Your Ultimate Boston Summer Dining To-Do List
Fill the hottest months with patio dining, ice cream, Cape trips, and more.
Photo by Getty Images
Summer is here, and whether or not we’ve seen the last of the weekly rainstorms that plagued spring 2025, it’s time to go all-in on outdoor dining, cold treats, and food-filled New England road trips.
Use this page as a summer to-eat list: We’ve compiled some of our favorite guides and articles on topics that’ll optimize your eating, drinking, and fun in the coming months, whether you want to devour endless scoops of ice cream, check out all of the new restaurant openings of 2025, or figure out the must-visit restaurants in cities from Providence to Portland.
Jump to:
- Dine Outdoors: Patios, rooftops, beer gardens, and more.
- Indulge in Summer Classics: Fried seafood, here we come.
- Eat So Much Ice Cream: And soft serve, and gelato, and milkshakes…
- Try a Top Restaurant or Bar: And start playing the Michelin Guide guessing game.
- Visit a New Spot: Check out these exciting newbies.
- Invite Friends Over: It’s backyard barbecue season.
- Get Out of Town: Where to eat and drink on the Cape and other summery New England destinations.
Dine Outdoors
Patios, rooftops, beer gardens, and more.
Park City. / Photo by Mike Diskin
- Consult a cheat sheet to 16 of our absolute favorite patios from our May 2025 print issue, including the obvious (Oleana) and hidden-gem newbies (Althea).
- For lots more options, check out our periodically updated digital guides, including an overall outdoor dining mega-guide, waterfront patios with gorgeous views, and fun rooftop bars and restaurants.
- We’ve also got info on beer gardens galore.
- Boston’s got a couple new all-outdoor restaurants this summer: Park City in South Boston (30,000 square feet of kid-friendly, dog-friendly space, with Takis-crusted fish tacos, canned cocktails, and live music) and Island Creek Raw Bar in the Seaport (oysters and caviar-topped hot dogs, anyone?). And if you find yourself tanning on the Common, swing by the new Flour location—in that funny little building that previously housed Earl of Sandwich and, decades before that, a restroom—for hot dogs, soft serve, and a pastry inspired by the nearby Embrace sculpture.
- Looking for more of an indoor/outdoor option in case of inclement weather? Charlestown bowling and entertainment venue Urban Wild has some killer lawn space; East Cambridge Italian restaurant Gufo has bocce at the end of its cozy patio; and Mighty Squirrel just opened its third taproom, this one in Watertown’s Arsenal Yards development, with tons of patio space.
Indulge in Summer Classics
Fried seafood, here we come.
Woodman’s fried clams. / Photo via Massachusetts Office Of Travel & Tourism on Flickr/Creative Commons
- ‘Tis the season for fried seafood, lobster rolls, North Shore roast beef sandwiches, and burgers.
- Heading out on a beach trip? First, start the day off right with one of these must-try breakfast sandwiches.
- Ok, Boston’s not a particularly late-night city, but if you’re enjoying the late summer sunsets, here are some top late-night dining picks around town.
- When you can’t be bothered to fire up the grill, head to one of these restaurants for classic New England steak tips.
Eat So Much Ice Cream
And soft serve, and gelato, and milkshakes…
A vast array of scoops from Crescent Ridge. / Courtesy photo
- We’ve got a brand-new ice cream guide in our June 2025 print issue with 15 frozen treats for various moods. Looking for Taco Tuesday, but dessert-y? Late-night sundae delivery? An extra-thick frappe? It’s all there.
- For even more ice cream, check out our periodically updated digital guides: our overall favorite ice cream shops of any style, soft serve, gelato, and frappes/milkshakes.
- Or head straight to one of our multi-year Best of Boston award winners in the ice cream category: Toscanini’s (home of the irresistible B3 flavor), Crescent Ridge, Honeycomb Creamery, or Christina’s.
Try a Top Restaurant or Bar
And start playing the Michelin Guide guessing game.
Duck at Urban Hearth. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
- Line up some fancy date nights this season and make predictions for the upcoming Michelin Guide, Boston’s first time being included: Catch up on our annual Top 50 Restaurants list before we update it in the fall, or peruse our annual Best of Boston awards—the new selections dropped June 24!
- Greater Boston didn’t win big at this year’s James Beard Awards, with only Sullivan’s Castle Island taking home an American Classics prize, but the local semifinalists list from earlier in the year is packed with must-visit restaurants and bars. (Here’s some more info on Merai, Sarma, and Urban Hearth, which made the whittled-down nominees list.)
- Explore Boston’s best through the enthusiastic eyes of Somebody Feed Phil star Phil Rosenthal, who just released the eighth season of his food and travel show on Netflix, including a Boston episode. From Comfort Kitchen to Neptune Oyster and beyond, he hit a lot of great spots during his week in town.
- Beat the heat (and ponder whether Boston still drinks) by settling into one of these dark, cozy, sexy cocktail bars with modern speakeasy vibes.
Visit a New Spot
Check out these exciting newbies.
Phat Thaiger’s DIY temaki setup, including A5 wagyu nam tok, unagi foie gras, uni ikura, scallop tom kha, ika salted egg, and more. On the side, two of the restaurant’s nonalcoholic drinks: Momoiro Sparkle, with strawberry puree and soda water, and a matcha latte. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
- Consult our monthly Hot List for the rundown on fun new restaurants to check out (and older restaurants doing new things).
- Revisit some of our restaurant opening stories from 2025. Intriguing new additions to the local dining scene include a French-inspired cocktail bar in Brookline, Korean-American fusion in the Seaport, a “trans-run, worker-owned queer cafe and coffee roaster” inside a Malden brewery (with killer pastries from a local pop-up baker), an “Indian gastropub” in Back Bay, an Irish pub and revived music venue in Cambridge, takeout Roman-style pizza from a fine-dining crew in the South End, cafés-by-day-wine-bars-by-night in Jamaica Plain and Cambridge, Thai-Japanese fusion in Malden, and a caviar bar in Brookline.
Invite Friends Over
It’s backyard barbecue season.
Steak tips at home. / Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
- Pick up summer-friendly boozy drinks, and/or swing by Dray Drinks in the South End or Cambridge for nonalcoholic options that feel downright festive.
- Looking for a different type of buzz? Here are some tasty and potent edibles available at local dispensaries (and, in many cases, dreamed up right here in Massachusetts).
- Grill up steak tips.
Get Out of Town
Where to eat and drink on the Cape and other summery New England destinations.
Leonessa in Yarmouth Port. / Courtesy photo
- Lake destinations around the region: Plan the perfect vacation—food, fishing, boating, etc.—at our favorite lakes in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
- Cape Cod: Some overall Cape faves (and awesome patios), plus where to eat in Provincetown.
- Other Massachusetts destinations: Some exceptional Newburyport restaurants, a massive guide to Salem dining, a peek inside an eccentric, bluegrass-filled Berkshires hideaway, and an introduction to Rockport’s first real taproom after a dry century-plus.
- Rhode Island: Where to eat in Newport (and a bonus guide to great Newport restaurant patios), Providence, and Charlestown, plus some state-wide highlights, from Peruvian in Bristol to seafood platters in Wakefield.
- Connecticut: Dumplings and decadent sundaes in the seaside town of Madison, apizza (and other pizza styles) in New Haven and non-pizza New Haven picks, and hidden-gem French in West Cornwall.
- Maine: Where to eat and drink in Portland’s East Bayside neighborhood—and a broader guide to Portland dining overall, plus Kennebunkport destinations (including the storied White Barn Inn Restaurant). And don’t forget about the Lost Kitchen in Freedom…if you can get in.
- New Hampshire: Must-visit Portsmouth restaurants.
- Vermont: Here’s where to eat in Burlington and Stowe. Or, plan a trip to Esmeralda in Andover, a book-in-advance dinner party at the Vermont home of Celeste and La Royal owners Maria Rondeau and JuanMa Calderón; the Ransom Tavern in South Woodstock for epic Neapolitan-style pizza; or the iconic Hen of the Wood in Waterbury or Burlington for upscale farm-to-table fare.
