15 best restaurants on the North Shore of Boston worth trying

James Beard Award finalist chef Rachel Miller offers tasting menus featuring Vietnamese- and French-inspired seafood and noodle dishes at this sublime Lynn restaurant, which remains a North Shore favorite. Whether you choose five courses (available 5–6pm nightly), nine, 14 or 21, you’ll be inspired by the menu that changes daily (and on the chef’s whim). The so-called Nightshade Clam Shack—a takeout and patio-friendly selection of regional specials like fried clam boxes, clam rolls and lobster rolls with Southern and Vietnamese flavors—is open seasonally May–September from 12–2pm.

In the summer of 2021, the team behind Trina’s Starlite Lounge added to their repertoire the Sunset Club, a year-round, mainly outdoor lounge and eatery on the Newbury side of Plum Island. What was once a gas station and its attendant parking lot has since become one of the North Shore’s coolest hangouts, with an ersatz sand beach, fire pits, picnic tables and a view of the basin’s iconic sunsets. (There's also limited seating inside around the bar.) The food is offered up with international flair: jerked chicken wings, tuna poke bowls, Cubano sandwiches—the menu changes often, although these are some standbys. The Cottage Colada, a non-frozen version of the island classic, stands out on the beverage menu with the addition of caramelized Coco Lopez. 

Named after the tools that quarrymen would use to cut the abundance of nearby granite, Feather & Wedge pays homage to Rockport’s past, while still celebrating its present. This restaurant is all about local ingredients, and about using them in internationally influenced preparations that range from classical French to Southeast Asian. With a regularly changing menu that reflects products sourced from local purveyors, the kitchen is a true culinary standout, and a breath of fresh air among the typical tourist traps that pepper Bearskin Neck.

Haverhill recently welcomed this ode to the Italian island of Sardinia. It's named after a city on the western coast, though the vibe is far glossier, owing to its location in the Heights, the city's top apartment complex, with rooftop bars and views overlooking the Merrimack River. A 600-degree Marra Forni oven delivers pizzas that are chewy, slightly charred, and among the North Shore’s finest, though they’re not BOSA's only highlight. It would be a shame to pass up the homemade paccheri in a creamy, spicy vodka sauce, or any of the tiny, skewered spiedini, a faint reminder of how much flavor char can impart on a meal.

Chef Anthony Caturano relies on only the freshest ingredients and special catches right from the local harbor at his Gloucester spot, Tonno, with more seafood-centric dishes on its menu than its Wakefield sibling or his North End original, Prezza. Italian for “tuna,” Tonno features the country’s coastal dishes, such as spicy octopus "La Plancha” and spaghetti fra diavolo with shrimp and fish stew, along with traditional landlubber favorites, like chicken parmigiana and veal Milanese.

Open since 1935, the internationally recognized landmark that is the Ipswich Clam Box—it resembles an open box of clams—is famous for all the right reasons. A thin and delicate batter encases the only thing locals dare order here: whole belly fried clams, harvested right from Ipswich, known to be the best in the world. If the line feels too long in summer, just know that the wait is part of the experience. 

Owned and operated by a husband-and-wife team, and situated in the heart of Salem, this understated-yet-stylish neighborhood spot works magic when it comes to blending French technique with New England ingredients. Its menu embodies both of these rich traditions with a daily selection of dishes that are simultaneously sophisticated and straightforward. The restaurant prides itself in having a scratch kitchen; pastas and breads, for instance, are all made in-house. The highly curated and impressive wine list includes a deep exploration of Spain’s Basque region. 

The New York Times recently anointed this Gloucester restaurant home to the state’s finest pizza, but Short & Main, now in its second decade, nails far more than great Neapolitan-style pies. With an ever-changing menu, expect market-driven cuisine, with locally sourced bivalves on offer, salads and snacks, homemade pastas and, yes, a petite pizza menu that lives up to even New Yorkers’ expectations. 

Located right on the Essex River, CK Pearl pulls no punches when it comes to the Cape Ann dining scene. Stunning views of the water and marsh are only upstaged by the plates of local food exiting chef-owner Pat O’Shea’s kitchen. Because the chefs locally source their ingredients, the menus change to reflect each season, while still maintaining a few year-round dishes like its lauded chowder (it’s made with pork belly and topped with crispy clam strips) and house-smoked barbecue. If you can’t snag a table during the busy season, grab a dozen oysters and daily drink special at the bar, where seating is first come, first served.

This Marblehead bistro is nearly always full, and for good reason. Expertly executed small plates—where the restaurant shines—deliver a French sensibility that you don’t find many other places on the North Shore. Dive into a plate of escargots de Bourgogne, with garlic butter and grilled levain; chicken liver mousse with a Sauternes gelée; and a Hamachi tartare beneath a gem-colored layer of popping tobiko. The warm and inviting dining room is the kind of place that welcomes guests back night after night, week after week, year after year. 

People make pilgrimages to this Byfield joint because of its unstoppable barbecue. You can’t go wrong with pit classics like the tender St. Louis ribs, or the beautifully caramelized burnt ends. But the restaurant also takes poetic license when it comes to serving slow-cooked meats, leaning into North Shore staples, like the traditional roast beef sandwich and the bomb sub, and reimagining them as the “brisket bomb sub” and the “smoked super beef three-way sandwich.” The Rusty Can’s Instagram page features daily blackboard specials and offers meat-centric nacho platters on Thursdays.

North Shore roast beef sandwiches are iconic, necessary, and part of their own regional cuisine. Kelly’s Roast Beef—the original, down Revere Beach—is the Mack Daddy of all roast beef sandwich restaurants. If you’ve never cruised the strip before killing a three-way roast beef (James River BBQ sauce, mayo, Land O’ Lakes white American cheese on an onion roll), then baby, you haven’t lived. Some may argue that there are better roast beef spots, but Kelly’s claims to have invented the sandwich in 1951, and credit where credit is due. 

Thanks to its divine location—it sits within the stunning former Salem Savings Bank building, which dates back to the early 1800s—Ledger commands a presence in downtown Salem. This restaurant’s interior alone, with its stately central bar, bank robber-themed artwork and antique vault door, could probably earn it a spot on this list. But its menu is also bewitching, crammed with elevated American classics that marry old-school New England ingredients with modern culinary techniques. Ledger isn’t afraid to have fun, either, serving everything from mystery mimosas and creative donuts during brunch to upscale fast-food favorites as entrées at dinner. 

Newburyport’s petite pasta spot, Carmine, has a tiny menu and an even tinier dining room (godspeed if you show up on a weekend night without a reservation). But don’t let that stop you from testing the waters at this superb little restaurant, where the pastas are fresh and supple, and where the environment always feels a little like New York’s Bleecker Street in the 1990s (that’s a good thing). The cacio e pepe, made with bone broth, Pecorino, fresh spaghetti and plenty of butter, is alone worth the visit.

J.T. Farnham’s has some of the best fried clams on Cape Ann, and that’s saying a lot, because Essex is famous for these battered babies. Often overshadowed by a certain other seafood spot down the street, Farnham’s is a quaint little shack usually crammed with locals, who grab trays of clam chowder, steamed lobsters and fried clams. This no-frills place has ample picnic table seating right beside the river, so guests can take in those marsh views as they feast upon its bounty.