Boston Restaurant Blog -- April, 2012

Ok, so many of you who spend a lot of time driving in the outer suburbs of Boston and elsewhere in Eastern Massachusetts may have had this problem--you're in an area that you don't know a whole lot about, you're hungry, and the towns that you are driving through do not seem to have many restaurants. So what do you do? Well, for those of you who have smartphones, one option would be to pull over to the side of the road and do a location-based search on Google, Yelp, etc. The problem is, the results may be saturated with your standard sub shops, pizza places, and Chinese food takeout spots.

In part because of what is mentioned above, we have created a list of ten restaurants that reside in towns that, well, aren't really known for having a lot of dining options. Some of the communities that are mentioned (such as Clinton) do have a number of dining and drinking establishments but many of them are takeout joints and dive bars, while others (such as Lakeville) have next to nothing in the way of restaurants. A few others certainly could have been added to this list, but it seems like these ten stand out just a little bit more than other spots that we have featured on the site.

Here is the list, going from north to south through the Boston area and Eastern MA:

1) Agawam Diner, Rowley
This friendly little diner is located on Route 1, which is indeed a very busy road, but this part of Route 1 is nothing like the section in Saugus, which has countless restaurants. The Agawam is one of the only games in town, and it is a good one with classic diner fare and outstanding pies.

2) Mango II, Tewksbury
Tewksbury has a few restaurants (including chains on the northern end of town by Route 495), but it isn't known as a dining destination. The town does have one spot called Mango II, however, that rivals some of the best Thai places in Boston, and as a bonus, it is an excellent option for those who are on gluten-free diets.

3) Sandy's Lunch Box, Pepperell
Mostly rural in nature with extensive areas of woods and farmland, Pepperell is a very quiet place, and one that has little in the way of dining options. But it does have a seasonal snack shack called Sandy's Lunch Box that features deep-fried hot dogs (including dogs that are wrapped in bacon). Roadside food stands aren't all that common within an hour of Boston, which makes this a pretty unique place.

4) Old Timer Restaurant, Clinton
As mentioned earlier, Clinton has lots of restaurants and bars, but the restaurants are often of the takeout variety and the bars can be sketchy. This is why the Old Timer is such a breath of fresh air, as it is a classic Irish pub located in a beautiful old space that looks almost like a church.

5) Barry's Village Deli, Waban
Ok, so Waban is a village--not a town--that is within Newton (which has many restaurants), and it also happens to be home to an excellent dining spot (Kouzina), but the neighborhood is in a very quiet section of the city and not really within walking distance of the other villages of Newton. Having said that, Barry's is an excellent old-school delicatessen that often gets overlooked because of its location on a side street in this beautiful neighborhood.

6) Coffee Sensations, Medfield
Medfield is an attractive and wealthy community that has a restaurants here and there, but like several of the towns along Route 109, the choices are few and far between. And one spot--Coffee Sensations--is completely hidden from view, as it resides in the back of a department store. The eatery is a good spot if you like cheap comfort food such as burgers and hot dogs.

7) Medway Restaurant, Medway
Much like Medfield, Medway is a pleasant town along Route 109 that has little in the way of dining options. One spot is a nearly completely unknown Greek eatery called the Medway Restaurant that offers classic Greek fare and American comfort food items at decent prices. Its location in a generic shopping center won't bowl you over, but the food is quite good here.

8) Spencer's Pizza, Abington
Route 18 in Abington has a few restaurants (including the Abington Ale House and Great Chow), but there really aren't a whole lot of options, especially in/near the center of town. But this is "bar pizza" country, and if you look hard enough, you can find some good ones, including a little spot called Spencer's, which resides in a rickety old building and has some of the best bar pies south of Boston.

9) Venus Cafe, Whitman
Speaking of bar pizza, the small town of Whitman (which is next door to Abington) has a few good spots for it--and almost nothing else in the way of restaurants. Perhaps the best is the Venus Cafe in the center of town, which is a neighborhood joint whose pizza rivals the Lynwood Cafe in Randolph--and that is certainly saying a lot.

10) Somethin's Brewin' Book Cafe, Lakeville
Once you get past Brockton heading southward, the landscape starts to get much more rural, with some towns having very few people and almost no restaurants. Lakeville is such a place, with no real downtown to speak of, and few eateries other than the charming Somethin's Brewin' Book Cafe, which resides in an old library. And yes, the place does sell books in addition to sandwiches.

Posted by MH, Boston's Hidden Restaurants, on April 20, 2011.
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