5 best restaurant openings and dining updates (March 19, 2026)

Restaurants

Stay up-to-date on the best new restaurants, recent openings, and the biggest dining updates across Greater Boston’s food scene.

A lobster roll from Roger’s Fish Co. Michael Blanchard Photography

In Greater Boston’s dining scene, there’s always a new restaurant opening to celebrate or a fresh update coming to one of the city’s delicious eateries. In the months ahead, we have major restaurant openings from Michelin chefs and famous New York restaurateurs, as well as a swell of diverse and delicious smaller restaurants joining our neighborhoods.

Each week, Boston.com will highlight the restaurant openings worth knowing about across the region. Some spots will already be open, while others are set to debut in 2026. At least one featured restaurant will always be a bonus item — either a pop-up, a collaboration, or event at area restaurants.

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What’s new in Greater Boston restaurant openings this week

Pasta from Bambola. – Armani Thao

Bambola and The Girl Next Door

Taking over what used to be Seaport Social are a glossy Italian supper club (Bambola) and a more relaxed neighborhood spot (The Girl Next Door). While Bambola will serve decadent plates of Southern Italian staples like carbonara and lasagna Napoletana, The Girl Next Door’s space and menu will be more convivial, serving Italian street food like fried pizza and meatballs.

Opening date: Late March

225 Northern Ave., Seaport

Common Craft in South Boston is now open. – Reagan Byrne

Common Craft

The Burlington concept known for bringing craft beverage brands and a scratch kitchen under one roof has expanded to South Boston with a different approach. While their first location is beverage-forward, Common Craft in Southie leans into seasonality and craft when it comes to food, with James Beard Award-winning chef Tony Messina at the helm. Its opening menu includes chilled oysters from Maine, roasted haddock “Pizzaiola,” and steak frites with duck fat fries. Another element of Common Craft’s new location is “The Current,” a rotating culinary program that will feature purveyors and craftspeople of New England. Its first edition features Wulf’s Fish, with menu items like uni ceviche tostada, seared day boat scallops, and grilled hamachi collar. 

Open now (March 17)

85 Damrell St., South Boston

Roger’s Fish Co. interior at Terminal A in Logan Airport. Courtesy of Roger’s Fish Co.

Roger’s Fish Co.

Longtime owner of Legal Sea Foods Roger Berkowitz is back in the seafood restaurant business after selling Legal in 2020. You’ll find his newest venture in Boston Logan International Airport’s Terminal A (where there’s also a Legal location), sharing the name of Berkowitz’s online seafood market and serving New England seafood classics like lobster rolls, clam chowder, and fried clam strips. 

Open now (March 11)

Terminal A, 1 Harborside Drive, East Boston

Willie’s

A neighborhood pizza spot has landed in Beacon Hill from a newer restaurant group that continues to grow, BCB3, which brought restaurants like Zurito and Michelin-recommended Somaek to Boston in recent years. The pizzas and plates from Chef Jamie Bissonnette pull from several culinary influences, topping pies with Spanish cured ham, offering Japanese Karaage in Calabrian chili oil, and combining guanciale with Korean gochujang in a rigatoni dish. Drinks from Oscar Simoza (Wig Shop Lounge) are similarly fun and global, utilizing Midori, orange and cacao foam, and even Jarritos soda in low-ABV cocktails.

Open now (March 12)

20 Charles St., Beacon Hill

Bonus: Saguaro Garden Bar by The Fat Cactus

Warmer temperatures are within reach, we’re told, and with that is a comeback of al fresco dining. The Saguaro Garden Bar, a patio bar with make-your-own seltzers and lawn games that opened as a summertime pop-up last year outside in Kendall Square, is coming back with its lineup of cocktails and mocktails in early May. 

Event details: Opens early May

300 Athenaeum St., Cambridge

Katelyn Umholtz

Food and Restaurant Reporter

Katelyn Umholtz covers food and restaurants for Boston.com. Katelyn is also the author of The Dish, a weekly food newsletter.

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