There is one thing in Boston our fans all made very clear - get a lobster roll at James Hook. A 100-year-old family-owned seafood shack and fish market right on Boston's historic waterfront, this is a legend for a reason. Walk up to the counter, order the freshest lobster roll you’ve ever had, and take it outside to overlook the harbor. You can go with the hot butter or the cold mayo, an eternal debate with no real loser. This is the origin point for the fresh seafood you’ll find all over the city, and everything on the menu is worth trying - the chowder, the bisque, the stuffed clams, the crab cakes, the lobster mac. Easy, delicious, iconic Boston.

Fans Recommend: Lobster roll.

Our Boston faithful’s other favorite lobster roll? The one at Neptune Oyster. The restaurant to James Hook’s shack. Only about 40 seats. No reservations. Lines before it opens. You’re gonna have to wait, but it is worth it. The restaurant is modeled after a Parisian oyster bar, and it’s been named a New York Times Top 50 Restaurant in the US. Serious credentials. The fans said the raw bar here may be the best in the city. Seafood cocktails, an awesome wine list, burgers, pasta, octopus, a lobster omelette. Boston seafood operating at its peak.

Fans Recommend: Lobster roll. Clam bellies. Wellfleet oysters. Clam chowder.

Our local Boston seafood trio rounds out with Sail Loft, a family-owned waterfront barnacle since 1984. Our fans said their chowder is the best in the city. Boston Magazine said the same thing. It comes in a mug, spilling over onto the plate beneath. It’s perfect. The place is casual, no reservations, first-come first-serve. They also have a lobster roll that holds up against any other in the city. The fries are unreal. This is the spot to order some food, grab a beer, and take in the harbor views. Hit all three of the seafood spots if you can, but make sure you hit at least one.

Fans Recommend: Clam chowder. Hot butter lobster roll. Captain's Platter.

A breakfast, lunch, and dinner spot serving “American comfort food” since 1937 on one of Boston's most storied streets, The Paramount is a quintessential Boston recommendation. A whole lot of locals said it’s the best breakfast spot in the city - they do Benedicts, French toasts, pancakes, and waffles all at a truly proper level. And you can get it all day. It’s got classic diner roots with a cozy restaurant polish. An excellent way to start your day in Beacon Hill, our most recommended Boston neighborhood to wander around in.

Fans Recommend: Caramel banana French toast.

We go from a classic diner restaurant that’s been around for 90 years to a grab-and-go breakfast sandwich spot that’s only popped up since 2023. Sunny Girl in the North End is our other most recommended breakfast place, mainly because of their absolutely elite lineup of sandwiches. Of the 10+ breakfast sandwiches on the menu, they go from classics like the BEC - and their iteration, the BGC (Bacon Grilled Cheese) — to a salmon lox mascarpone sandwich and a breakfast torta with chorizo. Wild range. Their little North End corner spot is in a great location, too: tons of places around it and right across from the water. Big bang for your buck energy here. One of our fans’ new favorites.

Fans Recommend: Breakfast sandwiches.

Buckle up Boston, the Tartan Army is coming. Scotland plays two games in New England this summer, and that means the “only Scottish establishment in Boston” - The Haven - had to make the list. Owned by a Scotsman of course, the Haven is a traditional Scottish pub/restaurant that’s been waving the blue and white for all of Boston since 2010. Obviously it’s going to be a great place to drink and watch games, but if it’s the only place serving (really good) traditional Scottish food in a city that’s about to be full of em, it’s our duty to let everyone know. Haggis, Scotch eggs, bridies, something called Cullen Skink - all made from scratch. Their Jacobite Burger is on lists, and our fans called it out specifically. Eat, drink, or watch, this is where the Scotland party will be.

Fans Recommend: The Jacobite Burger. Scotch Egg. Belhaven on tap.

A genuine neighborhood gem since 1996, tucked into Inman Square in Cambridge, Casa Portugal is a beloved traditional Portuguese restaurant our fans wanted everyone to know about. A true IYKYK Boston spot. The menu is built around fresh seafood, grilled meats, paella, and classic Portuguese dishes cooked from scratch. It’s also built around great wine - from Portugal and beyond - and maybe even greater deserts. It’s a tiny, old-school spot with casual white table cloth vibes, definitely worth bopping over the river for.

Fans Recommend: The Clams. Bacalhau a bras. Camarao grelhado. Passionfruit mousse.

Another A+ restaurant masquerading as a bar. Another new entry onto the Boston scene. McGonagle’s. Opened in Dorchester at the end of 2024, this spot has already become a beloved Irish pub in THE Irish pub town. It’s an upscale, modern concept with two floors, plenty of space, and proper screens for the games. But the food is why we’re writing it up — after being open less than a year, it was the first Irish pub ever to be named to the NYT’s Top 50 Restaurants in America. Not bad. The stars: the Sunday roast, the spice bag, the fish and chips. Two of the fans that recommended it: Roger Bennett and Sam Mewis.

Fans Recommend: Spice bag. Fish and chips.

Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every single day of the year — and it has been since 1926…Bova’s Bakery. The cannoli goat. The Don of the North End. Founded by Italian immigrant Antonio Bova and now run by the third generation of his family, the iconic Italian bakery will celebrate its 100th birthday with the incoming world this summer. What a treat for the world. Florentine cannolis. Pastries. Pies. Pizza. Calzones. Arancini. Tiramisu. And it’s open when the bars close. Everything you could possibly hope a 24-hour Italian bakery could be.

Fans Recommend: Florentine cannoli. “Everything.”

A South End dive bar serving amazing Italian comfort food and martinis until 1:30am every night is absolutely making your list. Our fans are mad for Anchovies, and for so many reasons. The cheap drinks and overly generous martini pours. The chicken parm and the pizza. The Italian nachos with ricotta and short rib ragu on top. The garlic bread. The wine. The disco ball. All this in a tiny, dimly lit room that seats about 40 people. Locals called it the ideal late-night spot and a genuine neighborhood gem. Boston Magazine named it Best Neighborhood Restaurant.

Fans Recommend: Chicken parm. Ice cold martini.

An eclectic, delicious and truly unique globally-inspired comfort food spot in Southie is our next under-the-radar star - Moonshine 152. Chef/Owner Asia Mei has been on Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay since she opened this spot in 2015, and you guys said “everything” on her menu is “perfect”. Korean BBQ tacos, jalapeño crab rangoons, dirty fried rice with Chinese sausage and duck liver, buttermilk fried chicken wings. Menu additions constantly. Brunch dishes named after “Parks and Rec” characters. And some have claimed it has the best burger in the city.

Fans Recommend: Buttermilk Wings. Burger.

A Sam Mewis hometown special extra addition to our Boston XI - Source in Harvard Square. A farm-to-table Neapolitan pizzeria and gastropub inside a converted 1800s firehouse that’s been around since 2020. The secret of their pies is the dough: they make fresh sourdough from scratch every day, which means a bubbly, deeply charred crust unlike anything else in the city. Throw their cup-and-char pepperonis on top of that and you’ve got Boston Magazine's Best Pizza winner. The Flavortown Mayor himself has been there for Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Try the pizza. Try the espresso martinis. Try the weekend brunch.

Fans Recommend: Pepperoni Pizza. French Toast Baba.

Open since 1909 and still run by the Foley family, J.J. Foley’s is the legendary local watering hole our fans recommended most to go celebrate your wins or drown your sorrows. It's a pre-Prohibition bar that survived the Great Depression, gentrification, and about eight different versions of the South End. The beer here tastes better because of the nostalgia in it - this is about as classic Boston as you can get. Many of you claimed it’s not only the best Guinness pour in the city…but maybe in the country. Throw it on your list as a pregame stop, too - it's a 15-minute walk to Back Bay Station for the train to the stadium.

Built in 1780 (!), Warren Tavern is the oldest tavern in Massachusetts and might be the oldest in the country that’s still operating in its original building. This is our fans’ rec for the perfect combo of Boston history and Boston boozing. The first structure raised in Charlestown after the British burned the neighborhood to the ground during the Battle of Bunker Hill, the tavern became a gathering place for the men who built the country. Paul Revere considered it a favorite. George Washington got drunk here. It sits at the end of the Freedom Trail, one block from the Bunker Hill monument. Come for the history, stay for the dollar oyster happy hour from 4–7pm daily.

A dive bar cocktail lounge with live music and hot dogs — our fans raved about The Silhouette Lounge. Open since 1965 and known to every person in Allston as simply “The Sil”, they’ve got dartboards, pinball machines, a pool table, free popcorn, cheap pitchers, metal on the jukebox and all the bathroom graffiti you want in your dive bar. In a city full of pubs to get pints at, The Sil is your classic bar-games-and-live-music haunt to counter-punch with. Get stuck in with a different kind of Boston local here.

Our Bostonian brethren made sure we didn’t miss The Buk, a.k.a. Bukowski Tavern - a beautifully lonely red square under the corner of a parking garage on an overpass in Back Bay. The strangest location for one of Boston’s best places to grab a pint. Named after the poet Charles Bukowski and decorated accordingly, it’s been one of the city's great craft-beer bars for decades. 20 rotating taps, an even deeper bottle and can selection, and late-night food until 1:30am. Giant glass mugs etched with the names of dead authors hang above the bar. If you stick around long enough to try 100 beers, you get to hang your own.

Open since 1933, The Sevens is a small, wood-paneled alehouse on Charles Street repping the history of Beacon Hill. It’s been owned and run as a local neighborhood bar by the same family since 1976. Fans called it a “fantastic place to start OR end your night.” Dartboards, jukebox, eight beers on tap including an OG house ale brewed exclusively for the bar by Harpoon. A true friends-and-family pub that locals love like it’s their favorite place on Earth. If you’re walking around Beacon Hill and you see a giant silver beer stein floating above you, you know you’re in the right place.

There are some great places to watch the beautiful game in Boston, but none got shouted out more than The Banshee. A two-floor Irish pub on Dorchester Avenue with double-digit screens that’s home to 14 different supporters clubs, including the American Outlaws. This is the place the sickos go first. It will be packed, but if you get there early enough to get a spot, these are the people you want to watch the games with (see our local fan Tommy’s quote here to articulate that perfectly). Also a great pregame spot to meet up before taking the train to the stadium.

Fans Recommend: Full Irish breakfast.

The Boston WATCH list is bangers only, and we keep rolling with another A+ footy pub - Phoenix Landing in Cambridge. This has been Boston’s Liverpool home for 30 years and has evolved with the sole purpose of being the perfect game-watching experience. And it is. Screens, beers, great food, and the exact group of fans you love to watch with. If the place is packed, the overflow ends up on the street or around the corner at Sonia. If you’re in Central Square, there will be a prime place to watch.

The name tells you exactly what you’re getting. The Dubliner is the Irish pub amongst Irish pubs and another one of our fans’ favorites. A newer entry into the classic Boston pub canon, this spot right across from City Hall opened downtown in 2022. The owner and chef are both Irish expats, and the modern Irish menu elevates this above just an awesome place to watch the games. Breakfast, brunch, and Sunday roast are all deadly. Ed Sheeran played a surprise pop-up show here last year. This place has the vibes, the food, and all the splitting the G — or the T as they say here — you could want.

Fans Recommend: Sunday Roast. Beef and Guinness Pie. The live music.

Built in 1887 and once a Boston Police Department precinct, Dillon’s is our rec for where to watch in Back Bay. It’s named after the captain that was stationed here. And (Captain) Dillon’s hits all the sports bar beats, plus adds a second floor and a great outdoor space - maybe the best in the Back Bay. When the weather’s nice in Boston, this is the spot to be. Our fans called it out as an ideal pregame spot, and it might be your easiest walk to a train station and get to the stadium, which is only two stops away.

“Not your average sports bar since 2011” is how Parlor Sports describes itself, and Bostonians agree. One of the most rec’d places to watch is a small, steel-topped gem in Inman Square that champions women’s sports. Our fans called out the great game atmosphere. They share a kitchen with Trina’s, the restaurant next door, so the food is legit. Nine TVs, rotating craft taps, and a genuinely unique and welcoming aura. The Boston lineup to watch games is truly stacked 1 through 5, and Parlor Sports ties a bow on it perfectly.

We’ve namechecked it a bunch already, but our fans made sure Boston's oldest neighborhood got its own entry. The North End was our most recommended anything in our whole Boston survey, and for good reason. What was once Paul Revere’s original home has turned into one of the greatest Italian-American neighborhoods in the country. It’s a dense tangle of narrow, cobblestone streets, red-brick buildings, and iconic landmarks with more Italian restaurants, bakeries, and pastry shops per square foot than anywhere outside of Italy. You guys called it "the most European-feeling neighborhood in the US," "Boston's little Italy," and "stepping back in time."

A 2.5-mile red-brick line painted into the sidewalk connecting 16 sites of the American Revolution, a.k.a. the Freedom Trail. A tourist thing that our local fans said is actually very much worth it. Free, self-guided, entirely walkable. It threads through the best parts of downtown, the North End, and Charlestown in a single walk, past Paul Revere's House, the Old North Church, Faneuil Hall, and the site of the Boston Massacre. Ends at the Bunker Hill Monument with a pint waiting at the Warren Tavern a block away. One respondent warned: "Don't try to drink at every bar along the way — trust me, you'll make it about one block." Challenge accepted?

A breathtaking Venetian-style palazzo built in 1903 by Isabella Stewart Gardner to house her personal art collection, with the stipulation that nothing ever be moved or changed. The museum still honors that request…with one exception: on March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers talked their way inside and spent 81 minutes removing 13 masterworks - including two Rembrandts and a Vermeer - worth an estimated $500 million. They have never been recovered. The empty gilded frames still hang exactly where the paintings were cut from. Watch the Netflix documentary “This Is a Robbery” before you go.

Our fans’ overwhelming favorite shop in Boston is the Coolidge Corner gem of an independent bookstore - Brookline Booksmith. Founded in 1961 as Paperback Booksmith, this shop helped usher in the paperback revolution, making great literature more accessible and affordable to everyone. Over 60 years later, this legend is still thriving - it’s won Boston Magazine's Best Bookstore twelve times and outlasted a Barnes & Noble that opened a few blocks away. Its Used Book Cellar is elite, the local gifts and accessories are worth their own shop, and the space is a buzzing center for the surrounding community. A great rec in a great city for literature.

A Central Square institution that has been buying, selling, and trading records on Massachusetts Avenue since 1954, true Bostonians love Cheapo Records. One of the oldest record shops in Boston, independently owned and with over 100,000 titles across every genre imaginable: Oldies, Cajun, Soul, Jazz, Folk, Classical, Blues, Hip Hop, Disco, Rock, Soundtracks. The kind of place where you go in for one thing and come out an hour later with five records you didn't know you needed. An expert, friendly staff, plenty of cool stuff to check out beyond just the records, and it’s conveniently located right next to Phoenix Landing. Grab some pints, then grab some records.