9 New Restaurants to Check Out This Summer

Boston restaurants have been staying open at a steady pace lately, and it doesn’t look like anyone is slowing down this summer. We’ve compiled a list of new restaurants opening in June, July, and August that we’re keeping an eye on, from a cool North End spot with a hidden martini room to a daytime bistro in the Boston Athenaeum.

Of note, Eater’s spring preview includes a few remaining eateries set to open this summer, such as Merai, the second location from the team behind award-winning Thai restaurant Mahaniyom in Brookline. Below are nine more restaurants debuting during Boston’s sunny summer season.

Grandma’s table

Now open

It was a bittersweet moment when Jamaica Plain cornerstone El Oriental de Cuba decided to cease operations last October after nearly 30 years. The owners turned the keys over to Adolfo Alvarado, chef and owner of the highly regarded Tu Y Yo Mexican restaurant in Somerville. Eight months later, the restaurant’s dining room is bustling again, this time as Mexican haunt Abuela’s Table. Fans of Tu Y Yo will notice similarities on this menu—the mini grasshopper tacos made the trip, as did other appetizers and entrees—and it’s heartening to see the lights on again at this storied eatery. 414 Center Street, Jamaica Plain

A new face at a familiar address. Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Monte Verdi

Now open

If you’re in the mood for stunning water views while slurping oysters and flipping pasta, head to MonteVerdi, a sleek new Italian restaurant in the Royal Sonata Hotel in East Cambridge, right next to the Charles River. Seth Greenberg, known for other upscale Boston restaurants like the South End’s stalwart Mistral and the chic steakhouse Mooo, is heading up the new venture. 40 Edwin H Land Boulevard, East Cambridge

The red fox

Opening: June

The North End doesn’t exactly lack places to eat pasta and sip martinis, but the Red Fox still managed to pique our interest. There’s a talented team behind it: the same North End restaurateurs behind the quaint corner spot Ciao Roma and the constantly booked Bar Farmacia, which offers a year-round cocktail tasting menu that delves deep into different themes. Chef Jon Varela, who trained under famed pasta maker Evan Funke at Felix in Los Angeles, designs a menu full of classic Italian pastas and the like. The interiors were overseen by Assembly Designs, a company known for creating head-turning restaurants like Prima in Charlestown and the new Citrus & Salt location in Fort Point. Then there’s the Hidden Martini Room (!), which a rep for the restaurant says will be “a similar idea” to Farmacia, meaning it’s a hidden, more exclusive space for which reservations will likely be filled immediately . 326 Commercial Street, North End

Mister. A

Opening: June

Coje Management Group, the hotel group that is one of the masters of Boston’s is-it-a-restaurant-or-is-a-nightclub genre, is unveiling a new project this month. Mr. H is a new Seaport restaurant that will offer Chinese and Taiwanese dishes alongside “the lively, intimate energy of a Shanghai cocktail lounge,” according to a company representative, and will take over the old Legal Test Kitchen location in the neighborhood . 225 Northern Avenue, Seaport

The dining room at Le Mari. Alyssa Blumstein/Le Mari

The husband

Opening: June

Chef and owner Leigh Whittaker cheekily named her first restaurant “Le Mari,” which means “the husband” in French, because as anyone in the industry can attest, if you decide to open a restaurant, you might as well be married to the amount of time and effort that the business requires. In any case, it’s a very nice place to never leave: the newcomer offers tapas dishes with a Mediterranean flair – sea bass with tzatziki and sumac; Chicken Milanese with harissa and whipped goat cheese – in a sunny little spot overlooking Boston’s most famous shopping street. 259 Newbury Street, Back Bay

Matria, Bar Fellini and the Loyall Counting Room

Opening: June 25th

The InterContinental Boston, a waterfront hotel in downtown Boston, is conducting a major food and beverage refresh this summer. At the end of June, the hotel will open three shiny new spaces: Matria, a northern Italian steakhouse rooted in the culinary traditions of Piedmont; Bar Fellini, a cocktail bar and lounge with a 1960s Italian flair; and the Loyall Counting Room, a 25-seat speakeasy whose theme is Boston’s own history of seditious rebels. And yes, there will be a secret password to get in. 510 Atlantic Avenue, Downtown Boston

In the folio folio

Folio

Opening: June 25th

You don’t need a membership to the Boston Athenaeum—a historic, 217-year-old private library located right on Boston Common—to enjoy the chic new restaurant Folio, opening at the end of the month. The bistro is open for lunch and dinner and serves tartines, salads, sandwiches and more. 14A Beacon Street, Beacon Hill

AMBA

Opening: July

Chef and restaurateur Will Gilson of Puritan & Co. is adding a new restaurant to his ever-growing Cambridge portfolio: AMBA, a cafe with Mediterranean roots and a menu that includes great fried chicken sold with a variety of sides and condiments into one Press release about the upcoming opening. The cafe will also feature pastries from the restaurant group’s head pastry chef, Brian Mercury, and coffee from La Colombe. 55 First Street, at First Street Market, East Cambridge

A representation of AMBA’s dining area. AMBA

Kaia

Opening: August

The winning team behind local Greek stars like Krasi and subterranean cocktail bar Hecate in Back Bay, welcoming neighborhood spot Bar Vlaha in Brookline, and fast-casual chain Greco aren’t done running just yet. This summer the team will open Kaia, a new restaurant inspired by Greece’s Aegean coast. According to a team representative, the menu will honor the “timeless rituals of gathering, fishing and feasting,” and the wine program will be sourced from Aegean vineyards. 380 Harrison Avenue, South End

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