Has the Greater Boston dining scene bounced back?

I’m not yet dining out particularly much myself (apart from our obligatory summer dinner or three in Oleana’s garden, a couple of outdoor dinners at Loyal Nine while they were still around, etc.), but others of you might well be back in the dining saddle, nosebags on. (Yes, yes, I know it’s the horse that wears a nosebag not the rider.)

What’s the dining scene like? Are restaurants back to normal for dinner? What about for lunch? La Royal on Concord is certainly packed for dinner, but Hi-Rise across the street has nowhere near the lunch crowds it once had. At the DTX Gene’s at 1 p.m. today I was alarmed to find it empty. Outside South Station there were just two foodtrucks with nobody at either. In the past there would have been 6 or more, with long lines at each.

The lunch question is linked to whether businesses are back to in-person work, and is separate from the dinner question, but I’m curious what your experiences are of either.

2 Likes

Based on limited recent experience, it seems harder than ever to get dinner reservations anywhere on a weekend. My Boylston St office is never at more than about 20% capacity these days with all the work-from-homers (including myself, most of the time). This can’t possibly be good for the lunch scene.

1 Like

I’ve never been much of a luncher, preferring to save our limited dining out for dinners. So I can’t comment there. But my experience with dinners the past few months has been that reservations and tables are just as hard to get as ever. I think maybe there’s been more turnover of restaurants, but the ones that are open and popular seem quite busy.

3 Likes