The Boarding House

We dropped in here since we needed dinner and it was close to our inn. We were able to be seated but the host did make it clear that he was squeezing us in. Ok, it is Restaurant Week on the Island and everyone is busy… So I suppose we were fortunate to find a table.
The special Restaurant Week menu however was disappointing. Neither of us found anything that we really wanted. Plus, the «special» price included dessert — we don’t normally order dessert. So we ordered from the regular menu. Funny that is ended up being about $ 20 less expensive than the «special»!
The chicken was nice — juicy and with a nice flavor. The flank steak was tough.
I always order sparkling water with my meal. Our server kept refilling my glass with still water… Even after several reminders…
In summary — we weren’t impressed.

My favorite restaurant on ACK, super fun environment, great bar, great outdoor seating for dinner and incredible brunch. Cream of leek and pear soup is an all time favorite at brunch ;), pâté/​foie gras app at dinner is delicious!

I have been coming to Nantucket for 21 years, and since I was little, The Boarding House has remained one of my favorite restaurants. The food is always reliable and the location is supreme. I always get the steak! The downstairs eating area can be very dark and noisy on busy nights. The bar area is fun, and Is a nice place to meet up with people!

We sat outside and thoroughly enjoyed the environment. The caprese salad was the best I had in Nantucket. Not to mention, the hush puppies are amazing!

Awesome place with excellent bar staff that serves you well even without dinner reservations. The Octopus appetizer was incredibly tender. Moving on to the lobster risotto.

Delicious! We will be back. Well curated menu, fantastic waiter, great atmosphere. Thank you!

Another outstanding evening at the Boarding House. This place consistently delights and impresses and is a Nantucket staple. We arrived early and enjoyed cocktails at the bar. The drinks were on point and the bartenders were so hospitable. When the rest of our group arrived for dinner, we learned that our outdoor table was not ready but were seated quickly at a cozy inside table. Our waiter was easy going and polite and made great suggestions on our orders. Everyone’s food came out at the same time, prepared perfectly. All of the food here is wonderful but if you like seafood, the Halibut does not disappoint.

Great place for appetizers — we had the avocado & Tuna tartar; plus the octopus — which was exquisite!!! The main courses were very average — I had the halibut and it was over cooked; my husband had the steak frites and it wasn’t what you’d expect. Service was good and they took off a glass wine to make up for the halibut.

Zack Place. Ladies (and guys, equal opportunity over here), make your way to The Boarding House as soon as you disembark from your ferry and sample the delicious food and drink stylings distributed by this delightful gentleman. An island local, Zack couples his top notch food recommendations with his insider info on great beaches and lesser known spots. Since being on island I’ve sat at Zack’s bar twice and I have yet to be disappointed in either his mixology skills (get the summer fog, exceptional) or his ability to make the bar a social scene for all seated there. The food was also fantastic, got the fried green tomatoes and the swordfish, both were top notch. Love this spot and thank you Zack for making our nights special!

The food is very average…
Try the booze it’s delicious!
Our server was absolutely fantastic her name is/​was Sarah and I would tell anyone to ask for her by name!

We have been here during our past visits to Nantucket. It really is a top notch place to have dinner. The bar does a great job with specialty cocktails, which aren’t skimpy I can’t stand a skimpy drink! We sat inside this time, which is quite cozy. It is small and intimate inside. Nevertheless, we felt comfortable with our daughters (9&11). Dinner was fantastic. My wife is vegetarian and she was quite pleased. Boarding House is truly a top dining establishment on the island. We’ll be back.

We did a sunday brunch for four.
Outstanding service, mediocre food.
The brisket hash was 98% potatoes, the aoli was flavorless goo.
The lobster benedict was ok. The eggs were better than the lobster.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Nantucket. I have been numerous times and love the food and service. On our last visit we brought our kids and sat outside. We had an amazing server and the food was delicious. My husband and I both got the lobster risotto which was great, nice and light. I also started out with the tuna tartare in avocado and that was fresh and tasty. My favorite cocktail is the passionfruit Cosmo. The kids all loved the cornbread and fried chicken and the warm cookies with mini milkshakes for dessert were awesome! We felt completely taken care of and will go back every year.

Service was not the greatest. It was a busy Thursday before July 4^th. But we were not attended to well. We barely saw our waitress and she didn’t answer our questions well. Food was solid. I had a bad sore throat so my palette wasn’t on point. But I would give it another chance. Vibe was cool.

Had the most amazing dinner here the other night. We started with The hush puppies and they are to die for! The half avacado with tuna was so delicious! Very impressed with the appetizers, all enough to share between two people! Who can say no to lobster cavatelli?! The Swordfish and the fried chicken were awesome entrees! And then there’s dessert… the sorbets were incredible! The strawberry sorbet was farm to table, how wonderful is that?!! Bartlett Farm strawberries made into the sweetest sorbet! Yum! They really have it dialed in here and you can tell. Amazing food, great service and you 100% get what you pay for! All around a fantastic experience! A MUST!

This is going to sound shallow (and really that doesn’t bother me too much), but they have a lot of attractive and attentive servers at this place.
Yea… Shallow.
Anyway, this is a spot that could easily become my winter brunch spot. Great service and delicious food. Got some pork tacos with a side of yummy rice. Wanted a Sam Adams Octoberfest, but they were out. Tried something called Omission. Can’t say it was the best beer I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t awful.
I usually only review after I’ve gone for a second visit, but with 8 weeks left and a crazy work schedule, I wanted to get the review done. With such cute servers, I’ll try to make a concerted effort though!

We went for brunch and as regular Nantucket visitors, understand that prices everywhere are a bit higher than the mainland. This place however is price gouging at it’s finest. $ 20 for a (dry and overcooked) hamburger? $ 21 for the smallest eggs benedict I’ve ever seen (and I never thought there could be «sizes» of eggs benedict) served with a little salad? The table next to us ordered the «soufflé pancake» and it was brown on the top and just slapped on a plate. And cost $ 17.
No attention to detail, we had chipped plates and the hostess told us she couldn’t seat us at our available table because there were no menus. So we had to wait 20 minutes to be sat, even though our table sat there unoccupied while she waited for some menus to be returned to her.
Also, the menu was completely different than what was reflected online, so nothing that we had wanted to order (we went specifically for the chicken and waffles and the hush puppies) was available, but by the time we were sat (with menus) it was sort of too late to leave.
At one point we thought that someone must be in the back laughing about what they could make people pay for sub-​par food and service all in the name of «Nantucket dining.»

Food was very good and our server was excellent. Loved the corn bread with blackstrap butter and the fried squash blossoms stuffed w ricotta and parmigiano in a garlicky tomato sauce. The spicy gilled Greek octopus was okay, but was not spicy and did not wow me. My husband had oysters (very good), heirloom caprese salad (very good), and the Southern fried chicken which was good, but not as good as I have had.

We had avoided The Boarding House for a few years following some lackluster experiences.
Giving them another chance this June, we had the best dining experience of the year! Every bit that arrived at the table, even the intermezzo, was superb; and the service was very good. We look forward to our next visit. Highly recommended.

PROS — the food; CONS — the service and the price.
Despite the delicious lobster mac and cheese and chicken/​waffles, we found the service to be pretty unsatisfactory especially considering the price tag attached to the meal. We had a long wait for the waitress to arrive, and she was very «out of it,» and unhelpful. The sommelier was nice, however, and the food was great.