Joe's American Bar & Grill - Waterfront

You can get more bang for your buck at Joe’s on the waterfront in Boston by ordering several of their great appetizers (I’d venture to say that, like quite a few restaurants, the apps are better than the main dishes). Some of my faves include the fried mozzarella (a big slab of it floating in yummy marinara sauce, not those junky sticks so many places fake it with), the seared tuna with sticky rice cake (yum!), and if you like the raw bar, go for the dozen blue point oysters – very refreshing!

Obviously the view will only apply during daytime, but at night it’s a pretty stroll along the wharf as well and not a far walk from the North End, where you can grab some Italian decadence from the infamous Mike’s Pastry if you’ve (hopefully) saved space for dessert.

The room upstairs is ideal for larger group dinners or other special occasions… we had a lot of fun at my Berklee graduation dinner there when it turned out that Leslie’s bachelorette party was seated not far away. Luckily, nothing too crazy went on, but we did get a laugh out of the t-shirt they made highlighting the “Top 10 reasons to Party with Leslie Tonight.” Number 8? “She loves to Salsa with strangers!”

There are way too many other places in Boston with better food and better service – don’t bother.