Tips for Choosing the Best Fenway Restaurant

 Celebrating?  Or looking for a fine dining experience?

Whether you're on your way to the symphony, attending an event at Boston University in Kenmore Square, or heading to a Red Sox game, you'll want to pick the best Fenway restaurant for the occasion. 

After all, if you're looking forward to an evening of Beethoven's Ninth, you may not want to dine among raucous fans obsessing about the 9th inning of last week's game in between shouting chants about "Red Sox Nation!" 

And vice-versa.  If you're an, shall we say, exuberant Red Sox supporter, you want to have some fun along with your food - you don't want to deal with icy glares from concert-goers hoping for a quiet conversation. 

The first step toward picking the one that will work best for you, based on the occasion, is determining whether you want to give priority to food - or to beer, big screens, and billiards on the side.  If it's the latter, you'll want to check out the best Boston bars near Fenway.

For mouth-watering food in one of Boston's liveliest neighborhoods, keep reading.

Fenway Restaurant Guide

Boston's Kenmore / Fenway neighborhood sports one of the liveliest cultural and social mixes in the city due to its many colleges and universities, medical research and medical treatment complexes, world-famous cultural institutions, and of course, Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.   This translates into many potential customers for Fenway restaurants.

Two of the areas largest schools, Northeastern University and Boston University, anchor the neighborhood.  The Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum attract large crowds of art lovers.

College and university faculty and students, Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical school medical staff and researchers, Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians, and famous Red Sox players and fans all share this lively Boston neighborhood. 

Fortunately, whether you want a quiet meal or a celebration, a quick slice of perfect pizza or a formal dinner, you'll find a perfect Fenway restaurant to fit every occasion. 

Keep in mind that whenever the Red Sox play in Fenway Park, all of the nearby restaurants are likely to be crowded and noisier than usual - so if you're coming for a pre-game meal, arrive early!  If you're planning to dine on a game night but want to avoid the crowds, plan to arrive after the game starts and departs before it ends.

Here's my hand-picked selection - enjoy!

Betty's Wok and Noodle Diner   $$   Asian-Latino Fusion

250 Huntington Ave; Green Line E/Symphony; 617-424-1950; website

Take Asian flavors, Latin seasonings, noodles, rice, veggies, meats, and mix it all up in seemingly every combination possible and you get . . . Betty's! 

Despite having one of most interesting menus among Fenway restaurants, Betty's Wok and Noodles also allows you to create your own dish, combining sauces, ingredients, and seasonings that the kitchen then cooks to your own specifications. 

Located next to the Huntington Theater and near Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, Northeastern University, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Betty's is popular with faculty, students, performers, and performance goers who also enjoy the bar's innovative drinks and desserts as well as the fun food.

Canestaro Restaurant and Pizzeria  $ - $$   Italian

16 Peterborough Street; Green Line/Hynes Convention Center; 617-226-8997

Located on a quiet side street just steps from The Fens, this Fenway restaurant is equally popular with - and close to - Fenway Park, the museums, Symphony Hall, the hospitals, and several nearby colleges and universities.  Canestaro's mouth-watering Italian cuisine . . .

More about Canestaro Restaurant . . .

Eastern Standard   $ - $$$  French Brasserie

528 Commonwealth Avenue; Green Line/Kenmore; 617-532-9100

The gorgeous bar and beautiful dining area provide the perfect setting for tasty classic French bistro food, traditional and contemporary cocktails, super wine list, and excellent beers - plus impeccable service.  Close to Fenway Park . . .

More about Eastern Standard Boston

Elephant Walk $$  Cambodian and French

900 Beacon Street (2 more locations in Cambridge at 2067 Mass Ave and Waltham at 663 Moody St); Green Line E/St. Mary's Station; 617-247-1500

Close to the east end of Boston University and not far from several other colleges, Beth Israel and other hospitals, and Fenway, The Elephant Walk brings together 2 continents with its delicious Cambodian and French dishes . . .

More about The Elephant Walk

Great Bay  $$$$   Seafood

500 Commonwealth Ave (located in Hotel Commonwealth Boston); Green Line/Kenmore; 617- 532-5300; website

This excellent Kenmore Square seafood restaurant features a wide spectrum of fresh, succulent seafood. 

If you're visiting from outside the area, this is a great place to sample New England specialties . . . a top-notch clam chowder, New England fish stew filled with enough chorizo, fennel, and grilled bread to proudly proclaim its Portuguese roots, and out-of-this-world butter poached Maine lobster.  Other offerings have Asian influences.

Carnivores can find several excellent meat dishes here - a perfect bacon cheeseburger, maple-grilled pork chops, and hangar steak. 

Everyone will enjoy the dessert options. In a tribute to Bostonians' love of doughnuts, you'll even find a chocolate-filled version, complete with dulce de leche ice cream. 

Very nice wine list as well, especially well-chosen for pairing with the seafood.

Petit Robert Bistro $$   French Bistro Classics

468 Commonwealth Ave; Green Line/Kenmore; other locations in South End and Needham; 617-375-0699

Fabulous French bistro food by Boston's favorite French chef, Jacky Robert.  

Serving traditional French bistro cuisine, this light-filled Fenway restaurant is a favorite spot for affordable and yummy French comfort food . . .

More about Petit Robert Bistro

Symphony 8 Boston   $$   Upscale pub food

8 Westland Ave; Green Line E/Symphony; 617-267-1200 ; website

Symphony 8 Boston hits just the right chord in the Fenway restaurant scene with its trio of bars/bistros serving upscale pub food right around the corner from Symphony Hall. 

Here's its recipe for success: 

• Start with 55 beers, some great wines, and awe-inspiring specialty drinks (if you were a fan, as I was, of Tiger Lily, the former Malaysian restaurant located in this spot, you'll want to try the "Ode to Tiger Lily" scorpion bowl for old time's sake). 
• Mix in some really good comfort food that's a bit fancier than you'd normally make at home:  pan-seared duck breast with citrus sauce, tender beef short ribs braised in Guinness, molasses-glazed pork tenderloin with sauteed spinach, salmon encrusted with chevre and pesto  And of course, some burgers with fancy toppings.
• Serve in 3 fun venues including the posh black and red "Symphony 8" bistro, a laid-back black and green Irish pub called "Siansa 8," and a yet-to-be-revealed speakeasy dubbed "Prohibited."
• Garnish with appropriate music.

You'll find yourself coming here even when you're not attending the Symphony.

Trattoria Toscano  $$$   Italian

130 Jersey Street (between Park and Queensbury); Green Line E/Museum of Fine Arts; 617-247-9508

You'll enjoy fabulous Tuscan food at this Fenway restaurant, where you can enjoy everything from gnocchi in creamy gorgonzola sauce with toasted walnuts to oven-roasted lamb shanks.  

You'll find many well-prepared dishes on the menu that you don't usually see in Boston restaurants - pasta with wild boar and veggies in red wine sauce, fabulous melt-in-your-mouth chicken liver pate with sautéed portobello mushrooms crostini, and Florentine-style beef tripe.  The rigatoni with ground sausage and mascarpone cream sauce is fabulous.

Trattoria Toscano's location is convenient to Fenway Park, as well as to Northeastern University, Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, the Museum of Fine Arts, and all of the neighborhood's other colleges and cultural institutions.

Umi $$   Japanese

90 Peterborough Street; Green Line/Kenmore; 617-536-6688; www.umifenway.com.

January 6, 2009 - Tragically, a fast-moving fire gutted Umi, 5 other popular Fenway restaurants (Thornton's Fenway Grill, Sorento's Italian Gourmet, Greek Isles, Rod Dee Thai Cuisine, and El Pelon Taquiera), and a dry cleaners on this block of Peterborough, known locally as "Restaurant Row."  We wish them speedy rebuilding.  In the meantime, they will be greatly missed.

September 28, 2009 - Fenway neighborhood residents, Red Sox fans, and other customers of the popular Restaurant Row eateries still eagerly await their return.  Restaurant owners report that they don't know when reconstruction work (delayed by insurance) will be finished and they can reopen.

Meanwhile, 5 students from the McKinley Preparatory High School across the street worked for months (with their teacher and 3 artists) applying paint and artistry to create murals on the charred, boarded up fronts. 

The students based the murals on each restaurant's cuisine.   Now the burned-out strip has a fabulous vibrant look.   Boston Mayor Thomas Menino provided a grant to cover costs - money well spent!

If you're near Peterborough Street - or even if you're not - stop by and see the students' artwork.   It's a lovely gift to the neighborhood and the city.  And who knows, maybe you'll see more of the students' work on display in the Institute of Contemporary Art or for sale in Boston art galleries in a few years.

This cozy and inviting Japanese restaurant and sushi bar located near Fenway Park and just a short stroll from the Museum of Fine Arts, Wheelock College, Simmons College, and Emmanuel College offers delicious versions all of the traditional dishes you'd expect - sushi, sashimi, teriyaki, tempura, katsu, and noodles. Creative combinations of ingredients and aesthetically pleasing presentations of the freshly prepared food make Umi a popular spot in this Fenway neighborhood.

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