photo: Keroack Photography
By Geri Bain
One of my favorite places to eat in Boston—my husband and I went there twice on a recent visit—is the Union Oyster House. The city’s oldest restaurant, it exudes history while serving some of the best seafood in the city. “It’s not a tourist trap; the food is great, and unlike many of popular Boston restaurants, they take reservations!” one local assured us, suggesting it as an alternative to the 90-minute wait we were facing standing in line at one of the city’s trendy eateries.
My broiled Boston scrod and my husband’s fried clams were done to mouth-watering perfection. And we can vouch for the clam chowder , which has deservedly won top rankings from USA today and the Fox & Friends 2018 Super Bowl Cook-off. In 2023, the restaurant was named among the Taste Atlas Top 50 Most Legendary Restaurants in the World and in 2019, it received Open Table’s Diners’ Choice Award.
The Union Oyster House has been a restaurant since 1826, but the building’s history dates back at least to the early 1700s. A favorite haunt of luminaries from Daniel Webster to John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, its roster of regular patrons reads like a who’s who of American history and culture including Steven Spielberg, Billy Crystal, Dan Rather, and Meryl Streep.
In 2003, The Union Oyster House was designated a National Historic Landmark, as the oldest continually operated restaurant and oyster bar in the U.S. and a rare surviving example of Boston’s Georgian architecture. It’s like a living museum; its walls tell the story of Boston through historic paintings, newspaper clippings and fascinating memorabilia. If you’re lucky, owner Joseph Milano Jr. will stop by your table to see how your food is and share a tale or two!
For reservations, call unionoysterhouse.com
Geri Bain, a widely published travel writer and editor, is the co-author of The Complete Guide to Vow Renewals, released in December 2018. She has written about more than 60 countries and contributed to publications including inc.com, about.com, N.Y. Daily News and Robb Report. While travel editor at Modern Bride magazine, she wrote an acclaimed guide to Honeymoons and Weddings Away. She is a past president of the New York Travel Writers Association and former editorial director of Endless Vacation magazine.
My husband has been going to the Union Oyster House on his birthday for 47 years. He sits at the bar, where Daniel Webster sat, and eats oysters and clam chowder. I started going with him about 25 years ago. Sometimes some of our three sons join us. Special!!
What a nice tradition! If I lived in Boston, I’d be going there a lot!!