Here’s the rundown of special weekday lunch menus available across the city this holiday season, featuring luxurious steaks, seafood and more.
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Holiday lunch at Yvonne’s in Downtown Crossing. / Photo by Lisa Richov
A particularly fun aspect of the holiday season in Boston is special holiday lunches: some of the city’s signature restaurants are temporarily adding lunch to their schedule, and a few others that regularly serve lunch are making it extra fancy for the season. It’s a lovely way to spice up your winter break – or sneak out of work for a leisurely afternoon and tuck into lobster thermidor or Wagyu steak with a side of champagne.
Here are the details for nine holiday lunches to try in Boston in December 2022.
Last updated on November 23, 2022.
Atlantic
Inspired by the Iberian Peninsula, this South End restaurant offers small plates with a focus on seafood. While it serves regular lunches year-round, a special three-course lunch menu will be added December 1-23 for $75 per person. You’ll find dishes like cod croquettes with squid aioli; scallops with chestnut puree, blood orange, endive and roasted cauliflower; and more. Call or reserve online.
600 Harrison Ave., Boston, 857-233-2898, atlanticoboston.com.
Bistro du Midi
This French restaurant next to the public garden, open since 2009, has a fireplace on the second floor – a great place to cozy up on a chilly day. An à la carte lunch menu is available year-round, but on weekdays in December from 11:30am to 2:30pm, Bistro du Midi offers its special holiday lunch ‘bouchon’, a three-course prix -Fixed for $36 per person. Start with French Onion Soup or a Kale Caesar Salad (we’d go for the soup, but follow your heart); Choose between chicken paillard, tuna pan bagnat or moules au pastis for the second course. and finish with a seasonal orange-flavored crème brûlée and aniseed biscotti.
272 Boylston St., 617-279-8000, bistrodumidi.com.
Grill 23 & Bar
Always beautifully decorated for the holiday season, this stylish Back Bay steakhouse will be open for special lunch times December 14-16 and December 21-23 from 11:30am to 2:30pm. It’s an a la carte menu and it’s jam-packed with steaks, including a Wagyu roast beef, not to mention a lobster roll, lobster mac ‘n’ cheese, lobster soup… and of course some non- Lobster, non-steak stuff. Call or reserve online.
161 Berkeley St., Boston, 617-542-2255, grill23.com.
Haley.Henry
The cozy Downtown Crossing Wine Bar is offering a four-course holiday lunch for $50 per person three Fridays (December 2, 9, and 16) from noon to 3 p.m. The menu includes scallop crudo, lobster chowder, porchetta and passion fruit cheesecake . (More details here.) Reserve through Resy.
45 Province St., Boston, 617-208-6000, haleyhenry.com.
Little Whale
Like its siblings Atlántico and Select Oyster Bar elsewhere on this list, Back Bay newcomer Little Whale Oyster Bar is adding a three-course holiday menu to its regular lunch menu from Dec. 1-24: Tuna Crudo with Green Goddess dressing and seafood stew with hake, lobster and mussels.
314 Newbury St., Boston, 857-277-0800, littlewhaleboston.com.
Natalie
Along with sister Haley.Henry (above), this Fenway wine bar is serving lunch on December 2nd, 9th and 16th from 12pm to 3pm – four courses for $50. On the menu: Koginus soup, Parisian gnocchi (optional with poached lobster) and more. Book on Resy.
186 Brookline Ave., Boston, 857-317-3884, nathaliebar.com.
Nautilus Pier 4
This Seaport District hotspot with Nantucket roots is usually only open for dinner, but it’s open for lunch on Fridays and Saturdays December 2-31 (closed December 24) from 12pm-3pm and features some of its favorites to eat Dinner next to more lunch -y specials. (The popular Beijing-inspired whole roast duck is on the menu.) Call or reserve online.
300 Pier Four Blvd., Boston, 857-957-0998, thenautilus.com/boston.
Choose Oyster Bar
Another one from the Atlántico/Little Whale crew, the Select Oyster Bar is offering a three-course lunch for $75 per person December 1-24 in addition to their usual lunchtime menu. This Back Bay seafood spot offers dishes like Faroese salmon crudo and Greek branzino with roasted mushrooms.
50 Gloucester St., Boston, 857-239-8064, selectboston.com.
Yvonnes
The glitzy Downtown Crossing restaurant is bringing back its champagne-filled annual holiday lunch series, a tribute to longtime former resident of its premises, Locke-Ober. Lunches, held on Fridays December 2nd through Christmas Day, hark back to the glory days of Locke-Ober, with modern twists on old restaurant classics like baked oyster savannah, lobster thermidor, prime rib and baked Alaska. Call to reserve a spot.
2 Winter Place, Boston, 617-267-0047, yvonnesboston.com.
