Wine Spectator Award-Winning Restaurants in Boston

Boston's Wine Spectator Restaurant Award holders make up this list of 23 restaurants, including Deuxave, La Padrona and ZURiTO. The awards come from Wine Spectator. Several venues are in Back Bay and Financial District, and many also have recognition from Star Wine List and Opinionated About Dining.

We choose venues by weighing recognition from independent critics, guides and awards. Browse the entries in alphabetical order. Each shows the venue's town or city, a short description and awards from independent sources, with a link to its full guide page.

How this list is chosen: Every restaurant here holds a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award. When more qualify than the list can hold, En Primeur Club chooses among them by weighing recognition from independent critics, guides and awards. Entries appear in alphabetical order.

Abe & Louie’s
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
A Back Bay institution on Boylston Street, Abe & Louie's occupies the upper tier of Boston's steakhouse circuit. The format is classic American chophouse: generous cuts, a serious wine program, and a dining room that rewards dressing for the occasion.
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining
Barcelona Wine Bar Boston
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
On Tremont Street in the South End, Barcelona Wine Bar earns its White Star recognition from Star Wine List through a format built around Spanish-inflected small plates and a wine program designed for depth over novelty. The room pulls from the South End's dense dining corridor and positions itself as a reliable anchor for wine-led occasions in a neighbourhood that rewards repeat visitors.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Bistro du Midi
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
On Boylston Street at the edge of the Public Garden, Bistro du Midi brings a French sensibility to Boston's Back Bay dining corridor. Recognized by Star Wine List with a White Star designation in 2022, the restaurant positions itself in a tier where wine program depth and ingredient provenance carry as much weight as the menu itself. A considered choice for diners who want classical European framing with a clear sense of place.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Contessa Boston
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Positioned on a rooftop above 3 Newbury Street, Contessa Boston occupies one of the Back Bay's most considered dining addresses. The setting places it in conversation with Boston's growing tier of atmosphere-forward restaurants where location and sourcing philosophy carry as much weight as the menu itself. For visitors already tracking the city's better tables, it belongs on the same shortlist.
Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse - Liberty
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse at Liberty Wharf places a classic American chophouse format inside a Northern Italian frame, earning a White Star recognition from Star Wine List for its wine program. The Fan Pier address puts it at the water's edge in one of Boston's newer dining districts, where the service structure and wine list depth distinguish it from the neighbourhood's more casual options.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Deuxave
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Deuxave Boston restaurant occupies a corner of Commonwealth Avenue where Modern French cooking meets a serious wine program with 2,600 bottles and a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence held since 2015. The bar draws a crowd well before dinner service, and the dining room — silver walls, dark wood, candlelight — sets a tone that the kitchen keeps up with through dishes anchored in classical French technique.
Also recognized by Forbes, Star Wine List
Eastern Standard
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Eastern Standard at 775 Beacon St sits in the Kenmore Square corridor, a stretch of Boston that draws a more local crowd than the waterfront or Back Bay dining rooms. Without the usual signaling of awards or a celebrity chef, it positions itself in the neighborhood brasserie bracket rather than the destination-dining tier — a useful distinction for readers calibrating expectations before booking.
Grill 23 & Bar
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Grand Award
Grill 23 & Bar has anchored Boston's upper tier of American steakhouses since opening at 161 Berkeley Street in Back Bay. Its wine program, recognized with a White Star on Star Wine List, holds 2,540 selections across 14,825 bottles, with particular depth in California, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Piedmont, Rhône, Champagne, Loire, and Germany. Dinner service positions it firmly in the city's high-end dining bracket.
Also recognized by Star Wine List, World's Best Wine Lists Awards
La Padrona
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Part of the Raffles Boston hotel in Back Bay, La Padrona opened in May 2024 as a two-story Italian restaurant with a ground-floor bar and a high-energy dining room above. Chef Jody Adams, who spent more than two decades at Cambridge's Rialto, leads a kitchen built around house-made pastas and shareable plates. The room earns its reputation on cooking, not just atmosphere.
Also recognized by James Beard Award, New York Times
Lucca
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
On Hanover Street in Boston's North End, Lucca sits inside a neighbourhood that has been shaping Italian-American cooking for over a century. The kitchen works from a framework where European technique meets New England's seasonal larder, placing it in a quieter tier of the North End scene than the tourist-facing trattorias a block away. Reservations are advisable, particularly on weekends.
Mariel
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Mariel occupies a polished address at 10 Post Office Square in Boston's Financial District, where a Star Wine List White Star recognition signals a wine program operating well above the neighbourhood average. The list is the draw here, positioning Mariel within a small tier of Boston restaurants where the cellar competes as seriously as the kitchen.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Nautilus Pier 4
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Nautilus Pier 4 occupies one of Boston's most recognizable waterfront addresses at 300 Pier 4 Blvd in the Seaport District, where the city's dining scene has shifted from industrial afterthought to its most competitive dining corridor. The restaurant sits at an interesting inflection point in that evolution, carrying a name that signals seafood ambition against a backdrop where the neighborhood itself has become the story.
Oishii Boston
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
One of Boston's most respected sushi counters, Oishii Boston has held a place on Opinionated About Dining's North America rankings consecutively in 2024 and 2025. Located in the South End at 1166 Washington Street, the restaurant operates a dinner-focused format Tuesday through Saturday, with Friday and Saturday lunch service available for those who plan ahead.
Also recognized by Opinionated About Dining
Ostra
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Ranked #499 on Opinionated About Dining's Casual North America list in 2025 and holding, Ostra occupies a specific tier in Boston's seafood dining scene: serious technique applied without ceremony. The Back Bay address at 1 Charles St S places it at the edge of the Public Garden, and the kitchen's seafood grill format draws a consistent crowd from Tuesday through Sunday evenings.
Also recognized by James Beard Award, Opinionated About Dining
Smith & Wollensky
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Smith & Wollensky's Boston outpost on Atlantic Wharf brings the national steakhouse group's dry-aged beef program and deep wine inventory to a waterfront setting along the Congress Street corridor. With a 3,000-bottle cellar weighted toward California and France, a wine list recognised by Star Wine List, and a kitchen under Chef Brian Doyle, it occupies the upper tier of Boston's expense-account steakhouse category.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
Sorellina
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Sorellina occupies a prominent address on Huntington Avenue in Boston's Back Bay, positioning itself within the city's upper tier of Italian-influenced fine dining. The room draws a crowd that skews toward pre-symphony diners and business entertaining, and the kitchen's commitment to sourced ingredients places it in conversation with the broader farm-to-table movement reshaping American fine dining.
STK - Boston
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
STK Boston occupies a prominent Back Bay address on Berkeley Street, bringing the brand's upscale steakhouse format to a city with strong existing competition in the red-meat tier. The room pitches toward energy over formality, with a bar program and music policy that set it apart from the white-tablecloth steak traditionalists nearby. For Boston's broader steakhouse scene, it represents the brand-led, nightlife-adjacent end of the market.
The Banks Seafood and Steak
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
The Banks Seafood and Steak fits Boston’s seafood-and-steak tradition rather than the city’s tasting-menu conversation: polished, central, and built around the local appetite for cold-water fish, shellfish, and beef in the same room. Its appeal is clearest for travelers who want a Back Bay meal with New England sourcing cues and a more formal register than a casual oyster bar.
The Palm
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
The Palm at 1 International Place puts a Northern Italian menu inside one of Boston's most formal Financial District addresses, with lunch and dinner service suited to the city's corporate hospitality circuit. A wine list of 415 selections across 2,000 bottles, corkage at $35, and three-figure pricing per head place it firmly in the upper tier of Boston's Italian dining options.
Trade
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Trade occupies 540 Atlantic Ave in Boston's waterfront district, positioning itself within a neighborhood that has shifted from working port to one of the city's more competitive dining corridors. Check current hours and availability directly before planning a visit.
Troquet on South
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Troquet on South occupies a considered space in Boston's South End dining conversation, where the physical room and wine program carry as much weight as the kitchen. Positioned against the neighbourhood's more theatrical alternatives, it represents the quieter, more deliberate end of the city's upscale dining spectrum — a place where the design and the glass work together rather than competing for attention.
Yvonne's
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
The room draws from the city's old-guard supper club tradition while running a list serious enough to attract collectors and sommeliers. Plan ahead: this is not a walk-in venue.
Also recognized by Star Wine List
ZURiTO
Boston, United States
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
On Charles Street in Beacon Hill, ZURiTO earned a spot on Resy's Best of the Hit List for 2025, placing it among the year's most closely watched openings in Boston. The restaurant sits in a neighbourhood known more for Federal-period brownstones than for dining destination status, which makes the recognition all the more pointed. Reservation demand reflects the accolade.
Also recognized by James Beard Award, Resy, Wine Enthusiast

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