The 25 Best Restaurants in Boston Right Now

“After 18 years in the North End, Neptune is as much a part of Boston as tour guides in tricorn hats and "Go, Sawx!" You will wait, often more than an hour, but once you are ensconced in a banquette, or better yet at the bar, you will savor the perch. Neptune is among the highest versions of the oyster-bar form - pressed-tin ceilings, a marble bar, iced beds of bivalves and crab claws - but it is also more. Dishes like cuttle ink risotto with generous chunks of lobster, and Nantucket Bay scallop crudo with Persian cucumbers lift the menu above the merely canonical. There's a lobster roll, of course, but you didn't wait all that time for a lobster roll. ”

NEW YORK TIMES

New York Times most exciting restaurants in America

Out of the 50 restaurants in America the New York Times is excited about, Neptune Oyster made it to the top 3.

New York Times

New York Times most exciting restaurants in America

Out of the 50 restaurants in America the New York Times is excited about, Neptune Oyster made it to the top 3.

New York Times

The 2020 James Beard Award Semifinalist

“Announcing our 2020 Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists! Read on for the semifinalists in all categories, from Outstanding Restaurant to Rising Star Chef”

JAMES BEARD

Best Boston Restaurant

“Bostonians can be a fickle bunch: We despise change as much as we demand it. So kudos to Neptune’s new chef, Eric Frier, for charting his own course at this North End seafood icon without touching what’s sacred (read: the legendary lobster roll and johnnycakes).”

BOSTON MAGAZINE

America’s Best Oyster Bar

“This casual North End seafood spot specializes in East Coast oysters, offering nine varieties daily accompanied by the classic horseradish cocktail sauce and a Prosecco-based mignonette.”

FOOD AND WINE

The 21 Best Seafood Restaurants in America

“You know what they say about good things in small packages. Though it opened quietly in 2004 in a space as tight-fitting and pearly as its namesake, Neptune Oyster quickly emerged as a true pioneer on the Boston dining scene—almost single-handedly modernizing the historic Italian neighborhood it calls home even as it redefined New England seafood. ”

NEW YORK POST

We Needed Our Routine. And We Needed a Lobster Roll.

“Neptune Oyster is known for having some of the most pristine seafood in the city, and with the exception of Fenway, has the most coveted 37 seats in all of Boston more than a decade after it opened in 2004. ”

Bon Appétit