The Best Places to Eat in Boston, By Cuisine
Image Courtesy of Lucy’s American Tavern
By Anthony Curioso
This is an independently submitted op-ed and does not reflect the views of The Tower.
As I have noted in at least three previous articles, I am proud to come from the historic city of Boston, Massachusetts. In the last several years, I have seen posts from or heard about several people affiliated with CUA (current students, alumni, or current and former faculty or staff) who recently went to Boston, either for a short trip, to return home to their families, or to make Boston their new home.
As such, in anticipation of many more CUA community members venturing up to my neck of the woods, I have decided to provide a list of my favorite places in the Boston area where one can find almost any type of food they want.
I recommend Life Alive Organic Cafe to all who desire vegetarian cuisine. This all-vegetarian chain has nine locations in Boston and its immediate suburbs, one location in DC (which I also previously wrote a Tower article about when it first opened almost a year ago), and one location halfway between the Virginia Square-GMU and Ballston-MU stations on the WMATA Orange and Silver Lines in Arlington, VA. Life Alive specialises in clean, unprocessed food for vegetarians.
Doughboy Donuts and Deli is a standalone restaurant with a unique model. One half of the building serves pizza, sub sandwiches, and sides such as fries and garlic bread, while the other half serves coffee, donuts, muffins, and other pastries. Since both halves of the building offer reasonable price points, if you enjoy the items served in one (or both) halves, you will definitely find something you like.
Another local pizza spot in the Boston area that one should definitely check out is Windy City Pizza, which has locations in Dorchester and in two Boston suburbs: Quincy and Weymouth. Before you ask: no, they don’t serve deep-dish pizza, despite the name of the establishment appearing to suggest a Chicago-style experience. And their website does not make it entirely clear why they are called Windy City Pizza, either. I highly recommend the Margherita or Hawaiian pizzas from Windy City Pizza, but in case pizza isn’t your thing, the Steak and Cheese Sub is delicious too. Also — if you’re there and in the mood for dessert — the fried dough is significantly better than one might expect, but keep in mind that you do need to add the cinnamon and powdered sugar to it yourself.
For a fast-casual burger, fries, and smoothies/milkshakes, I recommend BRED Gourmet, a Black-owned burger restaurant with one location in the Lower Mills area of Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood and another in the suburb of Cambridge, near MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Unfortunately, my favorite menu item when I was younger appears to no longer be available, but this place is still worth the trip.
My favorite ice cream place in Boston is The Ice Creamsmith in the Lower Mills area of Dorchester. They have your classic ice-cream flavors, such as vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but they also have specialty flavors that rotate every month. I must provide one word of caution about The Ice Creamsmith, however: they are only open from March 1 to Thanksgiving Day every year, so one will need to wait a few weeks to get ice cream there in 2026.
If you are searching for sports bars in the Boston area, the two that I can most highly recommend are Lucy’s American Tavern, in the southern part of Dorchester, and Tony C’s Sports Bar, which has locations in three Boston suburbs —Peabody, Burlington, and Somerville—as well as a location in the Boston Seaport. Both Lucy’s and Tony C’s provide excellent food and plenty of TVs to watch your favorite Boston sports teams’ games, whether it’s Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, or Celtics games on game day.
For Mexican cuisine in Boston, your best options are either Rosa Mexicano in the Seaport or Chubb’s in the southern part of Dorchester. It may technically be a chain restaurant with several locations across the United States, but I recommend Rosa Mexicano for those seeking what I would consider more “upscale” Mexican food. However, I recommend Chubb’s for those who don’t want to get fancy with Mexican cuisine, but still want a more authentic experience with that style of food than you would get from Chipotle or Taco Bell.
On a similar note, if you’re looking for a place with a Chipotle-style layout—that is, a place where you can customize your own tacos, burritos, or bowls—then Amelia’s Taqueria is the best option in the greater Boston area. They have four locations in and around Boston: one near Boston College, one near Berklee College of Music, a third in the Brighton neighborhood, and a fourth in the Assembly Row shopping district in Somerville.
If you’re looking for Chinese cuisine in Boston, you might consider visiting Chinatown, for reasons that should be obvious; however, the restaurants there can be quite pricey. Instead, I recommend China Sky Restaurant in southern Dorchester, which is conveniently located close to several other places I suggested in this article.
Lastly, if you are looking for solid breakfast options and don’t want to go to Starbucks or Dunkin’, I would recommend either McKenna’s Cafe in the Savin Hill section of Dorchester or Sweet Life in the southern section of that neighborhood. Both are excellent local restaurants that serve delicious, classic American breakfast dishes. However, while McKenna’s has lower price points and larger portion sizes on average than one would find at Sweet Life, the latter breakfast spot has the edge in terms of shorter wait times for a table and ample amounts of free parking while you are eating there.
