mouth-watering biscuits (they come in a bucket for a reason), buttermilk fried chicken, and full slab pork ribs. Don’t skimp on the sides. The heirloom barbecue ranch beans are a hit with practically every crowd — and so is the mac ’n’ cheese.
Puritan & Co.
Puritan and New England are practically synonymous, though not necessarily in the culinary world. This Inman Square restaurant seeks to marry the food with the long historic legacy. Clam chowder is, naturally, on the menu here (find it with applewood-smoked bacon, cornbread croutons, and scallions), and a lobster risotto gets extra heft and flavor from crab meat, scallops, and fine herbs. The ingredients may be quintessential New England, but there’s nothing Puritan about their execution.
Wusong Road
One of the most exciting things to happen to Harvard Square of late is Wusong Road, chef-owner Jason Doo’s ode to Chinese-American fare. It’s tiki-with-a-twist at this tropical getaway, where the only thing more lavish than the decor is the food. The handmade Wusong bao, filled with pork belly, katsu chicken, or queso, changes shape seasonally. The crab rangoon is listed as “Boston’s best” for a reason (it’s stuffed with Maryland and Japanese snow crab). And the spare ribs, glazed with caramelized coconut and lime, provide a new flavor combo sensation that you have to experience to believe.
Row 34
Fresh New England seafood reaches its apex at Row 34 in South Boston’s Seaport neighborhood (there are other outposts in Cambridge, Burlington, and Portsmouth, NH, too). An industrial chic interior is matched by a menu that delivers crowd favorites, like one of the city’s best lobster rolls (order it poached in butter or mixed with mayo and crème fraîche); the always-incredible biscuit, slathered in rosemary butter and honey; and the house-made campanelle, studded with Jonah crab and broccoli rabe and brought to life with cacio e pepe butter.
