Hub-bub and home-style Italian favorites distinguish this enduring neighborhood favorite.

(617) 892-4337

207 Endicott St (N Washington Street)
Boston, MA 02113 42.3664 -71.0579

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Neighborhoods: North End, Central

massiminosboston.com/

Hours:

Mon-Thu 11am-10pm

Fri-Sat 11am-11pm

Price:

$$

Last updated 11.28.11

Category:

Banquet Rooms, Restaurants, Catering, Reception Centers

Payment Methods:

Gift Certificate, American Express, Visa, Discover, Diners Club, MasterCard, Travelers Check

Restaurant Special Features:

Casual Date Spot, Romantic Dining, Special Occasion Dining, Fine Dining, Date Spot, Notable Wine List

Cuisine:

Mediterranean, Italian

Smoking Permitted:

No

Editor's Tips

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What People Are Saying About Massimino's

The Owner

Massimino's

Owner

With lunch, dinner, and a notable wine list, Massino's lives up to its critical acclaim. Accolades included being voted "Best of Boston" in Boston Magazine, rated "Excellent" by Zagat and "A precious gem" by Travel and Leisure.

Provided by CityGrid

Featured Review

Contributor

Contributor

The Scene – On the outskirts of the North End, Massimino's is a bustling convergence of socializing and dining. Locals boisterously exchange updates and keep the noise level high, but a jovial neighborhood spirit permeates the clamor. Coral-colored tile walls and decorative frosted-glass panels could just as easily house a Spanish restaurant. A relaxed waitstaff (culled from the neighborhood) offers sincere suggestions if quizzed about the menu. – – The Food – Bring a hearty appetite--portions are gigantic. Antipasto misto, the traditional array of meats, cheeses and…

Editor's Tips

Know Before You Go:
Games at the nearby FleetCenter means tons of traffic, both on the road and on the T. Allow extra travel time.
Parking:
Big Dig construction chaos makes navigating the neighborhood a nightmare. The North Station T stop is an easy five-minute walk away. If you do brave the congested streets, try the Louis Wharf garage across from the restaurant on North Washington Street.
ambiance
100.0% positive
  1. “It's one of the best atmospheres if you're looking for a quaint, cozy place enjoying outstanding cuisine.”
  2. “Clean, nice atmosphere Waitress pleasant,kept coming back to make sure all was OK.”
  3. “What a cozy little place!”
  4. “Wonderful restaurant, great food, good service, very comfortable.”
  5. “Let me also add that we came here because Massamino's was highly recommended to me by a friend who said that "the eggplant parmasean is outstanding and the atmosphere and service is good.”
  6. “In all, I'd highly recommend Massimino's to anyone looking for good Italian, and fun and friendly service.”
  7. “The wine cellar is cozy and charming but, like most North End restaurants, space is at a premium so we had to stand at one end.”
  8. “The waitstaff was a lot of fun we had great food and a great time.”
dessert
100.0% positive
  1. “This to someone who never once asked how everything was nor asked us if we would like desert and/or coffee.”
  2. “the food was very good, the service was good except they forgot the birthday cake.”
drinks
71.4300012588501% positive
  1. “This girl made an italian espresso martini, which i've since tried to order at several other places, but is no where near as good and she made my wife a drink from where she was from in canada called a "Quebec Bissou" that is now my wifes favorite drink”
  2. “This to someone who never once asked how everything was nor asked us if we would like desert and/or coffee.”
  3. “" When I told her that neither of us planned to order alcohol, she said "oh then you can't go down to the bar.”
  4. “The wine cellar is cozy and charming but, like most North End restaurants, space is at a premium so we had to stand at one end.”
  5. “The servers are quick to come over and refill water and/or wine as well as to clear dirty dishes, etc.”
  6. “The bill came, and we discovered that though the bottle of wine she'd brought us was $25 more expensive than the wine we ordered, we were only charged for the cost of the bottle we'd ordered.”
  7. “They always have a pleasant attitude and are always happy to recommend a fabulous dish or a wine suited to your taste.”
food quality
72.05999851226807% positive
  1. “When we sat down at the table and were served bread and water right away, greeted by our waitress who was more then happy in the middle of a rush to help us order.”
  2. “haven't had a bad meal yet!”
  3. “the best sauce i ever had!”
  4. “Great food!”
  5. “The food was terrible quality and I feel terrible that my boyfriend had to spend so much money on such poor quality food.”
  6. “the food was very good, the service was good except they forgot the birthday cake.”
  7. “The service can be a little slow at times, but the food makes up for the service.”
  8. “The pasta was dry and the veal was not only bad, but instead of being stuffed with prosciutto, it had chunks of ham all over the pasta and not even stuffed in the veal.”
  9. “Totally recommend the food (delicious& not too expensive) but don't consider your reservations to be solid at all!”
  10. “It's one of the best atmospheres if you're looking for a quaint, cozy place enjoying outstanding cuisine.”
  11. “The food is excellent and the service has always been wonderful when I've gone.”
  12. “This restaurant has really great food.”
  13. “The waitress was extremely rude and at the end of the meal yelled at us for not tipping (we assumed that the tip was included for a party of our size and corrected out mistake).”
  14. “The food was amazing, huge portions, by far the best meal i've had in boston, and the staff will bend over backwards to make sure you leave happy.”
  15. “Wonderful restaurant, great food, good service, very comfortable.”
  16. “the pasta was dry and chewy, the shrimp was not fresh and extremely over cooked and there was no sauce on it either.”
  17. “The servers are quick to come over and refill water and/or wine as well as to clear dirty dishes, etc.”
  18. “The vinegared peppers were good--tender and tangy--and the roasted potatoes, excellent but the sausage was overcooked so that it was dry and chewy.”
  19. “The side of pasta was all right with good tomato sauce.”
  20. “My boyfriend and I decided to order our food from here based on all of the wonderful recommendations that we have had (as well as the award from Zagat and a few others).”
  21. “Massimino's serves large portions for a good price (not too expensive) and the food is delicious.”
  22. “Best Italian food in Boston!”
  23. “am not a huge fan of the Italian food in the North End but this place is excellent.”
  24. “Amazing bartender, great service, the best food in the northend.”
  25. “The food was extremely mediocre.”
  26. “ordered the shrimp scampi, which is my favorite dish of all time and I have NEVER been dissatisfied with at any other restaurant.”
  27. “The waitstaff was a lot of fun we had great food and a great time.”
  28. “We were shocked at the service, mediocre food, and awkward layout.”
  29. “Apparently, you people who didn't like it, don't know the true essence of a home cooked Italian meal, and have no right bashing someone's hard work with rude comments.”
  30. “I'd say the food was good and we had a good time, but don't count on your reservation.”
  31. “Great food, bad attitude”
  32. “Excellent friendly staff, and truly great Italian food.”
  33. “The food ws great.”
  34. “They always have a pleasant attitude and are always happy to recommend a fabulous dish or a wine suited to your taste.”
menu variety
100.0% positive
  1. “Right from the start our waitress was extremely attentive and offered several menu suggestions.”
overall
100.0% positive
  1. “It's one of the best atmospheres if you're looking for a quaint, cozy place enjoying outstanding cuisine.”
  2. “ordered the shrimp scampi, which is my favorite dish of all time and I have NEVER been dissatisfied with at any other restaurant.”
  3. “For the record, we DID find a very nice restaurant with excellent eggplant parmesan and outstanding service about five minutes from Massimino's in the North End and they seated us immediately without a reservation.”
  4. “Massiminos is a great North End restaurant.”
return potential
0.0% positive
  1. “Waitress was rude an inattentive, and even removed our olive oil bottle from our table in the middle of dinner to give to another table, then did not return it.”
service
54.16999816894531% positive
  1. “They made us wait for 1 hour 45min past our reservation time and were rude and NOT apologetic.”
  2. “Let me also add that we came here because Massamino's was highly recommended to me by a friend who said that "the eggplant parmasean is outstanding and the atmosphere and service is good.”
  3. “Excellent friendly staff, and truly great Italian food.”
  4. “The service can be a little slow at times, but the food makes up for the service.”
  5. “For the record, we DID find a very nice restaurant with excellent eggplant parmesan and outstanding service about five minutes from Massimino's in the North End and they seated us immediately without a reservation.”
  6. “Amazing bartender, great service, the best food in the northend.”
  7. “The servers are quick to come over and refill water and/or wine as well as to clear dirty dishes, etc.”
  8. “no chairs nothing, but by far they have one of the best bartenders in the city.”
  9. “Apparently, you people who didn't like it, don't know the true essence of a home cooked Italian meal, and have no right bashing someone's hard work with rude comments.”
  10. “In all, I'd highly recommend Massimino's to anyone looking for good Italian, and fun and friendly service.”
  11. “The service was horrible.”
  12. “the food was very good, the service was good except they forgot the birthday cake.”
  13. “Right from the start our waitress was extremely attentive and offered several menu suggestions.”
  14. “We were shocked at the service, mediocre food, and awkward layout.”
  15. “The wait staff was rude and not helpful.”
  16. “That's how poor the service was.”
  17. “The waitress was extremely rude and at the end of the meal yelled at us for not tipping (we assumed that the tip was included for a party of our size and corrected out mistake).”
  18. “would not recommend this restaurant to anyone and will tell as many people as I can about our experience.”
  19. “Wonderful restaurant, great food, good service, very comfortable.”
  20. “Waitress was rude an inattentive, and even removed our olive oil bottle from our table in the middle of dinner to give to another table, then did not return it.”
  21. “As a matter of fact, the waitress encouraged us to eat slowly, and even sat down near us, briefly, to discuss the finer points of finding good Italian on the North End.”
  22. “The food was amazing, huge portions, by far the best meal i've had in boston, and the staff will bend over backwards to make sure you leave happy.”
  23. “The food is excellent and the service has always been wonderful when I've gone.”
  24. “When we sat down at the table and were served bread and water right away, greeted by our waitress who was more then happy in the middle of a rush to help us order.”
value
68.75% positive
  1. “The food was amazing, huge portions, by far the best meal i've had in boston, and the staff will bend over backwards to make sure you leave happy.”
  2. “Massimino's serves large portions for a good price (not too expensive) and the food is delicious.”
  3. “The food was terrible quality and I feel terrible that my boyfriend had to spend so much money on such poor quality food.”
  4. “am not a huge fan of the Italian food in the North End but this place is excellent.”
  5. “The prices were very reasonable.”
  6. “Food was terrific, although the specials have no prices listed, but were twice as expensive as anything else.”
  7. “The bill came, and we discovered that though the bottle of wine she'd brought us was $25 more expensive than the wine we ordered, we were only charged for the cost of the bottle we'd ordered.”
  8. “Totally recommend the food (delicious& not too expensive) but don't consider your reservations to be solid at all!”
wait time
33.3299994468689% positive
  1. “The servers are quick to come over and refill water and/or wine as well as to clear dirty dishes, etc.”
  2. “For the record, we DID find a very nice restaurant with excellent eggplant parmesan and outstanding service about five minutes from Massimino's in the North End and they seated us immediately without a reservation.”
  3. “The service can be a little slow at times, but the food makes up for the service.”
1 Star Rating: Poor

03/18/11

Just like other reviews, reservations mean NOTHING!

by thumperpc at Citysearch

Looking forward to a nice meal but a little concerned ahead of time with the cavalier way they handle reservations from other reviews.

Had made a 6:00 p.m. reservation prior to a 7:30 Celtics game on Wed. March 16. Got there ontime but was told there would be a 45-minute wait. So if I ate at 6:45, I'd have to shovel my food into my mouth.

What a complete joke! Anyone reading this, BE AWARE!!! They don't care about reservations.

I'll NEVER go back!

5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

01/06/10

Feels like Italy!

by KFITZ at Citysearch

What a cozy little place! I walked in off the street w/out a reservation and they sat us right away. Right from the start our waitress was extremely attentive and offered several menu suggestions. We took her suggestions and boy am I glad we did - food was phenominal. I will definately be going back in the near future and would highly reccomend anyone that is considering a night in the North End to try Massimos!

  • Pros: Food, Service
  • Cons: nothing
5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

01/06/10

Best food in the North End

by YEAGER at Citysearch

Massimino's is me and my wife's favorite place in the North End. After trying most of the Italian spots on Hanover, we haven't found anything as good as this place. They treat you like family from the moment you walk through the door and make you feel at home. It's one of the best atmospheres if you're looking for a quaint, cozy place enjoying outstanding cuisine. The portions are bigger than most and typically costs less than the others. I highly encourage anybody looking to stray off the beaten path to try Massimino's...as we will continue to drink and dine with them!!!

  • Pros: Atmosphere, Personality, Food, Wine List
1 Star Rating: Poor

01/03/10

DO NOT GO HERE!

by DanKIT21 at Citysearch

Do I have to give this restaurant one star? I would give it zero stars if that were an option. I can't comment on the quality of the food because we didn't stay long enough to find out. That's how poor the service was. I am not usually one to write reviews on these sites, but I am so disgusted by my experience at Massimino's that I feel compelled to share it. Let me also add that we came here because Massamino's was highly recommended to me by a friend who said that "the eggplant parmasean is outstanding and the atmosphere and service is good." You can imagine how disappointed we were.

So here's our story: My date and I had a 6:00 pm reservation which we made three days ago, and when we arrived, the "hostess" (if you can call her that), hastily informed us that there would be a 30 minute wait. There were two other couples behind us who had made reservations as well and they were told the same thing. The hostess's explanation was that whoever took the reservation did not write it down and because there was a game in town, she didn't have enough seating. (Umm that is their problem, not ours)! She wasn't even apologetic. She just told us to "go down to the bar and get yourself a drink." When I told her that neither of us planned to order alcohol, she said "oh then you can't go down to the bar. They really wouldn't like that. You'll have to wait up here." Because the restaurant is in cramped quarters, there wasn't anywhere for us to wait, or sit down for that matter. About 10 minutes later, she led us downstairs to the bar area (presumably for a table?), but then left us standing there without seating us. When I asked one of the waitresses if she could be of assistance, she said something about needing to grab a check and then ran off.

Needless to say, my date and I were not impressed. I asked to speak to the manager and was told that he was not in tonight. Finally, my date told the hostess "There are plenty of other places that serve eggplant parmasean in the North End that will seat us." And we left. Had I been here on my own, I would have put up a bigger fuss, but because I didn't want to embarrass my date, I just decided to move on to greener pastures.

Clearly, Massimino's cares more about making a profit during a game night than honoring existing reservations. I don't care how good the food is. We are not giving these people our money. I was appalled by the rudeness of the staff, their lack of professionalism and the non-existent service.

For the record, we DID find a very nice restaurant with excellent eggplant parmesan and outstanding service about five minutes from Massimino's in the North End and they seated us immediately without a reservation... so it's nice to know that such places do exist.

  • Pros: None
  • Cons: Poor Service
2 Star Rating: Below Average

03/01/09

Below par service & food

by zadnor at Citysearch

Massimino's proved mediocre last night.

We started with a drink downstairs while waiting for a table. The wine cellar is cozy and charming but, like most North End restaurants, space is at a premium so we had to stand at one end. No matter, the wait was only about 30 minutes.

We ordered a glasses of chardonnay and Chianti. The former was delivered promptly but, then, another employee pulled the bartender aside, and whisked him away. Another man took his place and filled the order for which I paid. Before he gave me change he was replaced by yet another man who gave me incorrect change--at least according to the price we were quoted. When I pointed out the error, he condescendingly sneered the price?which had risen $1.00.

We were seated upstairs in a corner beneath a speaker blaring dance music. A woman behind us sat so far from her table--her knees were about even with the table's edge--that no one could pass to reach us. Three different servers, rather than politely ask her to scoot up decided instead to serve us over the diners and dinners at the table beside us. We had to reach out for our plates and glasses and place them on our table while the waitrons either leaned over the couple's table passed Chianti our neighbor's reeling face. Rather than deal with this inconvenience too often, the employees chose to check on our needs infrequently.

The meal itself--sausage w/ vinegared peppers & potatoes and chicken saltimbocca--was so-so. The vinegared peppers were good--tender and tangy--and the roasted potatoes, excellent but the sausage was overcooked so that it was dry and chewy. Tthe sausage may have been good but I can't say because they cooked the flavor out of it. The chicken was fine but I am pretty sure the ham with it was not prosciutto and the herbs and spices were all but nonexistent. The side of pasta was all right with good tomato sauce.

To be fair, others I've spoken to have had good experiences at Massimino's. Would that I had joined their ranks.

  • Pros: Downstairs room is charming
  • Cons: Indiffferent service, mediocre food

The Details on Massimino's

Place Categories:

  • great italian food
  • good service
  • cozy little place
  • rude waitress
  • very nice wonderful restaurant
  • mediocre massimino
  • mediocre quality food
  • tender vinegared peppers
  • dry pasta
  • good atmosphere
  • bad attitude
  • good price
  • good tomato sauce
  • recommend wine
  • then happy host
  • rude wait staff
  • not bad meal
  • amazing bartender
  • excellent friendly staff
  • highly recommended massamino
  • impressive bachliorti
  • yummy fav
  • excellent eggplant parmesan
  • recommend fabulous dish
  • cozy wine cellar

Message from Massimino's

  • Lunch and Dinner
  • Wine List
  • Menu

With lunch, dinner, and a notable wine list, Massino's lives up to its critical acclaim. Accolades included being voted "Best of Boston" in Boston Magazine, rated "Excellent" by Zagat and "A precious gem" by Travel and Leisure.

Massimino's
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